UK Thumbs

[Griddlelol]

Both of my bosses are on holiday. It's amazing. Beer at lunch, going home at 3pm. 

 

Also, fuck summer. I haven't had hayfever in years, but my eyes are burning, I'm sneezing violently every 10 minutes, my nose is constantly running and if I go to a park to bask in the sun, I break out in an incredibly itchy rash. Why must I be allergic to everything in summer!?

[Brett E]

It was really hot down here on Tuesday but since it's been overcast with showers, still warm but not uncomfortable

[Vasari]

We lasted until the eighth page before the British thread started talking about the weather. It was inevitable but I'm proud of us for lasting this long

[N1njaSquirrel]

What's the best worst is that this weather talk has probably incited the most responses.

[N1njaSquirrel]

GUYS IT'S RAINING OH GOD HOW I'VE MISSED YOU T_T

[fondue]

Talking of storms, my friend who lives in Northumberland woke the other night to the sound of these bad boys coming down...

 

 

 

 

[Brett E]

  On 7/2/2015 at 12:31 PM, Vasari said:

We lasted until the eighth page before the British thread started talking about the weather. It was inevitable but I'm proud of us for lasting this long

 

Embrace it!

Next up:

1. Crumpets

2. Cricket

3. Stiff upper lip

4. Putting 'u's in words

5. Silly place names

6 Royal Family

[Justin Leego]

  On 6/12/2015 at 1:38 PM, ratamero said:

I'd love some advice on interesting things do to/nice places to drink and eat in the following places:

 

- Dover

 

What's the occasion, are you cycling the country or something?

 

Asked around and had The Green Room on Cannon Street recommended. Real name is La Salle Verte, but it's not in France so the locals have translated it. Good teas, cakes and sandwiches, wine bar in the evening. If you don't mind being into that.

[N1njaSquirrel]

  On 7/2/2015 at 8:26 PM, fondue said:

Talking of storms, my friend who lives in Northumberland woke the other night to the sound of these bad boys coming down...

 

Jeasus it rained a penny too? That's crazy.

[Bjorn]

I have to admit I've been enjoying how complaining about the weather is essentially universal regardless of culture. 

[Gwardinen]

  On 7/2/2015 at 10:12 PM, Bjorn said:

I have to admit I've been enjoying how complaining about the weather is essentially universal regardless of culture. 

 

We all share the same sky. Our part just rains a lot.

[Brett E]

Today is the second most depressing day of the year : (

[ratamero]

  On 7/2/2015 at 9:23 PM, Justin Leego said:

What's the occasion, are you cycling the country or something?

 

Asked around and had The Green Room on Cannon Street recommended. Real name is La Salle Verte, but it's not in France so the locals have translated it. Good teas, cakes and sandwiches, wine bar in the evening. If you don't mind being into that.

 

Almost that, but I'm not fit enough for that much cycling, so I went by train instead

[Vasari]

George Osborne is smiling, and that's never a good sign.

[N1njaSquirrel]

  On 7/8/2015 at 12:35 PM, Brett Eveleigh said:

Today is the second most depressing day of the year : (

What happened? Have I missed something?

[Brett E]

Osborne delivered the 100% tory budget. £12 billion in cuts for the poor and disabled, tax breaks for corporations and a whole lot of double speak.

[deleted user]

_

[Brett E]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/08/27/benefits-death-claimants-welfare-ids_n_8047424.html

 

I knew it was bad but didn't think it was quite this bad...

Obviously the data cannot be interpreted as a direct correlation, people die in all sorts of ways but it seems highly likely that the majority have at least some relation to being declared 'fit for work'.

 

After this recent story the DWP are really on a roll at the moment:

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/aug/18/dwp-admits-making-up-positive-quotes-from-benefits-claimants-for-leaflet

[ratamero]

I had to use the NHS for a semi-serious thingie for the first time and it left me quite disappointed. Almost two hours sitting in a waiting room to get a simple blood test done. Is that usual? I've found it quite bad, especially because I was without food for 10 hours for a fasting blood glucose test and those two extra hours were pretty unpleasant.

[Ben X]

Yeah, in my experience NHS medical staff are generally good (although I've had some shitty GPs - jacks of all trades, masters of none) but waiting times are horrific.

[Griddlelol]

I work with a lot of NHS medics in the research area, and they're all nice, competent people, they are just over worked when they're at the hospital. The waiting times are (unsurprisingly) thanks to poor funding.

The NHS also has a huge problem of not bothering with preventative medicine. They don't get funded to treat things before they occur. They're all about reacting to symptoms. It's not at all cost effective to be reactionary, but trying to get funded to check up on healthy people would be immediately dismissed by the non-medics who hold the money. 

 

Maybe in the grand scheme of things it's not a lot, but there are homoeopathic and acupuncture divisions that receive a non-trivial amount of funding (in the order of millions) thanks to our well educated, intelligent, down-to-earth, Royal Family.  

 

Edit: 

I should also mention that it doesn't help when you're at a hospital for something serious, that every idiot with a grazed knee or cough goes to A&E instead of their GP because it takes a week to get an appointment.

Then there's the massive lack of A&E staff because they don't get paid more, and have one of the most stressful jobs in the field. There's no incentive to stay in A&E unless you're crazy. 

[ratamero]

That was another thing I noticed: I grew up in Brazil, where public healthcare is very poor and getting private health insurance is very close to the top in anyone's priorities. Because we were paying for health insurance anyway, my family always had the habit of going to the doctor once a year for a routine check-up and some basic blood tests, and that's pretty common there. Here, even with symptoms I had to twist my GP's arm a bit to get her to sign for a blood test. 

[Griddlelol]

It's an unpopular opinion, but healthcare insurance has the potential to be great, while the NHS is destined to fail. It's so ingrained in Britain that the NHS is the best thing ever, that it'll be almost impossible to swing that direction.

I certainly haven't gotten my money's worth from the NHS, I had to go for a broken foot which amounted to 4 consultations, but that's pretty much it. I'd be better served by insurance and having regular check-ups to see if there is indeed anything wrong with me, and catch it before it happens. 

 

 

It's easy for me to have that opinion though. I'm never seriously ill and I have enough money to live comfortably. 

[aoanla]

I think it's fairer, perhaps, in combination with your previous post, to argue that "The NHS, as it currently prioritises various aspects of health care, is destined to fail"? If some hypothetical British Government came along and said "Right, the NHS will now focus a lot more on preventative medicine - everyone will get a yearly checkup at least, and we'll swing funding in that direction from all of the non-evidence based medicine that we're funding", then I think the NHS would relatively quickly become more sustainable. 

[Brett E]

An update on the previous topic I mentioned, the data is basically useless: https://storify.com/bengoldacre/how-dwp-has-confused-everyone-by-releasing-the-rig