IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Dec 3, 2023 10:19:54 GMT
Yes it's changed and not for the better Consultants secretaries outrank nurses. 16 week wait monitoring etc, outrank even senior nurses. most admin staff think they outrank nurses Consultants having secretaries?! If only...
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Dec 3, 2023 10:16:20 GMT
This I am afraid is entirely typical of how professionals are treated in today's NHS. Are you suggesting manager types are treated better than consultants? Perhaps things have changed in this regard but 30 years ago, there was a very visible hierarchy. Consultants and profs were treated like Gods, next other doctors, then trainee doctors, technical staff and finally nurses and right at the bottom the auxiliary nurse. Certainly in my hospital I see there is a car park dedicated to "Doctors only". Needless to say unless you're a doctor it is very difficult to get a space. Perhaps the nurses and indeed managers have another carpark for them but I haven't seen it. I suggest the poor quality room RM's friend had to stay in was down to the state of the hospital buildings. Many of which now are indeed approaching 3rd world. Consultants' car parks have been long abolished in most places - consultants are lower on the list for a parking space than most other staff now. Definitely not the case that it is harder to get a space if you aren't a doctor - the opposite is true. There are a few spaces for on call doctors, if they haven't been parked in by someone else. And yes, "manager types" are now treated better than consultants, since manager types make all the rules. Things have changed over 30 years - massively.
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IFISAcava
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General P2x Discussion
Axia Funder
Nov 29, 2023 12:02:34 GMT
Post by IFISAcava on Nov 29, 2023 12:02:34 GMT
What is the current thinking that you may be exposed to more than you invested via Axia Funder? I remember that this was raised initially as an unlikely but possible risk of getting involved in litigation funding (and the spectre of the UB case raises its ugly head here).
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Nov 29, 2023 11:28:35 GMT
A friend of mine (orthopedic surgeon) was on call last night at a major London hospital. He was staying in an "on-call room" (think Travelodge but nasty) at the hospital. The room was unheated. This I am afraid is entirely typical of how professionals are treated in today's NHS.
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Nov 27, 2023 16:33:03 GMT
Can anyone login to Brickowner? I can't login to 2 different accounts. I know it's usually a complete waste of time, but I do like to check the accounts occasionally. yes, can get in fine. As you say, I don't like what I see when I get there, but that's another matter.
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Nov 24, 2023 20:42:20 GMT
Economic, cultural, geographical and financial system reasons make it extremely unlikely in my opinion. His voter base was pretty specific and it reads to me as a protest vote rather than one driving a desire to debase the nation's stability long term. Apparently VVD is refusing to even discuss participating in a coalition which only leaves 27 seats between the other 2 preferred coalition partners (NSC and BBB) which will still leave him far short of house majority. In any case, there's a recent case study dispelling any rumours that leaving the EU = automatically taking back control of borders so limited fuel from that rhetoric. It will be interesting to see what happens next. So another great victory for PR? Absolutely a victory for PR. The eventual government will be a coalition that represents most of the electorate's views.
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Nov 24, 2023 15:14:48 GMT
The first line of that source: "A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total." I agree that majority CAN be used in terms of the winner of an individual seat in a FPTP system (even if that is probably a mathematically incorrect usage and plurality would be better if less than 50%), but it is NEVER used in terms of a parliamentary system. We refer to a hung parliament, or no overall control, or minority government then, we absolutely do not call the largest party the winner of a majority. Well, we absolutely DO use that usage in parliamentary terms. This MP got 46% of the vote in his seat. His majority was 2,500 votes. The Conservatives got 365 seats out of 650 at the last election. This gives them a majority of 80 seats. I mean we never use "majority" UNLESS they have 50%+1 in a parliament, but we do use it (probably mathematically incorrectly) when someone wins an indivdual seat but with les than 50%. We are saying the same thing.
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Nov 24, 2023 14:56:38 GMT
Perhaps you overlooked this paragraph right at the start of your source's definition of majority? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MajorityIn British English the term "majority" is also alternatively used to refer to the winning margin, i.e., the number of votes separating the first-place finisher from the second-place finisher. Other related terms containing the word "majority" have their own meanings, which may sometimes be inconsistent in usage.The first line of that source: "A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total." I agree that majority CAN be used in terms of the winner of an individual seat in a FPTP system (even if that is probably a mathematically incorrect usage and plurality would be better if less than 50%), but it is NEVER used in terms of a parliamentary system. We refer to a hung parliament, or no overall control, or minority government then, we absolutely do not call the largest party the winner of a majority.
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Nov 24, 2023 0:02:38 GMT
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Nov 23, 2023 20:25:09 GMT
Yet another example of how a proportional electoral system gives both representation and stability. Netherlands PM Rutte wins a fourth term, his party is the largest one with 35/150 seats, and he leads a fourth consecutive government that is representative of the majority of people's views. Mature, effective and consensual democracy, unlike the sham we have here of huge Parliamentary majorities allowing the imposition of policies supported by only a minority of the electorate. www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/17/netherlands-election-mark-rutte-on-course-to-win-fourth-term Veteran anti-Islam populist leader Geert Wilders has won a dramatic victory in the Dutch general election, based on a manifesto that includes: - zero net imigration
- ban the Koran
- referendum on leaving the EU
The only problem is that while it was an overwhelming victory, under the Dutch PR system he is only expected to receive 37 out of 150 seats. I guess all the supporters of PR on these boards will be watching with interest to see developments. Could it be fair and reasonable that a party that achieves an overwhelming majority at an election doesn't get into government? He got 23.6% of the votes. That is not an overwhelming victory and certainly not an overwhelming majority! So yes, it is a very fair and reasonable outcome that he needs to find parties representing a larger proportion of the electorate's votes if he wants to govern.
