Donald Trumps Wall appears to have started in Yorkshire. Here it’s probably to separate the privileged few from the many.

In my country professions like Teaching, Policing, Nursing, Clinical Specialties once we’re highly respected. This respect was reflected in pay and pensions. Unfortunately times have changed. Or should I say Government Priorities have changed. The argument was that low taxes was the new king. Low taxes on the rich and the money generators started to dictate thinking. The Government started to pick fights with various professions. A deliberate attempt was made to erode public confidence in areas like teaching, health and policing. Then the money generators messed up and we had the financial crisis. Suddenly austerity was needed. But again it was austerity for the many while protecting the few. So the Many and the Public Sector took the hit.

Government introduced competition into all areas. Suddenly contracts were awarded on best value for money. Best value rapidly became defined as the cheapest. As a result the workload on services increased. Quality levels dropped. Providers repeatedly changed. Unfortunately on top of this the pay and pensions of hard working professionals were also squeezed.

When people find their wages and pensions squeezed three things can happen

  • They buckle down for less money but their standard of living is eroded,
  • They become disillusioned,
  • They leave the job.

The Government trots out the argument about the cosy public sector life. The country will be better when everyone works in the good old private sector. Let’s not forget that our Prime Minister said of his own position

‘My Cabinet Ministers salary of £141,000 is not enough for me to live on’

When he said those wise words he was living in his rent free £20M Ministerial Mansion…. one rule for the few and a completely different rule for the rest of us.

A kid with Autism needs above all stability. Continuity in care. Trust is a commodity which takes along time to develop. But those key qualities have been destroyed by Government Policy. This year every single Teacher and Teaching Assistant changed for our Son. We have had to start again trying to build up the so important knowledge base of his particular educational needs. His Paediatric Care Provider has changed and we wait for his new clinicians. Wait is the buzz word. Appointments have gone from 4 times a year to twice a year to once a year. Not sure what the definition for a Year is. We recently received a letter saying that due to the change of provider the next appointment will be significantly delayed. He has had the same Physio for 4 years. But she quit her role. Then the next Physio left after one session. Another Physio then left before the first session. Currently we are waiting another a Physio to be appointed. He had access to a brilliant Clinical Psychologist but she retired and was never replaced. He started work with a Speech Expert but after 2 months she left the profession and the service was cut. He started a programme to work on his optical muscles but the service was cancelled with responsibility passed over to Education. Education refuses to provide that programme. I could go on…

So while our PM moans about his falling living standards the many are picking up the pieces. That’s modern Britain. It’s not Great Britain anymore. It’s certainly not great if you are not one of the Few. And it’s certainly not Great if you are a kid with Autism.

60 thoughts on “Not Great anymore”

  2. Politicians out of touch. Our premier recently stated that university professors shouldn’t be paid as high a salary once they turn 65 and collect a pension (which they paid into) …says a politician who will receive a Golden pension after leaving office even if they are many years away from the retirement age of 65.
    That’s what entitlement does to one’s thinking.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  4. Look how Great the Orange Idjit is making America. Shall we send him over? Oh wait, you’ve got his clone already. Well education then, want DeVos? Oh that’s right, you already have someone similar.

    I was talking to my pain doc about how medicine is a business now instead of a calling. He absolutely agreed. He said he spends more time trying to figure out the billing and fighting insurance companies for payment than he does with patients.
    Something has to change soon. I really think people have had enough. I have to hope so anyway.
    💌

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

    1. It doesn’t matter how things change–as long as we have politicians! And as long as we have capitalists controlling those politicians. There is no sane or safe cure. The deck is stacked, the fix is in.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  6. If Britain ever needs a ‘bale-out’…. 😉

    You’ve gotta laugh at life, huh? It’s become a joke for so many.

    A sad, sick joke.

    I’ve heard on two separate occasions this week that firms don’t hire accountants any more, no-one is looking to employ them – their duties are basically performed by algorithms on virtual shared-platform networks.

    So what do you do if you are a surplus accountant now? Drive for Uber Eats?

    What will be the next profession to disappear, I wonder?

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  10. Politicians should be made to live in the real world for a year with no expense account, and no rebates afterwards. It makes my blood boil when they say £140K plus is insufficient for their needs. They should sell the second home, cancel the exotic holidays, ditch the posh car and kick the mistresses into touch. We are officially in severe poverty (Government web site!) yet we probably lead a better life than they EVER will, which defeats the bloody object as it’s seen that we don’t need help. Education is a farce……. exceptional talent and abilities are ignored in favour of computer screens. Even teachers can’t spell and heaven forbid a student should ask a question that is not in their idiot guide to teaching, and the whole class is disrupted because they don’t know how to answer. Your son is amazing with his retention to detail, but do they focus on that? No.
    Sorry Gary. Your post has hit a nerve and I’m behind your comments all the way.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. Yup. Still suffering from a salary freeze although I think we got 1% last year. Both my wife and I are public servants, recently now civil servants and we are a great deal worse off than we were ten years ago. Income has been flat but prices, the cost of living, has snowballed in the same period. None of this easy with two kids. I never will understand why the public sector are vilified by the wealthy, it just doesn’t make any sense.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. DAMN. This is just one of those shake my head, “damn, man” moments. You’re absolutely right–those who’ve never had to live without the silver spoon have NO IDEA what it’s like just to FIND any sort of spoon, let alone hold onto it.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s