Glasgow pain clinic

Suffering from chronic pain as I am, I was referred to the Glasgow Pain Clinic. It demonstrates how little the NHS thinks about pain sufferers. The clinic is one Consultant . He did nothing for me. All he could do was talk and tell me how little doctors know about pain. He referred me to a physiotherapist. All she did was take down my details and told me to continue doing the exercises I currently do.
You are treated as a second class citizen if you have the audacity to suffer from chronic pain.

NHS 24

NHS 24

Over this year I have had the misfortune to have to phone NHS 24. It would drive you insane trying to get help. Every time you phone you have to repeat the same information. Basically you have to give some call handler you life story, then if they put you through to a nurse you have to repeat the same information. They ask you a series of safety questions. Can you believe it, they ask if you are conscious and breathing. They seem incapable of storing any information, for instance if you phoned back the next day, you would have to given them all your personal information again.

Only an organisation so unaccountable as the NHS could dream up this. It always annoys me to hear politicians telling us how wonderful the nurses and doctors are. It is evident that none of them has spent a night in a hospital or waited to be seen in Accident and Emergency

Glasgow's public transport

The SNP Government in Scotland has not done anything to help clean up the air pollution in Glasgow. Increasing studies have clearly shown the link between air quality and heart disease. Recently they spent about £250 million building a new motorway in the south of Glasgow. Since then, the congestion in Glasgow and the air pollution has increased. That money could have been spent to upgrade the bus services; build miles of cycle lanes; install the infrastructure for electric vehicles and improve the trains.

Glasgow City Council election hustings

I attended a hustings meeting to hear what candidates would do about the environment of Glasgow. A number of people in the audience were concerned about the damage that air pollution does to our health. The Conservative candidate talked about his plans to improve the cycling lanes, something much needed.
I was given a list of the Green Party's green priorities for 2012-17. It was full of economic policies such as: bringing in a living wage; harnessing the buying power of councils. There was no mention of tacking Glasgow's deteriorating air quality, no mention of improving our public transport, and nothing about our cycle lanes. Very disappointing.

Will Scotland join the Euro?

The SNP are at sixes and sevens over their economic policy. That's not surprising when you consider that Mr Salmond was an economist for the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Initially they promissed that we would join the Euro after independence. Now they want to delay that and stay with Sterling for a while. This dithering is not good for businesses; which need stability. In reality, an independent Scotland would have little choice. If we want to join the European Union, we will probably have to accept the Euro as our currency.

Approximately 60% of Scottish exports go the rest of the United Kingdom. If we have a different currency from our main customers it will impede trade. Many Scots also work for British organisations;and it would be complicated to get paid in a foreign currency.

Even if Scotland were able to keep Sterling as its currency, there would be problems. Britain would have to impose strict supervision over our spending and borrowing so thay we didn't damage the currency. The Bank of England would be unlikely to bail out Scotland if we got into financial difficulties.

In either of the above currency scenarios, we would be less independent than we are today.

Glasgow city council elections

I have just heard the SNP leader for Glasgow City Council speaking about carers. Her party, she says, will have a "carers' champion".
Her party completely let me down when I was caring for my mother. I was having terrible problems with the management of the care home and asked my SNP councillor for help; he was not interested. The social workers supported the care home against me. I also contacted Nicola Sturgeon, she is the Secretary for Health after all. Twice I tried to contact her, and she never bothered to reply.

SNP anti-sectarian legislation

Legal guidance has been given as to which songs will be outlawed. If you sing songs which "glorify or mock events which caused loss of life", you risk being arrested. Surely this also means that singing "Scots wa hae" and "Flower of Scotland" will be illegal.  And what about church hymns that mention the crucifixion ?