A national jewel? Sorry to break it to you, but the NHS is not a national jewel, not even close, its a disgusting corrupt money pit and here's how it really operates. Why the squalid cover-ups in the NHS? The NHS cover-up deaths from negligence and bully anyone who tries to blow the whistle when anyone tries to bring to light the failings of putting patients’ lives at risk. There is a culture of bullying, intimidation, and lies in the NHS reaching the very top, and If anyone tries to uncover bad practices their messages go unanswered or are stonewalled. Patients died needlessly through NHS incompetence and negligence by the staff. The NHS could/have commissioned psychiatric reports that labels people - wholly falsely - as a paranoid schizophrenic if they try to blow the whistle. It is of course, the old Soviet Union which was given to silencing its critics by certifying them as insane. Roger Davidson lost his job as the CQC’s head of media and public affairs just before the 2010 General Election after revealing that one quarter of NHS trusts had failed to meet basic hygiene standards. The NHS and everyone associated with them attempt to 'restore public confidence in the NHS', by lying. At the very root lies an appalling litany of serial incompetence, indifference and even cruelty by front-line staff. Let us not forget the dreadful events themselves in Morecambe Bay hospitals, where at least 16 babies and two mothers are estimated to have died through neglect, and in Mid Staffs, neglect and cruelty reached such a pitch that patients drank from flower vases to relieve their thirst. 14 hospitals were investigated for unusually high death rates. And we know from example after sickening example that too many elderly patients are treated all too frequently with a callousness that defies belief. While thousands of NHS staff are highly professional and dedicated, far too many have simply lost the ethic of caring, and these failings are not being addressed; because what rules in the NHS, from top to bottom, is a culture of ruthless unaccountability in which the buck stops nowhere. Patients have no power to vote with their feet - as they do in insurance-based systems. Meanwhile, the regulators developed into a crazily spiralling bureaucracy answerable to no one and looking after their own interests instead. The NHS wash their hands of responsibility when things went wrong, Instead, they dump that burden upon the myriad quangos set up for that purpose -while wrapping themselves in the mantle of the potent NHS myth as Britain’s sanctified temple of compassion and altruism, as a result, the entire service knows it has to conspire to pretend that everything was for the best in the best of all possible health care systems - and anyone trying to tell the truth is threatened with the sack, gagged when they left or otherwise bullied by amoral apparatchiks. The CQC cannot be put right because the NHS cannot be put right for the root of this moral and professional corruption is that the entire bureaucracy of the NHS - up through the Secretary of State to the Prime Minister himself - conspires to tell the public the big lie that the NHS remains a national treasure because no other system matches it for decency and compassion, in fact, the opposite is true. And until that fact is honestly faced and its consequences translated into a radical rethink of healthcare delivery, the horror voiced in official circles at Morecambe Bay, Mid Staffs and the rest will be no more than crocodile tears. -------- That's just the tip of the iceberg btw.

As important as safeguarding social healthcare is, I am afraid that it doesn't matter if people decide they find other factors more important/if a government seeking to undermine it isn't sufficiently exposed (that is, to those who have supported/voted for said government). Narrative can trump actual issues. And reaching people is difficult especially when that narrative is being fed and reinforced. I guess the point I'm making is that misinformation and disinformation are a huge problem for our societies leading to other problems coming into being and/or growing and being very difficult to combat once they take root. But you're right, of course (although I'm not from the UK).

Too late my friend. The Tories spearheaded by unrepentant atlanticist Oliver Letwin have already crippled the NHS, they're gagging to get some Big Pharma 6 figure board positions to go along with the various City of London ones they normally get after their political career is done.

Too late! Was the cry...

Unfortunately, it is going to be destroyed. The cons have learned to point and shout “trans people! Immigarants!”, and people can be made to vote for their own demise.

If we stop telling everyone he's Australian people might just assume he's American. Just sayin.

@@SineN0mine3 It's sort of like how California doesn't like to talk about how Nixon and Reagan were from California. I only brought it up because I noticed that where you find climate denial, you will find a lot of Australians. All that coal and natural resources.

@@ejtattersall156 I would say that Nixon was from California but Reagan was from Hollywood which produces fantasists across the political spectrum.

