Springtime in the United Kingdom

Spring is almost here, and its arrival is greeted with a mini-blizzard in the UK. Snow hits Britain: Flights cancelled as ‘mini Beast from the East’ sweeps in. I blame global warming. (Or is it climate change?)

I know I shouldn’t laugh at other people’s misery, this isn’t a real snow storm. (I grew up in Chicagoland – greater Chicago for those of you not from Illinois. Things didn’t stop or even slow down much unless there was close to a foot of snow.) Britain is woefully unequipped to handle snow. If you click through, the image they show indicates about one half inch. And it appears the temperature is high enough to let the snow melt off the roads. (Since I don’t think they are using salt or brine, that puts the temperature at about 28 degrees Fahrenheit or better.)

“Bitterly cold is the best way to describe it – temperatures on the face of it probably just around freezing, but with wind it’s going to feel well below freezing.”

And here I always thought the British were supposed to be tough.

It isn’t really cold enough in the UK to go ice skating, unless you count indoor rinks. “Bitterly cold” by Chicago standards would be minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit, or about -28 degrees C.

Russia and The UK Go At It on the Diplomatic Front

So the UK is apparently pissed off at Russia, and now Russia returns the favor. Russia expels 23 British diplomats as crisis over nerve toxin attack deepens , Europe News & Top Stories – The Straits Times

MOSCOW (REUTERS) – Russia expelled 23 British diplomats on Saturday (March 17) in a carefully calibrated retaliatory move against London, which has accused the Kremlin of orchestrating a nerve toxin attack on a former Russian double agent and his daughter in southern England.

The Russian agent, his daughter are very ill, and policeman who went to their aid is also ill, in “serious but stable” condition.

If You Think “The System” Is on Your Side, You Are Mistaken

You could file this under “Cops Behaving Badly – UK Edition.” Britain’s ‘worst ever’ child grooming scandal exposed: Hundreds of young girls raped, beaten, sold for sex and some even KILLED – Mirror Online. Like all bureaucracies, the Criminal Justice System in the UK – and in particular in Telford – is only interested in its own preservation.

This is a tragedy that has been going on for 40 years. The cops knew about a lot of it, but were afraid of being labeled “racist” if they investigated the “Asian” community. So they stayed out of it. And for 40 years, kids were mistreated. So they aren’t racists. They are still bastards.

Another victim claims officers discouraged her from pursuing her request for evidence after she told them she was speaking to the Mirror.

Because there is nothing more important to the system, than protecting the system. They are not interested in Justice or even in protecting kids – as you can see if you click through and read the story – they are only interested in making sure they don’t look too bad. (They sure as hell don’t look good.)

Hat tip to 90 Miles from Tyranny, where you will also find some comments.

UK Is Struggling And the Temperature is Only 35°F

You would think it is actually cold or something. UK weather: Big freeze death toll could rise above 2,000 as it emerges Met Office warned ministers a month ago

The death toll from Britain’s big freeze could rise to more than 2,000, as it emerged the Met Office had warned ministers a month ago about the cold snap.

When the temperature goes below 2°C (or about 35°F) they issue an alert. Doesn’t seem to do much good.

Boilers have failed, leaving people in cold homes. (That seems to be the main complaint.)

Peter Smith, director of policy for National Energy Action, said that the weather would likely see an average of as many as 100 people per day perishing in cold homes this winter, compared to a five-year average of 80 people per day.

Even though they had at least 10 days warning, it doesn’t seem to have helped much.

35 degrees is cold, but it isn’t that cold. I haven’t lived in Chicago for a long time, but it isn’t uncommon for the temperature in the Windy City to hit minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind chill will be lower. That is damned cold. Exposed flesh freezes in about 2 minutes. 35 degrees is balmy by comparison.

Twenty Inches of Snow Has the UK at a Standstill

They’re claiming 20 inches (or 50 cm), but I don’t see it in the video. Beast from the East meets Storm Emma, causing UK’s worst weather in years | UK news | The Guardian. I blame global warming. Or is it climate change?

On Thursday night, thousands of drivers, who ignored warnings not to go out, or had no option but to brave the snow and ice, were left stranded on roads across the UK in freezing temperatures.

People were stranded for about 10 hours.

