the brilliantly leaping gazelle

Throughout these posts about the election campaign, I have been scathing about the honesty of politicians who claim that that cutting taxes are somehow compatible with better public services. Or else that government borrowing to pay for all their promises can be offset against the massive amounts of tax revenue the UK will have after tax avoidance by corporations is more vigorously clamped down on.

The question that I’ve posed before still stands. Who is worse? The person who bullshits, knowing full well that they’re bullshitting even as they’re bullshitting – the bullshitter? Or the people on the end of that bullshit, who know deep down that it’s bullshit, but pretend to go along with it because of self-interest – the bullshat?

Who in their right mind could possibly believe that cutting tax is anything other than a coded message that more public service budget cuts are on the way? That with the demands an ageing population will put on those public services, public services we’ll all someday need, that this is good thing?

And who seriously thinks that getting corporations, like Amazon, or eBay to pay the proper amount of tax will be anything other than impossible? Do politicians imagine that we’ve not heard about the lengths these shysters will go to not to pay tax?

I’d like a body like the one Brad Pitt had in ‘Fight Club’ but that too isn’t going to happen either.

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Did anyone else see this in yesterday’s ‘Independent’?

Thrill seekers can now travel to the edge of space space in a giant hot air balloon for £100k

Space Perspective is offering panoramic views of the Earth from a luxury capsule featuring an open bar and a toilet after completing its first, successful test flight. ‘

My only thought was about another place humans are not supposed to go – really, really, really deep in the oceans – like the Titan submarine sightseeing trip. 

That ended well, didn’t it?

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Waz proposed a novel way in which Plonkers plans for an extra 40,000 NHS appointments might be funded. By the very simple means of not paying doctors proper overtime rates to do them.

As the ‘Telegraph’ reported yesterday,

The majority of the extra slots are expected to be at evenings and weekends, but paying doctors to work the extra hours at premium rates could mean that costs spiral.

But Mr Streeting would only give hospital trusts the funding to pay staff 1.5 times their usual rate. The final rates will continue to be agreed locally between hospitals and consultants, who could refuse to take on the work, but the proposed figures would undercut what doctors have typically been paid for extra work.’

Wonderful! I mean if you ignore the fact that Plonker repeatedly took Prada to task for not sorting out the ongoing junior doctors pay dispute that is, and consider the likely calming effect these plans might have to help with negotiations to resolve that, that is.

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Some people really need to be protected from themselves. 

This was proven once again by this story in todays ‘Guardian’

’Woman who died at slapping therapy retreat viewed healer as ‘sent by God’, court told’

No, that can’t be right, we all know that doctors recommend at least five slaps a day, with preferably a couple of hard punches as well, for the maintenance of good bodily health

‘Danielle Carr-Gomm, 71, wrote glowing testimonials about Hongchi Xiao saying she believed he was starting a revolution in healthcare, Winchester crown court was told.’

That would be the revolution in healthcare such that you no longer need it being as how you’re dead?

‘Xiao allegedly congratulated Carr-Gomm when she announced she had stopped taking insulin at the start of the four-day workshop, attended by “keen disciples” of his methods, at Cleeve House, a country manor in Wiltshire.’

Stopping taking one’s insulin. Perfectly sensible thing for a diabetic to do. What could possibly go wrong?

‘When Carr-Gomm fell seriously ill Xiao allegedly told other participants that she was experiencing the “darkness before dawn breaks” and did not call for medical help.’

Carr-Gomm is said to have stopped taking insulin on Monday 17 October. Over the coming days she became unwell and was heard crying and howling in pain.

The jury was told that in a book Xiao has written he suggests someone may appear to be ill but this is in fact toxins leaving the body during a “healing crisis”.’ Healing crisis? Is that a ‘healing crisis’ in the same way that war is a ‘peace crisis’?

Paramedics were called at 2.54am on 20 October and Carr-Gomm was found lying on a mattress on the floor of her room and was confirmed dead at 3.11am.’

Had she not died, she could’ve crowd-funded the money needed to buy a ticket on that Space Perspectives balloon!

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And to fully understand why I call Plonker – middle name Rodney – Plonker, think I’ll leave one for Del Boy to explain…