My OH had a lease care through work for a few years. The lease firm were a national company, I can't remember the name of them now. Whenever he needed a new tyre or some other small part (wiper blade etc.), the firm the lease care company used was Kwik Fit. It's a national chain, and presumably it was a big contract for Kwik Fit so I felt he would get a decent job done. 

For the service, he could choose where to book it. I always made sure he went to a dealer so he would get the proper service. He was doing 30-40k miles per year so I felt the car needed that. 

I wouldn't go to a kwik fit, I would always use a local independent. 

24 minutes ago, fools said:

How is an increase from 132 billion pounds 10 years ago, to 182 billion now a cut

It isn't only about the funding that the NHS receives. What has been the volume of service delivered in that period? What has the impact inflation had over that time? What is the proportion spent on what kind of treatments. How has the waiting list for procuedures changed in that time.

The NHS is demand led, so, as the money has to stretch further, some people accessing it will receive less. 

I spoke to a good friend a month ago. She had a bad cold & was coughing. About 10 days after I saw her, she went to NGH A&E with chest pains and was sent away with Tamiflu. A day later she went back to A&E, and was admitted. She has been on a High dependency ward for 10 days now, and has pneumonia and pleurisy.  She could have very easily died and will take weeks to recover. If she'd been prescribed Tamiflu when I saw her, this might have been prevented. 

45 minutes ago, davyboy said:

My wife had a fallout 7 pm  It took two and a half hours  to get an ambulance to her.the ambulance took 25 minutes to A&E.

Then waited 40 minutes outside until a space inside became available.

Joined a queue of six trolleys in the corridor. The ward was full

Seen by a doctor after 4 hours and sent for a scan. Still in the corridor.
Our ambulance driver returned with another patient.

Scan results after  three hours discussed with doctor

Driver returned with another patient.

Had a short chat " you are looking at the death throes of the NHS "he said and left on another call

My daughter picked us up, home at 8am.

 

 

 

I hope your wife recovers soon. I fear the ambulance driver is correct. It must be so frustrating for NHS staff. 

On 04/01/2023 at 19:58, Dr Afzal said:

Scotland has already dicussed the idea. Thin end of wedge. This is likely to be one of the last times nurses will engage in industrial action. Something the private company will not tolerate.

Nurses get looking for a career change

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-63659754

 

Unless we have a drastic change, in government, or in the current NHS & social care model, I fear that we will have a managed decline situation.

In some respects, this would be far far worse than a change to a paid for model. 

16 minutes ago, Al Bundy said:

Do you think it's appropriate that a mainstream newspaper promotes such violence?

How is a review of an album promoting violence? Or is it introducing an album to a wider audience who might appreciate it?

When The Guardian reviewed the latest James Bond film, was that 'promoting 'violence? Or when it reviewed the Beyonce album, what was that 'promoting'?

Grime/Drill music is not to my taste, so I choose not to listen to it. Neither is classical music. However, I do believe in free speech. 

Is it only right wing media that is allowed to tell us what to think?? 

On 01/01/2023 at 13:29, bassett one said:

well some the public decide to keep lobbying your councillors for 20mph zones and the councillors say yes we will get your area a 20mph zone,but the police cannot man it ,so pointless,the goverment say electric scooters are banned except private land ,but we see them all over ,plus they are many more,plus we are recruiting more police and still crime rises and never mind house crime never investigated,so we pay more and get less in sheffield ,that never right,but we still stick to the same old.its about time police started nicking people and scc did more,happy newyear humbug

I think the underfunding of the Police, is the responsibility of the Government. What can SCC do to prevent crime exactly? SCC is struggling to balance it's books and fund social care.

On 10/12/2022 at 17:58, chipfork said:

Great advice, I believe Citizen's Advice can also help.

 

A good solicitor will be able to assess the needs and if relatively straightforward guide them through the forms for a nominal fee.

Family on my partner's side were charged over £4k which seemed excessive given the requirements were very similar to those that I'll discuss below. Therefore it is essential to get a few quotes for the work before entering into an arrangement with a solicitor.

