but they do glamorise alcohol consumption to the more susceptible amongst us. A bit of a non story really, obviously the media and others are short of real news.

Yes we know......

I'm about to go over to the corner shop and treat myself to a nice bottle of wine :-))

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Well, that might explain why the last few Bond movies were so bad.

Personally I prefer Brosnan over all the other Bond's, though I admit his movies got progressively worse. Still, GoldenEye is the absolute best James Bond movie I've ever seen.

I hated Casino Royale as a Bond movie because it got rid of all the Bond things and because it tried to reboot the franchise in a very weird way. At the one hand it tried to pretend that all the previous movies never happened, while at the same time it kept for example Judy Dench. The movie that followed was just a horrible mess of seizure inducing action filming. Furthermore, it continued the story from Casino Royale, but it didn't close it (originally because Skyfall was supposed to continue). Then Skyfall came out and not only did it completely forget about continuing the story from the previous two movies (essentially making the previous movie even dumber) it was so full of downright idiotic plotholes that it boggles my mind that so many people liked it. Also, it quite possibly had the lamest villain ever. And the whole movie felt like that the director halfway through the movie decided to make a different movie, completely changing the pace and direction of the story. AARGH that movie is so bad even writing about it is making me angry!

If further bond films to be discussed, create a thread over at the Café. This has gone off topic far enough.

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Medical emergency sir? Sorry it's 16:57 and Friday evening, we're clocking off, bye!

Superbly Professional

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Wait, aren't hospitals open 24/7?

However, when I did all my St.John Ambulance and Red Cross training many years ago, we were taught to specifically ask for the "Coronary Ambulance" which had specialist equipment and drugs on board. Do we not have these now?

Very good question.

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No, but there are in many areas specialist paramedics who will be dispatched in fast response vehicles (local one is a battenberg Volvo estate with twos and blues) and will get there ahead of a normal ambulance. The thinking these days is that getting a highly trained person on the scene fast is more effective than the old specialist ambulance. Also the level of equipment in a modern ambulance is far higher than it was a decade ago (which is why they are much bigger).

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Thanks, wasn't aware of that. I often wondered about those Volvo's.

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NHS too powerful to criticise

"Mr Prior said: "It became too powerful to criticise. When things were going wrong people didn't say anything. If you criticised the NHS - the attitude was 'how dare you?'"....

...and the ones with that attitude were the non-medical jobsworths!

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Live in a rural area? If so, be prepared for delays if you get seriously ill or injured.....

Rural areas neglected

"I'm sure this isn't limited to the east and you can't have a system that allows rural areas to lose out while trusts apparently meet Whitehall targets."

Whitehall don't mind, they have BUPA and Paddington hospital, the rest of us don't matter.

Another case of "mind over matter", amazing that quote can be extended by just 4 words: -

They don't, we don't.

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Totally agree. Norman Lamb has really gone to task over situations like that over the past two years.

It's a shame that none of the others from all parties does the same.

There are some excellent Lib-Dem MP's, if only they can get their party's policies sorted as well as forcing the party leader to stand his ground, they may be onto a winning party....

...early days yet...We'll see.

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Understand fully. However, the party as a whole had better get their skates on. Only 17 months to go.

I know what you think about the coalition and, surprise surprise, you may be correct. Unfortunately, a second Con/Lib-Dem coalition will not do the country any good whatsoever.

I'm going to be cheeky here, a Lib-Dem/UKIP coalition, IMO, would turn out to be the coalition that could go into the history books as not only the surprise of the century but one that turns around this country.

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People who choose to live the rural life have to weigh that up against the practicalities of it.

But when most of the people who now live here, moved in, the nearest Ambulance Station was about 3 miles away. Due to closures and "more efficient" management the Ambulance now comes from 16 miles away at county HQ, because those closer are too busy in their own area's.

And down in Sussex the Ambulance (and Police) were about 1/4 of a mile away, the Ambulance is now ~6 miles away (Police 4 miles).

And yet where I live the opposite has happened - we now have an ambulance (real an fast response vehicle) out-based at the community fire station rather than at the ambulance station which was about ten miles away...

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Maybe it is not only the problems with ambulances we should worry about.

A call from the midwife: Why I am resigning after 10 years in the NHS

That is quite an eye-opener of a report, but also a shameful one.

I particularly agree with one of the comments as it's something I've always stated with regards to the NHS: -

"The money is going to managers. Managers are just clerical staff, who for some ridiculous reason now run the show in many industries. Looks at schools and railways. We need to let the technical staff (doctors, nurses, engineers, teachers) run the show, and take control out of the hands of managers. The managers are nothing more than clerical staff, admin, they know a little, and that makes them very dangerous."

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Going from bad to worse.....

Safety fears at Children's hospital

Even worse......

Nurses crying

"I am fed up watching our nurses cry. I am fed up watching doctors standing in the corridors and the only thing they need is a hug because it has broken their hearts.

The one service they gave their lives to; to dedicate themselves to the care of the less fortunate, is basically being eroded, it is being taken away from them," Mr Neeson said."

I just have one question for Del-boy, Wally Woofter and Millipede....

What are you going to do about this?

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It has been said on another thread that bigger government is more efficient.......

...don't know what planet that statement came from, probably said by Mork from Ork!

Champagne Perks

"The contrast of people dying of thirst on wards while officials blow taxpayers’ money at a champagne bar could not be more striking. The NHS should cut out waste, axe this quango and focus budgets on patient care.’

There are just over 137,000 government-funded credit cards in circulation and they are normally given to a few hundred civil servants from each department.

But last year £1.1billion was blown using the cards – four times as much as in 2002/3 – despite the Prime Minister’s pledge to crack down on them.

But it is becoming harder for the public to scrutinise what is being bought with the cards. The Government Procurement Service, the agency responsible for them, used to display detailed tables on its website but these are no longer available." Just why is that?

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