“An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool – you bet that Tommy sees!”

 

The ambulance strike has come and gone. So far so good for the taxpaying public. There might be more strikes, there might be a ‘pay deal’: speculation is ripe. ‘Tis noteworthy to observe that, to the astonishment of no one except the headline writer of the Express, ‘999 calls plummeted’ yesterday. The other red tops, the DM excepted, are attacking the PM for being ‘absent’. See for yourselves in the usual place (link). There’s also a proper scandal regarding the Army. More on that below.

So let’s have a look at reports ‘from the front’. The Times’ editors preferred to fill their online front page with a selection of ‘dearie me’ news rather than delve into the strike situation. I’l not link to it because online front pages change during the day. The two papers with ‘Daily’ in their name present a certain amount of ‘strike news’ when one scrolls down a bit. I’ll not mention yon visit of a certain President to the USA. Here is the DT – savour the headlines:

“The day the NHS stood still – but chaos appeared only slightly worse than normalPatients were told to ask themselves: ‘Am I going to die?’ before dialling 999 during first walkouts in more than 30 years” (paywalled link)

Ahem. I was under the impression that ‘The NHS’ was working except for ambulance drivers? That A & E departments were operating, with nurses back from their strike and doctors doing their work? Never mind, that wouldn’t have made a nice headline. Next, see this (my emphasis):

“The disruption was huge. Picket lines blocked ambulances up and down the country in the first national strikes in more than three decades. Such is the current state of the National Health Service that the chaos appeared only slightly worse than normal. Perhaps scared senseless, having been told not to do anything risky, get drunk or drive unnecessarily, the public appeared to get the message on Wednesday. The number of 999 calls plummeted in certain regions hit by the strikes, prompting a warning from health officials that the sick were simply delaying going to hospital. As a consequence, the next few days, including the Christmas weekend, threaten to lead to already strained services becoming fully overwhelmed.” (paywalled link)

Excuse me for being puzzled again: the MSM fear porn, scaring people ‘senseless’, worked nicely but it was the wrong response because the poor Sacred Cow will now become ‘overwhelmed’, yet again, because people keep being ill and falling ill. How inconsiderate!

Meanwhile, the DM has a handful of reports which make quite interesting reading. There was one ‘from the frontlines’ which is far more detailed than the one in the DT. Read it here, the DM’s reports aren’t paywalled. There’s also a report on the proposed legislation stopping emergency service personnel from striking. 

The truly interesting reports though are about the union bosses who’ve called their foot soldiers out to strike. As always in the DM, the headlines provide a summary. First, see this:

“Revealed, six-figure salaries of hard-Left union barons behind ambulance strikes: One is a former Communist, another was kicked out of Labour and a third says she’s ‘open to working at the edges of the law’  –  Unison’s £120k-a-year Christina McAnea was once a Communist Party member  –  Sharon Graham was voted to lead Unite with backing of Socialist Workers Party  –  GMB General Secretary Gary Smith’s £135k pay includes £5,000 ‘car benefits’” (link)

Oh. Now correct me if I’m wrong but I seem to remember that those bosses are being paid out of the contributions of their members. Perhaps union members might ask if their membership contributions might not be reduced, given the plush salaries of their ‘bosses’? Every little helps, innit! Moreover, shouldn’t a lefty union boss be a Net Zero acolyte and make do without a car, saving his members £5,000? There’s more, illustrating the hypocrisy of the left, nicely on display here:

“Union boss misses critical ambulance strike talks with Health Secretary because he is on HOLIDAY – days after he suggested ‘the public would support NHS staff even if disruption led to harm or death’  –  Unite’s Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe had been expected to meet the Health Secretary” (link)

Oh dear. Was he too strapped for cash to pay the cancellation fee for his holidays? What do his members say? It’s ok because ‘he deserves it’ while they freeze on picket lines? Or don’t they mind because the low-level lefties are accustomed to their superiors preaching water while drinking not just wine but champagne?

There’s one other article in the DM which hasn’t been picked up by the other papers. Their reporter actually did some research, asking a question to which we all would like answers:

“So where DOES that £150billion-a-year go? Pie chart breaks down annual NHS expenditure as critics say it could find cash for striking nurses if ailing service stopped wasting billions on tinkering email systems, diversity roles and prescribing paracetamol” (link)

Do check it out. I think however that the pie chart presented could’ve been broken down a bit further. Presumably the chief editors thought that would have been inflammatory and not ‘supportive’ of yon angels in blue.

I leave you with a true scandal which has only made it into The Times. Remember the outcry a short while ago about horrible landlords letting a family with a baby live in conditions where mould was everywhere? Now, under the headline “Military families given £1 to compensate for damp homes” we read (my emphasis):

“Pinnacle, a private contractor, was awarded a £144 million contract in March by the government to manage 49,000 service family homes. It responded to the recent cold weather by setting up an emergency helpline with an automated response that told families to use hot-water bottles or warm flannels. The firm offers compensation in the form of shopping vouchers to those experiencing problems. For much of the year military families whose boilers had broken but who had been provided with portable heaters received a £1 voucher for every 24 hours. Pinnacle has now agreed to increase this to £20 after an outcry. Those whose houses become uninhabitable receive a £25 voucher for every night they have to stay in a hotel, as do those whose ovens break down.” (link, paywalled)

Let that sink in: they get a hotel voucher! Ben Wallace, we’re told, has been meeting those contractors. The Times has printed the weasel words emanating from an MoD spokesman. Why, we might ask, has this scandal suddenly surfaced? Is it because there’s a statement from Labour, showing that they are around even though they’ve carefully kept out of anything to do with the strikes afflicting the NHS and the rest of the country? It’s the usual piffle and posturing, e.g.:

“John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, said: “[…] No more excuses. The defence secretary must get a grip of the problems and get tough on outsourced contractors, so our forces have homes they are happy to live in.” (link, paywalled)

How very caring! It’s of course inconvenient to point out that the MoD also has no money, thanks to the unstinting support for a certain war, leaving our own arms cupboards bare. Far worse though is that this caring Labour person, never mind the caring Wallace, never mind the caring Times reporters don’t mention the true scandal!

Our soldiers get a £25 ‘hotel voucher’ while we are housing illegals in hotels, three-, four-, five-stars, no matter, because MoD barracks aren’t good enough for those poor dears! Our soldiers who are called upon to stand in for nurses and ambulance drivers are expected to put up with housing rejected by ‘refugees’! And why did the Times reporter not ask how many army families have to use food banks? After all, we keep hearing that nurses have to, even though they earn more than soldiers …

I’ll leave it there before I write what I really think, about the Westminster cabal, the hypocrisy of the combined Left, from union bosses to Labour to the ever so supportive MSM. Polite language is too feeble for that.

It’s time to recall Kipling’s poem ‘Tommy’. It was published in 1890. Isn’t it staggering how much progress in treating ‘Tommy’ has been made since then …  As for me, my disgust of the hypocrisy permeating yon Westminster cabal is growing in leaps and bounds. Have a nice day.



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