S35_2o21

Yes, definitely. Painting rainbows has certainly cost millions of pounds! 🤣🤪

Very good. I have a 'proper' dog, a Labrador. We do a mix of 'proper' walks of 2-4 miles, depending on how much time and energy we all have, and shorter walks sometimes including a frisbee/ball/fly-ball chucker thing, and also walks where we potter along and she sniffs away. She quite enjoys all types of walks which is the main thing. My view is that the chucking thing is in the knowledge that some other dog may well 'steal' this from my dog, and just to not worry about this kind of happening. Although the frisbee did cost a few quid so that would be annoying if that got nicked but not worth getting cross over.

So basically, turning people away who need Social Care? That is what cuts in social care mean. People in the community who need help to wash themselves, get dressed, eat properly, take their medications. That is what Social care is. Hospitals are already struggling to discharge patients due to a lack of capacity in Social Care services. Parents are already struggling to care for their children with disabilities. People who have long term health conditions are already experiencing cuts in the level of care which is funded.

I wanted to watch it because Nicola Walker is amazing (I think I might have to rewatch Unforgotten as it was that good) and I liked Sean Bean in the prison drama last year. We binged it a bit on the iPlayer. Ep1 & 2 took their time with scene setting. I did struggle a bit with it. At one point in Ep3, I couldn't watch anymore as Emma was heading in a direction I didn't like. However, some of the scenes were very poignant and the tone was amazing. The scenes with the daughter in Ep4 were brilliant, and we had a bit of a cheer when one of the characters got his comeuppance.

As per poster #11, some of the 'facts' are in dispute over this. This would also mean that responsible journalists wouldn't cover it. Also, I'm not sure Oxford Street is quite the 'most popular tourist destination in the world' anymore. These articles seems to indicating that this isn't the case anymore...: https://www.cityam.com/empty-stores-on-oxford-street-rise-by-a-fifth-in-six-months/#:~:text=The number of empty stores,to research by Property Week., https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/dec/26/oxford-street-why-londons-shopping-mecca-cant-trade-on-past-glories, https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/soul-oxford-street-doomed-famous-21714185. It would appear that one of the main 'attractions' are cash based businesses which may or may not be being used for money laundering: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/17/oxford-street-us-candy-stores. It would seem that Oxford Street is facing the same challenges as other high streets.

I suspect it's more because there aren't enough journalist to cover this kind of stuff. It might have been covered by London news. I don't think it has national significance so I'm not sure why it should be on the main national news.

I suspect that this will come to nowt, just like lots of things this Gov say they are going to . This Gov seem to think that when they say something, it will magically happen.

I'm hoping that the Committee system will help reach consensus on difficult issues. We're going to need it! £20m already predicted to be in deficit and we still have winter pressures to work through for Adult Social Care. What exactly have the Council wasted their money now? Or is this that you don't agree with what the Council decides to spend it's money on? A lot of the unpopular initiaitives (the Pinstone Street closure, the planters in Crookes and Nether Edge) have been funded from pots of Government money.

^^ times a million. In the early days of the Cameron Government, Local Authorities bore a high proportion of the public sector cuts. Presumably, the minister at the time (Eric Pickles I believe), wished to curry favour with the PM. It is convenient to slash a budget for a local authority, and then blame said local authority for making cuts to services. Ditto NHS England, CCG's/ICBs across the country, the Education sector, DWP, the Prison service etc etc. Responsibility with no accountability is the motto of this government.

In today's paper, referencing the Government's formula for determining how much Local Authorities receive: Rishi Sunak admits taking money from deprived areas | Conservative leadership | The Guardian

Which areas exactly? Some Councils have been bailed out. I seem to remember Woking BC threatened to hold a referendum to increase Council tax by a considerable amount, the Government bailed them out so this didn't have to take place. Some areas of the Country are able to raise more revenue via Council tax. Sheffield, and other urban areas, have a large proportion of 'Band A' properties, which affects the amount of Council Tax revenue which can be raised. Governments also change the formula which determines the amount of Government grant each authority receives. Also, LA's where property values are higher, are likely to be spending less on providing Adult Social Care- well at least until the Government changes come in to affect- because home owners will have to fund their own care.

