Views from the Reading Room

I doubt anyone reads me who doesn't already know about the Tories' plans, in the Health and Social Care Bill, to destroy the NHS. 38 Degrees have put up billboards to publicise the danger, and you can download posters and leaflets at their blog. It appears that the govt. will try to push the Bill through the Lords tomorrow (19th March), then back to the Commons for the last time. A lot of Lib.Dem. and cross-bench Peers, and Lib.Dem. MPs, seem to have been bought off with minor changes that don't affect the crucial elements of the Bill: privatisation, postcode lotteries and even more red tape getting in the way of staff doing their jobs. The TUC's Going to Work campaign has a tool for you to "adopt" a member of the House of Lords, to ask for their support for an amendment delaying the Bill, as well as the usual write-to-your-MP mechanisms.

I had a tooth out today.

My regular dentist didn't think she could do it cleanly given the position it was in and the existing damage (or didn't want to do it with me freaking out in the chair because I feel as if I can't breathe), so she referred me to a specialist clinic that usually does sedation. At the consultation a few weeks ago I decided against sedation, so today's dentist was leaning over doing stuff to my mouth with me in a semi-reclining position, as opposed to lying with my head below my shoulders (probably not, but that's what it feels like) hyperventilating. That was a much less unpleasant experience.

But now the local anaesthetic is wearing off, and ow.

Re. an ongoing conversation about healthcare systems
It's all covered by the NHS; if I wasn't on benefits it'd be a standard charge, which is under £50 for one extraction. The maximum for a course of treatment is under £200. Then I went and got the prescribed painkillers, which are also covered, and would be £7.20 otherwise, except that I use so much medication I'd get a prepayment certificate if I had to pay. In spite of the efforts of Thatcher and every government since to privatise everything that moves, we still have a healthcare system fit for a civilised country (whether we fit that adjective otherwise is a question for another day).

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In other news, another ongoing conversation has flared up again (argh, I haven't finished the reading from IBARW yet!). People have been waving their privilege around at cons and online, and other people have lost patience. I wonder why that could be? (/sarcasm)

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