hauxwell

Hi jennybongo - I was a student nurse at the Northern General in the early 1970s. The hospital is so much bigger now that whenever I go there I get lost. When I was there, the children's wards were in the upper part of the grounds. As far as I can tell from the "multimap" aerial view the two single-storey buildings are still there, now surrounded by newer buildings but I don't know what they are used for now. Ward 16 was for children between the ages of about 1 and 10, and Ward 17 had a 10-cubicle nursery for babies, and also took 10 to 16 year-olds. I spent three months on Ward 17 and a month on nights mostly on Ward 16. There would obviously have been staff changes by the late 1970s but when I was there, Sister Russ was in charge of Ward 17. Maria Russ [1927-1988] was a large, tough, no-nonsense Yugoslav who ran the ward with efficient discipline and certainly knew her stuff - one of the best sisters I ever worked for. Dr Heggarty was the paediatrician whom we saw most of - an excellent doctor. Here is a photo, taken with Ward 17 behind the group - I am easy to spot! I am standing behind our tutor, Mary Peddle - a wonderful, warm-hearted person, if somewhat scatterbrained...

I know I am going off topic, but I clicked on your link and I enjoyed looking at your photos, very interesting.

England? He sent the British Army to war. 179 British soldiers perished.

 

The invasion was backed by MPs. Many voted against, more didn't.

 

Blair is ultimately responsible but it is not his mistake alone.

Who do you think told these MPs before they went out to vote that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction? MPs voted on the information that Blair gave them.

Tony Blair should go down in history as the worst PM this country has had.

I think he was told by David Kelly who was a scientist on biological warfare that there was no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and look what happened to him, he was discredited and he supposedly committed Suicide.

The world would have been a better place if Blair had never been born.

How brave theses men were. Some of them were only 16, just boys. It must have been awful sitting in the trenches waiting for the order to charge.

What is that old saying, The papers can make you or break you. The media has a lot of influence on how we view politics.

Where I have moved to, a new estate, there are a few polish families and all I have noticed is neighbours behaving exactly the same, shouting good morning to each other, children from both English and polish parents playing together. Nothing has changed here with regards to the Brexit Win.

Are you sure the media are not exaggerating, or tying to create stories?

Will it be in our interest next year when Germany and France go to the polls and there is a change of Government?

---------- Post added 27-06-2016 at 18:31 ----------

My only worry is that we don't get the right negotiating team ( we may be better with bunch of wily car traders, than our politicians )

Change.com are running a petition to try and get Nigel Farage on the negotiating team. He may be better than a bunch of wily car traders.

I think quite a few people have singed it.

What happens to The Human Rights Act, do we still keep it or will it be open for negotiation?

Also if we have to pay a tariff to trade in the EU once we leave, what about all the German Car Manufacturers, The French who want to sell their wine and cheese in this country will they also have to pay a tariff to trade with us?

It will be interesting to see what the future will be for other EU countries, particularly Germany and France, they have elections coming up next year. I do not think it will be an easy win for Angela Merkel and if she is not re- elected this could be better for us, but of course this is only guess work at the moment.

A Dutch MP was on the news a couple of weeks ago saying that Holland was waiting to see what happened here and a leave vote here could well lead to a referendum over there .

 

I can see the whole EU collapsing like a pack of cards. There is a big anti EU feeling in a lot of countries and now we have become the first to leave , i can see others following .

We are keep going on about how Brexit will affect this country, but how will it affect other EU countries? One politician has named other EU countries who may also vote to leave. So yes you are right I think others will follow, and hopefully weaken their power.

Regionally in England, only London voted to stay in EU,.The whole of the rest of England wanted out. The politicians are shocked. I think that tells you a lot about how Londoncentric this country is, and how out of touch the politicians are..

You are so right Anna.

Just curious what the local mood is.

Why are you curious! Is it to help you to decide how to vote?

They've been drifting away from the idea for a number of years. They finally withdrew their application in March.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland–European_Union_relations#Proposals_for_EU_membership

They had a referendum 2 years ago on whether to withdraw from (technically apply a cap to) their free movement arrangements with the EU which passed.

The whole thing is falling apart, and rapidly losing the consent of the European people. If we stay in we're asking for trouble.

