An Optimistic Future for Everyone Here in Britain

Hi Everyone

One of he things that we probably hear too often is the question “Is Britain broken?”. In a radio interview, a politician who, in my opinion, is more sensible and believable than most of them, reminded us that we are the world’s sixth biggest economy and that we still have a big influence in the world. He then said that in twenty five years' time, we are forecast to still have the world’s sixth biggest economy. The present reality is that our NHS is in serious trouble, we have problems with energy production and costs, climate change is a serious concern, many services like the police, prisons and education are seriously underfunded, and that is before many say that the state of the nation is judged by the state of it’s roads. In addition, more and more local services rely on volunteers and fundraising to keep going. The politician also reminded us that many other countries have many of the same problems as ourselves. Now I think that most Rubbish readers and beyond will agree that we have been in slow decline for a number of years.  My simple logic, therefore, tells me that if we retain our position as the sixth largest economy in twenty five years time, then all the other countries below us in the league table will be suffering a similar fate. The good news is that I will not be here to prove this load of Rubbish one way or the other. 

One afternoon this week, the Main Contractor, with nothing better to do as it was raining and she was ignoring the dust everywhere, suddenly announced that she had spent just over £5000 in dental care since 2009 and that is without any serious work having to be done. I am not sure about the date 2009, but certainly at one point, dental care was free to everyone on our NHS. Now, even if you are registered with an NHS dentist - if you can find one, the cost of keeping your teeth in gleaming white is considerable. There are many things that we did not pay for in the past that they now squeeze out of us like parking fees, brown bin collections, airport taxes, with a charge for just being dropped off at the airport, with some jobsworth being employed to find other ways to get hold of our cash. Apart from dental care all the other money grabbing exercises are ‘painless’ unless you ignore the fact that your blood pressure has gone through the roof and that, on one occasion, I came out with the dentist's chair still in my tightly gripped hands. 

The Main Contractor can rightly say that she is an expert in children’s behaviour, having spent a forty year working career in schools with  five to six year olds. Even with all that  experience, however, she struggled with what to do with this week's tantrums by two children who had obviously not come under her watchful eye at any point. In this case, one of the children has a lot of money in his piggy bank, and the other needs his mother to bring him under control. I think her advice would be to sit them at opposite corners of a very large room with instructions to not speak for the next three and a half years.

Just a Thought : 

My friend is an optimist; he keeps the car engine running while his wife goes shopping.

Apparently, Trump wants teachers to be armed. If that had happened when he was at school, he probably would not be around now.

My friend got a job at his local dentist's office by word of mouth.

Brian