It will happen eventually to some of us, or we will have spouses/partners who suffer from ill-health.  We have an ageing population and Government has all of a sudden woken up to this fact (despite them knowing for the past 60+ years about the post-war baby boom).  At the same time as this huge population is getting older, the UK Government has seen fit to set about dismantling the services which the elderly used to rely on.  Day Care?  Respite Facilities?  Home Helps?  They either have already disappeared or are in the process of disappearing in every City in the country.

It's very rare that you will be told about Direct Payments (or Individual Budgets) by your local Social Services Department.  They have set themselves up as the Gatekeepers of these Public Funds and unless you know that there is a gate and how to open it, you will not be told about it. 

Direct Payments have been initiated to allow private individuals to employ private services, using Public funding, to provide some of the above services.   Of course Means Testing is involved, but regardless of whether you think you will qualify or not, insist on an Assessment from the Social Services Department.  Even a small award is better than nothing and will help towards paying for that desperately needed help.

Lucy said:

Well by 'eck.  I got another one of those little red flags that says my post has been reported!!!  Is it because I used the word Government?  I don't like the thought of any (possibly) slightly political comment being approved or otherwise by faceless individuals.  A very worrying step dont'cha think?

Good Morning Lucy and a Merry Christmas to you

The red flag simply means that another user is subscribed to that particular thread. Nothing to worry about. I have absolutely no doubt that someone, somewhere is watching us, but certainly not internally. Despite the fact that communism has been proven not to work, we have a self-confessed communist in the White House and a British regime seemingly intent on making the UK the first muslim state in the west. Will there come a time when we are afraid to speak out? You bet. And I don't think it's so far away. This is a frightening country to live in and certainly not one to grow old in. But I don't think that time is here just yet.

“Despite the fact that communism has been proven not to work, we have a self-confessed communist in the White House and a British regime seemingly intent on making the UK the first muslim state in the west. Will there come a time when we are afraid to speak out? You bet. And I don't think it's so far away. This is a frightening country to live in and certainly not one to grow old in. But I don't think that time is here just yet.” Wrote Tom

I am out of touch with life in Brittain.

There was a time when I proudly said “I am English.”

Communism is on paper the ideal way of life as is religion.

Unfortunately neither work in real life.

Life is Global  but we can't discuss problems without getting angry and fighting.

Fighting and killing never solved problems but end up in Nations hating each other.

……..and today is Christmas day. I had a lovely happy Christmas eve with my family… Peace on Earth.

Lucy said:

Well by 'eck.  I got another one of those little red flags that says my post has been reported!!!  Is it because I used the word Government?  I don't like the thought of any (possibly) slightly political comment being approved or otherwise by faceless individuals.  A very worrying step dont'cha think?

Hello Che and Merry Christmas!

Well what ever you do USA don't give the Bush or his ilk back!

An interesting topic.  I suppose I'm an old Communist at heart and haven't yet given up on the hope/dream that mankind will be kind to each other and work towards an equal and fairer society for all.  Why should the man who amputates a gangrenous leg be paid so much more than the man who catches the rats?  I acknowledge that Communism has failed because of the basic greed and corruption of mankind, but I live in hope. 

It has always saddened me that one of the richest countries in the world has failed to provide a basic 'free at the point of delivery' healthcare system to protect all its' citizens, and that having money can mean the difference between life and death.  Unfortunately, one of Mrs Thatcher's legacies here in the UK has been the slow destruction of our National Health Service – which has indeed been carried on by the current Tory administration (which masquerades as a Socialist government) and I can see a similar system emerging here.  The NHS is something we should all be doing our best to defend.  The 'free at the point of delivery' is not really true, as we in the UK have huge lumps of our income taken by the Government under the title National Insurance Contributions:  how much of this is actually used to fund our Health Service/Benefits System is questionable, as we know already that a lot of our tax money is being used by corrupt MP's to fund their Duck Houses, repair their Bell Towers and clean their Moats.

Doreen mentions the SPITEX system in her country.  This seems to be the same type of thing that we had here, where Home Helps would move around from house to house ensuring that those who needed the help were given it.  This involved doing the shopping, cooking a meal, a bit of cleaning, bathing people and generally ensuring that all was as well as could be.  It is this system that has now been destroyed and has been hived off to a growing private commercial industry, which is failing on all counts.

As for the little red flag Doreen, it's not the one that shows a New Post.  It's one that flashes onto the screen immediately you've done the maths and pushed the Save Post button.  Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean that they're not watching me.

Those who can, continue to have as good a holiday as you can.  (Just a note Tom, you will see that I am calling this festive period a 'holiday':  they've got to me.  For fear of offending those among us who live in a multi-cultural society in this Christian country of ours, I have to be very careful of the type of language I use)

The last time I went through a door with a red light outside, there was a very attractive Asian lady (very probably Muslim) who promptly pulled out three teeth and then charged me $280-00.

That's odd, Me! Last time I went to my dentist I found he had retired and a tiny Chinese lady had aquired his practise ( or is it 'practice'- I never can remember!) I needed one tooth removed and I thought she would probably put one foot on my chest and the other on my forehead and use both hands but she was actually very good.

I went to see my dentist only three months ago, I had a totally painless extraction … of funds from my bank card. However, the tooth she pulled was a little more painful.