 

Look for a specialist, the Law Society is a good starting point. This will find regulated solicitors (SRA) but is no guarantee of their quality, reviews and word of mouth can help. We recently looked at probate advice and the quality of the responses and projected fees were very mixed. 

 

I helped my partner's parents with an LPA (Lasting Power of Attorney). I'm not a solicitor, I did a lot of research , triple-checked everything and then validated what I had learned with those who had knowledge. We talked everything through, filled out the form on the government web site, paid the nominal admin fee and received the completed agreement some weeks later.

My partner's mother's health was expected to worsen so we wanted her spouse to have control over her health and financial affairs whilst she was an a position to agree. It was relatively straightforward and proved to be worth the effort. 

Having to try and sort this out could be seen as really daunting. It's difficult for people to get their heads around. Contacting solicitors isn't a common occurence in most people's lives. 

My OH has just been through a similar process with his siblings for their Mum and Dad. 

When I split with my former partner, I remortgaged and removed him from the deeds. We had to get his signature verified on the LR1 form. We went to Taylor Emmet in town who charged us a fiver to witness and verify. 

On 02/12/2022 at 17:08, pattricia said:

Is this a good thing to have ?  My elderly neighbour keeps asking me but I know nothing about it. He has made a will and owns his own property. Any advice would be helpful.

Age UK might be able to give him some advice. 

11 hours ago, cuttsie said:

It took thee minutes and fifty one seconds for a Wigan court magistrate to allow bailifs and debt collectors to be allowed forced entry into 496 holmes to change gas and electric meters to coin in the slot or to simply cut people off .

We are happy to grant the application  and allow the warrants the chairwoman of the bench  said . The debt collector company applied by phone and the parting shot from the woman called Sarah replied :"OK thanks bye " 

And thats it except Wigan maggstrates are granting 2000 of these warrants every month .

 

Be afraid if you are struggling to pay the energy costs ,  The law is not on your side as these magistrates are not even asking any questions as to the circumstances poor people are in .

Can we have the source please? 

We went to town on Sunday, didn't make it to the Moor though. The containers on Fargate look okay, plenty of people were around & enjoying themselves. Division Street was busy with shoppers and people in the pubs. 

Hopefully the market stalls will be popular enough to want to return next year. It's different Christmas experience than the bland mall shopping offer at Meadowhell. 

12 hours ago, The_DADDY said:

Or some other addictive substance?

Now, I'm not saying the do but I have my suspicions.

My reason for asking is I bought my cat a pack. I don't usually buy cat treats. It's not the cost or the fact they are probably not great for the cats diet. It's more to do with the fact our cat thinks he owns the house. We feed him. We care for him. We take care of all his needs. However if I dare to try and show him some affection and cuddle him he turns in to freddy kruger, the claws come of and the fight is on.

Anyway, Dreamies. So I give him one and I almost lose the tip of my finger. 

He likes them, cool.

So I give him a few more , then a few more, then finally one more. I put the packet away and since then he's been sat at the kitchen door crying like a lil girl, scratching the door, pulling up my carpet all to get at the heroin, I mean Dreamies. 

It's been 4 hours now.

He's been offered fish, ham, his favourite catfood but noooooooo. He wants his new fix.

What should I do?

We give both our cats Dreamies very sparingly.

A few years ago, we were getting help from our vets because my older cat needed to lose about 1.5 kilos. The nurse who was helping us, wasn't very impressed with Dreamies in terms of the quality of the ingredients. Since then, we barely use them. 

16 minutes ago, Dromedary said:

Do you think that if you were 16 it would have been different and you would have been capable?

 

Contract?

 

And in Syria where she went, got married and had children it is 15 so it's not really relevant.

 

She is automatically guilty of joining a terrorist organisation and as such can be treated under terrorist laws.

 

We don't know if she was groomed and so far that is just a maybe on her lawers part, something that they will have to prove.

