Do you want to discuss boring politics? (25 Viewers)

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skybluetony176

skybluetony176

Well-Known Member
clint van damme said:
I agree the inflation rise will be minimal, (if it happens), but that will still impact people more than increased out put from the city, (we all know where any benefits from that will end up).

If this was record output from manufacturing or food exports then yes, it would be great news.
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It’s also going to mainly affect food inflation which currently is running at about 4.5% which is over a percent higher than overall inflation. People will feel it more in their pocket than any effect in overall inflation would suggest.
 
Como

Como

Well-Known Member
duffer said:
Politely, I'm not sure I can agree with that. You could argue the problem is that it's badly run, but the counter is that it's been substantially underfunded for a long time now, and the problems now are primarily down to that issue.

(See below a report from the FT, hardly a lefty rag.)

As for chemists, haven't they always been private entities? Regardless, if independence and/or privatisation solves the problem, why are we suffering so badly in terms of dental health?


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I had a friend who was a Dentist, now this was some years ago but it made no sense to be paid by the NHS and accept NHS patients so he did not. I forget the details but how they paid was weird.

I certainly did not pay for dental care beyond a tooth brush and I think that is somehow more a national trait for reasons I do not know. Personally I have memories of bad Dentistry from a child and that probably influenced me.

Now not a UK thing but quite a few people in the US go to Mexico for major stuff, much cheaper and you get a holiday included.

Most NHS spending occurs in the last few years of life, logically that makes no sense. Spending should be concentrated on where you get the biggest impact. An old fart like myself or someone with their life in front of me, we have our priorities back to front.
 
shmmeee

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
Como said:
I had a friend who was a Dentist, now this was some years ago but it made no sense to be paid by the NHS and accept NHS patients so he did not. I forget the details but how they paid was weird.

I certainly did not pay for dental care beyond a tooth brush and I think that is somehow more a national trait for reasons I do not know. Personally I have memories of bad Dentistry from a child and that probably influenced me.

Now not a UK thing but quite a few people in the US go to Mexico for major stuff, much cheaper and you get a holiday included.

Most NHS spending occurs in the last few years of life, logically that makes no sense. Spending should be concentrated on where you get the biggest impact. An old fart like myself or someone with their life in front of me, we have our priorities back to front.
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There was a dentist on QT recently I think who went into a bitnof detail. Something like they get paid for a block of say 1000 NHS patients and they get paid the same even if they take more. It was very complex and absolutely ludicrous from what he was saying with no incentive for dentists to take up the work and perverse incentives for what they do do.
 
Sky Blue Pete

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
shmmeee said:
There was a dentist on QT recently I think who went into a bitnof detail. Something like they get paid for a block of say 1000 NHS patients and they get paid the same even if they take more. It was very complex and absolutely ludicrous from what he was saying with no incentive for dentists to take up the work and perverse incentives for what they do do.
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I’ve always thought it really strange that optician and dentistry are not part of the nhs. Especially as someone who’s had glasses since they were 3 and being a dad of a family who all wear glasses
 
ovduk78

ovduk78

Well-Known Member
Sky Blue Pete said:
I’ve always thought it really strange that optician and dentistry are not part of the nhs. Especially as someone who’s had glasses since they were 3 and being a dad of a family who all wear glasses
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I think it's strange that opticians can diagnose things on their high tech equipment but can't write a prescription (definitely not in Scotland, not sure about rest of UK). When I had my cataracts done and needed some eye drops I had to get a prescription from a GP who was no part of the process of diagnosis through to operation. I also had to get a sick note from my GP!
 
JAM See

JAM See

Well-Known Member
Sky Blue Pete said:
I’ve always thought it really strange that optician and dentistry are not part of the nhs. Especially as someone who’s had glasses since they were 3 and being a dad of a family who all wear glasses
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I'm pretty sure I had NHS glasses as a kid. Free but shit.
Until The Smiths came along.

I remember the first time I played football with contact lenses (aged c.20). Fucking amazing!
 