Name one TV news outlet that - at the time - ran with the Hunter Biden laptop story. Except Fox, because that was literally the only one. At least at the time. Only after the Republicans have Congress, and are going to investigate, have the non-Murdoch media been FORCED to admit the story. The point is not that Rupert Murdoch is a good person or trustworthy - he is not - but having both the right and the left helps keep each other in check. Jon was always at his best debunking Fox's lies and coverups, and similarly Fox is at their best when they debunk liberal lies and coverups.

i wonder how many russian cable channels or chinese newspapers he owns

Have you seen Jon Stewart's program? It is an extreme leftist view of the world...counterpointing in EXACTLY the same way the right-wing media in the US. Ianucci seems to understand what is going on, Stewart is trying to pursue an agenda. We are importing into Europe the worst of America. The Daily Show Stewart is long gone.

Just a pity about the other two, particularly the blonde woman ranting without pause. Hard to listen when someone shouts without drawing breath.

@@ianworley8169 she is a brit living in USA; discussions on politics understandably bring out the infuriation.

Except Jon Stewart gives medals to Neo Nazis for patriotism these days as long as they have the decency to cover up their tats

@@grahamcook9289 who? You?

He's originally Australian, and has the same press influence there.

@@ejtattersall156 arguably more, our state media has a fraction if the budget thay the UK or the USA has. Through lobbying and brainwashing the public, Murdoch has basically dismantled and defunded the ABC to the point of uselessness. I definitely don't want to get rid of the ABC, but it makes me so sad to see them directly ripping articles from american tabloids without even running a spellcheck over them and posting ten clickbait opinion pieces a day. There are a handful of actual journalists left in this country and a lot of them aren't getting work at the ABC. I'm also largely in favour of independent journalism, but sadly the modern media landscape doesn't seem to allow them to get the reach they need, despite the fact that the internet seems like it would be perfect for achieving it. For the last decade or more the internet has been run like an old school media conglomerate, so independent journalism is in direct competition with the "services" provided by social media companies. In the early days of the internet, it really seemed like we were going to get access to not only more information, but more accurate information validated by a huge number of people. Instead we have centralised outlets producing all of the content, and they aren't interested in much more than pleasing advertisers and their stakeholders.

@@SineN0mine3 Honestly, Murdoch just capitalized on a set of distinctly Anglophone ideas. Hyper-individualism, anti-collectivism, anti-tax animosity, free trade, etc. It was once called Reagan Thatcherism, except Thatcher got there first. People like to blame the US, but the US imports many of its bad ideas from the very people who claim to be victims of them.

​@@ejtattersall156 I agree. Also, middle-class British pseudo-left-liberals love living their political lives through the US. For example, anyone would think we (in the UK) were about to adopt the US's abortion and gun laws and that our police were murdering black people in the streets. British pseudo-left-liberals love demonising the US, but they also love living and working there; a la, Iannucci and Sam Walker.

@@thelostboy9884 "For example, anyone would think we (in the UK) were about to adopt the US's abortion and gun laws" HAHA! Yes, these are distinctly US issues. Gun religion dod not even exist in the US before the 1970s, and it was hung on a willful misreading of the Constitution.

Yes, but the initial cause may be right-wing politicians who allow Murdoch and his ilk unfettered control of the media.

@@massdave2 gullibility and the freedom to not vote are the two major factors Murdoch exploits . Australians only have gullibility but there are enough rational voters to make a difference often enough.

having lived in the US and Canada now back in the UK for sure dark money is exporting US cynicism and paranoia people in both countries are becoming more angry and unkind and negative

We should not talk about governments, they might arrest us.

@@keithscothern4859 it seems to me that because of the very British trait of being able to laugh at yourself, we won’t go down the same road as the US. That’s not to say the likes of Farage et al won’t try and take us down that road though.

@@Peter-dr9ch Not all Americans are the same.

@@PlannedObsolescence No, of course not. I was simply saying why I don’t think we’ll go the same way as the US when it comes to division.

There are no real democracies, we are actually ruled by an international Corpocracy, where capitalism ultimately decides who rules and what laws are made.

