THE TAXPAYER-FUNDED GOOSE THAT LAYS ITS GOLDEN EGGS

It will never cease to amaze and infuriate my sense of justice that not working due to varying medical conditions can be so financially rewarding.

This textbook example of our country's generosity through taxpayer funding refers to a hospital cleaner who appears to have done little in the way of cleaning.  I certainly can't imagine her mop and bucket saying with all the usual enthusiasm that comes from familiarity,  'Morning mummy, which wards are we cleaning today?'.  The hospital concerned is the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.  Zoe Kitching, the cleaner in question took several periods of sick leave between 2019 and June 2023.    In total, she took 406 days off work during that period, one continuous absence lasting 130 days - that's four and a half months! 

Eighty-five per cent of this time off was apparently due to her disability which comprised of  'anxiety', 'depression' and being 'bipolar'. As Messrs 'Law', 'Best' and 'Charlton' are the Holy Trinity to Manchester United, her three afflictions are to an impending Golden Egg! The report I read stated ZK 'was' bipolar, as opposed to 'is'.  Does it mean the problem has 'cleared up and gone away, or the correspondent doesn't know their tenses from their elbow?  Incidentally, the remaining fifteen per cent of time off work was due to Covid-19, cold and/or flu.  Poor lass, she was put through the mill, wasn't she,  not much passed her by without a sick-note being there for the signing.

Despite meetings with hospital management, none of those to whom she was responsible to, nor answerable to, took on board her 'disabilities'.  There's a surprise!  In fact, an Occupational Health report in 2021 stated she was NOT a disabled person under the Equality Act of 2010.  ZK was duly dismissed in June 2023.  Not good enough apparently, certainly not good enough for those sitting in judgement at this week's tribunal.  The hospital management suffered rapped knuckles, with the judge, one Robert Childes, stating that 'The NHS Trust should have permitted a high level of sickness absence overall and failure to do so was a failure to make adjustments'. The tribunal ruled that it was 'irrational and wrong' to deny ZK's disability status and that she should have been afforded more sick leave. More!!  Obviously 130 days at a time isn't long enough!  Have these judges ever employed staff?  Would they put up with that sort of behaviour from someone in their employ?  ZK represented herself, well she would do, all that time not working, sitting at home with depression and all that goes with it. What better tonic than to 'hone up' your courtroom skills, research the law and take your employers to court.  Anyone in their right mind with genuine problems and a desire to be fair to their employers, would have resigned on the basis that they were not fit to work, thereby granting someone who was not only fit but able to work the opportunity of employment.  Employment that would not only see a regular face within the team of cleaners but a mop and bucket firmly attached to its longstanding human partner, exuding excitement and jollity every working day.  

ZK was awarded £49,147 in damages.  Unbelievable!  With me in charge of the tribunal, an apology by ZK for wasting tribunal time and hospital/taxpayer money would be the first part of the somewhat speedy court proceedings.  This would be followed by a desire to change the law so that similar cases never get further than a daydream. Finally, (some three minutes after the case started its waste of everyone's time),  there would be a summing up word of advice given to the alleged 'victim' to 'get over it' and stop feeling so sorry for themselves!  Still, it paid off for this lady, must be so inspirational for those seeking similar financial gratification in the weeks and months to come, especially in Mr. Starmer's world of even greater employee rights...

 

                         THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE ENTITLED

On the 2nd of December 2024 the British public awoke to the news that a 76 year-old grandmother had been taken ill whilst on holiday in America.  This sort of  occurrence has happened to numerous holidaymakers over many years,  Few instances make the media news unless the unfortunate soul is famous of course.  Most people are responsible, most people take out insurance.  The grandmother in this case, Mrs Patricia Bunting, decided against such peace of mind, and being of an irresponsible nature, certainly on this occasion, and against her daughter's advice, made the trip to Florida hoping that all would be well for the three-week duration.  

By the time news first went to press, PB was already a patient at Orlando Hospital suffering from flu and Covid-19.  The woman has COPD and atrial fibrillation but still decided against insurance on the grounds of cost, quoted at between £3-6000.  To my mind it's quite simple.  If you cannot afford the insurance, you cannot afford the holiday.  The same analogy can be applied to one's car, though many motorists fail to understand that one either!

Slow forward to the 14th January and PB is still in hospital seven weeks after being taken ill in her hotel.  She travelled with her two sons aged 40 and 42, plus her grandson aged 23.  What didn't go unnoticed was the reference in the papers to the fact that both her boys are unemployed and that the grandson is autistic.  What the former tells us is that the taxpayers have probably paid for the offspring's trip to Disneyworld,  If that is not the case and mummy has paid, then instead of accepting a freebie, they should have clubbed together and bought insurance!  Who in their right mind at PB's age and existing medical conditions  would even contemplate travelling more than five miles outside of Wigan without insurance?   Surely a day excursion into the great metropolis that is Manchester would require insurance?  You could without fear of exaggeration probably add flak-jacket, bullet-proof vest and bodyguard, we are talking about the North after all!  Quite what the grandson's autism has to do with the price of eggs is anyone's guess. Though if I had to, it would be to guess that a sympathy vote was needed in order to bring a hearty 'Well done', an 'awwww'... Anything really that smacks of empathy with mental illness in all its variant forms.