Thank you for that and I am voting to leave.

I have been told that yesterday Switzerland has withdrawn their application to join the EU. If this is the case I wonder why?

I think one country has changed their mind about joining the EU and that is Switzerland. They have withdrawn their application to join the EU.

I think the reason things are different with Kate and William is because of Diana. The Establishment know they got it wrong with Diana and are terrified of getting it wrong again so William has been allowed to do things much more his own way. So much so, that I sometimes wonder if he's got something on them.... Does he know where the bodies are buried...?[/QUOT

 

Anna I am not quite sure what you are trying to say, do you mean that Diana's death was not an accident and William and Harry know more than we do? If this is the case, there will always be people who will say that she was murdered. It will be a bit like Richard III, did he kill the princes in the tower or was it someone else, and I think history will say the same about Diana, was she murdered? I believe Diana's death was a tragic accident, but some of my friends disagree with me.

 

Yes I think you are right about the Royal family having to change after Diana's death, they new their popularity was slipping away. Oh and for the record I think Richard III did murder the young Princes.

You prefer the murky Establishment to pull your strings (and Charles') and decide what truths you should believe instead then?

Yes I would hate the country to become The Republic of the United Kingdom, with a president, prime minister or whatever. I think there would be more corruption, come on these people are politicians, but if becoming a republic pulls

Your strings as you put it you are intitled to your own opinion.

Let us hope the country is not ruled by a dictator. I would hate the Sheffield forum to be banned along with freedom of speech. That definitely would not pull any strings for me, in fact they would be in a big knot.

Haha! I have been taking a forum sabbatical (more or less), I'm spending most of my time behind the screen learning how to use video-editing software at the moment and I am getting a bit addicted to it...

 

Anyway, on the subject of the Netherlands. You have to keep in mind crazyhorse that the Dutch pay rather exorbitant amounts of tax for the pleasure of keeping the country well managed. That, coupled with a natural believe that the country we live in is manageable and thus should be managed combines to the pleasant experience you had.

 

the reason you don't see a lot of speeding on dual carriageways is because the amounts of taxes we pay aren't enough, so the police collect some more in the shape of speeding-fines.

 

What I am very positive about, though, is the infrastructure for cyclists. You will have noticed that in the Netherlands, on equal roads, traffic coming from the right always has right of way. It means drivers are far more considerate, the whole infrastructure of our towns and cities is designed around this principle and it means that in built-up areas people just don't speed. The roads don't allow for it. (And there is always that policeman on roads where they do allow for it...)

 

British roads are completely geared towards cars, in my opinion that is something that needs to change, but it requires a collective push. I am rather puzzled why the Amey work, for example, hasn't been used by the council to make considerable changes to the way cyclists move around the city. Would have been an ideal chance?

 

PS - on football hooligans, nothing worse than here. Just idiots who claim to support a club but instead get drunk and start smashing each others' heads in. None of that with the National team by the way, it is mainly Feyenoord, Ajax, Utrecht and ADO fans that still persist in that idiotic culture.

I hope you do not mind me pointing crazyhourse in your direction, I thought you would be the person who could give him some answers, and it looks like I am right.

I think there is a lot of truth in what you're saying.

I think the establishment is emotionally very cold. Diana was brought in as a brood mare, and whatever her faults, I got the impression that she was quite a sensitive, needy person - and someone, when she was very young was quite easy to manipulate.

In some ways I find it easier to respect the Queen, than I like her.

Yes I respect the queen but then I am a royalist, I would hate this country to become a Republic United Kingdom with a president.

I think Charles was a victim, I don't believe that he loved Diana but he was told to marry her by the establishment. There was limitations finding a woman who did not have a past, as was expected at that time, also I do not think he would have been allowed to marry someone without a title.

Who would have thought that in such a short time William would have been allowed to marry a so called commener, I am not sure if Kate was a virgin when he married her, but even if she wasn't I still think he would have been allowed to marry her.

Charles did make sure his sons had a different upbringing to his and I do not think he has done a bad job. Diana is not my favourite person but she also kept her sons feet firmly on the ground when she was alive, I do believe for all of her faults she was a good mother. However I do believe she wanted to destroy the monarchy, but this of course is only my opinion.

