The grumpy thread

[Justin Case]

In terms of cost-effectiveness, which can be measured by proprtion of GDP spent on healthcare as against the outcomes which can in turn be measured by how long patients survive after treatment and their quality of life, the NHS is amongst the best in the world, and way above the US. In fact I think that only New Zealand is better than us (anyone from there like to confirm?) Admin costs are relatively low and most of the admin staff are supporting the medical professions and relieving them from routine clerical work. The only real inefficiencies in the health service are in the PFI schemes, where private companies are ripping us all of by building hospitals and then charging us an arm and a leg over 30 years to pay for them :

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... years.html

 

and with computer systems, where private contractors without a clue about how the NHS works have tried to put in unsuitable off the peg systems with disasterous results:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... apped.html

[M'coli]

Here's a real grump: Unipart has closed its Ripon branch (it used to be a Plunkett's) after the landlord imposed a 33% hike on the rent of the premises. That's a proper pain in the arse.

[Justin Case]

Does a week go by without someone starting Norm off about the NHS, It's a frickin car forum FFS!!!!

 

Sorry, Trig, please accept a Ford Transit ambulance powered by one of Norm's beloved V6 Capri engines by way of apology

 

 

FORD TRANSIT V6 Mk 1 AMBULANCE 70s by NW54 LONDON, on Flickr

[autofive]

Does a week go by without someone starting Norm off about the NHS, It's a frickin car forum FFS!!!!

 

Sorry, Trig, please accept a Ford Transit ambulance powered by one of Norm's beloved V6 Capri engines by way of apology

 

 

FORD TRANSIT V6 Mk 1 AMBULANCE 70s by NW54 LONDON, on Flickr

 

that wil be an essex powered motor - "the english engine' as they call it in europe. Norm will be more familiar with the un-siamesed port north american cologne v6

[Justin Case]

that wil be an essex powered motor - "the english engine' as they call it in europe. Norm will be more familiar with the un-siamesed port north american cologne v6

 

[theorganist]

If you want to see exactly why we should steer clear of the American Healthcare model watch the Michael Moore Documentary film "Sicko". The story of a 25 women with a rare form of cancer was heartbreaking. Apparently her insurers would not pay for her treatment as her cancer was too rare for someone her age.

 

The current "market based" changes to our NHS are purely ideallogically driven!!

 

Our system isn't great but my father has just come home from a month and two days in hospital (his fifth time in the last year) and I can't really complain about the care he has received, although a few more fully trained nurses and less auxillary nurses would be preferable.

[Lord Sterling]

As its the big bin week this week, neighbours have been chucking out loads of old household items like chairs and whatever. This has brought out at least 6 scrap vans looking for scrap, most of them have been doing the rounds all day, there are still some cruising up and down the roads looking for stuff to take.

 

My grump is this - Whilst the scrap trucks have looking through people unwanted items for metal a few cars have also stopped, including a SERIOUSLY shitey Blue Opel Manta, this car was seriously hanging, it had a 'YOB ??? ?' plate. I was just about to run out and ask the fella for a pic of his car when he got what he wanted and drove off.

 

I've GOT to find this car. I bet I wont.

 

Looked exactly like this, except in a much crappier condition:

 

 

SOD IT.

[Negative Creep]

Courier tried to deliver my wheels but I was at work, so I arranged to pick them up from the depot. They ask you to arrive an hour or less before closing so they've had a chance to sort them. All fair enough. But after driving all the way across town I get told the driver got lost so hasn't returned yet, so please come back tomorrow. Sigh.

[MrDuke]

You all chip in and get me a Transit Mk1, and I'll never say a fuggin word about healthcare again.

 

It's IN WRITING, people! I'll start with 50 quid plus the proceeds from auctioning my Michael Foot - autographed donkey jacket. Who's with me?!

[autofive]

i ll auction off the ena sharples incontinence pants and arthur mullards stomach contents

 

i hope to raise over one pound 76p for c h a a a r i t y

[ashmicro]

What am I bid for Hitler's missing bollock?

