Skip to main content

So which is it Mr. Cameron?

This past week, David Cameron has been talking up his "grenade" being thrown at the NHS, as if it were the kindest cut of all.  He has spoken of his respect for the doctors and nurses, and love of what the great institution does, while also pushing for a massive change of direction, so big "it can be seen from space".  Indeed, the NHS has never been remade so completely in its 60+ year history.  At heart, along with allowing private health providers much more access to the market, is the demanagementising of the system, with groups of GPs replacing managers to run the NHS in local clots.  Never mind that GPs are doctors, not public planners.  Mr Cameron has been evangelical about the ability of the GPs to handle this big ask.  So, what to make of today's news, that GPs bungled their ordering of flu jabs so badly this year, it is being recommended that the government resume running the yearly influenza vaccination programme itself.  This seems a warning sign, at the very least.  If GPs can't handle running even one national health matter properly, how will they not bungle running the whole NHS?  I want a second opinion.
Labels:

Comments

Steven Waling said…
"Clots" just about describes this Government.
Thu Jan 20, 03:17:00 pm 2011
Kiss My Art said…
Dear Todd

In Sunday's Telegraph, Matthew D'Ancona said that right-wing Tories should stop whining because they atre getting every single thing they wanted through the ConDem coalition. I wish it weren't true but I fear that it is.

Best wishes from Simon
Fri Jan 21, 07:24:00 pm 2011
Castors said…
Mr Cameron has been evangelical
Mon Jan 24, 11:00:00 am 2011
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A  poem for my mother, July 15 When she was dying And I was in a different country I dreamt I was there with her Flying over the ocean very quickly, And arriving in the room like a dream And I was a dream, but the meaning was more Than a dream has – it was a moving over time And land, over water, to get love across Fast enough, to be there, before she died, To lean over the small, huddled figure, In the dark, and without bothering her Even with apologies, and be a kiss in the air, A dream of a kiss, or even less, the thought of one, And when I woke, none of this had happened, She was still far distant, and we had not spoken.
Post a Comment
Read more

Poetry vs. Literature

Poetry is, of course, a part of literature. But, increasingly, over the 20th century, it has become marginalised - and, famously, has less of an audience than "before". I think that, when one considers the sort of criticism levelled against Seamus Heaney and "mainstream poetry", by poet-critics like Jeffrey Side , one ought to see the wider context for poetry in the "Anglo-Saxon" world. This phrase was used by one of the UK's leading literary cultural figures, in a private conversation recently, when they spoke eloquently about the supremacy of "Anglo-Saxon novels" and their impressive command of narrative. My heart sank as I listened, for what became clear to me, in a flash, is that nothing has changed since Victorian England (for some in the literary establishment). Britain (now allied to America) and the English language with its marvellous fiction machine, still rule the waves. I personally find this an uncomfortable position - but when ...
15 comments
Read more

IQ AND THE POETS - ARE YOU SMART?

When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart?  A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional.  Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were.  For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ?  Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets.  But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ?  How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular.  John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se....
3 comments
Read more