16? I don't know. The principle of the age of consent is established in UK law.

Lawyers- that's what the Guardian report is about, isn't it? The start of her case. The Home Office will have their opportunity & no doubt that will be reported in the Guardian as well. 

48 minutes ago, L00b said:

Because much of the media screamed ‘traitor’ back in the day (even though she’s never raised a knife in anger, never mind at British people or interests, as far as I recall), so the sentiment carries.

 

Meanwhile, the kids she’s had since, rot in camp/jail with her. She had them with that Isis lad, and it must have been consensual, so they must be enemies of the state too. They knew what they were doing, getting born to an Isis sympathiser. And anyway, too many immigrunts already, they can take their chances on a dinghy mid-winter like all the others. 

AmIrite or amIrite? (not a question / nor @ you S35; but thanks for a considered post, made a nice change from all that foaming in here)

 

Doesn’t look like many posters on here have had, or known of, troubled teenage kids. Besides, it has become very fashionable to hate at the merest hint of a dog whistle in the past few years, so why be surprised at the insta-reaction.

The conspiracy theorist head on my shoulders thinks that the Home office knows that there is insufficient evidence against her for a trial. 

17 hours ago, The_DADDY said:

Shamima Begum may have been a victim of child trafficking.. 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/21/shamima-begum-may-have-been-a-victim-of-child-trafficking-court-told

 

 

If this is the case, does it reinforce or change your opinion about the whole sorry saga?

All I can add is, that at 15, I wasn't capable of weighing up the consequences of my decisions. My parents made most of my significant decisions for me, and I came to no harm. I believe the contact from ISIS began when she was 13. 

Luckily I didn't have terrorists trying to persuade me to make a perilous journey to join what essentially is a death cult. I assume that the men operating ISIS mainly wanted her for sex. In the UK, the age of consent for girls is 16. 

If she is guilty of a crime, she should be allowed to return to the UK, and stand trial in a court. 

I think we need to consider the whole narrative around teenagers and children, and how much harm can be done to them. Why do we accept that the girls in Rotherham and Rochdale were groomed, but that this girl wasn't?

On 15/11/2022 at 20:47, cuttsie said:

Old age should burn and rave at close of day .

Rage , rage against the dying of the light .  Dylan Thomas poem .

I have been giving this some thought of late, This is due to observing people i know of a similar age to me , people who I live among on our little estate consisting of older folks housing .

Not many of them are raging , most are sitting behind half drawn curtains watching TV  , some are drinking  more than is good for them . I know this because I see them on their daily walk to a local  corner shop where the bottle of Scotch or Vodka can be clearly seen  through the blue plastic carrier bag the  shop provides free of charge .

Apart from this my own experiences are telling me that things are changing in my World ,   For instance people are beginning to offer me their seat on a crowded tram or bus , People who I consider to be  not to different in age to me , I always politely decline and wonder why they have any way , In fact in my case I always stand up and ask a lady to take my seat on a crowded bus , again this seems to end up with a smile and  a polite refusal these days when at one time it was  accepted .

 

The kids are treating me different , , Do we  want shopping bringing in ,  Do I need the lawn cutting or hedge trimming and so .

This leads me to having a little turn sometimes , "I can cut my own bloody grass " or "We  are quite capable of doing our own shop " and so on .

 

I realise that they are now seeing me in a different light or way , that they think that age is a no , A date on a calendar, what they don't know is that I am not even considering age , that I will carry on as normal as possible for as long as possible even though deep inside I know that one day in the not to distant future I may be sat behind a half shut curtain supping Scotch and watching Emmerdale  bloody Farm with the rest of them .  

Until then I will read Dylan Thomas's poem and Rage rage against the dying of the light .

I'm quite looking forward to being the rude old woman, surprising everyone in the shop with bad language. I agree, older people should carry on being angry.

It is positive that your community is looking out for you and your neighbours. It's good to know that happens. 