20 inches of snow would be a lot for someplace like Chicago to handle in a short period, and I don’t think that the UK generally has much equipment for snow removal. They didn’t even turn off the fountains in public squares – so they froze. That implies they don’t really have a clue what to do with real winter.

Why is the UK Press (or its online version) so Interested in This Bit of Self-defense?

I have seen it in 3 “papers” this week. The Sun, and The Mirror and now the UK edition of International Business Times. Not the most reputable collection of news organizations, but I can only guess they are mesmerized by the video. (It isn’t even that good.) California man who shot two home intruders dead is caught on surveillance video

(For the video, see The Mirror.)

So it’s a fairly basic story of self-defense of the kind highlighted here. A guy is sitting in his garage. Two would-be Bad Guys walk up and demand he open a safe that’s in the garage. He opens the safe, retrieves a loaded gun, and shoots both of them. They die.

Neither the homeowner nor the two killed have been named, WPXI reported. The homeowner will not be charged, as the incident appears to be a case of self-defence, police said.

This is where I would interject an opinion, or an observation, like, “They suffered a breakdown of the victim-selection process.”

There is blurry, night-time security-camera video from a neighbor’s house. There has been better video on any number of clerks defending themselves from attack – as convenience stores are better lit and often have a lot of cameras around.

But given everything that’s been happening in the UK – the London Bridge attack, etc. – I guess it is understandable that the British are becoming more interested in the idea of self-defense.

And for the record: Self-defense is a Human-right. Good Guys 2, Bad Guys 0.

The Most Ineffective Foreign Policy of My Lifetime (Part 2)

The West admits there isn’t a damn thing they can do. Kerry: US, Europe Have No ‘Big Appetite’ for Military Action in Syria

At least they understand that you shouldn’t be “pitting two superpowers against each other.” At least they remember that much from the Cold War.

Russia has a more succinct take on the issue. ‘Get lost’: Moscow to keep counter sanctions & other highlights from Putin’s BRICS presser — RT News

Russia Today hasn’t quite morphed into Pravda or Izvestia, but it isn’t far off either.

Part 1 can be found at this link.

20-yr-old Brit Gets Taste of US Justice System (As practiced in Nevada)

His parents insist that he is disturbed and little Johnny Mikey wouldn’t hurt a fly unless someone put him up to it. Michael Sandford faces 30 years in prison for attempting to assassinate Donald Trump

Actually, the grand jury has only said that he should stand trial, but that will probably mean that there is no bail offered.

Michael Sandford, 20, is accused of trying to grab a police officer’s gun to shoot the presumptive Republican presidential nominee at a campaign rally in the city.

Sandford, who has a history of mental health problems, told police he drove from California to kill Mr Trump, and he went to a Las Vegas gun range to learn to shoot the day before the June 18 rally.

A “history of mental health problems” doesn’t mean that he is not competent to stand trial. Though the shrinks will be all over that.

You could also file this under “illegal alien commits crime,” because his visa expired some time ago.

The Declining State of Socialized Medicine in the UK

The state of health-care in the UK is going down. Spring NHS crisis even worse than winter, ‘Black Thursday’ data shows

Statistics about waiting times for A&E wards (emergency rooms), the weeks between a GP recommending a specialist’s care, and the beginning of that care, and ambulance response-times. Everything is getting worse. Because everything is dependent on government budgets.

Things are getting so bad that people in the UK who can afford it are buying private health insurance. Health insurance – do you need it, and when will insurers pay out?

This article is less interesting, because it is mostly a primer on the subject of premiums, deductibles, etc. But the point is that the good folks in the UK who can afford it, are saying to hell with socialized medicine.

If you can afford it, it might allow you to push for more tests, have shorter waiting times and get drugs and treatments not available on the NHS. You can also often choose your consultant and have access to the reassurance of 24-hour telephone advice.

Wait times can be substantial. (from the 1st article:)

The target for people to receive their first treatment for cancer within two months of being referred by their GP with symptoms was also missed during the whole of 2015/16, the new data shows.

So if your doctor determines you have cancer, you will wait around more than 2 months – on average – for an oncology appointment. In the NHS. Not to mention that some drugs are not approved. Or there is “post code lottery.” Where you can only get certain drugs if you life in certain places.