C

CCFCSteve

Well-Known Member
fernandopartridge said:
Applicable to the BOE equally



Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk
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Its an interesting and valid point. I suppose it all depends on which areas the central banks are seeing as inflationary. In the recent US breakdown I think one of the main areas in core inflation was shelter (which as suggested would be worsened by higher rates) and from memory, motor insurance which was a crazy high number. In addition oil has been been rising again

Not sure what our last breakdown showed but if total CPI is being distorted by high shelter inflation you’d hope that would be taken into consideration and if anything encourage reduction in rates sooner rather than later

Think I’ve said before US inflation is a bit different to ours. Also they have 30 year mortgage rates so I don’t really know that’s how that factors into their inflation…I know high rates has massively slowed their housing market though
 
fernandopartridge

fernandopartridge

Well-Known Member
CCFCSteve said:
Its an interesting and valid point. I suppose it all depends on which areas the central banks are seeing as inflationary. In the recent US breakdown I think one of the main areas in core inflation was shelter (which as suggested would be worsened by higher rates) and from memory, motor insurance which was a crazy high number. In addition oil has been been rising again

Not sure what our last breakdown showed but if total CPI is being distorted by high shelter inflation you’d hope that would be taken into consideration and if anything encourage reduction in rates sooner rather than later

Think I’ve said before US inflation is a bit different to ours. Also they have 30 year mortgage rates so I don’t really know that’s how that factors into their inflation…I know high rates has massively slowed their housing market though
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Yeah, not sure how it factors in. According to a site I looked at, in the US individual credit card debt is at a record high as at Q4 2023 at $1.12t

UK credit card debt is around £70bn at Jan 2024.

US credit card debt is about 26 times higher per head of population than the UK.
 
C

CCFCSteve

Well-Known Member
fernandopartridge said:
Yeah, not sure how it factors in. According to a site I looked at, in the US individual credit card debt is at a record high as at Q4 2023 at $1.12t

UK credit card debt is around £70bn at Jan 2024.

US credit card debt is about 26 times higher per head of population than the UK.
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I’ve been saying for a while but things arent maybe as rosy as they appear on the surface in the US. Unbelievable growth but at what cost. Only time will tell
 
Como

Como

Well-Known Member
CCFCSteve said:
I’ve been saying for a while but things arent maybe as rosy as they appear on the surface in the US. Unbelievable growth but at what cost. Only time will tell
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I have noticed things are getting nasty in the car industry, they made hay during COVID but now with high interest rates, people under water with their vehicles demand has collapsed, Hybrids seems an exception.

One thong I had not seen since 2008, contractors parked up advertising their services outside a suburban Home Depot.
 
Ian1779

Ian1779

Well-Known Member
SBAndy said:
This smoking ‘ban’ then - thoughts?

Really tricky one in my mind.
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Feel like there are bigger priorities in this kind of area, such as some regulation on vapes and decriminalisation/legalisation of cannabis.
 
Sick Boy

Sick Boy

Well-Known Member
Sky Blue Pete said:
The only reason not to is tax revenue but smoking and alcohol are the worst drugs, they destroy so many lives and families
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Smoking is in no way comparable to a drug like heroin.

The UK is falling behind other countries on stuff like cannabis legislation; it should have been decriminalised at least years ago.
 
skybluetony176

skybluetony176

Well-Known Member
Difficult one. The one thing that did shock me though were the statistics. Two thirds of long term smokers will die from the effects of long term smoking.
 
W

wingy

Well-Known Member
Sky Blue Pete said:
I don’t know what one does it’s like gambling - we act shocked when men take their own lives as if addiction just comes out the blue

I think on balance after thinking about it today that I’d decriminalise cannabis and look at support not criminal sanctions for harder drugs
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Like tobacco, let's all do the prescriptive medicine conga?
 
Liquid Gold

Liquid Gold

Well-Known Member
Prohibition doesn't work and what is likely to happen is dodgy knockoffs hit the market for those that still want them. Will that actually increase strain on the NHS while the tax revenue from cigarettes disappears?

Few people smoke anymore and it's decreasing all the time, let it fall away naturally.

An almost totally separate thought I had was - would it impact tourism? Some of our Mediterranean friends love a fag, do they love it enough to think "fuck going cold turkey during a week in England, let's go elsewhere"?
 
SBAndy

SBAndy

Well-Known Member
Liquid Gold said:
Prohibition doesn't work and what is likely to happen is dodgy knockoffs hit the market for those that still want them. Will that actually increase strain on the NHS while the tax revenue from cigarettes disappears?
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That’s the bit that I’m hung up on. Ideologically I’m not against the idea of preventing young people making the same mistakes I did/do but you can’t simultaneously hold positions of banning smoking because nanny state and legalising/regulating other drugs because cleaning up the market. The unintended consequences of this could be huge.
 
Grendel

Grendel

Well-Known Member
Ian1779 said:
Feel like there are bigger priorities in this kind of area, such as some regulation on vapes and decriminalisation/legalisation of cannabis.
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Strange to legalise one narcotic substance and not ban another. Many cannabis products are stuffed with nicotine. Making cannabis legal and vaping regulated seems a contradiction

Cannabis is carcinogenic- so legalising another cancer causing product seems pretty dumb really
 
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