Nick Clegg: Reinventing the NHS.

I am glad to see that our leader is talking about reinventing the NHS. As it is presently organised about 10% of the money thrown at it is wasted simply because of the the inefficiencies built into the present organisation. That is, spend £10 000 000 on the NHS and £1 000 000 is automatically wasted.

A Failed Government

In Nick Clegg's YouTube video he pointed out the "decade of failure" of the Labour government. But the failures of our society, the binge drinking, the drug problem, the obesity epidemic, failing schools, the violent crime amongst young, mainly, men, the failing NHS. All this is the inexorable outcome of the systems we have in place now. If we want to change these outcomes/outputs of the bureaucratic systems that produce them, then a Liberal Democrat government must undertake a pacific revolution of all the government institutions itself.

We must re-design and restructure our systems of government and departments and ministries so that they facilitate the the desirable, liberal outputs/outcomes of freedom, security, opportunity for all, making poverty history in this country first.
If we do not do this, we will be a failed government as well.

In other words, TO BUILD A BRITAIN OF EXCELLENCE, in all aspects of society, we have to be a revolutionary, not just a radical, party and government to succeed.

Now there is an aspiration to fulfil.

Binge drinking

If the government wants to crack down on binge drinking, why does it just look at raising duty on alcohol? This penalises the sensible social drinker because of the silliness of the few who consider it fun to get "wrecked" every weekend.
Why don't we integrate the tax and justice system? That way, when police use their existing powers for being "drunk and disorderly" or causing a "breach of the peace", the person concerned could be ordered to pay emergency tax at 25% or 40% for 3 or 6 months. In that way it would reduce their disposable income and restrict their purchasing power to buy alcohol.

An Education Policy

Education is an essential requirement in any society. But even more so in this technological age. Our children need to have high aspirations and expectations of themselves to enable them to achieve their full potential. Children today spend hours playing computer games trying to attain high scores. If every teacher put their lesson plans online for the subjects they teach for the full academic year, children would be able to complete the subject modules at their own pace. The more able and/or hardworking would move ahead of their year. teachers would be able to encourage those who were struggling.

I propose that children who attain five GCSE's at grade C or above at the age of 14 should be able to start work and be entitled to free tuition to RYA Coastal
skipper qualification or a Bronze C qualification in gliding or a similar qualification in Orienteering.

Because we live in the computer age our children should learn to touch type. So it is my view that there should be a GCSE in calligraphy and learn italic and copperplate handwriting. But the children should be required to teach themselves. All essays should be written in either of those styles.

Also, there should be a GCSE in Physical fitness. I propose that the standard should be to walk/jog/run 5 kilometres in 30 minutes or 10 kilometres in 61 minutes or less.
Preferably in 25 minutes or sub 50 minutes respectively. Obesity would no longer be an issue. The human body has its own intelligence. It will discard excess weight if one jogs along at a mile every eight minutes.

These two GCSE's would not be taught in school. The children would have to do/not do them in their own time. But they would not be able to claim benefit or begin work until they did.

In this way children would learn how to plan and organise their own work and lives. Surely we want our children to be fit, strong and responsible citizens. Don't we?

A Transport Policy

If you wanted to travel to France on the ferry, would you expect to board at Dover,then sail on to Portsmouth, Weymouth, Plymouth and Falmouth to pick up more passengers; then cross the Channel to Calais via Guernsey, Jersey and St. Malo? If that happened, people would start buying their own boats to do the trip!!

But this is what happens on a scheduled bus/coach trip. If I want to travel to Birmingham from Bideford in North Devon, the route starts at Westward Ho! and goes via Bideford, Barnstaple, Tiverton on to the M5 to Bridgewater. Then on to Bristol where you might have to change buses. Then on to Gloucester, Cheltenham and finally Birmingham. The journey takes nearly all day. The service is provided by....wait for it....National Express!!! By car the journey takes around three hours, though with the cost of fuel it is more expensive. But it is more convenient.

What if... At every motorway junction we built our bus terminii, multistorey? carparks, warehousing and business parks. And specially built eco-friendly coaches that travelled solely up and down the motorways at a cruise control speed. It would mean two changes of vehicle but it would greatly reduce the carbon footprint of the buses and overall journey times would be less.