@@neilbradley3146 Yes as a socialist I agree, but some countries make a decent attempt at controlling the beast. Unfortunately the US and UK are not one of those. They allow the corporations run riot while they champion the cause of being upright democracies, and the UK is still a skingdom!!!

It hasn't worked in Ireland. You get an unaccountable anti-people coalition.

I think he'd spent sooooo long trying to get justice and better treatment for the firefighters who died and those who retired after 9/11, that maybe that showed that he could affect things. It certainly wasn't a wasted 'wilderness' from our screens.

I came looking for a good discussion, what was said was insightful, but it was all one sided. For example, there was no analysis of how social justice politics has moved from the US to the UK over the last decade. Instead of the British public being inexplicably beguiled by the national flattery of Boris Johnson, we can explain it as an antidote to the daily critiques of British identity and British Institutions (that come from identity politics, from the US political left).

Too late. The UK already has the political corruption. The current Conservative Govt has sold the country to oligarchs.

Thatcher got your neo-con movement going. At least the UK has more than 2 sides of the same corporately purchased and minted coin. We spread societal disease, not... democracy.

I mean. Too late. PPE scandals abounds. Conservatives making loads off the backs of people. It's everywhere

Agree wholeheartedly! Donations of corporations, or rather the donations of individuals who just happen to have a vested interest in corporations, is a big enough problem in the UK already. Last thing we need is even less transparency and limits of how much one can 'donate' to a politicians campaign! EDIT: Theres a great account of how Blair took donations from Imperial Tobacco and then announced ending cigarette companies being able to advertise at sports events. Literally the day after the policy was announced a self invited 'guest' from imperial tobacco paid a visit to No10 and it was announced the day after that for a certain period cigarette advertising would still be allowed in formula 1. I'm sure it was a coinidence though...

Yes. Comedy. Altered absolutely nothing, politically.

@@happinesstan How do you know? It's kind of difficult to measure, isn't it?

Read Bill Eddy’s “Why We Elect Sociopaths and Narcissists And How We Can Stop!” Honestly - there’s really good suggestions in his book. You ARE right - it will turn into permanent minority rule - which results in massive numbers of lives lost.

Matrix!!! That’s correct.

Newsnight, especially Paxman, is where the political debating rot started. He wasn't interested in any discourse and just kept interrupting and insulting his guests. That created a 'gotcha' culture in which politicians just avoided debating or not answering the questions properly.

Yea are media has fell on its ass this past 12 years with the government I found it so shocking that today people are still blaming Labour for policies that have been done by the tory party they still think Labour are in power which I find shocking for a country we always brag is more educated that America

The Right always gets preferential treatment. This is a social thing. We always progress, with new realizations of freedom, but this means grandparents & teens will be very different. Conservatives slip in and claim ownership of the existing average social views while claiming the newest pursuits of freedom are "too far". The most popular media will average this (partisan RW Murdoch stuff aside). Now they try and drag us back...and the rebellion arises & suddenly many see even better, countering the Right. Trump & Nixon are both examples of this. They both lost & the world shifted thanks to their attempts to reverse things.

I know someone who was vox popped during the referendum debate. He made some good points about why it would be a shite idea to leave. The journalist thanked him, told him he'd made some good points but then said, you know they won't show this.

Well they don't own Sky UK anymore he sold that to Comcast, he still owns Sky Australia.

So true, I know so many people that repeat what is in the sun newspaper and sky news, some true, many exaggerated to give the wrong idea, some just lies, so many that it would take an army of academics years to find the proof to displease

@@Lousy_Bastard Rupert still owns The Sun & The Times to pump out the propaganda & hate

@@zetectic7968 As do every other media outlet on this planet they pump out their side/team propaganda, they are all as bad as one another.

@@Lousy_Bastard Very good argument 🤣

Also, 1+ on observation that America is not one country

Well, a lot of Americans do feel it if they don't know it.

You do if you're a bit older.

@@garryferrington811 how do you know my age? ;)

I know the reference and I’m not well traveled. It’s been mentioned enough in speeches by American presidents whenever addressing us relationships and in American entertainment that it’s not completely foreign.