What exactly would that achieve? Do you honestly think that Government departments are any better at 'delivering' services? Why do you think government outsources so many functions?

In answer to post #19, this. Council Tax accounts for about 30% of the income for Council. Tory Council's have been bailed out by the government throughout the previous decade: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/29/tory-run-northamptonshire-county-council-bailed-out-by-government

Adult Social Care has always been subject to a Financial Assessment. if an individual has over a certain amount of capital and income, then the Council won't fund it. The Government has changed the threshold for this, there will be a financial impact on all Councils. It was one of Boris's big announcements last year. Also, people are generally living longer and with more complex health and care needs. Government funding to Local Authorities has been slashed since 2010.

I watched the Finance Committee last week, and the potential deficit is c£20million. So, no, a few planters are not the issue. I guess services will be cut further. Less care hours provided to adults & children. Other contracts will be reviewed and cut where they can. There'll be less Council officers so less people to do as much work. I know the Government have changed the funding for Adult Care & I don't know if that is part of the reason for the overspend.

The Council won't have much money apart from for it's statutory duties, which will be Social Care for Adults, children and other vulnerable adults.

I have a friend who is a single parent. She has poured her whole life in to her children. They are all now rapidly growing up, and I do worry about how she will cope when they are all older. I think the children will always need her, I think she'll work through it but it will be difficult.

We are in Chapeltown and have standard fibre broadband with Vodaphone. Both myself and my partner are predominantly home working, and have very few BB related issues. On the local Facebook Forum, there is a a local social dog walking group. Might be a good way of meeting people & getting to know the good places to walk the dog? We have a young dog & there are lots of local walks to do in the area. Hope you get settled wherever you decide to move to.

I agree. I'm not sure I know enough about PR and coalitions to comment further on that though. Our political system has (partly?) enabled party politics to become more and more ideological based, at the detriment of a long-term view of what the Country actually needs. Plus the media is very bias in parts. My view is that the population has been gaslighted to believe that politicians are either corrupt or acting in everyone's interest!

With your budget, you have got a range of areas you could consider. As with many large Cities, the areas in Sheffield vary considerably in terms of housing types, access to open space, quality of transport links to the City Centre and Meadowhall, quality of district centres and schools. Depending on the kind of lifestyle you currently have and what you want to have here, I would make sure that the area you choose to look at considers this. Anecdotally, demand for property rental is crazy at the moment.

Don't really understand why this is an either/or question. Dentists can deliver services under contract with the NHS- this is becoming more rare over time though.

We have a 2017 Seat Leon (VAG group car, so may be similar to a Skoda). It's due it's MOT & service next month. I have a feeling the cambelt is due to be changed but need to check with Seat (no info in the handbook). Steadfast in Chapeltown have quoted me £320. Don't know if this helps or not..

I agree with this wholeheartedly: Like a phone dropped in the North Sea, Vardy v Rooney is full of absolute gold | Marina Hyde | The Guardian

It's quite bizaare. It is the ultimate way of washing the dirty linen in public. Neither of them are going to come away from this looking very positive!

It's not a bottomless pit of taxpayer funding. The licence fee is capped by Government. Over the years, the BBC has not been able to outbid rivals for sports contents- e.g. Football, Formula 1 (there are other examples, I'm not a massive follower of sports in general). The BBC has had to cut it's cloth accordingly which may actually enable them to develop programmes from scratch, e.g. Great British Bake Off. #43 You're comparing an entertainment company to a countries transport infrastructure? You may not own a car...ever took a taxi or bus? What do they drive on? A strange comparison, but you're entitled to your opinion. (Sorry, don't know how to quote from multiple posts). I would argue with the span of content, the BBC is akin to part of the infrastructure.