We have given the formation of our new government some serious thought …. reckon it might work, at least we wouldn’t be anything like our predecessors. For a start the Witches fancy being the Minister responsible for responsible things, as such we would be able to dish out advice to all departments as and when necessary. What we don’t fancy are the meetings with other heads of State and all the fuss that surrounds them …. so we’ll be appointing a Minister of Charisma to do all that … any thoughts on who we might have? We won’t be moving to Downing Street either … we shall run the country or rather our department, from the spare room and weekly cabinet meetings from our Philosophy Group headquarters on a Tuesday, where tea and buns will be exchanged for sound government policy.

WoE (The Rt. Hon. MRFRT)

We agree with all you say. On the health and welfare side of things we would suggest local surgeries should have enough district nurses and perhaps appointed doctors who did only home visits and those could link in with social workers. A system that actually works not one of these multi agency arrangements who don’t liaise with each other.

We could go on …. for instance getting a dentist or a local policeman around here is like getting blood from a stone.

If only we ruled the world …

WoE

After all the generation that did the most for this country, we now look at as our elderly generation, and we do not as a country do enough for them, what would it take for this country to set up some sort of system where every person over a certain age could receive a regular home visit from say a social worker or similar, these visits would make sure all of our elderly received the correct help and care needed, and after these visits should the person need anything to improve their quality of life it should be provided, after all look at the money this country wastes every week, never mind in a year. Surely we could finance such a scheme. I also think once such a scheme was set up the rest of us would feel more at ease as we approach our later years, where at the moment most of us see nothing.
Anyway I have had my ramble …
ARB.

How the **** they have the neck to say to someone who has fought for his country ‘give us some money so you can prove you belong to this country’ I’ll never know.

Anyone having seen active service should receive higher pensions than others and preferential treatment as and when required.

Let us never forget what some people have gone through and those who made the ultimate sacrifice just so the likes of us can whine about DVD prices.
Great post many thanks
Rod

Strange isn’t it that the armed forces recruitment ads don’t mention these sad facts. From time to time cases are highlighted in the news and everyone gets an insight into the harsh realities of life for those fighting for their country. Presumably most of them don’t feel they can discuss their experiences with anyone but are expected to fit in to normal life afterwards.

High profile Generals have recently said their piece on this subject but whether that will change anything remains to be seen …. we somehow doubt it or at most it will be some sort of half measure.

Incidentally the film Julia was on again last night and just goes to show how the horrors of war can haunt people who may not have been directly involved in the fighting.

WoE

Early this morning I was watching one of those breakfast news programmes on the TV, of which I only found one item of interest, this being about Soldiers returning from Iraq and the fact that many may require medical help on there return, and as you would expect there may not be the help available these men will need.

Which took me straight back to a Gentleman I had the privilege of knowing for a number of years, anyway this chap like thousands and thousands of others as a young man was called upon to do his duty for his country during the Second World War, which he did willingly, he was to serve his country during and after the Second World War, and during this time was to receive various medals.
The end of his military career was to see him return home to normal family life, but he was never the same physically or mentally and at the time he should have had more medical attention than he received, from the time he left the armed forces to the day he retired he struggled with his job, his physical health deteriorated rapidly as the years passed, but he struggled on never asking anything from the country he served, all his life he worked to keep his family, just getting by, saving very little for retirement along the way, and never ever taking time off work.
Fifty years after leaving the armed forces he was to open his front door one morning to a number of reporters, apparently papers had just been released by the government, something to do with making certain documents available to the public fifty years after the event, the full details I am unable to recall.
Anyway it turns out this chap had done things for his country well beyond the call of duty, as had thousands of others. Anyway the press were very interested in his story, needless to say he turned them away, he did not want to relive some of the horrors he had seen as a young man, over the years he told me a few things about duties he had performed and things he had seen, which obviously lived with him all his life, he had to live with the memories of lost friends and witnessing horrors to the likes of which none of us could ever imagine.
Anyway my main point is this, this man like thousands of others gave his life for his country, in return he asked very little, we offered very little, in retirement he managed on a basic pension, when he needed medical attention like the rest of us he had to wait months on a waiting list, in my book this was not good enough, as a country we should have done more at the time, we should also have provided a good pension and the best medical assistance this country can offer, thousands of people both men and women gave so much and received very little in return.
I just hope we get it right this time.