Political thoughts at Morriston Hospital and for today........a stream of political consciousness...

The team in the Medical Surgery Decision unit are brilliant, commited, empathic and supportive. I wonder how the political right has the fucking nerve to think market forces would improve it. In Wales market penetration of the Welsh NHS is limited in effect and I celebrate it. Health is a service not a business and should never be seen in that way. I shuddered last September when debating with a member of the alt right. He argued we should scale back the NHS and what we provide. It is easy when we are young, foolish and fit to fall into the narcissism of the ' Libertarian " position and I still notice elements of narcissism in old fools like myself in other ways.

However as I write this I glance over from the main entrance of the hospital I see a "Costa,* and a "Subway * providing fast food and coffee. I ask myself why this cannot be provided in house by the NHS, that could plow the money made back into the NHS itself rather than the corporate coffers of shareholders? Blair's PFI deals were bad enough, expensive and gobbled up resources. These PFI deals are obscene and offer nothing to a health service commited to the citizens of the UK. We must build a preventative health service to best allocate healing and recovery. The market mechanism offers nothing to the sick, wounded and vulnerable....it's logic is simply that only the productive are valuable and the rest are a burden. It offers no value to wisdom, experience and belonging. It's obscene.

So life expectancy has ground to a halt. For men it's 79 and for women 83. When did it stop rising ...erm 2010...austerity began that year...the same year as the coalition....now what does that tell you? Oh well that gives me 20 years ...on with the resistance...


The black swans of Brexit are landing. Inflation is rising, wages are suppressed . The implications are clear, the events are unfolding , I told you so, I told you so ....so did you get your country back?

A fascinating use of Gramscian ideas. Gramscian speaks to us 80 years after his death as Masson describes the events and significance of June 8.....

Jeremy Corbyn​ has won the first battle in a long ​war​ against the ruling elite | Paul Mason

Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci understood that before taking power, the left must disrupt and defy common sense – just as Labour defeated the proposition that…

theguardian.com

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/2017/jun/12/paul-mason-jeremy-corbyn-defeat-ruling-elite-antonio-gramsci?CMP=share_btn_fb