Only days before (Friday 10th January), daughter Emma announce to a less than sympathetic world that her mother was being repatriated on a medical flight due to leave the USA on Tuesday, 14th Jan.  Monday 13th, however, came the news that there were complications and she would not be leaving hospital that day and no return date was imminent.  

So, what do you do when there is no pot of gold to act as back-up come a rainy day or emergency?  No stash of cash from hard-working sons who turn up trumps when the going gets tough for their 'Lets-wing-it-and-hope-bugger-all-goes-wrong' mother?  No distant aunty in some far-flung flood-ridden,  disease-ridden or God-forbidden African or other third-world country - though  Mablethorpe's also a possibility - who has recently died and left them a family fortune?  Answer?  You ask the public to pay by setting up a GoFundMe page!  Unbelievable!  What concerns me more than the matriarch's foolishness and total lack of responsibility - and at her age, she really should know better - is that donations to the tune of over £40,000 have been garnered from those who have more money than sense and who,  by their very action of giving to this extremely unworthy cause, make the process of pointless charity easier to start for the next case of 'decision without responsibility'.  I wish PB well and hope she pulls through, but really, that £40.000+ could have gone to real cases of need - animal welfare for instance,  a local hospice,  a model railway club...

Sadly. no-one wants to be responsible for their actions, it is the way of the world.  Let someone else pay, from taxpayer funded benefits and donations from Blighty to American taxpayers' subsidies through hospital funding.  Such is modern society, even more so 'up north'!

I wonder if they still have 'Trouble up their mill'? 

 

                            PUTIN AND TRUMP - THE DEADLY DUO!

Not long now until Donald Trump in inaugurated once more as President of the United States of America.  He became the 45th President on the 20th January 2017 and on the 20th of this month, America's 47th.  I wonder how many people saw that coming in 2021 as Mr. Biden took to the stage?  I currently wonder as to where the world is going given the ambitions of both DT and VP?  Neither being of a shy and retiring nature, it is possible that a more peaceful future can be found with the incoming American President.  He has met the Russian Head of State during his previous term which may be cause for some comfort to those foreseeing a rather dismal future for world peace.  The fly in the territorial ointment is Mr. Trump's desire to control the Panama Canal, incorporate Canada within the USA and buy Greenland from the Danes!  His publicly-made-known ambitions, or tick-boxes on a bucket list have inflamed the Panamanians, outraged the Canadians and worried the good people of both Greenland and Denmark.  Not ruling out taking control of the Panama Canal or Greenland by forceful means doesn't make for greater peaceful confidence either.

I have previously commented that the United Kingdom needs DT on board,  He is at least pro-British, unlike the current incumbent - pro-Irish and fairly anti-British.  DT's Scottish roots may have a lot to do with it, but it doesn't stop the man from being a child-like bully whose basic mentality has never risen above that of a 5 year-old in a school playground.  

When you stand back and look at both men, are they that different?  Both are proud of their respective countries and will fight for their sovereignty as any mother would defend her offspring whenever trouble - perceived or tangible - raises its head.  Very laudable - I wish the UK had a leader who fought for our country with the same fervour and passion.  Sadly, the days of Mr. Gorbachev, perestroika and glasnost have long departed the Russian scene.  The 'old guard' has re-emerged as a force not only to be reckoned with politically, but to take control either through physical force or intimidation and mischievous acts during neighbouring countries elections. The aim being to de-stabilise the country, their democracy and ultimately control the future of a newly-formed alliance.  Can the same principle of control not be put at DT's doorstep?

I remember back in my own secondary school - Spencer Park on Wandsworth Common - I asked a teacher what the difference was between a communist regime and that of a dictator.  The reply was something to the effect that communists control by committee and a dictator controls by himself.  Have things changed?  Is that a fair assessment and appropriate today?  I think so, especially when you note the closeness of allies and family that make up DT's new government.  It is natural to surround oneself with people one trusts, but DT does seem to make it appear as close to an inbred 'Norfolk' family as one can imagine.  Note:  For readers abroad and maybe not familiar with the County of Norfolk, situated in East Anglia, England,  they never say 'Give me five, they always say 'Give me six!'. Or...  'When arrested for a potential crime, the police never bother with DNA because they all possess identical genes.  Or ...   'Norfolk is a wonderful county, a population of 2 million people yet only 83 surnames!'.