33 minutes ago, Dromedary said:

Did you actually read the Budget Report? It clearly states that they are still providing the services that they are obliged to do under law and also have increased the budgets for them despite LA government revenue cuts.

 

Quote:

 

"Over the last 4 years, the Council has provided vital social care services with above inflation funding increases, and this year is no different. A 16% increase for 2022/23, and an average increase of nearly 13% p.a. over the last 5 years, has seen the budget for adults and children’s social services rise by a total of £126m."

 

They have also been using their reserves. I wonder how they managed to accumulate them with all the alleged funding cuts going on in the past.

 

SCC have also announced they will be spending over £100,000 on a "wrapper" to go round the old John Lewis store so they have also found money from somewhere to do that. They have also increased their hardship fund by £200,000.

 

 

To make any sense of this, the budgets over a number of years would need to be analysed and compared with actual expenditure.

Social Care is demand led- the more people who are assessed to have statutory care needs, the money has to be found to meet these needs. So budgets have to be cut elsewhere. 

22 minutes ago, Delbow said:

Very slippery. That includes libraries, I note. If that was agreed, it wouldn't be long before the UK became a country without public libraries. What a basket case.

I know. There was a debate on Jeremy Vine at lunchtime R2 about potholes. Council tax payers (who presumably don't receive funded social care) are already unhappy about the services they receive. Libraries are such as visible presence in the community and without them, it would seem as though Council's don't contribute much at all.. 

1 hour ago, Anna B said:

Does anyone still doubt that we are a country in serious decline?

Those at the top live in a bubble of splendour and are completely out of touch with what is happening in the real world. They still have delusions of grandeur and think we are a force to be reckoned with, but l beg to differ. We are becoming a laughing g stock and a banana republic.

 

This is a result of 40 years of free market economics in which winner takes all. The majority of people in this country are not among the winners any more. Any attempt at 'levelling up' has been nothing but empty Tory promises, meanwhile they have systematically reduced the support and services that people need and pay their taxes for.

 

The Tories bring a whole new meaning to the words 'shortsighted incompetence.' Unfortunately we have fallen so far it's probably unlikely we will ever be able to climb back up.

This is my worry. If the Labour party does get in, there has been such an erosion of public services, it's going to take years to put it all back together. This Tory government are so ideologically driven.

1 hour ago, geared said:

 

Well considering that huge Collins memorial is still in place more than 6 months after he kicked the bucket - whoever is supposed to be in charge of getting it sorted is clearly not bothering to do their job so I don't know why they should continue to be employed.

Enforcement of planning requirements must be a bit of a nightmare. There might be backlogs in the courts system as well. 

1 hour ago, Mr Bloke said:

Hmmm...

I agree!

It's clearly about less competent PEOPLE who can't hack it in the private sector...

... but who are given positions in the public sector that they're obviously not up to performing successfully!

That old 'public sector bad, private sector good' chestnut. Sigh. Start a new thread for that one! 

6 hours ago, Delbow said:

Slough, Croydon (both Labour) and Northamptonshire (Tory) already bankrupt. West Sussex and Somerset (both Tory) been teetering on the brink for years, as has Sheffield. Now two more are on the verge of declaring bankruptcy - Kent and Hampshire

 

Clearly this isn't about one political party being more or less competent with local government finances than any other, it's about a shocking withdrawal of funding by central government putting essential services such as schools, waste collection and social care at risk while wasting money on projects like HS2 and Test and Trace. 

 

Already, millions are not receiving the social care support they need and are statutorily entitled to, which has a direct negative effect on the NHS (also on the brink) because they often need social care packages in place to discharge people.

 

The UK has gone from a functioning society to a failing state in 12 years.

The County Council Network is pushing for a reduction in statutory services that Council's are obliged to provide. I can see why but it's a slippery slope. 

21 minutes ago, bassett one said:

if we end up in a bankruptcy situation what happens then?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-59249020- this is what Thurrock Council had to do. Basically sell off as many assets as possible, and services are cut to the bone. 