 

Bids are also invited for a night of backdoor action with Harriet Harmong, and a signed original of Barry O'Bama's real birth certificate.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

The make money on that one because it's a faulty return re-sold to unsuspecting ebayers, most likely.

I've had three of them and they've all been the same, even the £10 one from Zavvi and the £5 one from Woolworths.

[Albert Ross]

Fuck me.................. (optional)

I only mentioned that this piece of Halibut was............oh wait.

 

Yeah. I only wondered why the fuck it costs £90,000 to supply a chemical. For the sake of fuck. I reckon some guy in a chemical sweat shop in Asia somewhere would do it for £40 a decade if we let him live here with his family......................

 

I didn't expect the Spanish bloody Inquisition! With OR without cushions of comfy chairs.

[Des]

There's a communication / language barrier here, maybe it isn't clear that NHS means not having to think about your health at all, until one day when you're in trouble, it's there for you.

 

I speak a little American, perhaps I could try to explain our health system.

 

Yo playa, ma ass was been all tryin to flex on me but I don't need to get jiggy with no clown walkin food allergizzle, I get down, get loose, get bizzay for some top krumpin and hit up da N to the H to the S. Dem home boys give me da fixup, I be cuttin up da rug now gangsta style, got mad flava be like James Brown Parliament funkadelic all up in da crib like some ill shizzle rockin a phat wild style you know what I'm sayin, ma bizzle it be off da hook dawg, Thank you NHS for pimping my inside.

 

I've done service / repair work in hospitals all over the place, private and NHS, from my behind the scenes viewpoint I'd pick NHS over private every time, some of their kit is old, but generally used more skillfully, sympathetically. There's not much of the Great left in Britain, the NHS makes up a large chunk of it, the tory bastard government will try to kill it, then we're fooked.

I actually have such respect for the NHS, in spite of it's many faults, that I charge an hourly rate that makes it barely worthwhile, this is notable considering I impose a tenner surcharge for any miserable bastard that fails to offer me a cuppa.

And anyway, the NHS is the Autoshite of healthcare.

[Cavcraft]

Ordered some vinyl lettering from an internet auction site. They arrived on decent time so I opened the package to find one letter missing from each of the two scripts.

Mailed the seller to let him know, this was his response:

 

'YES, MY MISTAKE . could you remmeber me delivery address and which colour do you want and i will send you 2 letters r . sorry for inconvinience.'

 

From a signs specialist

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Mailed the seller to let him know, this was his response

 

'YES, MY MISTAKE . could you remmeber me delivery address and which colour do you want and i will send you 2 letters r . sorry for inconvinience.'

 

From a signs specialist

 

Haha, I can do one better. Today, my 450th or so job application was rejected, this time due to my bachelor's degree being a 2:2 for a job requiring a 2:1. When I pointed out that it didn't make any sense as my Master's degree got awarded a Merit, which is a 2:1, they replied that "in the interests of fairness we do not deviate from our baseline standards". Their standards are so high that the person replying to my e-mails managed to misspell my name. Twice. In two different ways. Out of a grand total of two attempts to type it.

[Volksy]

Was that application by any chance through an agency, where you are dealing with a drone with a checklist? I get it all the time, as they have no idea about transferable skills/equivalent quals etc..

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Was that application by any chance through an agency, where you are dealing with a drone with a checklist? I get it all the time, as they have no idea about transferable skills/equivalent quals etc..

 

No, funnily enough it was for a graduate scheme administered by the employer itself.

 

Yesterday was recruitment agency day- they refused to put my details across to their client because I have "no recent UK experience", never mind the fact that I got awarded the Master's degree this year in the UK and the other fact that I was working here until about 4 years ago. I bet they'd be glad to work with me if I were a woman that had spent the last 4 years bearing 2 kids in quick succession while being paid (even just the statutory maternity pay) for it.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

....aaaaaaaaaaaand, I just got a SECOND reply from another graduate employer who also thinks that it is not "fair and consistent" to hire somebody who has achieved the required grade at a higher level than the one specified! I am going mental.

