UK News and Discussions

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

New diagnostic centres open in ‘biggest private expansion since Blair’ - as NHS waiting lists at all-time high

Jimmy Nsubuga
Fri, 4 August 2023 at 3:30 pm BST

The government has turned to the private sector in a bid to cut NHS waiting lists which are at an all-time high.

The Tories have announced that 13 new community diagnostic centres (CDCs) will open across England to carry out an additional 742,000 scans, checks and tests per year - eight of which will be operated by the private sector.

While more than half of the centres will be privately operated, services will be free to patients – and five will be run by the NHS, the government said.

The private sector expansion in the NHS has been dubbed the largest since Tony Blair was prime minister between 1994 to 2007.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/new-diagnosti ... 14021.html

[Time_Traveller]

Eddie Izzard launches campaign to become Labour MP in Brighton

2023-08-05 08:16

Eddie Izzard has launched a campaign to be elected as the Labour MP for a Brighton constituency.

The comedian, 61, announced her intention to join the race to become the party’s candidate for Brighton Pavilion on Friday.

The seat has been held since 2010 by the only Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, who is standing down at the next general election.

It is Izzard’s latest attempt to enter Westminster politics after she last year tried unsuccessfully to become Labour’s candidate for Sheffield Central.

In a video on her campaign website, Izzard said: “Brighton is a city at the forefront of change and I want to help it to continue to make that change.”

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/polit ... on-353982/

I would prefer the Greens to win as if they lose they would also lose a voice in the government.

[Time_Traveller]

Government reviving plans to send migrants to Ascension Island

2023-08-07 07:13

The Government is reportedly considering reviving plans to fly people who arrive to the UK by unauthorised means to Ascension Island.

Multiple reports say ministers and officials are considering the island as a “plan B” if the scheme to send migrants to Rwanda fails.

The small, volcanic island could host an asylum processing centre in an attempt to reduce the number of small boats crossing the Channel.

Where is Ascension Island?

Ascension Island is a British Overseas Territory, located about 4,000 miles from the UK and situated in the South Atlantic Ocean.

It is east of Brazil and west of Angola.

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/polit ... eAlHV1j_-U

[erowind]

.

[Powers]

Ascension Island sounds like the perfect place for a concentration camp :/

A prison for sure.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Latest polling given to Channel 4 news, based on 11,000 people.

This would surpass even Blair's landslide of 1997:

[Time_Traveller]

Latest polling given to Channel 4 news, based on 11,000 people.

This would surpass even Blair's landslide of 1997:

I'd love to see the Tories permanently wiped out and see the Lib Dems replace them.

[wjfox]

I'd love to see the Tories permanently wiped out and see the Lib Dems replace them.

Only way that could realistically happen is by shifting from FPTP to PR, which seems unlikely to happen anytime soon, unfortunately.

I think instead we'll see a gradual waning of the Boomer generation, which should be largely complete by 2050-60, and then Labour will probably have become the dominant party, with Lib Dems increasing their share, as today's younger generations are likely to remain Left-leaning in their later years.

[Time_Traveller]

This is based on the predicted seats poll post from Will.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Starmer ‘ditches commitment to Ulez-style clean air zones across country’

14 hours ago

Sir Keir Starmer has backtracked on Labour’s commitment to introduce clean air zones across the UK, according to reports, following the party’s failure to win the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election.

A statement confirming support for the zones has reportedly been scored out from the party’s programme, despite London mayor Sadiq Khan vowing to press ahead with the plans to expand the capital’s ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez).

The Ulez charges drivers money based on their vehicle’s emissions, with protests taking place across the city against the controversial scheme.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 92162.html

[Time_Traveller]

Starmer ‘ditches commitment to Ulez-style clean air zones across country’

14 hours ago

Sir Keir Starmer has backtracked on Labour’s commitment to introduce clean air zones across the UK, according to reports, following the party’s failure to win the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election.

A statement confirming support for the zones has reportedly been scored out from the party’s programme, despite London mayor Sadiq Khan vowing to press ahead with the plans to expand the capital’s ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez).

The Ulez charges drivers money based on their vehicle’s emissions, with protests taking place across the city against the controversial scheme.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 92162.html

Starmer doesn't know what he's doing does he?

[Powers]

Starmer doesn't know what he's doing does he?

Captivating the climate-sceptic vote.

[Time_Traveller]

A three part look at Ofcom in 2023 Britain – Part One

Ben Watters documents the erosion of Ofcom’s powers and berates Ofcom for approving GB News

24 August 2023

Part One: Ofcom fails to adapt to new media landscape and loses credibility by approving GB News.

The media dynamic in the UK is a funny old thing to describe to those not particularly familiar with it. Progressive Brits – even those with only a passing interest in politics from day to day – could talk for hours about the uncontrolled hell-scape of our print media. The myriad of Murdoch-owned tabloids and broadsheets that essentially publish nonsense and falsehoods, drive division and have set a right-wing narrative for decades which continues to this day. However, when it comes to television, the sector has been governed for decades by a different set of independent regulatory authorities than those in the print media sector – the latest of which being, since 2003, the Office of Communications (Ofcom).

The regulatory duties of Ofcom are vast and apply to a multitude of television stations, programmes, presenters etc. But broadly speaking a consistent and important responsibility of all independent television regulators since back in the 1950s was to ensure that broadcasters were politically impartial in their presentation. And, quite frankly, Ofcom, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and the Independent Television Commission (ITC) among others have all done a broadly decent job in this regulation. Comparing the television landscape to that in the United States currently – where networks such as Fox News are completely free to be unabashedly biased and inaccurate as they wish with no real oversight – to the UK has always seemed like night and day. Our political distribution issues were with print media, theirs with broadcast media – that’s always been the dynamic.

https://westenglandbylines.co.uk/news/m ... ZSHYAwO7hE

[weatheriscool]

[Powers]

That's the norm here.

[Time_Traveller]

Nadine Dorries formally quits as Mid Bedfordshire MP as by-election test looms for Rishi Sunak

Tuesday 29 August 2023

Nadine Dorries has formally quit as an MP after the Treasury confirmed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has appointed her to an archaic role used to quit the Commons.

It comes after the former culture secretary finally handed in her resignation over the weekend, with a by-election now set to be scheduled in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency.

She has now been appointed as Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern - a mechanism used for MPs to resign their post.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats are already campaigning for the seat, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak facing the prospect of another difficult electoral test for the Conservatives in a nominally safe constituency.

https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2023-08 ... test-looms

[erowind]

That's the norm here.

The irony of this article complaining about “weeds” in a photo of grass planted by humans simply growing tall enough to flower is not lost on me.