UK’s NHS is often (though not so much as in years past) held up as the “single payer” system that the USA should adopt. There is just one problem. It isn’t a great system either, and it isn’t getting better. Do I think our system is working? No. But then we aren’t letting people buy insurance on a national market. Why is it that I have to buy insurance in my own state? I don’t have to get a mortgage in my own state, and I am more likely to travel to another state than my house is. Oh, “because we’ve always done it that way.” Right.

I honestly don’t know what the best option is, but a single-payer system controlled by the .gov doesn’t strike me as the best bet. Think of all the other things the federal .gov handles. TSA and Border Control/ICE come to mind.

What Happens When Doctors Become Just Another Group of Government Employees? They go on strike.

The success of socialized medicine in the UK has be so “good” that doctors are considering a campaign to keep people out of the profession. Junior doctors could go on indefinite walk-out after strike, leaked emails reveal

The bulk of the story is about a 2-day strike scheduled for the near future, and the possibility of a longer strike starting in June.

But the thing that caught my attention is that there seems to be real dissatisfaction of the class of folks known as “junior doctors.”

Other options include a mass resignation of trainees; recommending doctors seek alternative employment; recommending careers outside medicine, and “alternative forms of permanent action”.

The UK already has something of a doctor shortage. There have been cases of non-English-speaking doctors causing death because they can’t communicate with their patients. The current set of strikes is about a mandatory increase in hours and not paying for the time. The doctors are a union since they are just another class of government worker.

Ain’t socialism grand.

What Happens When the Bean-counters Are in Charge of Health Care?

Cut costs enough, and you won’t have the staff or facilities you require to the get the job done. The UK is finding that out. ‘If you’re not dying, go home’, overwhelmed A&E staff tell waiting patients over tannoy

So you go the Emergency Room (Accident & Emergency Ward in the parlance of the UK), only to be told to go home if you aren’t dying. Does that mean if my leg is broken I am supposed to crawl home and come back another day? Probably.

The extraordinary situation unfolded at the North Middlesex Hospital in Edmonton, North London on Friday night. It has struggled to cope for two years since an A&E unit the Prime Minister pledged to stay open closed.

The NHS is usually (though not always) held up as an example of the great care we could have if only we would sign up for socialized medicine. In reality they don’t have the doctors and nurses they need – because really, if you are smart enough to be doctor, do you really want to work for a government bureaucrat? Things are so bad that the doctors went on strike last month.

And they have “post-code lotteries.” Which means you can only get certain drugs (hey, they are expensive!) if you live in certain areas. Yeah, that would work really well in the USA.

But anyway, they couldn’t handle the influx on a Friday night. And they were forced to admit it.

UK’s NHS Causes Death by Dehydration

The hospital trust has issued an apology. (That is the only thing that will happen.) Grandmother died of THIRST on Maidstone hospital NHS ward | Daily Mail Online

Her family raised concerns about her dehydration with an agency nurse but they refused to give her a drink in case she wet the bed

Not an isolated incident.

The trust’s apology comes the same week as a coroner called for changes when a patient died after being denied a CT scan at Tunbridge Wells Hospital – because it was the weekend.

(Hat tip Samizdata.)

UK “Junior” Doctors Are on Strike

Since I am no longer connected to the 24 hour news cycle, except via the internet, I have no idea if the current state of health care in the UK has made the new in the US. Let’s imagine an alternative to the NHS in this best of all possible worlds | Libertarian Home

First let’s deal with the myth of the “Junior Doctor.” They aren’t so junior. “To summarise: ‘junior’ doctors includes all doctors who are not consultants, from early 20s to late 30s and above”

The UK’s National Health Service is trying to increase their hours and reduce their pay. The NHS is going broke, and this is an obvious way to kick the can down the road.

junior doctors have little choice of employer as there is an NHS monopoly on training; the market has shown the pay and conditions are too low, with dangerously understaffed rotas, rising emigration and increasing locum rates. The government’s proposals would reduce staff pay for an equivalent rota over time, thus hoping to delay the inevitable financial collapse of the NHS on their watch.

The NHS has been around since before WWII. The bureaucracy is ingrained to the point where there are not enough British college students opting to go into medicine, and of those that do, a fair number emigrate to places where they can make a better living.

Thus the result of the “single payer” health care system so loved by the Left. Go read the whole thing. [Hat tip to Samizdata.]

What Happens When You Put the .gov in Charge of Healthcare? Nothing Good.

