A blog by Luke Akehurst about politics, elections, and the Labour Party - With subtitles for the Hard of Left. Just for the record: all the views expressed here are entirely personal and do not necessarily represent the positions of any organisations I am a member of.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Vote Labour

The wrong ministers seem to be resigning.

All 4 - Smith, Blears, Hughes and Watson - will be a loss to the government.

When not distracted by today's radiotherapy planning - PET/CT scan then 3 little tattoos to mark where the rays go in - I've been contemplating the train crash that is the Labour government I've spend all my adult life trying to get and sustain.

But even this shambles is running the country 100 times better and more humanely than the Tories ever would - as my own current experience of a properly funded NHS proves.

So go out and vote Labour tomorrow.

17 Comments:

Blogger Andy DM said...

So if they are the wrong ones, who would have been the right ones?

9:07 pm, June 03, 2009

 
Anonymous Rich said...

They are leaving a sinking ship...simple. No one wants to be part of Browns government as they know its going down in a big way.

Why else would they jump days before an important election.

Some are returning to their marginal roots to fight for their jobs. I don't think they have been left with a lot of choice....

10:47 pm, June 03, 2009

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vote Labour!

Hahahahahahahahahhaha ..........No.

11:35 pm, June 03, 2009

 
Blogger Julian Ware-Lane said...

I have already voted by post - for Labour. This Government is not a shambles. Little that goes on tomorrow in the polling booths will be about the issues - it will all be personalities and expenses.

12:36 am, June 04, 2009

 
Blogger Oldrightie said...

I suspect, dear Luke, you are enjoying being buggered rather too much!

12:51 am, June 04, 2009

 
Blogger Silent Hunter said...

"...I have already voted by post - for Labour..."

Yeah right!

How many ties? LOL

2:31 am, June 04, 2009

 
Blogger Silent Hunter said...

previous post should read

Yeah Right

How many times? LOL

Time for bed methinks.

2:33 am, June 04, 2009

 
Blogger Luke Akehurst said...

Julian you are right - the governing isn't a shambles - just the politics.

8:42 am, June 04, 2009

 
Blogger Steve Horgan said...

That the Labour parliamentary party has many able people in it is not open to question. However, when the history of our times is written one of the great questions will be how was it that Gordon Brown emerged as the leader despite the better alternatives that were available? Brown's flaws are now obvious to all, but Labour MPs at least would have know of his lack of leadership ability before he became their leader. So, how did it come to this? I am a Conservative, but I would much rather we had a decent Labour Prime Minister than a man who is clearly not up to the job of leading our people through such difficult times. Brown also seems to be heedless of the damage he is doing to the Labour party and as an activist you must find that particularly galling. If he had any sense of responsibility for the party then he would go, but Brown really doesn't do responsibility. Here in Basildon it is likely that there will be fewer Labour Councillors by sundown tomorrow as a result of Brown's intransigence. That is pretty hard on them, but I wonder if Brown actually cares.

9:26 am, June 04, 2009

 
Anonymous Ted Harvey said...

"as my own current experience of a properly funded NHS proves."

Good on you Luke for that, becuase the sterling work done by so many people in public services goes on regardless - and there are reactionery forces who will use any downfall of Labour to once again attack and hack back these services.

Let's already start to collect the weasal words and fatuous commitments that others are making with regard to protecting public services – for should we have to call them to account in the future.

10:30 am, June 04, 2009

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It actual annoys me, the pretence that Tories would cut the NHS. I was at a PCT yesterday - planning £25m of cuts IF LABOUR WIN THE ELECTION, because funding will flatline (reduce in real terms) from 2011, as outlined in the Budget a few months ago. It is a bare faced lie to say 'Tory cuts, Labour will protect'. Both parties will have to cut, and Labour have tacitly commited to but lack the cojones to admit it.

Though on a personal level I am pleased you are getting good treatment - as indeed our familay always has - on the NHS.

11:13 am, June 04, 2009

 
Anonymous John said...

Luke, I'm glad the NHS is fixing you, but I began having problems with my leg in early February. I thought I may have hurt it without noticing in that snow, and hoped it might get better, so I waited a couple of weeks.

It didn't, so I went to the minor injuries unit at my local hospital, who told me to rest as much as possible and take anti-inflammatories for a couple of months. This resulted in no improvement, so I went to my GP, who told me that in fact I should do the above for six months.

Rather than gradually getting better, it got worse, so I returned to a different GP at the same practice, who told me the same story. When I mentioned the possibility of paying, however, a world of tests and treatments was suddenly revealed.

Stuck, I decided to pay for a consultation and initial x-ray (£350). I had hoped for some refund from my medical insurer, but of course I discovered that their comprehensive cover includes "everything! except consultation, diagnosis, and treatment" (I'm not even paraphrasing what they told me on the phone.

That was six weeks ago.

The next step is that I need an MRI scan, but since this will be another several hundred pounds I have asked for an NHS referral. So far my form has been lost (once), and sent back to the referring department because I haven't had an X-ray first (I have, but privately).

I am at a loss. What do I do? How did you persuade anyone in the NHS to diagnose or treat you?

3:45 pm, June 04, 2009

 
Anonymous Alexander said...

Hope you're not feeling to bad with the treatment Luke, but I regret to say that your complete refusal to admit that there is anything wrong with the current government is symptomatic of the problems that Brown and Labour are having.

You've completely lost your way.

Whoever wins the next election will have to slash spending and quiet possibly hike taxes buy a chunk. The bank account was already empty even before the credit crunch hit.

It is rather ironic that the most likely long term legacy of 12/13 years of Labour Government will enforce spending cuts and almost certainly, having already crippled the private pension system, and end to gold plated public sector pensions.

Are real legacy of which you can be proud.

4:27 pm, June 04, 2009

 
Anonymous Rich said...

The government is a shambles and if you think differently then why are so many cabinet members leaving their posts....James Purnell ....being the latest in the 11th hour.

We need an election now the government is sterile and not working. I hope our Queen dissolves parliament as this is a complete mess.

10:29 pm, June 04, 2009

 
Blogger Andy DM said...

Luke may well be more charitable than me but has James Purnell ever done anything to help working people? I'm an inside the tent sort of guy but Purnell's a cancer that we needed to cut out - good riddance to him.

10:32 pm, June 04, 2009

 
Blogger Merseymike said...

I did vote Labour in the end. The Greens aren't in favour of the Lisbon treaty - and even though whats going on is bizarre, Cameron and his mob would be worse. So I didn't think it was time to desert a ship which needs re-floating - and i think it will have to be with a new captain.

1:14 am, June 05, 2009

 
Anonymous Ted Harvey said...

Anon says:
"It actual annoys me, the pretence that Tories would cut the NHS."
and:
"It is a bare faced lie to say 'Tory cuts, Labour will protect'."

Oh yes, someone who talks about 'pretence' and about 'bare faced lies'... only thing is they do it under the cloak of 'anonymous'... ahrdly the stuff of honesty and trust.

And anyway it is a 'bare faced fact' that Labour under Blair and Brown),for all its faults, has spent massively more on the NHS - and this came after the Tories had left it as one of the least well funded health services in Europe.

In fact I argue that the Labour Government was badly betrayed by the unions and the professional interest groups in the NHS who took the money, mostly for themselves, and ran.

Now for the reckoning and whilst whoever is in power will have to cut in real terms, all I would say is just watch how much more the Tories will cut the NHS - no matter what they say for now(who was that guy who said "there never was a cause that the Tories did not betray"?)

12:20 pm, June 05, 2009

 

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