More money to the EC?

So, because our economy is doing well we owe the EC billions more? This seems unfair and plays right into the hands of those in the UK who are anti-Europe. The question is did we agree to this before it all happened? I suspect we are moaning now, but this clause has been in place for years!

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29754168 .  UK PM David Cameron says we are not paying next month, but what's the betting we soon have to pay up?

Extract from the BBC website:

David Cameron has angrily insisted the UK will not pay £1.7bn being demanded by the European Union.

"If people think I am paying that bill on 1 December, they have another think coming," the prime minister said in Brussels. "It is not going to happen."
But Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the demand should "not have come as a surprise" to the UK.
He said it was made under a system agreed by all the member states and based on data provided by them.
EU finance ministers have agreed to the UK's request for emergency talks about the top-up payment, which would add about a fifth to the UK's annual net EU contribution of £8.6bn.

NHS overhaul - extra cash needed?

 See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29726934 .

Apparently the NHS can save a lot more money but then needs an additional £8 billion a year  to provide good patent care. Speaking as someone who has had very recent first-hand experience I know that they can save billions every year if they smarten up their communications with patients. Frankly it is abysmal. Wasted ambulance calls - no-one was informed the call should not be made, typed letters posted at great expense for beds not needed as agreed the week before, the endless telling staff the very same data they should already have on hand, physios in the community that don't know when someone is discharged so the patient is "lost" - the list goes on and on. Frankly, the NHS communications is pathetically bad and is in need of "root and branch" overhaul. In the private sector heads would have rolled.  It seems no-one is accountable.  Billions can and must be saved before a penny more is spent.

"Buck stops with me on foreign criminals", says PM

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29726764 .

PM David Cameron has admitted that too few foreign criminals are being deported. He claims some of these are due to unfair "human rights" claims, I believe. Some have simply got lost awaiting deportation.

I hope he does not resign over this. Instead, he needs to fix the problem: deport criminals without delay. This country (UK) neither needs or wants them. If they have dependents here tough. They should not have acted criminally in the first place. Go home first, then argue. At the same time, he needs to address the issues of immigration, finding out just why so many decide they'd like to live here. Some immigrants we need. Some we don't.

Stock market recovery?

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/stockmarket/3/default.stm .

The UK stock market is doing its best to recover ground lost in the market turmoil last week. The markets are still all over the place and recent gains could easily be lost again in the coming days.

Canadian shootings in Ottawa

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Canada_Ottawa_Panorama.jpg/1920px-Canada_Ottawa_Panorama.jpg

Usually, we think of Canada being a normally quiet and uneventful sort of country.  We holidayed in The Rockies there 2 years ago.

So, it was with some amazement that I read about the shootings in Ottawa earlier today in and around the parliament buildings there. Ottawa is a fine city with a really French feel . I am sorry to hear of this tragedy.

We visited Ottawa many years ago, back in the 1990s I think.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29724907 .

Drive to Lavenham and back

Today, I drove further than ever before since my enforced driving ban because of my brain bleed in Sept 2013. The driving was fine. Whilst there, we got a bite to eat, although I was not very hungry.

Slowly, all too slowly, things are returning to normality, although I suspect it will be well into 2015 before I feel "right": I still feel poorly and not my old self yet.

A new hotel or guest house?

For over 30 years now there has been a lovely large house empty on our High Street, right across from the church. Apparently 2 brothers owned it and argued over it. Now at last it is up for sale. It will make someone with a large family a nice home.  Alternatively it could be a nice small hotel or guest house. It will be interesting to see the place 1 year from now.

House for sale. Burwell, UK