Re: Brexit - Time to scrap it and start again?
Originally Posted by
caratacus
It is disgusting how the National Health Service has become a political football and yet at other times it gets forgotten about until signs of a crisis emerge, when it recieve knee jerk reactions by those in government.
I do agree here, i dare it happened prior, but i think it was since the early 2000s, the NHS became 'the' political smoking gun to be used and abused by Government and opposition at times of crisis in a very interesting and stilted way. Essentially, despite the NHS being able to 'make or break' at Elections (and indeed it has done), between that and crisis (and here essentially both government and opposition are slow to recognize the problem and then spin it so much in both attack and defense that an effective solution tends to be lost in the politics of necessity) it is left to its own devices. PFI at long last, for instance has been recognized politically as a mistake, and we had even the Conservatives rolling back on this somewhat (Though that was prior to the 'drop everything and lets fail at implementing brexit for three years), but its taken, what a decade or so? Publicly funded healthcare on the model of the NHS has a lot of benefits, it is better than average compared to the other 'top 11' developed states, and indeed for some reports outstrips the rest in most areas (I actually have 0 idea about China's healthcare set-up, so i'm sticking to western comparisons), but it has issues and it needs to be 're-orientated' in terms of its service scope for an ageing population, for instance more focus on mental health and well-being as well as management conditions i would expect- though i haven't bothered to read the entirety of the King's report yet... some things i really have to be in the mood for.. But it needs government input, not merely fleeting 'hit and runs' by all sides.
On another aspect of the state visit, anybody notice how much more relaxed and comfortable Corbyn seemed yelling at the anti Trump protest meeting, than the time he is in Westminster as leader of the opposition, where he seems almost like a man held hostage. It is essentially what he has always done in his political career and significantly at odds with the role he is now playing.
Totally agree here, i think its something we both spotted in 2017 too iirc. Corbyn is a sterling campaigner. 2017 proved that, as while Tory screw-ups helped, Labours vote share rose higher (insanely so from the lead the Tories had) compared to how the Tories fell (which was mostly to lib-dems). He campaigns and demos better than any other politician.
However, he's sort of wasted as Labour leader (as weird as that sounds maybe), Westminster is stuffy and by all accounts crass. Corbyn doesn't deliver 'knock out' blows in a Parliamentary context (PMQ's for instance) that are expected because he's uncomfortable, his 'cover' for this (or a less of cynic might say morality- i'm open to either) was the 'kinder politics' of no personal attacks... which doesn't work in that environment. He'd be far better on the ground, make him the center-piece of a traditional Labour platform for GE's, let him do rallies while someone else leads the party, that way indeed Labour may have shored themselves up against the negative press coverage for Corbyn as he's not leader, while also getting all the benefit of a relatively unscathed, but great campaigner who could be transported around the country. However, i get that there was at the time no one else to do this, but i do believe Corbyn when he says he doesn't want to be PM, especially not for more than a term...which is also an issue lets be honest .
But aye, you can see his natural environment, his skill set is being poorly used...by himself ironically. Though i would not be surprised if after the 'reforms' of the parliamentary labour party are finished that would open it up to the input to its more traditional voting membership, he steps down in the near future.
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