NHS News
Stories of the week 9 September
‘Father battling cancer whose benefits were cut because he was ‘well enough to make a cup of tea’ died aged 56 with just £8 to his name, his family says’. The headline says it all. There are many kinds of austerity wrapped up in this from universal credit to NHS cuts in finding. Again, the headline says so much more than we could ever say.
‘Brexit’ became associated with unexpected and exciting situations this week. None of them were what Theresa May or arch-Brexiters might have wanted or expected.
EU Chief Negotiator, Michael Barnier, rejected May’s Chequers plan and suggested a counter-proposal himself. He was not the only one to reject May’s Brexit plan. Apart from Labour, DUP leader Arlene Foster, David Davis and other hard-line Brexiters rejected it too.
All this against the backdrop of millions of Leave Voters switching to Remain since the referendum in more compelling evidence for another vote.
To make matters even worse for optimistic Brexiters, China called the UK ‘Washington’s sharksucker’ and accused it of provocation by sending the Royal Navy into the South China Sea. The UK’s support of the US put any post Brexit trade deal at risk, Chinese state authorities confirmed.
With continuing calls for a Scottish Independence vote and a second referendum, the Scottish National Party (SNP) have more paying members than the Conservatives for the first time. Labour still have the largest paying membership.
Membership of the Conservative party wasn’t the only thing that wasn’t growing. After the summer heatwave, farmers became increasingly unhappy with Michael Gove and the government’s inaction with any support.
Just at a time when the NHS faces a severe shortage of nurses, figures show a large percentage of student nurses are dropping out before graduating their courses. This at a time when there are increasing job vacancies and increasing reliance on agency nursing support.
Two environmental stories this week focussed on the letter ‘H’ – humans and hedgehogs.
Humans. We may become extinct. Since every major rise or fall in temperature in the earth’s history has resulted in mass extinction, climate change could be the time for human beings to be no more according to biologists.
Hedgehogs are disappearing fast. In fact most of the countryside is devoid of any at all according to scientists.
If you can’t beat them, join them. Addicted to smartphones? Can’t stop swiping. Road signs could be put on the ground so people looking at their phones can see them and reduce the smart phone accident syndrome.