But I digress...  Musing, as I do, wouldn't we be proud as a nation if a British Prime Minister were to announce that our army was about to invade France, and consider it as a new territory to be 'replenished' with souls either unwelcome or unwanted in the Motherland!  For example, the immediate removal and re-settlement of channel hopping migrants, all prisoners serving more than six months, anti-social families who make their neighbours life a misery, all owners of XL Bully's and other 'trophy' dogs that make up in size that that is lacking in their owner's penis and anyone who frankly isn't 'English' enough in class or diction to remain here and contribute to the raising of the next generation!

Musing further however, and getting back to the 'Despotic Duo', I can't imagine anybody raising a hand in objection if either one announced they were annexing Croydon or Slough.  Just a round of applause and a universal cry of 'About time!', I'd imagine.  One can dream...

                       ONLY FOUR+ YEARS TO THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION

I commented previously that we needed a Labour government for a number of reasons.  One, in order to wake the Tories out of their corporate malaise, their arrogance, their lack of direction and performance.  Two, to address their trustworthiness, honesty and ability to follow through the policies on which much store was put by the electorate, who loyally voted for them over several general and local elections. 

Sadly, the Tories appear to have learnt little thus far into Labour's term in office.  A Tory (of unknown or forgotten status) recently opined that those who voted Reform cost the Tories in last July's election.  Wrong, dear boy!  It was the Tories who cost the Tory Party their chance of continuing in government. It was theirs to win, not lose.  The opposition wasn't exactly everybody's cup of Yorkshire tea.  Remember, only 37% of the voting electorate put their cross against a Labour candidate, not exactly an overwhelming vote of conviction or confidence.  Is it not plain to the Tories by now that if they hadn't been so weak and gutless on the continuing issues regarding Law and Order, Immigration, the NHS, Policing, Care and the Environment, they would still be in power as I write and there would be no need of a Reform Party!

Having taken an interest in politics since my late teens, I look back - and not through rose-tinted glasses - and I can honestly say, it is difficult to recall such a thoroughly nasty group of people at ministerial level currently leading this country.  Rarely, over a new government's first six months in office, have so many major decisions been made that have led to such universal antagonism.  From Sir Keir Starmer, alongside the 'Three Witches of Westminster', down through the pecking order of ministerial positions, there isn't one who shines as a decent and seemingly caring member of the Labour government.  How long were they sat in the doldrums of politics, the desert of political importance?  Long enough to come into power with policies that would see action taken on important areas of society within a short period of 'bedding in'.  Wes Streeting, the Minister for Health, is looking at 2028 before announcing much needed reform to the crumbling 'Care' provision and associated services.  The release of prisoners so that we can lock up more prisoners did not go down well with the general public, and rightly so.  The Labour government displayed all the imagination and empathy of a party out of touch with its citizens before its first month of tenure had elapsed. 

From the pensioners' fuel support being discontinued,  tax rises for both business and the working public, to car tax increases and National Insurance increases for businesses across the board, this ghastly mix of cohorts have little in common with what one would perceive as 'Socialist' values.  

The north-west of England, Lancashire in particular, has been a hotspot for the sexual grooming of young girls in care.  Mainly perpetrated by men of Asian 'heritage', as the left like to refer to them,  (They're still Asian!), various committees have concluded that many a blind eye was turned by the police, social services and other interested parties due to the 'race factor', which would have raised its embarrassingly coloured head.  Oldham Council want the government to hold a public enquiry.  Jess Phillips, the Safeguarding Minister who is extremely lightweight and 'to the left of public opinion',  has blocked their request by responding that it's a 'local matter'!  It's a racial matter, and that's the last thing the Labour Party wish to be involved with.  Think of the loss of Asian votes, especially from the Muslim population, it's what keeps Labour in power in Lancashire.  Mosques, Mayors and Martyrs!   Oh!  -  and Mohammad, the most popular boy's name registered in England last year. Does that not tell you something?  Can you picture another summer of discontent, race riots, looting and other unseemly, ungentlemanly behaviour?  I wouldn't rule it out.  The country is a tinder-box just waiting to be set alight, suppression on grounds of race does not make a problem disappear.

Elon Musk is,  as I have previously stated,  not someone I would invite round for afternoon tea. Such are his unnecessary comments on the aforementioned Jess Phillips, ('She should be jailed', Musk says!), that I wouldn't even share a bag of pork scratchings with the all-powerful but socially ill-mannered and meddling oik.  Wealth does not equate to class.  Nigel Farage would do well to distance himself totally from the man who would interfere and, more worryingly, undermine our democracy and social stability given half a line on Twatter!

The United Kingdom needs America, it therefore needs Donald Trump to be on our side and as an ally, that Musk character is an entirely different kettle of jellyfish...