Yeesh

from: ePolitix
– London critically needs another 300 GPs, with 80 per cent of surgeries in
some areas closed to new patients, says the GLA.
– Railtrack’s state-sponsored successor, ‘Notwork’ Rail, says it will be 2010 before punctuality gets back to 2000 levels. Season tickets will go up by 4 per cent, jobs will go, can can we have another 58 billion quid please?
– The number of complaints against the NHS has reached an all-time high, from 2,660 in 2001/02 to 3,994 in 2002/3, says the health ombudsman.
– Left-wing think-tanks have seen a big fall in company donations (no surprise when they have to shell out 6 billion a year on new regulations).
– Half of the 750 million pounds spent on 50 regional aid projects went to firms that have since closed or are failing to create new jobs, says the FT.
– Government borrowing in May was the highest level since Labour came to power. Meanwhile, high-street sales fell.
– Britons admit to being among the most dishonest people in Europe, says the
Readers Digest. Mind you, the others were probably lying.
– The Inland Revenue chairman told MPs 250,000 families are still waiting for the first tax credits, two months after the policy came into effect.
– UK social security, council housing, NHS and schooling will be available to the 73 million people in countries that are about to join the EU.
– The Audit Commission says many outpatient appointments are cancelled
because staff don’t give enough notice of their intention to take holidays.
– Parents are deserting state schools in record numbers. The number of
independent school kids has gone up from 413,130 in 1999 to 432,687 today.
…AND LAST
I’m reminded too that it was a House of Commons committee in 1883 which
pronounced the light bulb as ‘unworthy of the attention of practical or
scientific men’. Nothing changes, indeed.
From: ASI Newsletter