Every time a local council hits a revenue drought they close the libraries. Might not actually save any money but it shows the plebs how much they lose from the revenue constraint – while the diversity advisers still get paid.
Exclusive: NHS to cut increased cancer testing so it can fund pay rises
Plus: Britain’s leading expert warns plan could damage vital services that are already ‘woefully’ under-funded
The NHS needs even more money? Pay the diversity advisers and leave the plebs to die of cancer.
Just what bureaucracies do.
But, but… If they close the libraries, where will they hold Drag Queen Storytime ?
There will never be enough money, personnel or resources to cope with demand from a ‘free at the point of delivery’ service. My only consolation is that I don’t live in Scotland or Wales where – if reports are to be believed – the health services are even worse.
It’s why plagues and wars were invented.
“Cancer testing”: if they mean mass screening of symptomless individuals, stopping that would often be an excellent idea. They should start with breast cancer and prostate cancer (except perhaps for people with a suspected genetic predisposition).
I don’t know anything about the merits of screening for bowel cancer but I did google around on “smear testing” recently. It looked as if it was started too young and performed too often. Amazingly the Welsh government accepted the evidence and changed its policy to starting later and doing it less frequently. Remarkable!
Apart from Drag Queen Story Time, why do we still need public libraries to be physical buildings full of paper when everyone and their Mum’s packing a handheld supercomputer able to access millions of terabytes of data for pennies a day?
I have this tendency to walk down to the local library and lounge around reading books or using the computer there. It provides me with an excuse to get a little exercise.
Must admit I’ve never noticed any drag queens. I’ll have to ask the staff if I’m missing something.
As for my handheld supercomputer Steve, I naturally have cheapest one that I can get, which can’t do anything. Perhaps one of these days I’ll buy a real smart phone. But since my knowledge of how to use my computer is limited, I suppose my laziness will prevent me ever learning how to use a smart phone.
At the library there are at least 9 year old kids who can tell me what I’m doing wrong on the library machine.
@Steve
I can think of one good reason, Steve. Let’s say you want to find out something but you don’t really know exactly what it is. You can skim through paper books very quickly, zeroing in on & maybe discarding things don’t apply. Trying to do the same thing electronically is nowhere near as good. Sure they’re searchable. But to search, you have to know what you’re searching for.
Example: One’s looking for a particular scene in a novel. May only cover half a page. Probably find it in a paper book in 2-3 minutes if one knows the story structure. Try that with an electronic edition. Can take hours. Electronic books are linear. Only one page is available at a time. Paper books are more holographic. All the information is there all the time.
BB – I was an early fan of the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy ranges (their Note series was legendary for people with Mr Magoo’s eyesight), but nowadays even a cheapo Motorola, Nokia or Xiaomi phone rocks a multi-core CPU, several gigabytes of memory, a large high resolution display and at least 4G connectivity for somewhere in the region of £100-£200.
Used to be that expensive smartphones were noticeably a lot quicker, but that’s not the case anymore for normal use cases.
BiS – I find search algorithms > every other method of finding info, it’s just a different skill set.
Seems bonkers to me that Prestel came out 43 years ago and we’re still doing the dead tree thing. Devices used to be poorly suited to reading but we have cheap-as-chips Kindles now, and they have a built-in backlight and everything. Losing the ability to manually flip pages seems a small price for all the additional functionality and convenience, including no more disappointment if the book you’re after has already been lent out.
Where else am I going to stay warm this summer ? I’m too young for a Bus Pass.
Also since Maplins closed down, I don’t have anything to do in the afternoons.
Not true!
Hertfordshire County Council did not close *any* libraries.
They reduced some opening hours, based on which periods were least used in different libraries (an intelligent human can discover that from the usage of the automatic check-out machines).
What? you ask.
Oh, Hertfordshire is Conservative-controlled so wasn’t trying to make an anti-government political statement.
Any council that pays its top executives six-figure salaries and simultaneously closes libraries to deprive the poor deserves (censored)
“Hertfordshire is Conservative-controlled so wasn’t trying to make an anti-government political statement.”
Why don’t I find that statement convincing?
Possibly because the Tory parliamentary party, which forms the government, is in strong opposition to the Conservative Party.
A Conservative Government = A Labour Government in better suits.
Edinburgh:
Library closest to my mother was busiest on Sunday’s 9-5 opening hours
Library closed on Sundays before lockdowns. During lockdowns re-opened seven days per week 07:00 to 21:00 as a testing centre. Coffee bar opposite watch mid afternoon: no test ‘customers’ ever seen, only lots of bored staff
@bis
We haven’t had a Conservative Gov’t sinse 1990. Major, Cameron, May all socialists. Johnson a flip-flop do nothing. As for Rishi “WEF” Sunak and Truss – both woke empty vessels trying to out woke and deny woke each other
I’d rather have flip-flop do nothing Johnson
since my knowledge of how to use my computer is limited, I suppose my laziness will prevent me ever learning how to use a smart phone
“I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone.”
Bjarne Stroustrup, designer of C++ programming language (1950- )
@ bis
Because you choose not to think.
Making anti-government political statements is not the sole purpose of a county council and some councils occasionally think about providing services to the residents.
@john77
Other than testing, DIE and green crap few want, what services majority want do they provide that meet paying customer expectations?
Providing pot-holes, closed or narrowed roads, more congestion, extortinate vehicle taxes, fewer rubbish collections is not what paying customers want
@ Pcar
Libraries, actually! Also children’s playgrounds and, frequently, public parks.
Many councils provide massively subsidised housing to the chosen few that frequently meet paying customer expectations (although not always those of illegal sub-tenants).
Extortionate vehicle taxes are the fault of central government.
As for potholes, planning, roads closed, rubbish collections, street cleaning and – really important – education: I have observed that those councils that admit to being Socialist (or “Labour”) are significantly worse than those run by Independents or “Conservatives”.
@john77
Extortionate vehicle taxes are the fault of central government
Nope, mostly local parking fees, residemt parking fees, LEZs, ULEZs, congestion charges & fines all local gov’t
Libraries? Are you for real? Closed for two years and before closed on what were busiest times
Children’s playgrounds and, frequently, public parks – which cost peanuts and closed for two years at greater cost than sensible do nothing
Next you’ll be claiming Jabs saved millions of lives and Ukraine is a lovely, DIE, honest, democratic country