The Night Mail

[iL Dottore]

I am appalled that Bill has to pay for his own tests (so do I, BUT [1] I am not involved in front line activities and [2] I no longer treat patients). As @polybear ventured “no free tests, no free volunteer” - perhaps then the back office bureaucrats will stop taking him and fellow volunteers for granted (Incidentally, I was recently chatting with some fellow consultants at a consultancy group meeting and they were talking about why they left the NHS and one common reason, apart from the appalling work/life balance and the insane bureaucracy, was the fact that no matter how hard they worked, they felt that they were always just being taken for granted).

 

Being half-British, I have a deep love of the country and I am proud of the many, many, great things the country has accomplished. So I am not shy in voicing my displeasure or disagreement with what is happening in the UK - from the mindless “de-colonising” (which deliberately ignores the huge and pivotal role Black Africans played in feeding and sustaining the slave trade) to the (apparently) increasing tolerance of incompetence in all walks of life (well perhaps not tolerance, more like a fatalistic resignation).

 

If strikes and industrial relations conflicts were the “British Disease” of the 70s, then surely incompetence is the “British Disease” of the 2020s. Anecdotal accounts from TNM posters about how impossible it has become to get even simple things done - from getting a meter installed to getting a referral letter from a hospital - just serves to support my contention.

 

I think a good part of the problem isn’t that there aren’t many competent people in the UK (there certainly are) but because they are overwhelmed by the incompetent - who are often higher up “the food chain”. And the increasing numbers of incompetents in decision making positions I think is down to one thing: no-one is ever properly held to account. In fact it seems to be the opposite: the more you screw up, the more you are rewarded. (there frequently have been newspaper stories, usually hidden away from the.front pages, recounting how X presiding over scandal Y at organisation Z has been promoted to head A at organisation B)
 

Time to ask the French if you could borrow a few tumbrils and Madame G for a while??? 

[SM42]

The promotion  of incompetence is a recognised ( if in a humorous way) business  practice. 

 

It is known as the Dilbert Principle. And is described thus:

 

"The least effective workers are systematically moved to where they can do least damage;  management"

 

It is very effective  and seen all over the business world. 

 

Incompetence at the coal face is expensive.

Incompetence further up has the check that those who know a thing or two are at the coal face and adjust orders from above to make it work and thus we all bumble along moaning about each other but  ultimately getting stuff done. 

 

Having said that, we do seem to be getting top heavy in many walks of business and public  service industries. 

 

Andy

Edited April 7, 2023 by SM42

[SM42]

Whilst out on my travels yesterday, as I whizzed along the motorway south of  Poznan, it came to my attention that the overhead signs were flashing up the warning :

 

"Pamiemtaj, jedz na prawa strona"

 

Remember drive on the right. 

 

now we are something like 930 miles from Calais so this is a little bit late if you've got this far driving on the left and it's in Polish, which may not be the best language to communicate with normally left side drivers.

 

I'm not sure how you correct such a mistake on a motorway neither

 

 

Andy

Perhaps they knew I was coming

Edited April 7, 2023 by SM42

[Oldddudders]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Time to ask the French if you could borrow a few tumbrils and Madame G for a while??? 

I suspect increasing numbers of people here think they might need those assets in early course!

 

Another general strike yesterday, and again next Thursday, when I am due to travel to England. So I have instead booked to travel Wednesday. At a cost in excess of £250. Sigh. 

[SM42]

It seems to me that the French public  know something needs to be done about the increasingly unaffordable state pension  provision, ( the options as I see it are get it later, get less or pay more tax) but don't want anything done that will affect them personally. 

 

Getting it later seems to be the more platable option of the three. 

 

But

 

As I don't live in  France and have no idea how the pension  system works, I could be wrong. 

 

 

Andy

[SM42]

It's Good Friday. ( a cold and wet one here)

 

Across the land preparations for Easter are in full swing and eggs will be boiled ready for food basket blessing tomorrow and breakfast on Sunday. 

 

Eggs are coloured by boiling them with onion skins, amongst other things. 

 

The loose onions in the supermarket yesterday were looking very green, having been stripped of their brown exteriors by many a shopper, ( Mrs SM42 included) 

 

Why buy onions for the skins, when you can get it for free?

 

And they say the British are tight. 

 

Andy

[Gwiwer]

On 06/04/2023 at 02:26, AndyID said:

On 06/04/2023 at 01:41, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

I don't think it's a huge problem but granite does emit a measurable amount of radioactive radon gas. That's unlikely to be a  problem in well ventilated spaces but it could be a problem when there is insufficient circulation of outside air.