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/14/two-tory-run-councils-warns-pm-of-possible-bankruptcy- County Councils are urging the Government to reduce the services which Council's are staturily obliged to provide, such as libraries and transport. 

12 hours ago, bassett one said:

seeing that many need moving from slum conditions asap,yarmouth have refused to take any,should sheffield offer empty hotels/houses to help them and the goverment until they have been checked out,this is a serious question and no abuse ,just sensible replys please , what are the people of sheffield thinking? and do we have big empty flats/hotels?

The reality is that the Home Office will enter in to contracts with hotels for use as family accommodation, without consulting the Local Authority. We recently had the case of the 5 year old falling out of a hotel window in Sheffield (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/25/afghan-boy-5-fell-sheffield-hotel-car-park-roof-inquest-told) . This approach places the Local Authority in a difficult position of having to deal with any issues, along with the Police and other statutory agencies. 

Also as Tory backbenchers revolt against hotels being used in their area (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/02/tory-mps-councils-resist-home-office-plans-asylum-seekers-hotels), for political expediency, non-Tory areas will no doubt be used for accommodating refugees/economic migrants. 

The Home Office has a contract for sourcing accommodation for people in this situation. I'm guessing that a lack of affordable housing is driving this use of hotels and the overcrowding at Manston (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/03/manston-asylum-centre-not-operating-legally-concedes-minister)

Underlying all of this is a lack of investment in the public sector, and issues with France caused by Brexit. Also, surely, our economy is in desperate need of people for jobs- why can't the skilled migrants be acknowledged as economic migrants and go to find work in our economy. 

On 27/10/2022 at 10:46, bassett one said:

with the former man power building being changed to flats and opened up to london road what are peoples thoughts at all these thousands of folk now being brought to live in the city centre and the shalesmoor area?

Has this been reported somewhere? I didn't think a decision had been made yet. 

Children whose parents lack warmth more likely to grow up obese, study finds | Obesity | The Guardian- this has been published today. 

Obviously feel free to continue the right wing tropes and judgemental attitudes about how people spend their money. Feel free to take one example and generalise it across a whole population, the Daily Mail has become very powerful doing just that. 

On 14/10/2022 at 15:00, Baron99 said:

It's got to pop up as a question at some point in Izzard's selection process as it seems a pretty standard question to ask most Lab MP's these days. 

 

It's be intresting to hear Izzard's response to "What is your definition of a woman?" 

I think there are other important things to consider when selecting an MP. Such as how they will represent their constitutents! This is a question no matter what their gender is. 

It's a shame that this question wasn't asked when Miriam Cates was selected as the Tory candidate for Penistone & Stocksbridge. I have emailed her a number of times with key issues and she has never responded. 

On 20/09/2022 at 17:48, bassett one said:

we all or most have to live by our income,we can borrow but that makes the income less,so we need to take stock,sell any useless assetts,like building land,cut cost and get back on a even keel ,do we need housing offices all over sheffield? we must have land to sell,but that does not mean wasting any income,possibly a change is needed say the lib/dems for a few years,theres loads of areas to save cash,they spend lots on events,why not work with the park groups ,let them bid for cash and save money there? thats just one of many ideas to look at.

The last Housing Committee I watched, the Lib Dem representative suggested outsourcing the repairs function again. Immediately, there are TUPE costs, and a duplicated management and governance structure. As well as the years of tendering and procurement and getting the new provider in place. The repairs service was bought back in house for a reason. Outsourcing is always suggested as a bit of a sticking plaster, IMHO. 

The Council is already selling off surplus stock, check the auction listings regularly and you'll see the properties being offered for sale. Also, this is a 'one-off' sale, so how does this help generate revenue? I was a Council tenant in the late 90's, and the number of housing offices has massively reduced in number since then. 

At the end of the day, between right to buy, Government mandates to reduce the yearly inflationary rental increases, as well as people not paying their rent, there is less and less money to spend on housing management. Yes, Parks groups are brilliant but it needs people with the time and energy to commit to that.