Reputation

Head Rambles Posted on by

There is a piece on the BBC news site today.

Minister resigns over cuts to overseas aid, saying UK’s reputation will be deeply harmed

The actual resignation mentioned is of little interest to me [and probably to the vast majority of UK citizens]. They come, they go and the world carries on.

What interested me is the concept of “reputation”. It got me thinking. What is its significance? What does it even mean?

The implication is of course that hundreds of millions of Europeans will be horrified by the move and will spend their entire waking lives saying what a load of mean-fisted bastards the Brits are. I think this is rather unlikely and I would imagine that anyone who reads the item will shrug and move on to something more important [“Residents advised to buy earplugs as lighthouse fog alarm malfunctions“? Heh!]. Even supposing the entire population is horrified by the UK’s move then so what? I would wager my entire estate that not one Englishman [and the others] will be accosted over this.

Maybe she’s talking about reputation amongst other gubmints? Again, I would ask so fucking what? Sticks and stones may break your bones but words…. ?

Maybe it’s a reputation amongst Brits? This actually brings me to another point. How many tax payers have a burning desire to send a portion of their earnings to foreign aid and have explicitly told their gubmint to allocate a chunk to support dictatorships and corrupt officials? Is there a little tick-box on tax return forms? I don’t think so.

Countries like Iraq and Afghanistan have reputations for being medieval hell holes and that is probably well deserved. I will avoid those places.

Britain has a reputation for being mean with foreign aid?

So fucking what?

 

With a trowel

Head Rambles Posted on by

I got a phone call the other day.

It was the cheery chirpy wee lass who is apparently my psychiatrist.

I like her. She’s honest and bright and of course she’s a great listener. This was bad news for her because I was in a bad mood, not having slept again the previous night. So I let rip. She heard all about my grievances and tribulations and basically how pissed off I was with the hospital system. It’s the old story – the surgeons, doctors and nurses could not be better, but the bureaucrats running the place just never seem to talk to each other. Why did I have an x-ray in Oncology when I had just had one in ENT? Little niggles like that.

Write it down, says she. Give the nurse in Oncology something she can’t ignore.

Last night I had another sleepless one. Bed at eleven. Read until half one. Got pissed off with reading [sorry, Tom Sharpe] so I got up and relaxed in my armchair.. Now what was I going to do for the next eight hours or so. I know! I’ll write about my little gripes.

So I did.

I put myself into a bad mood [deliberately] so I could lay on into the complaints. Reading it back it’s a wonder I’m still alive. Jayzus but I’m a fucking mess. I’m a train wreck.

I took myself out of bad mood again.

I’m fine now.

 

Who cares about the cost?

Head Rambles Posted on by

I am developing a grudging respect for President Musk in America.

Yes, I know he’s a fucking eejit and prone to a drop of megalomania, but then so is his sidekick The Real President Trump.

So from whence does this respect arrive?

I have always maintained that the gubmint is far too free with tax payers’ money. Politicians and civil servants see it as a bottomless pit so are more inclined to go for the expensive option under the illusion that the higher the cost, the better the quality.

We have had a long string of little fiascos here when it comes to crass stupidity and wastage.

Going back in time we had the story of the printer that wouldn’t fit in the door. This cost us €808,000 with an additional €236,000 just to get it into the building. Over a million for a fucking printer?

Then of course there is the famous bicycle shelter. Note that it’s shelter and not a shed. In other words, a roof. Another €336,000

How about a security hut at the knockdown price of a mere €1.4m. Yes – nearly one an a half million.

Would you fancy yourself a new computer? How about €6m [yes – six million] for a computer system that never worked? I would love to see the justification there.

Now there’s the breaking story of the scanner. Granted it’s a tad specialised but once again they forked out €125,000 for a scanner before realising they had nowhere to put it.

I wonder if President Musk would fancy a job here?

 

Old before my time

Head Rambles Posted on by

I got another letter from the hospital yesterday.

I get these in their multitudes either making or cancelling appointments. It’s a full time job just trying to keep track of them.

This one however was different. It was apologising for the delay and wanted to know if I still wanted to remain in the queue for an appointment. Weird.

Then I noticed where this apology had originated – Geriatric Medicine. what the fuck? What the hell is Geriatric Medicine when they are at home? Is this yet another group to add to my confusing list of groups?

I tried looking them up on the Interwebs. That didn’t help. I’m no wiser, though they seem to be offering me home help or something. I tried phoning them. That didn’t help either as their phone is the same as every other phone in the hospital – no one answers.

I went back online and confirmed that I would like to wait on their waiting list. Why not? If the day comes and they invite me in then I shall see how I feel at the time.

Geriatric indeed!

The fucking nerve of them.