There are designated areas within the UK, Cornwall being one of them, where a Radon check is required (at the purchaser’s expense) when buying property. When I bought the place down there the result came back with a value well within limits but well above “background”.  As the property was also a granite-built barn conversion the test also had to allow for the area of openable windows and doors. 
 

Which reminds me. The Aussie property is on the market and we may have an offer.  We are due to speak with our agent in an hour. That’s Good Friday evening out there.  He’s keen. And it’s a fixed price fee of around $1750 although plus 2% if the sale price exceeds $750k. It’s listed at $715k so we should be ok there.  
 

Now a plea to anyone who understands electrickery. No replies on my layout topic to a problem currently (pun intended) causing a delay to construction. I’m due to show a finished layout in July …..  Drop into “Porthgarrow” linked in my sig below. 
 

 

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

Whilst out on my travels yesterday, as I whizzed along the motorway south of  Poznan, it came to my attention that the overhead signs were flashing up the warning :

 

"Pamiemtaj, jedz na prawa strona"

 

Remember drive on the right. 

 

now we are something like 930 miles from Calais so this is a little bit late if you've got this far driving on the left and it's in Polish, which may not be the best language to communicate with normally left side drivers.

 

I'm not sure how you correct such a mistake on a motorway neither

 

 

Andy

Perhaps they knew I was coming

 

Two things worry me about your statement Andy.

 

Firstly that's its in Polish so clearly aimed at polish reading car drivers and secondly that its saying keep right rather than fasten your seat belt etc.

 

Clearly the authorities have sussed that they have a problem with polish reading car drivers wishing to drive on the left. If I were you I'd keep a very close eye on the car heading towards you and behind you and to the sides just to be on the safe side.

 

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I am appalled that Bill has to pay for his own tests (so do I, BUT [1] I am not involved in front line activities and [2] I no longer treat patients). As @polybear ventured “no free tests, no free volunteer” - perhaps then the back office bureaucrats will stop taking him and fellow volunteers for granted (Incidentally, I was recently chatting with some fellow consultants at a consultancy group meeting and they were talking about why they left the NHS and one common reason, apart from the appalling work/life balance and the insane bureaucracy, was the fact that no matter how hard they worked, they felt that they were always just being taken for granted).

 

Being half-British, I have a deep love of the country and I am proud of the many, many, great things the country has accomplished. So I am not shy in voicing my displeasure or disagreement with what is happening in the UK - from the mindless “de-colonising” (which deliberately ignores the huge and pivotal role Black Africans played in feeding and sustaining the slave trade) to the (apparently) increasing tolerance of incompetence in all walks of life (well perhaps not tolerance, more like a fatalistic resignation).

 

If strikes and industrial relations conflicts were the “British Disease” of the 70s, then surely incompetence is the “British Disease” of the 2020s. Anecdotal accounts from TNM posters about how impossible it has become to get even simple things done - from getting a meter installed to getting a referral letter from a hospital - just serves to support my contention.

 

I think a good part of the problem isn’t that there aren’t many competent people in the UK (there certainly are) but because they are overwhelmed by the incompetent - who are often higher up “the food chain”. And the increasing numbers of incompetents in decision making positions I think is down to one thing: no-one is ever properly held to account. In fact it seems to be the opposite: the more you screw up, the more you are rewarded. (there frequently have been newspaper stories, usually hidden away from the.front pages, recounting how X presiding over scandal Y at organisation Z has been promoted to head A at organisation B)
 

Time to ask the French if you could borrow a few tumbrils and Madame G for a while??? 

 

Well somebody got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning.

 

I think that can be classed as a bit of a rant.

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

"Pamiemtaj, jedz na prawa strona"

 

As you say this was on the motorway, presumably it's a reminder to move back into the inside (right-most) lane? I recall a Polish friend of mine explaining that Poles habitually drove in the outside lane owing to the excessive wear and poor maintenance of the inside lane -  but maybe things are better now. This was said to me as he was driving down the M4 in the outside lane at 80 mph+...

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, SM42 said:

Whilst out on my travels yesterday, as I whizzed along the motorway south of  Poznan, it came to my attention that the overhead signs were flashing up the warning :

 

"Pamiemtaj, jedz na prawa strona"

 

Remember drive on the right. 

 

now we are something like 930 miles from Calais so this is a little bit late if you've got this far driving on the left and it's in Polish, which may not be the best language to communicate with normally left side drivers.

