So ... in every competitive business sector you have to find the edge, that factor which will set you apart from your rivals to make your service, what you deliver that little bit different ...
... poor quality photograph taken in 2001 in T-or-C ... there is actually a sign in the frame which promises 'Cremation with a difference ...'
... what the difference was we never determined ... well, what are you going to do ?
... 'We were just driving by, and saw your intriguing offer ...
... 'No, no-one is dead ... but if the service offered is as tantalising as you indicate ... well ... I am feeling a tad queasy ... so, you never know ...
Dancing ponies? Random explosive in every fifth service? Free lottery tickets?
... whatever it was ... there was promise of a difference ...
It's the same with elections ...
There is a choice to be made ... and the electorate must make it ...
... but not all do ... many, to many voice the opinion of 'it makes no difference', especially those who retain the blush of youth ... (which is anyone under 35 yrs from my perspective, but let's round that down by a decade) ...... thing is, all politicians fundamentally disregard the 18 - 25 vote because they CAN ... because they KNOW that HUGE sector of the electorate is damned by their own media induced apathy to not partake in the event that will change their lives and their younger siblings and grandparents live for the next 10 - 20 years ...... it is the same every election ... politicians will never pay heed to any large sector of society which does not vote ... END of discussionSo ... it doesn't matter who you vote for ... that is the whole point of a democracy ... even if/when Chairman May is reinstated, this is not relevant ...... what matters is that your vote is cast ...The argument is put forward that wars were fought for the right to exercise your vote, and ones of those rights is not to vote ...... well actually ... having had 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation antecedents all of whom were politely but firmly invited by the relevant HM Govt of the day to explore the exciting possibilities of European or Middle Eastern long-stay vacations, with as much tinned bully-beef, lice and shrapnel as they wanted, and then some ...
... and talked at length with them over their experiences of war and expectations of peace ... the one thing that appeared clear and consistent in all discussion was ... 'We did not sit up to our necks in mud and sand and death for so many years just for you to sit on your arse and spout drivel about 'doing nothing being a choice' ...Vote tactically
Vote blindly
Vote using a coin toss
Vote having carefully weighed all the issues and manifesto claims, with due and diligent research and contemplation ... well, someone might ...
Just VOTE
... so can Healthcare be a business ? ...
... for anyone outside of the United Kingdom (never was a nation so misnamed ) evidently the answer is 'Yes' ... but is it really? ...
... healthcare = the provision of service for the protection, improvement, maintenance, or, sadly in some cases, the reduction in degradation of the health of the individual ...
... that in itself is not a business ... it is an aspiration ... a basic human desire to care and provide succour for those in need and suffering ... this has been a demonstrable and recorded cornerstone of societies since the dawn of mankind ...
... and whilst socio-economics was established on the local goat-standard and medical science did not extend beyond willow-bark and trepanning everything was fine ...
... then some bright spark (who maybe had no viable inherent skill or talent) instigated the concept of a cash based economy ... and matters rapidly escalated from there ...
... so now we have a social health care model within G.B. plc that is anything but ...
... health care is financed so that is 'free at the point of need' and is delivered equitably and without means testing of the individual ...
... but the default status therein is that social health care is for all, a true socialist model (with a small silent 's'), and is not designed for the specific individual ...
... the difference between 'made to measure' and 'off the peg' ...
... so if the service is for all then you takes a ticket and you waits in line ...
... if you are in acute, life-threatening need that you jumps the queue ... otherwise you waits ...
... but then we run into the brick wall mentality of ' well, I never need healthcare so why should I pay a greater tax burden to no benefit to myself, after all, A&E are just full of obese dunkards ne'er-do-wells and NHS hospitals are rife with superbugs ... I know this because I read in the newspaper ... saw it on TV ...' ...
Hmmm
Problem is ... when the unlikely event of anyone requiring acute life-saving treatment occurs ... the individual is very unlikely to be able to afford the true cost of their immediate care and ongoing, often life time, after care ...
... all private health care insurance plans are a gamble (that is after all what insurance is ... a high stakes financial flutter) ... based on premise that the majority will not claim ensuring there is sufficient in the pot for the shareholders, the executive dividends ... and the few unlucky souls who need a pay out ...
... so we have a choice ... all pay in together, and unlucky souls take out ...
... or all, who have the income to do so pay in, and the unlucky souls in that much smaller pool take out ...
... and those outside the pool ... well like all fish removed from their natural environment ... thay flounder and gasp
Never mind - there is always the witch-hazel