The Question Time crowd is always stocked like the that. A few weeks ago it was in Scotland. Despite the SNP cleaning up in election after election, the crowd seemed to be almost entirely made up of unionists intent on attacking the SNP. Whatever anyone’s stance on Scottish independence, it was quite clear there had been manipulation which made it unrepresentative of the wider public.

Many of the "ordinary members of the public" are Toerag activists, even councillors. I stopped watching it years ago, and even back then I used to call it _Gammon Time._

Almost. QT was the greatest promoter of "brexit" as an immigration issue.

It's amazing how the Left perceive debates as promoting rightwing ideas.

@@carlsmith8593 Fud

Stewart is genuinely one of the most intelligent social thinkers in the United States today. Brits need to listen to their comedians, they're the banana peel in the coal mine.

I'm Australian but went to college in America (U. Illinois) so I know both Wisconsin and Missouri. I used to have plenty of interesting discussions with friends on the US Constitution. I did engineering but a bunch of them we pre-law. My policy sci was mostly studying Orwell (AF & 1984) in high school. So I used to argue that any country or society could fall into a totalitarian nightmare because that was Orwell's warning - _"Look after your country or it can turn into a nightmare."_ Their main argument (and they studied this stuff) was that it was impossible in America because the US Constitution was specifically written to prevent it through its system of "Checks & Balances" One thing that we never discussed because it was inconceivable was what would happen if somebody corrupted that system of checks & balances so that they could start undermining other parts of the US System. Look at what a small group of billionaires have done funding Mitch McConnell's corruption of the Senate. They now have a completely corporatized SCOTUS making judgements that suit what they want. My friends used to explain to me that SCOTUS would protect the Constitution from abuse. and that SCOTUS was impossible to corrupt because the Senate would provide the checks & balances. The House could pass new laws but the Senate would check what they wrote and make sure it was balanced. The president would make the necessary executive decisions if and when needed and the Senate would reign him in if he went to far. If you think I have misread what my college friends told me 30+ years ago (it was the late 80s) then tell me what they got wrong. A bunch of them are now lawyers and I can't wait to eventually make it to a Homecoming and ask them about this stuff and hear what they have to say now.

Are you questioning the legitimacy of our elections?

@@laniefeleski7288 Gerrymandering has been practiced all over the world in various forms Here in Australia we used to joke that in Queensland sheep and bulldozers had more voting rights than people. In Western Australia its dump trucks, bulldozers and diggers with voting rights. In Tasmania its salmon that vote. While in South Australia tuna vote. In parts of Victoria and News South Wales, sheep, cows, dogs and tractors can vote but they aren't allowed to run for office *YET.* Meanwhile back in the motherland of Britain its worked like this for centuries. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/npydfdpmlbXIimg.html

@@tonywilson4713 We talk about the corrosion of Checks & Balances all the time. Usurpation of power by the President from Congress. Likewise, by the Judiciary from the Congresses. Likewise, by the Federal Government from states. Likewise, Regulatory Agencies from Congresses. There's only one party trying to control every single citizen, from every single state, from the top, down. Think about it. Purely by fund-raising numbers, Democrats have more large-entities and Billionaires on there side.... And when you say "corporatization of SCOTUS," it actually is, not reading whims/wants/likes into law (like the activist/legislating judge) - that's been done since the Warren Court - and returning the power it took, back to Congress on the people.

@@tonywilson4713 Please read what I wrote, but I believe the one thing that changes minds the most is saying this - There's only one political party that wants complete top-down authority to tell every citizen, from every state, what to do and how to govern, from the Federal level.

BLM was a CIA op.

Before engaging in the hokey cliche of "Blame America" Rupert Murdoch, the single most politically influential media magnate across the English speaking world, is Australian.

@@ejtattersall156 “…is Australian.” And? Yes, he is by birth, but he since the mid 1980’s has been an American citizen, and all of that has nothing to do with my remarks, which are simply an observation that Australian conservative politicians have borrowed from the American conservative political playbook since the 1980’s and had many of the same debates as their U.K. counterparts, e.g. the ‘special’ relationship with the U.S. many times over. Goodbye and have a nice life.

@@peternakitch4167 He is an Australian. He started his media empire in Australia. He expanded his empire into the US. He took his Australian ideas to the US and UK. He became a US citizen at 54 for tax purposes. He's an Australian. Throw all the tantrums you like. He's an Australian.