 

I'm not sure how you correct such a mistake on a motorway neither

 

 

Andy

Perhaps they knew I was coming

The old Austro-Hungarian empire drove on the left until WW2. IIRC parts of southern Poland were then part of the empire.

[rockershovel]

8 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

The old Austro-Hungarian empire drove on the left until WW2. IIRC parts of southern Poland were then part of the empire.

I'd be fairly surprised to find anyone who learnt to drive before WW2, still on the road?

 

I'd guess that the sign was a reminder to Poles who had become habituated to driving on the left, while working or living in UK

Edited April 7, 2023 by rockershovel

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

Clearly the authorities have sussed that they have a problem with polish reading car drivers wishing to drive on the left.

Not sure why but apparently a lot of British resident Poles have returned to Poland over the last few years. (Just noticed Rockershovels comment) 

Edited April 7, 2023 by Tony_S

[rockershovel]

Veering onto a new tack entirely, I've been watching a dramatisation of "Journeys End" on one of the satellite/Internet channels. I've always had a soft spot for this, having gone to a school which had a huge "in memoriam" board in the gym and once been conscripted (or promoted, depending on your PoV) to play Trotter in a school production.

 

My good wife has been reacting as usual, coming and going, interrupting and generally making a nuisance of herself, muttering darkly about "always war stuff" ... as though I watched enough TV for any patterns to be discerned.... it occurred to me, the level of violence, real and implied in the soaps which she watches for several hours a night. 

 

Accusations of murder are now commonplace, as are convictions (frequently shown subsequently to be false). One character actually quite recently committed a murder on-screen, and hid the body in his roof-box. There appears to be a rota for being imprisoned, it's so common. Domestic violence seems endemic, as are threats of violence during business transactions. The general air of shouting and near-hysteria is ubiquitous. 

 

Journeys End is a film of approximately 1hr 45min. During this time the actual "action scenes" comprise the trench raid, lasting about 90 seconds, and the bombardment with which the film, and play end, lasting a few minutes. The only Germans appear during the trench raid. There are occasional off-screen shellbursts.

 

Characters mostly interact with an air of strained politeness, for fear of losing control.  Stanhope's scuffle with Hibbert is a key plot point, and resolved quickly.

 

Frankly its a welcome relief from the urban warfare she watches with such equanimity...

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by rockershovel

[rockershovel]

12 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Not sure why but apparently a lot of British resident Poles have returned to Poland over the last few years. (Just noticed Rocketshovels comment) 

1) Brexit, and consequent respective value of £ v €. Their remittances are sent in €, so a drop in exchange rate amounts to a pay cut.

 

2) Brexit again - their children if born in UK, don't have Polish nationality

 

3) They can no more live on their wages here, than the locals they displace and return home when they have accumulated a useful sum in Polish terms

 

4) training opportunities here apparently far exceed those at home. Personnel turnover subsequently is about what you might expect. 

 

5) I can't speak from particular experience of Poland, but as a general comment on my experience of FSU countries corruption and nepotism is endemic. I was openly told on numerous occasions that a local graduate position commanded a bribe of around a years' salary and the market in promotions was commensurate. No 2 Son told me a few things about this relating to the JLR production line in Slovenia. The incentive to go elsewhere, establish yourself there and either return as an external recruit or for a foreign company is obvious. 

[Gwiwer]

24 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Not sure why but apparently a lot of British resident Poles have returned to Poland over the last few years. (Just noticed Rockershovels comment) 

This being one reason why the UK is very short of bus drivers for the time being.  Another being that the Poles found difficulty in qualifying once the Driver CPC became mandatory.  That required demonstrable fluency in English, good customer service and a high degree of professional driving skills.  It was the Poles who had attracted the greatest number of customer complaints on all three counts when compared with other nationalities.  Within those statistics of course there were also some excellent Polish bus drivers.  

 

I have two Polish colleagues at work.  Neither plans to return as both have Settled Status and families here.  Both tell the same story of Poles driving in the "fast" lanes by choice to avoid all sorts of slower traffic, potholes and sometimes just because they can drive fast - much faster than the limits allow.  I also have a Bulgarian colleague who has described his driving experiences in Poland as a "worst nightmare".  

[Dave Hunt]

On 06/04/2023 at 10:50, bbishop said:

.......I am a volunteer and so will have to pay for my tests from my pension.  I only found I had Covid in April was by taking a test before a duty and there is no way that I could put a vulnerable patient at risk.

What does the TNM community think?

 

The word disgusting springs to mind. Maybe a quiet word with a national newspaper and/or TV news programme would be in order?

