The Sun King Louis XIV – the idol of our ruling classes, believing they’re his modern-day versions

 

Well, there we are: despite the humiliating scenes of the Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, especially after the Kabul Airport massacre, the current news reveal a glaring picture of delusions of grandeur. It’s just another facet of the same mindset shared by those demanding more pay for GPs. The ‘Exclusive’ in yesterday’s DT on that issue caught my attention. I promised to write about this astonishing demand today.

But before I get to that, here’s a brief look at that first facet of delusional grandeur. We read that Biden has ordered a drone strike in retaliation for that ISIS-K terrorist act (link) which ‘took out’ one of their leaders. Success, innit. I wonder if the parents of all those US Marines who died will ask the Pentagon why, he wasn’t ‘taken out’ before the massacre – they obviously knew that leader’s location.

Cynical old me however thinks that we’ve not been given evidence that this drone strike actually did take out an ISIS-K leader. It could have been anyone. Still, we’re expected to believe the Pentagon. Of course, I won’t even think of voicing my suspicion that this drone strike was done with the agreement of the Taliban – that would be wrong, wouldn’t it!

Interestingly, this ‘news’ reminds me of the customary reports from the police and secret services here in the UK who tell us every time, after a terrorist attack on our soil, that the perpetrators had been known to the authorities. Never have we received an answer though why nothing had been done to prevent them from committing their crimes.

Keen readers of the MSM will have noted that the DM published a report last night, about BJ planning a drone strike to take out ISIS-K leaders:

“The UK was last night plotting the elimination of Isis-K leaders responsible for the Kabul atrocity as it emerged that two British nationals and the child of another Briton were among at least 170 killed in the attack. Ministers said they were prepared to ‘take action’ to deal with the terror threat as the death toll continued to rise following the suicide bomb blast which signalled the biggest single loss of American troops in Afghanistan for a decade.” (link)

Did they really, those ‘ministers’? Since the US undertook that strike reported later, we might ask if this was preemptive posturing by BJ, given fully to delusions of grandeur. Did the Pentagon tell him not to be silly – or did they take the intelligence data our lot had prepared? Can we expect another  drone strike in a ‘MeToo’ attempt to display military prowess – or is this more hot air coming from our government?

In any case, it’s not just delusional – it’s dangerously delusional. One hopes that the joint intelligence service chiefs will point out to BJ and his ministers that retaliatory terrorist attacks are not precisely unknown, and that they cannot be prevented given the influx of unchecked Afghan refugees since nobody knows how many islamic terrorists are hiding amongst them.

And so to that other facet of delusional grandeur: the demand for a pay rise for GPs. This is to reward them for running more online ‘consultations’, you understand. Funny that the mandarins, always so eager to tell the MSM writers that, sadly, there’s no money, haven’t come out of hiding regarding that demand.

It must be because they recognise the grandeur of the GPs, or at least the leaders of GPs, the BMA and the Royal College of GPs, which is similar to their own. Those who are not ‘grand’ are the leaders of campaign groups for the elderly. Remember the the gossip placed by ‘sources’ about Sunak going to remove that triple lock on state pensions because a rise by wage increase of 8% would be unfair and “we” have no money?  

Before I wade into this swamp, a disclaimer: not all GPs are like this and many have done their best to help their patients, covid or not. Still – the evidence we saw provided since March last year shows that the vast majority were happy to ‘follow guidance’ and not see patients. 

Now to the reason for the GPs’ request, namely that they are overburdened with the demands of seeing patients as well as doing online consultations. While some NHS managers are trying to ‘give guidance’ that every patient who wants to see their GP face to face ought to be able to do so, we learn that, surprise surprise, GPs are also getting a box-ticking reward for online consultations: 

“GPs will receive pay boosts for carrying out online consultations under an NHS deal, as new data show the number of face-to-face consultations is falling. […] Before Covid, 80 per cent of GP appointments were face-to-face, official figures show. It follows a rise in earnings which saw average GP pay top £100,000 before tax and expenses in 2019/20, with an increase of 11 per cent in four years.” (paywalled link)

I can’t help thinking that, given that many elderly who have no access to online services but need to see their GPs the most, they are perhaps ‘triaged out’ of GPs surgeries. After all, seeing them takes up so much time and treating them is expensive. GPs will receive even more money because:

“The NHS plans will also see GPs receive a share of a £16 million fund for reducing the percentage of patients forced to wait at least two weeks to see a GP. These targets will not be introduced until 2022/23.” (paywalled link)

The dehumanisation of our medical services, especially that provided by the first port of call, the GPs, couldn’t be described better: it’s about GPs ticking boxes, not about helping the sick. And then there’s this:

“Next month, medics at the British Medical Association’s annual conference will say GPs should be allowed to “dictate the pace of a return to ‘business as usual’.”(paywalled link)

Nice, isn’t it: give us your money but don’t tell us how we should provide the service you pay for. Here’s their justification:

“Dr Krishna Kasaraneni, GP committee executive team member at the British Medical Association, said: “It’s therefore disingenuous for politicians and NHS England to have, on the one hand, publicly admonished GPs for supposedly not offering enough face-to-face appointments, while setting targets to increase online consultations on the other.” Prof Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “While consultation rates can be variable, we cannot escape the fact that volume and complexity of GP workload is growing but our GP workforce is not big enough to manage an ageing and growing population.” (paywalled link)

That ‘GP work force’ is certainly not big enough because most of them don’t work full time:

“A big factor in GP availability is part-time work. A lot of doctors work less than the standard 37.5 hour week; almost 90 per cent of salaried GPs work less than full time.” (link, paywalled)

We have to have a heart for them though! According to the BMA they work part time because they need “to shield themselves from the strains of a stressful job” (link, paywalled) such as box-ticking, and of course there’s the ‘life-work’ balance which is so important, especially for the majority of GPs who are now female.

I’ll point out in conclusion that the shibboleth of an ‘ageing population’ won’t work any longer because, thanks to the influx of dinghy people (another 800 came yesterday, apparently) and now Afghan refugees the population is certainly being rejuvenated and that many of that ‘ageing population’ have died thanks to covid.

I wonder how the box-ticking GPs will deal with all those ‘new’ people who will of course demand and receive free medical treatment – paid for by us. Will these ‘new people’ be happy with ‘virtual consultations’? Somehow I don’t think so! I predict that the burden of seeing the doctor only online will fall on us because the GPs need to keep ticking those ‘virtual consultation boxes’ earning them money.That’s only fair, innit!

I leave you with a piece of news which puts an extra gloss on the disdain in which the mandarins hold us, the paying public. Remember the outcry when Mr Raab dared not to come back immediately from his holidays? Now we learn that his top mandarin, Sir Philip Barton, “only returned from his two-week holiday on Thursday. He is said to have been in daily contact with the department during his break.” (link, paywalled). That’s all right then – he was WFH where the ‘H’ stands for ‘holidays’. 

From Afghanistan to GP surgeries: ‘tis a shambles, beautifully gilded by those who are clearly suffering from delusions of grandeur. Never mind – we’ll pay for it, won’t we!

Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend and 

KBO!

 

 

 

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