@@ejtattersall156 nope, he's America's now, no takesy backsy's. I am willing to accept partial responsibility when it comes to his funeral. I suggest a burial at sea, over the Mariana Trench, sorta between America and Aus as a compromise. In fact I am happy if we don't wait, do it straight away.

@@peternakitch4167 uncle rupert has owned australian politics since 75

KZfaq Premium! I haven't looked back since

What, there were adverts? (Adblock + user here) - :0)

Chilling.

Glad you like it! More coming - next episode on Saturday

Armando is my comedy hero as he's been involved in almost all of my favourite UK comedy for almost three decades. And love Jon Stewart too, it's a shame he came back at such a fractured time in America politics and society. He speaks so much sense, but it seems pretty much irreparable at this point.

Going a little too far there perhaps, but I get the gist.

Ennh, it's kind of a long flight. The bag on your head is obnoxious. And it's not like waterboarding is quick....

@@LordOfLight Yes, but I can survive waterboarding. While Fox News will turn your brain cells to braindead mush.

I used to think that but it's not as bad as people who never watch it imagine it is.

@@LuisCarruthers Erm, yes it is. Not as bad as being waterboarded perhaps, but indescribably mendacious and unscrupulous.

@DoubtingThomas I hope you are right. It's optimistic. I'm not generally good at optimism. And although it may have sounded otherwise, I'm not a fan of the nation state as a defining institution either. Where, when and to whom we're born seems quite arbitrary to me. And national pride tends to be used more to make bombs than welcome mats. But, unfortunately, folks find tradition, belief and tribe easier to hold and shape their habits than ad-hoc logic and altruism. It may be silly, but it would seem quite a positive ethic for people to hold onto certain characteristics as part of a shared culture. And can't many, or all, share the same positive characteristics without invalidating each other? Anyway, even though you were kinda dismissive, thanks for the thought.

@Wraithing which is one way the high conflict personalities split the 2/3 to 3/4 of populace that does not support them - by causing a significant # to not vote at all.

Well said.

Yep, I'm an American and have been intensely interested in and worried about British politics since around 2016. The parallels have made me want to take yall by the shoulders and wake everyone up to warn them, especially after Jan 6th. It's also seeping into politics around the world. There's a global effort to seize control and move key democracies closer to autocracy. Australia seems to have dodged it (getting Morrison out) and it makes me wonder if mandatory voting is at least part of the antidote

@@sempressfi Mandatory voting could be a partial solution. I would also suggest a PR voting system for both pur countries, because the FPTP we currently have is not fit for purpose. I'm conflicted about your comment. On one hand it's comforting to have someone agree with me, on the other hand I wish you and I were both talking nonsense and we're both simply wrong.

@@mitsterful Sounds like a Toerag trying to play the "both sides" game.

The UK has been turning into the US for 50/60 years. Drip, drip, drip, through Hollywood, TV, and music. They exported the Hollywood dream, globally, and we lapped it up. They redefined what it meant to be British, to the British.

This wasn't middle ground at all. There was no critique at all of the American left or any analysis of how their issues have entered British politics. Even though this discussion mentioned that the US public were given two sets of facts, this broadcast was still only working from one of those sets of facts.

@@davegold No. I meant that reasoned and honest debate can appeal to a middle ground, not that this show was the definition of 'middle ground'.

One thing I’ve heard is that the UK will fail quickly in its attempts to become more like the U.S. because the US has the natural resources and military power to cover for its blunders.

This argument works both ways. I know GB News is the favourite bete noire of Twitter liberals, but it's quite simple to work out when a media outlet is lying. The 'news' they broadcast is later proven to be false, either by another media outlet or the same one. The same way liberals correct fictitious news that's appeared in the Mail and the Sun. For example, "grooming gangs", according to Gavin Esler on Newsnight was a "racist conspiracy theory". Guess what? It wasn't....

I wouldn’t talk to him anymore

It's not even a trait peculiar to living in a current superpower. Nostalgia for the British Empire is often accompanied by a profound ignorance of its history, as well as of the culture, politics, and history of other countries including the ex-colonies.