 

Dave 

[Dave Hunt]

17 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I was thinking of nurses like this:

 

 

But I'll get these:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is that because they look more likely to recognise a kindred spirit?

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

17 hours ago, SM42 said:

I decided it would be better for  a professional to arrive first, but that was in the days when they didn't routinely take up to an hour or more to arrive. 

 

Some years ago we were assisting at the scene of a traffic accident where a young woman was badly injured so, being a nurse as well as a first aider, Jill was tending to the girl whilst I was stopping traffic. First on the scene after us was a policemen who, when he found out that Jill was a nurse, advised her that it was a bad idea for her to be involved as since she was a health professional she could be sued if anything went wrong. Despite that she has always tried to help.

 

Dave

[Dave Hunt]

15 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

....as very young hippo replies: 'That's not a puff puff, it's a 'Hall'

 

Ah, that explains it - you were scarred as a youngster by exposure to such things.

 

Dave

[rockershovel]

6 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Some years ago we were assisting at the scene of a traffic accident where a young woman was badly injured so, being a nurse as well as a first aider, Jill was tending to the girl whilst I was stopping traffic. First on the scene after us was a policemen who, when he found out that Jill was a nurse, advised her that it was a bad idea for her to be involved as since she was a health professional she could be sued if anything went wrong. Despite that she has always tried to help.

 

Dave

This is why I have always avoided the "3 day First Aid course" common in construction work in UK 

[rockershovel]

22 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

This being one reason why the UK is very short of bus drivers for the time being.  Another being that the Poles found difficulty in qualifying once the Driver CPC became mandatory.  That required demonstrable fluency in English, good customer service and a high degree of professional driving skills.  It was the Poles who had attracted the greatest number of customer complaints on all three counts when compared with other nationalities.  Within those statistics of course there were also some excellent Polish bus drivers.  

 

I have two Polish colleagues at work.  Neither plans to return as both have Settled Status and families here.  Both tell the same story of Poles driving in the "fast" lanes by choice to avoid all sorts of slower traffic, potholes and sometimes just because they can drive fast - much faster than the limits allow.  I also have a Bulgarian colleague who has described his driving experiences in Poland as a "worst nightmare".  

Polish driving is atrocious. Comes from learning to drive from Russians. 

 

I would certainly not argue the point about customer service. If there is a word for it in any of the FSU languages, there shouldn't be. 

 

MacDonalds, the story has it, opened a branch in Baku (Moscow/substitute as applicable). Shortly before opening, the American manager finds Sergey lounging out the back, smoking. "Come on", he exhorts. "Let's have a smile for customers". Sergey gazes at him in amazement and finally stammers "... but WE have the burgers!"

Edited April 7, 2023 by rockershovel

[Happy Hippo]

35 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Some years ago we were assisting at the scene of a traffic accident where a young woman was badly injured so, being a nurse as well as a first aider, Jill was tending to the girl whilst I was stopping traffic. First on the scene after us was a policemen who, when he found out that Jill was a nurse, advised her that it was a bad idea for her to be involved as since she was a health professional she could be sued if anything went wrong. Despite that she has always tried to help.

 

Dave

I would suggest the police officer was talking bollox through ignorance!

 

See here for a reasonable explanation.

 

https://firstaidtrainingcooperative.co.uk/will-i-be-sued-for-doing-first-aid/

 

 

 

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The old Austro-Hungarian empire drove on the left until WW2. IIRC parts of southern Poland were then part of the empire.

 

Poznan was in the Prussian partition.

 

My experience of crossing the road in Poland was that whilst there is a German approach to rules and regulations, there is a French attitude to obeying them. One might say Poland unites the best of both cultures.

[Northmoor]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I would suggest the police officer was talking bollox through ignorance!

 

See here for a reasonable explanation.

 

https://firstaidtrainingcooperative.co.uk/will-i-be-sued-for-doing-first-aid/

Summarised thus: You can't be successfully sued for trying to do the right thing, unless you are grossly incompetent.  A judge in the UK would likely throw out such a case and award as much of the costs as possible to the ambulance-chasing lawyer who "tried it on".  Thankfully our legal system - MOST of the time - still applies a principle of common sense.  I can't comment on the US legal system......

 

Unfortunately stories of being sued (in very, very rare incidents) get space in the Daily Wail etc. and people believe them.  They don't tend to notice the important part of the story which is where the complainant loses, or is awarded £100 damages but all the costs against them.  Because of newspaper coverage, litigation is like crime itself; our fears of being sued are out of proportion to our chances of it actually happening.