I think the photos of Reeva'a body should be released, I am sure her father wanted that to.

I hope Reeva'a parents get justice this time.

This woman must have majore problems for the children to be taken into care. If this was the case then she should have been sterilised. She must have spent most of her life being pregnant. To go through childbirth 17 times is horrendous.

When Charles married Camilla I though when he became King she would take the tittle of Princess Consort, however I think she will automatically become queen unless parliament intervines.

I think Charles will make good King. A lot of things Charles use to say in the past he was laughed at now a lot of people respect his views on various topics and realise he was not always wrong.

Yes I agree.

 

---------- Post added 14-06-2016 at 21:14 ----------

 

I am glad you agree.

Our Queen seems to be more bored with people wishing her an happy birthday than her role as our monarch. No hint of any abdication today.

The queen will never abdicate. She made a Pledge at her coronation and she takes her vows very seriously. Why should she abdicate?

We are now seeing the younger royals doing more work and over time the queen will probably do less public engagements until eventually she is unable to do none and that is how it should be until her death.

Just returned from six days cycling round the southern Netherlands with the missus and the kids and here are my personal thoughts on how I felt it compared with England...

 

As with England, there are a similar amount of people, but the impact on their urban environment and their society in general, seems to be much

better handled than in England.

 

The cities (Maasluis, Delft, Leiden), small towns and villages we travelled through were very well kept...graffiti was limited to the underside of bridges and underpasses and never really seen elsewhere. Litter was non existent.

 

Even the obviously poorer parts of large cities and towns were well looked after. Tower blocks were set in well kept grounds with the obligatory lake or canal and I noticed large teams of council workers busy keeping them well presented.

 

Our host in a B&B one night said that in the Netherlands a lot of emphasis is put on looking after their towns and cities, and it seems she is correct...although I do wonder how much more it costs them in taxes to achieve that level of care.

 

Everytime we passed a playground we had to stop and let the kids have 30 mins. Nowhere were we hassled by the obligatory drunk or local weirdo and all we received was curiosity, smiles and interesting chats with the locals (who all had very good English).

 

The cafes were full of people drinking (sometime very strong beer), but nobody was loud, nobody was drunk.

 

The only exception was the 10 seater pedal powered bar we saw in Briele, being peddled erratically down the cyclepath...but that was funny and mellow, not hostile.

 

On the weekend, people were out on bikes in packs, and sailing and paddling down the waterways...in the week it was deadly quiet.

Nobody was angry and nobody was in a hurry and yet the country still functioned.

 

All in all it was a very relaxing, six days and I was well impressed by the Dutch and the way they run their country...

 

So why can't it happen here?

 

What are the differences?

 

Being a cyclist my first thoughts are that the infrastructure put in place for bikes slows down the whole pace of life over there...people simply cannot rush anywhere and do not seem to want to even when they can (for example, I noticed when riding next to dual carriageways, that none of the cars and trucks seemed to be in a particular rush). Everyone rides bikes and seems content to dawdle along.

 

Also nature seems to be embedded into the urban environment...even in large cities, the lakes and canals were full of wildlife...ducklings ambled across the cyclepaths and people sat on canalside benches watching them thoughtfully.

 

Perhaps they don't have the wide inequality we have in England, perhaps people are better educated (everyone spoke excellent English) and have more stake in their local environment, perhaps it is their different drinking culture...or a different work ethic.

 

Obviously it is not Utopian and they do have their problems...I spent an interesting time talking with a group of Dutch in a kids playground and they complained loudly about now having to work until 67 and felt they should leave the Euro etc...similar to people's concerns here I guess.

 

England has a lot going for it, friendly people (in Sheffield especially), empty wild space even close to cities (Sheffield again), interesting people and history, good food and drink...

 

...but England also has that dark, hostile, grey, miserable, frantic and unwelcoming side...that just does not seem as evident in The Netherlands. I guess it must exist, but I simply couldn't see much sign of it.

 

Any thoughts?

We have a forum member who regularly posts on here and I am sure he is from the Netherlands. His forum name is tzijlstra perhaps he could give you some answers.