Last night’s Radio 4 PM had a discussion with a mother and son who were dealing with an issue that many families will be trying to resolve this Christmas. This particular family had members who are particularly vulnerable to Covid and the son had chosen not to get vaccinated. The compromise they reached was that […]
Op-eds
Johnson’s nightmare Plan B debate – Lib Dem speeches (videos)
I used to look forward to a visit to the ice cream after school. “99”, I would cry out. Now 99 has a new meaning. It is the number of Conservative that rebelled against the prime minister on his Plan B yesterday evening. That vote has weakened his authority in his party, by which I […]
Omicron: Daisy Cooper says emergency plan needed with 72 hours
There is a lot to be learnt about Omicron. We know it is spreading fast. Faster than the dominant variant Delta. We don’t yet know its health impacts, the risks of those with one, two or three doses of vaccine getting Covid-19. We don’t yet know the health impacts of Omicron, the extent it will […]
Nearly two-thirds of Shropshire A&E ambulances are delayed at hospitals – the second worst performance in country
I am a health assistant in a GP practice in south Shropshire. We are working flat out to get everyone jabbed and catch up with the backlog of patients who had not recognised or reported their conditions during the long periods of lockdown and shielding. Further north in the county, the situation is no different […]
Why waiting times matter in mental health
18 weeks. That’s the target waiting time, often missed, from referral to being seen. From now in deepest darkest December to Mid April, what an age that is. It’s hard on adults. Arguably harder when that’s how long some of our most distressed young people have to wait for support. 18 weeks or 4 months […]
Observations of an Expat: Nation v the World
I told you so. In all humility, I was not alone. The WHO issued a veritable flood of dire warnings. Dozens of NGOs did the same. So did an army of globalists who argued that common sense dictated that Covid is a global problem that requires global cooperation to save lives and a world economy […]
World Review: Oil, vigilantism in America, refugees, Swedish politics and Omicron
Prepare for an oil price war in 2022. The combatants are OPEC and a consortium of top energy consuming countries including the US, China, UK, Japan, India and South Korea. All of these countries have built up huge strategic oil reserves in case of emergency such as war or another 1973-style OPEC oil embargo. The […]
North Shropshire Tory candidate: health provision is a commodity and NHS staff not heroes
No one is surprised that the state of our health services has emerged has a major battleground in the by-election. Nationally, GPs and hospitals have been buckling under the strain of dealing with Covid-19 and the backlog of diagnoses and treatment. Here in Shropshire, our hospitals have suffered decades of mismanagement, pipedreams and scandals. The […]
World Review: America and China, Austrian vaccination and India’s farmers
It has been an interesting week for Sino-American relations and China in its own right. It started with the two countries agreeing to cooperate on climate change policies. There were no details in this proposed pact, but a start had been made. This was followed by a three-hour virtual summit between Joe Biden and Xi […]
Brexit preparations hindered a government unprepared for pandemic
A report from the National Audit Office published this morning reveals Brexit preparations hindered the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic how badly prepared the government was a major health emergency. : This pandemic has exposed a vulnerability to whole-system emergencies – that is, emergencies that are so broad that they engage the entire system. […]