The statistics speak for themselves. Care Quality Commission: Three in four NHS hospitals are failing, says watchdog – Telegraph

Watchdogs said their greatest concern was safety, with three quarters of hospitals branded unsafe.

And it isn’t just hospitals.

Of the 2,211 residential and nursing homes, 59 per cent were found to be providing good or outstanding care.

A 41% failure rate is nothing to write home about.

I can’t wait til we get socialized medicine!

Britain Opts for Austerity

Conservatives won a decisive electoral victory recently, so they got to plan a budget without a coalition partner demanding stuff. Osborne cuts welfare, boosts minimum pay in post-election budget.

In the first solely Conservative budget for nearly 20 years, Osborne, a leading contender to succeed Prime Minister David Cameron, pointed on Wednesday to the turmoil in Greece as he renewed his push to fix Britain’s public finances.

Some people have apparently learned the lessons of Greece. Not everyone of course.

But the money quote is…

You only have to look at the crisis unfolding in Greece as I speak, to realise that if a country’s not in control of its borrowing, the borrowing takes control of the country.

What Happens When You Turn Medicine Over to Bureaucrats?

The doctors leave. Or do something else. Only a fool would want to be a GP these days – Telegraph.

Doctor shortages. People in the UK actually PAYING to see a doctor. (The outrage is missing.) Doctors shying away from General Practice. Why is this?

The demands placed upon them by a bureaucracy composed of people who have little or no understanding of medical practice are immense, but protest is well-nigh impossible. Their pay depends on their compliance with rules laid down by fools, and this is not a happy situation for an educated and intelligent person. Young doctors are therefore voting with their feet.

As he says in the opening, no one dreams of spending the rest of their lives filling in forms.

On That Island Where Great Britain Used to Be – Being “Too English” is a Bad Thing

School was dinged for not being “multicultural enough” for the folks handing out school grades. Apparently, being 'too English' is now a crime – Telegraph.

Test scores are great. But in this rural enclave, the students are handicapped….

The Market Rasen pupils are doubly handicapped because each and every one of them has English as his or her first language.

This sounds like it should be in the Onion, and not the Telegraph.

Violent Crime Rates In Canada, Australia, the UK and the US – The US Looks Pretty Good by Comparison

Via twitter… I hate it that folks can post things without providing links to their source material. So here is a link. Comparing international trends in recorded violent crime. Courtesy of the Australian government

Trends in recorded violent crime in England and Wales, the United States, Canada, and Australia, rate per 100,000 persons, 1962-2004

It is interesting to note that the law virtually outlawing private handgun possession in the UK was passed in 1997. Given the rate of increase that the violent crime went through in the years after that, do you think it was a success?

Of course things in the UK got a bit better after 2005 – if they had stayed on that trajectory it would have been crazy. You can find numerous article extolling how the crime rate decreased (marginally) in the years after 2005.

And the UK does have one of the lowest rates of GUN homicide. (That data is easy to find – they shout it from the top of Wikipedia at every chance available.)

The way the UK Home Office reports crime statistics has me bamboozled. I am currently wading through “detection rates” which basically means “cases closed” but I can’t find rates on crimes recorded or occurred. I also can’t find anything except “crimes against the person” which I take to be all kinds of assault, lethal or not. If I can figure out their overall murder-rate, I will either update this post or post another entry. Gun-crime is usually a smoke-screen. In this case it almost certainly is, because if violent crime increased that much since 1998, I would guess murder went up as well. And it doesn’t matter to the victims if they were shot, stabbed or bludgeoned, it only matters to the folks producing the statistics.

Death Panels in the UK

The UK had this “end of life” protocol known as The Liverpool Care Pathway. It resulted in thousands of people dieing of thirst, or starving. It seems it is back, with a twist. Liverpool Care Pathway being ‘rebranded’ not axed – Telegraph.

Under the new proposals, any patients unable to swallow could be denied food and fluids by tubes unless a hospital team decides it is in their “best interests” to have them.

So a team (or panel) from the hospital will decide if it is in your best interest to die of dehydration. Or starve. Lovely.

But then is what happens when you put the government in charge of health care.

UK Politics Look Interesting – The First Time in a Long Time

UKIP, the UK Independence Party, gaining support in Britain | Toronto Star.

The UK Independence Party, came in 2nd place in a local election. The third time in 3 months they came that close. This time the missed winning by 5 percent.

Go read the article – it isn’t long.