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Nov 21, 2023 11:25:45 GMT
One absolutely unforgiveable aspect of the UK system is that all of the tapers (child benefit, personal allowance, child care, pension, other benefits, etc etc) plus student loan repayments give absolutely ridiculous marginal rates that cannot but be massive disincentives for work. 71%-96% marginal rates.
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Nov 21, 2023 1:26:17 GMT
Inheritance tax is the most hated tax in Britain and it's time to scrap it. This sums it up for me... "It raises little in proportion to other taxes and there is no moral justification to tax an individual on their death. The argument that inheritance tax is only paid by 3.7% of the population is neither here nor there. The fact remains that it is a pernicious money-grab by the state. Why should the state benefit from the assets of a dead person?" - Guardian Letters: www.theguardian.com/money/2023/sep/28/will-ditching-inheritance-tax-make-british-society-a-fairer-placesure, but then we should have some sort of wealth tax, as I don't think we have the balance right at the moment. We levy too much tax on work (income tax and national insurance) which inhibits productivity, and not enough on accumulated wealth (mostly property) which stimulates inactivity. Scrap stamp duty, which is avoidable by not moving and is a tax on mobility so is inefficient and again inhibits productivity, scrap (or more realistically reduce, so that people actually don't bother avoiding it) inheritance tax, and levy an annual land value tax. Of course it will never happen, no one would ever be elected promising to raise property taxes even if they lowered other taxes.
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Nov 15, 2023 22:35:50 GMT
To be fair, Labour are a bunch of clowns too. I mean, Rayner/Momentum, really? As I have opined before, NONE of them are fit for office. A whole New Centrist Party might fit the bill, and I don't think that's Reform or anyone else at the moment either. What a very, very sad and hopeless position we are in. It is one of the major defects of a FPTP system: it makes evolution of the party structure incredibly difficult. Emergence of new parties with new alignments is near impossible. Certainly relative to many non-FPTP setups. There is a huge amount of built in hysteresis. The last time a credible new national party emerged was the SDP. Formed in 1981. 42 years ago. And it no longer exists, having merged with an incumbent only 7 years later. As long as the voting system remains as it is, we are pretty much limited to the parties we have, and the best we can hope for is they reformulate themselves. which is an appropriately scathing demonstration of the anti-democracy that is FPTP. the UK gets all it deserves in its politics by sticking with this antediluvian voting system. yet again my recent vote was utterly meaningless, living as I do in a safe Labour ward/council/constituency. And, quite disgracefully, the Tories forced the very minimal improvement we had in mayoral votes for the last 20 years or so (two votes, a first and second choice) to be scrapped. All for the narrow party political reason that they usually get fewer of the second choice votes.
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Nov 7, 2023 13:47:10 GMT
"it was considered" - give me a break - it is not rocket science to get a property valuation and to estimate the liquidity! I am confused about the relationship between the farmhouse and the cottages - whatever we have clearly been shafted here and this borrower is laughing at us... This is the 20% LTV loan where they forgot to get the first charge done and said they would stand by lenders. Shafted indeed. At least I can now completely close my FS book as this was the last overhanging loan. Amazingly I ended up with a reasonable 4 figures profit overall. Capital loss was a smidgen over 20% of interest/secondary market gain.
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IFISAcava
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Post by IFISAcava on Oct 30, 2023 14:56:44 GMT
Exactly. GP in its current state is not sustainable. It may look well paid, but there’s a reason nobody wants to do it in the U.K. for these rates. Doctor pay has dropped 30 - 40% in real terms over 10 years., whilst working conditions worsened. If we want to have doctors as part of our medical workforce in this country (trust me, we do) then pay and conditions will have to improve. Except that they do. 3 times more applicants than places in 2022. Tell the care workers who have to clean elderly behinds for a living that £163,000 is not enough for GPs. www.ft.com/content/3f8c35ed-e7b6-4f96-b965-a2b97bee45cc1. Medicine at university is less oversubscribed than it used to be relative to other subjects. 2. A far higher proportion of people qualifying in medicine do not stay in UK clinical medicine than ever before. 3. I know many GPs. None earn that figure. Salaried GPs (which is an increasing proportion) are on less than half that. A GP partner is running a business and may or may not get that figure a) if they work full time (50-60 hours/week), which many do not b) if they can fill posts in their practice on the reimbursed rates, which many can't and c) if they can make the financial sums add up, with the result that d) they often end up with much less profit and much higher than full time work to make the business function. 4. Experienced doctors are retiring early. That is slightly better now since they belatedly changed the pension rules, but they already haemorrhaged plenty of doctors by waiting too long to do it. 5. Doctors are highly qualified and have options. You may think they receive a high salary and it is "enough", but real terms salaries in NHS medicine are down much more than comparable professions, and if the NHS working environment is sh*t and the market will pay them more elsewhere (different country or different work setting) then they won't stay. They aren't staying. Recruitment is a nightmare in many places. 6. It is obvious where this is going: medicine is becoming a devalued profession, the NHS is becoming a second rate service, people will increasingly opt for private healthcare as a top up to the NHS. As long as you are happy with that, then fine. If not - you can't just beat doctors up emotionally, financially and verbally - you have to work to retain them and that includes improved NHS T&Cs (and a proper pay review system). Oh, and 7) none of this is relevant to care workers, who are underpaid and deserve every penny they get for difficult and draining work.
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