[ProgRocker]

Today, my 450th or so job application was rejected, this time due to my bachelor's degree being a 2:2 for a job requiring a 2:1.

 

450 job applications? Fuck!

 

I've done 5 so far since July and no invites to interview yet. I also have a bachelors degree @ 2:2 & working as a cashier in a supermarket.

[Volksy]

Jobs market is fooked.

 

I'm in the same boat, rattling off applications daily..

 

Most are now through agencies, as employers have cut back HR departments and the sheer volume of applications means someone has to deal with them. Employers can be very picky, as there are so many capable people unemployed at the moment.

 

have recently got down to the last two applicants on more than one occasion, only to be pipped at the post. Even my JSA 'advisor' knows how bad it is, she explained thats why she is working there! So is putting no pressure on, at the moment.

 

It sucks.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Today, my 450th or so job application was rejected, this time due to my bachelor's degree being a 2:2 for a job requiring a 2:1.

 

450 job applications? Fuck!

 

I don't keep exact tabs, but I am certainly well past 400...To be fair, a lot of them are just a case of going on totaljobs, clicking on "apply now" and writing 2 standard paragraphs to go with your CV. I've been looking for a job for about a couple of months, and I've only had 2 real interviews and a telephone one. Plus an invitation to an assesment centre where I didn't go because the job spec had about 30 errors in 3 pages and it wouldn't have been fun reporting directly to the twat who wrote it and wanted "attention to detail" as an essential requirement.

 

I really don't understand the current jobs market. If it were as bad as it feels, there wouldn't have been so many hundreds of vacancies to apply for. The only reasonable explanation would be that there are a lot of people already doing relevant work who feel insecure in their jobs and/or want an extra 500 quid a year or a marginally shorter commute, and they chase every available vacancy with employers, in turn, prefering to take on someone who is currently employed elsewhere, and by the time this shuffle has finished you're left with the receptionist's job, which you won't be getting anyway because "you're overqualified and will start looking for another job in 3 months".

[ProgRocker]

Plus an invitation to an assesment centre where I didn't go because the job spec had about 30 errors in 3 pages and it wouldn't have been fun reporting directly to the twat who wrote it and wanted "attention to detail" as an essential requirement.

 

Lucky escape there! Also very frustrating when you see people of seemingly lesser intelligence and common sense in positions of greater authority and higher salary.

 

Good luck, Volksy. I've been out of work a few times and its not fun having to go to the Job Centre to sign on when there are other mouth breathers there signing on and avoiding any job offers.

[yes oui si]

The CD player at work is sufficiently fucked that the only one that it will play out of the 100+ here is Bob Marley's Exodus...

 

*n

[andrew e]

Ordered some vinyl lettering from an internet auction site. They arrived on decent time so I opened the package to find one letter missing from each of the two scripts.

Mailed the seller to let him know, this was his response:

 

'YES, MY MISTAKE . could you remmeber me delivery address and which colour do you want and i will send you 2 letters r . sorry for inconvinience.'

 

From a signs specialist

 

Could you not just errect signs that say CAVCAFT?

[yes oui si]

"....movement of jah people..."

 

Love it.

Timing. Listening to the title track right now

 

*n

[Cavcraft]

Ordered some vinyl lettering from an internet auction site. They arrived on decent time so I opened the package to find one letter missing from each of the two scripts.

Mailed the seller to let him know, this was his response:

 

'YES, MY MISTAKE . could you remmeber me delivery address and which colour do you want and i will send you 2 letters r . sorry for inconvinience.'

 

From a signs specialist

 

Could you not just errect signs that say CAVCAFT?

 

Not on my boat I couldn't. Although coming to think of it....

[DCLane]

Is this a good end for lots of DAF's - I think not ... Reverse gear racing

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=24427

 

[MrDuke]

Why? Just, why?

 

[wuvvum]

Internet Explorer is being a twunt - it won't let me post anything or view eBay Motors. I know it's not the sites that are at fault as I've fired up Firefox and they work fine. No idea what's going on there...