jean
Madrigal Member
Posts: 8,546
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Post by jean on Aug 30, 2017 7:31:41 GMT
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Post by aubrey on Aug 31, 2017 14:17:50 GMT
Where the hell's Exco?
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jean
Madrigal Member
Posts: 8,546
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Post by jean on Aug 31, 2017 14:53:43 GMT
Printing money.
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Post by aubrey on Aug 31, 2017 15:21:03 GMT
I hope so.
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excoriator
Madrigal Member
nearly a genius
Posts: 37,165
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Post by excoriator on Aug 31, 2017 19:47:47 GMT
The state can produce as much money as it wants. Look at Quantitative Easing which involved the conjuring up of over £450 billion for instance. So The cost of PFI is small beer. I know Jean likes to worry herself over trivia, but really there is no need for the rest of us to do so too.
The point is that we now have schools and hospitals which are fit for purpose, a far more tangible asset.
OK, the NHS and many schools are finding it hard to support this financially, but that is the government's fault for not giving them enough to pay the PFI payments. You can bet that they would be just as underfunded if PFI hadn't been thought of.
It would, undoubtedly, be a lot cheaper and better if the state built hospitals and schools out of its own funds, but that appears to be politically impossible. After years of trying it, we still had to live with leaking schools, kids in 25 year old 'temporary' buildings, and hospitals in ancient unsuitable converted workhouses and the like.
The acquisition of these buildings is of such advantage that it outweighs the disadvantages of PFI.
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Post by aubrey on Aug 31, 2017 19:59:42 GMT
Where have you been? I was worried.
(Someone on another board died a few days ago. He was young, as well.)
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Post by aubrey on Aug 31, 2017 20:00:18 GMT
Mind you, I was thinking if this didn't bring you out, nothing would.
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Post by aqua on Aug 31, 2017 22:30:19 GMT
Give 'im a break!
Proboards don't pay much to their chief spokesmen, but have recently accepted their responsibility for bank-holiday pay.
Welcome back to work, exco!
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excoriator
Madrigal Member
nearly a genius
Posts: 37,165
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Post by excoriator on Aug 31, 2017 23:09:23 GMT
We took a few days off cruising around the canals on the boat. On the plus side, we managed to find a wild plum tree which allowed us to half fill a bucket with fruit in about five minutes (Wild plum Gin will be produced). On the minus side we met my daughter in Ellesmere for a meal (prior to her departure on holiday to Las Vegas - there is no accounting for taste!) and probably chose the worst pub/restaurant in the place. It was VILE. I will not name the establishment because Mrs. E. left her handbag there and they tracked us down from a remark to a waitress as to where we were moored and returned it the following day. Perhaps they should stick to returning lost property rather than food.
I will, however, recommend the 'Dusty Miller' at Wrenbury. We ate there too, and have done many times in the past, and have never been disappointed.
I don't know if this is unusual, but I am always apprehensive in returning home from a few days away or a holiday. I have no idea why. I have never returned to bad news, but I fly to the accumulated post and phone messages/emails in order to check for catastrophe, and so far, have been relieved not to find it.
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Post by aubrey on Sept 1, 2017 5:58:43 GMT
I think it's pretty common. I have it, and it turns up in CP Snow a fair bit:
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excoriator
Madrigal Member
nearly a genius
Posts: 37,165
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Post by excoriator on Sept 1, 2017 7:59:34 GMT
You are telling me I'm NORMAL??
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Post by aubrey on Sept 1, 2017 8:09:00 GMT
I wouldn't like to go as far as that.
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excoriator
Madrigal Member
nearly a genius
Posts: 37,165
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Post by excoriator on Sept 1, 2017 9:00:16 GMT
That's a relief!
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jean
Madrigal Member
Posts: 8,546
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Post by jean on Sept 12, 2017 16:49:15 GMT
I know Jean likes to worry herself over trivia, but really there is no need for the rest of us to do so too. You'd better tell Jeremy, then. He's been worrying himself about it for years. Labour must clean up the mess it made with PFI, and save the health service
Jeremy Corbyn
The last Labour government’s investment in the NHS and in new hospitals was welcome – but too much of it was carried out under private finance initiative (PFI) schemes, which is like buying your house on a credit card. Even though the party was elected on a landslide in 1997, ministers were too petrified to make the argument for conventional borrowing, and instead fell for the city’s con trick. New Labour was cowed by the press, and duped by the money men.
They can’t say they weren’t warned. At the party conference in 2002, Unison tabled a motion calling for a moratorium on PFI deals and a review. Party members and affiliates backed the motion overwhelmingly. To add to its case, Unison commissioned an ICM poll to test public opinion on the matter; 63% of voters supported the conference-backed call for a moratorium on PFI while an independent review took place.
I raised my concerns in parliamentary debates, questions and committee hearings from 1998, and with renewed intensity from 2000 when my local hospital was threatened with the imposition of a PFI scheme. I continued to raise concerns with ministers in the Treasury, the Department of Health and the then Department for Education and Skills year after year, as did numerous Labour MPs, our union affiliates, health service workers and economists.
The leadership ignored us all: MPs, councillors, public sector workers, members and conference itself. Our pleas fell on deaf ears. Now NHS patients are paying the price, with services and staff cut so that PFI debt repayments can be made...
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excoriator
Madrigal Member
nearly a genius
Posts: 37,165
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Post by excoriator on Sept 12, 2017 17:50:14 GMT
Well, I'm quite happy for Jezza to lower the boom on these fat cats, not the schools and hospitals have been built. Time to tell them they've made a reasonable profit, and now its time to eff off.
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