To bring such a policy into effect will involve changing the system of corporation tax. For example, no corporation tax on new companies that introduce eco-friendly coaches on Motorway only services. Also taxi drivers/owners whose mileage is greater than 50000 per year should be exempt or pay only a nominal road fund tax e.g. £10. Also they should automatically reclaim VAT or customs and excise duty on the fuel they use. If taxi journeys were less expensive,less people would need to run their own cars. Thus reducing the nations carbon footprint even more.

A Liberal Democrat Government

I am fed up with the Liberal Democrats being little more than a political pressure group.



I want to see a Liberal Democrat government in power after the next general election.

But we wont do it by banging on about climate change. And rattling on about taxation.



What people are concerned about is poverty, (their own). About being priced out of the property market. Kids in gangs going round stabbing or shooting other kids. Low standards of education and the high incidence of truancy. Victims of crime being treated worse by the police and justice system than the perpetrators of crime. The National Health Service sacking nurses and doctors yet taking on more administrators. Pensioners and employees facing poverty in later life. Fat cat NHS administrators and company directors getting million pound payoffs/bonuses?! for running their organisations into deficit or loss and bankruptcy. About the threat of rising taxes on alcohol and tobacco. About immigration.



What people are concerned about is the rising tide of regulation and bureaucracy, the conflicting advice about what is safe to eat and what is not, the stupid health and safety rules that defy commonsense. The benefit system poverty traps which keep people in poverty because the risk complete destitution if they try to get off benefits.



What I want a Liberal Democrat government to do is to build a Britain that is a privilege and an honour to be a citizen of. Where we are truly proud to be British because our people self reliant, morally strong, physically strong and financially strong.



A Britain where people get out of bed in the morning AT THEIR OWN RISK.

Let us make poverty history by reducing the tax on shareholders dividends for companies where the directors salaries are not more than ten times the salary of the lowest paid employee in the company. And a directors leaving payout is taxed at 100% if the company is making a loss.

This will put upward pressure on low wages and a downward pressure on high salaries.

Banks are the other institutions that impoverish the low paid. When a direct debit is requested from an account, the money is taken out and if there was insufficient funds, the bank reclaims the money and charges the customer a penalty charge, as does the payee as well. This should be illegal because the situation is solely of the banks chosing of the way it designs its accounting system. The direct debit request could interrogate the account first, i.e. is the amount available => than the amount requested, if no, repeat request in 24 hours.



The property market. Margaret Thatcher and Milton Friedman I think was right when they said that when the money supply is greater than the supply of goods (homes), then price inflation results. Mortgagors used to lend three to three and a half time the buyers annual income. Now it is five or more times the annual income. Also, misguided but well meaning parents remortgage their own home to help their children get on the property ladder, thus increasing the money supply even more. I propose that a Liberal Democrat government introduces what I call the Canary Wharf Law, whereby repossession of a property by the mortgagor shall constitute full repayment of the loans/mortgages secured on the property. This is what happened with the Canary Wharf development. Perhaps the financial institutions will be less profligate in their lending policies. And perhaps second homes should constitute a luxury item and be subject to VAT!



Kids, truancy and education. This Labour government proposes to raise the school leaving age to 18 years. For goodness sake, we have trouble keeping kids in school until they are 16!



However, we live in a technological age and therefore we need high educational standards. Therefore, I propose that there should be free education up to degree level.

That children can leave school at fourteen if they have attained five GCSEs at grade C or above.

What about the cost! We have as many Mathematics or Science or English or any other subject teachers as there are computers in the country. Every person can have virtually one to one tuition on any subject. The infrastructure already exists. We just have to make use of it correctly. I have other policy ideas in this and other areas. But each policy area will be a topic of another blog. Truancy. Perhaps there should be four ten week terms per year. What should be compulsory is period of time at school forty terms starting at six years old. If a child has an unauthorised number of days off school (say five) during a term, then a term is added on, i.e. forty-one terms. Unless of course the child achieves his five GCSEs at grade C or above.

As regards violence and morality, perhaps children should be required to write essays along the lines of "Its OK/not OK to steal/ kill/ take drugs. Give your reasons for and against. In other words, our children should be encouraged to develop their own personal philosophy.

The criminal and Human Rights. When a person is found guilty of causing harm against the person, perhaps the judge should say when sentencing, "You have disregarded the law prohibiting causing harm to the person (e.g. murder, gbh, abh.). You have the right to live according to your own rules. Therefore you will be sent to a place where there is no law. You will be sent to a prison where you receive food and shelter but there will be no prison officers, no locks on the cell doors, where you can live with others who think and act the same way as you do.

That is enough policy ideas for now. There are more to come later.