Rishi Sunak

[SkyBlueFlux]

For such a small man he manages to look down on people quite a lot.
But some will tell us that you shouldn’t judge him on this misconstrued encounter, which is quite right.
We should judge him on his record in government over several years.
A much clearer picture.

Of course, I agree. I think my post history shows I was actually glad when he got the nomination for Tory leader after Truss as I thought he seemed like the adult in the room compared to the other crazy candidates.

I gave him every chance, I wanted him to do well for the country’s sake. Then he made Braverman his Home Secretary and completely lost me. I thought he’d ditch the culture wars nonsense… But no he hasn’t done that either… in fact he has done… well… nothing of any practical note.

 

[Vic]

The number of people on the waiting list has roughly doubled since the pandemic....

The number of people on the waiting list roughly doubled between when the Tories took over in 2010 and before the pandemic in 2020. And 2010 was after Labour had both widened the criteria of what counted as a waiting list, and had halved the waiting list in a couple of years.

The rest of what you wrote is thus just nonsense. Labour started using private providers for NHS operations in 2000.

Do you really want to carry on with this?

"The Labour government raised the stakes by announcing a new, more comprehensive target in 2005 that no more than 10% of patients should wait longer than 18 weeks from referral by a GP to treatment in hospital. This meant another change in waiting list data in 2007 to better capture what would now become a more overarching measure of the complete waiting list/time experience. Within two years – by 2009 – the total waiting list had nearly halved to 2.3 million, and the 18-week target continued to be met up until 2017. But from around 2012 the waiting list started to rise, nearly doubling to 4.34 million by February 2020."

Chart of the week: How has the waiting list changed over the years?

Each week we present analysis of data in chart form to illustrate some key issues and invite discussion. The waiting list in England recently topped six million people, which is the largest figure since the NHS was established in 1948. John Appleby looks back over the years to explore the...

www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk

 

[Brewster's millions]

The number of people on the waiting list roughly doubled between when the Tories took over in 2010 and before the pandemic in 2020. And 2010 was after Labour had both widened the criteria of what counted as a waiting list, and had halved the waiting list in a couple of years.

The rest of what you wrote is thus just nonsense. Labour started using private providers for NHS operations in 2000.

Do you really want to carry on with this?

"The Labour government raised the stakes by announcing a new, more comprehensive target in 2005 that no more than 10% of patients should wait longer than 18 weeks from referral by a GP to treatment in hospital. This meant another change in waiting list data in 2007 to better capture what would now become a more overarching measure of the complete waiting list/time experience. Within two years – by 2009 – the total waiting list had nearly halved to 2.3 million, and the 18-week target continued to be met up until 2017. But from around 2012 the waiting list started to rise, nearly doubling to 4.34 million by February 2020."

Chart of the week: How has the waiting list changed over the years?

Each week we present analysis of data in chart form to illustrate some key issues and invite discussion. The waiting list in England recently topped six million people, which is the largest figure since the NHS was established in 1948. John Appleby looks back over the years to explore the...

www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk

Everything that I said is correct, including the impact of the pandemic on waiting lists. The waiting list was just over 4mn pre-pandemic. It’s now roughly 8mn and expected to head higher over the next few months as referrals are still very high given the backlog from the pandemic.

I said that the waiting list had roughly doubled since the pandemic started. Explain how I’m wrong on that, or indeed what I said about Labour’s plans for the NHS. Wes Streeting has been very explicit about the inability to provide ever higher levels of funding, but then I suppose that’s why so many left-wing keyboard warriors hate the bloke.

 

[Vic]

Everything that I said is correct, including the impact of the pandemic on waiting lists. The waiting list was just over 4mn pre-pandemic. It’s now roughly 8mn and expected to head higher over the next few months as referrals are still very high given the backlog from the pandemic.

I said that the waiting list had roughly doubled since the pandemic started. Explain how I’m wrong on that, or indeed what I said about Labour’s plans for the NHS. Wes Streeting has been very explicit about the inability to provide ever higher levels of funding, but then I suppose that’s why so many left-wing keyboard warriors hate the bloke.

Why would I explain how you're wrong about the impact of the pandemic? I didn't say you were wrong.

I just pointed out that the Tories had doubled waiting lists before the pandemic.

So if they hadn't done that, and waiting lists had doubled because of the pandemic, numbers now would only be double the number left by Labour rather than the quadruple they are now.

For all you know (not a high bar) Labour would have managed the pandemic better, and would have rewarded medical staff with more than pot-banging so that fewer left the NHS or they didn't need to strike, so waiting lists wouldn't have doubled.

Or you could just recognise that the NHS is not safe in Tory hands.

 

[BlueHammer85]

If you watch what actually happened, you’ll realise that you’ve been scammed by a bit of fake news, and an entirely disingenuous piece of editing by Sky News.

Sunak didn’t walk away from the lady he was talking to, he walked alongside her and continued with the conversation.

Seems your hysterical reaction was misplaced.

I’m all for Torie bashing and can’t wait to see them annihilated at the polls.

But I agree with you here.

 

[Brewster's millions]

Why would I explain how you're wrong about the impact of the pandemic? I didn't say you were wrong.

I just pointed out that the Tories had doubled waiting lists before the pandemic.

So if they hadn't done that, and waiting lists had doubled because of the pandemic, numbers now would only be double the number left by Labour rather than the quadruple they are now.

For all you know (not a high bar) Labour would have managed the pandemic better, and would have rewarded medical staff with more than pot-banging so that fewer left the NHS or they didn't need to strike, so waiting lists wouldn't have doubled.

Or you could just recognise that the NHS is not safe in Tory hands.

It’s always easy to talk about counter-factuals regarding the pandemic. Personally I didn’t agree with the pot-banging as I thought it patronising, and I think that the NHS staff who worked directly on the front line, critical care and so on should have been rewarded for what they did during the period.

I do actually give Streeting some credit for his comments around the unsustainable nature of providing ever larger amounts of funding to the NHS, but unfortunately talking about reforms in general terms is one thing, and implementing them quite another. Any serious attempt at reform will be met with institutional inertia, if not outright resistance in some quarters, so I would question how much progress would be made on this front, even though it’s completely necessary.

 

[Eccles Blue]

I am afraid I cannot take seriously anything which comes out of the mouth of a man who wears trousers that make his legs look like spindles. That is not misandristic just realistic.
He is worth a fortune yet can’t get a good tailor who could make suits that fit or trousers that disguise his spindles.

The other reasons I can’t take him seriously is that I feel there is no real empathy in the man for the plight of the people of this country. All he seems to be interested in is getting asylum seekers/immigrants to Rwanda.

Plus I don’t believe a word that comes out of his lying mouth.
Finally, he is a Tory so really I should have opened with that and there would have been no need for the rest of my rant!

Apologies fellow Blues I will go back to my hibernation now. :-) :-)

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

I am afraid I cannot take seriously anything which comes out of the mouth of a man who wears trousers that make his legs look like spindles. That is not misandristic just realistic.
He is worth a fortune yet can’t get a good tailor who could make suits that fit or trousers that disguise his spindles.

The other reasons I can’t take him seriously is that I feel there is no real empathy in the man for the plight of the people of this country. All he seems to be interested in is getting asylum seekers/immigrants to Rwanda.

Plus I don’t believe a word that comes out of his lying mouth.
Finally, he is a Tory so really I should have opened with that and there would have been no need for the rest of my rant!

Apologies fellow Blues I will go back to my hibernation now. :-) :-)

Let me get this straight, you don’t like him?

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

Why would a man worth £700M do a job that pays £150,000?

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Why would a man worth £700M do a job that pays £150,000?

Power.