@@roderickjoyce6716 Brits still believe they are a superpower. The delusion is strong.

I don't think it's specific to a country, but the US version of it is different in its contributions to exceptionalism. Even growing up in the 1980s/early 90s USA, schools focused a lot more on US history. (History is generally written from the perspective of the victor, as they say.) News media coverage of international events from what I remember was relatively scant and filtered through the media of the time (generally liberal, US/Western-world or Cold War focus). You had to dig deeper to get world history in school (usually by taking electives), and news wasn't too much better unless you subscribed to major papers like the NYT and Washington Post where they had extensive foreign offices/journalists. For me it was getting a shortwave radio in the 1990s (showing my age a little) and listening to other countries' English transmissions. I wouldn't specifically listen to shortwave now, but reading another country's news media that produces well-respected journalism would have the same effect.

This happens with huge countries...it's the same in for example Brazil

Why would you expect anything different from the citizens of the Middle Kingdom? It is even embedded in the Chinese script that China is the centre of the world and everything revolves around it.

For the most part I agree with your comment, but I just have a slight nitpick. Trick or treating is something that has been in the UK for longer than the USA (or even the UK for that matter) has existed. Halloween was originally very much a Scottish and Irish tradition, and trick or treating specifically was invented in Scotland. Although I will say that the tradition has been extremely Americanised here over the past couple of decades, the name probably being the most obvious American change (it was originally called guising).

Well at this rate we’ll soon be celebrating Chinese New Year instead

good lighting as well

What was it called? Is it on KZfaq?

you dont have to shout

Ironically, the caps make people _less_ likely to read your comment, not more. Just a bit of advice to take as you will.

Oh right, it’s financial spam bots. Please report.

Please find out how far up your back passage you can ram your head.

“Couldn’t” care less. They care so little that to care less would be impossible. Do you see how English works now?

I've never met an American who isn't aware of the existence of the United Kingdom. Some may mislabel it England.

“London is the island and the rest is England?” Was the best/worst question on the UK’s geography I once received

Halloween was mentioned in a reference to something, so it was around then I presume.

Liz Truss was apparently still PM, so it’s a pretty small window of time.

The working class went with Blair and the classless society.

He never claimed that he did: the intro was incorrect.

With Armando for Prime Minister!

Absolutely. I’d definitely vote for him.

Or maybe the Americans got that from English football fans. St. George in the heart, and all that.

Except that's football, not governing the fucking country. But the comparison has a merit in that parties have effectively become "tribes" akin to football fans and their teams.

The only thing I’ve come away from this comments section with is that some Brits will blame anything and everything bad with their society on others.

Be fair, it is important for Meal Team Six, indoctrinated since birth by swearing an oath to a flag every day, to have a slogan they can actually spell (most of them)

For “Four more years” see “We won, you lost, get over it.”

The only mainstream media which is vaguely left is the Daily Mirror.

Why on Earth would you do that? Are you responding to something said in the video? I didn't watch all of it.

In fairness to The Heil, it does have a very good sports section.

Me too, I often read it because they cover obscure stories outside the main headlines that offer real insights and interest, as long as you don't take it too seriously. They embed videos and pictures much better than say the BBC, although the ads are just cancer.

That’s because Labour really isn’t a representative of a class anymore. The U.K. is a post industrial economy where the majority of middle to lower class employment is in the service sector. Also after WW2 most of the Labour wish list was implemented, so where do you really go from there? The worst thing for a political party is getting everything you want. The Democrats in the U.S. had a somewhat similar situation after the war and more recently after the Obama Presidency with the implementation of expanded health care and same sex marriage rights. I think the time has come for the Labour Party to simply merge with the old Liberal Party. Labour has no Marxist affiliation anymore so why not. It won’t happen but if Labour really wanted to be relevant again they should adopt the Constitutional, and abolition of the Monarchy as platforms. That would get people interested I think and at least provide a clear alternative. Corbin should be a lesson that really far left platforms are unpopular on a mass scale

It’s the strategy as old as politics itself whereby politicians and their friends in media, PR & Think Tanks etc like dividing people up into tribes they can set against one another while positioning themselves as the voice of one of said tribes. Divide and rule.