Well done Britain :/ (by sarah)

As an expected but highly depressing result sorry but Britain but collectively we are thick as two short bricks or votes are tampered with either I concede is possible but I feel the first option is the most likely.

And so as always change is feared and people opt for a system that allows compound error via rounding up maintaining a two party system which has lead to MP's believing they can take the funny bone out of the population.

The worse bit is that those who actually think and reason are starting to think that they have been the stupid ones for voting - as if my generation wasn't stressed out and disillusioned enough as it is.

Interestingly I know to people who were vocal about voting NO and at least they did it because it was part of their politicial beliefs - I don't agree with them but I respect them. I feel that the voting has been done by panic and scare mongering and that most people have followed like sheep. But that's the thing isn't it - most people are sheep and that means those that aren't have to look out for the majority which is why I still went around reminding people to vote even when I knew they would vote against what I wanted.

I am getting that twinge again that makes me want to go into politics to sort things out - I'm not going to as it is extremely stressfull and I think it would be just too depressing.

p.s. (I really wonder if there is an age democratic here with how people voted after all don't the 'greys' heavily out way all the other democratics?)

Propaganda (by sarah)

I am starting to come to the opinion that propaganda material should be not banned but discouraged - people need to be informed of choices they do not need one opinion rammed so far down their throats that they can not think.

The way I would do this is by having a leaflet with the urls and library where abouts of the official material for each group/side/party. That way people can choose what to look at. There can bee a phone number for the house bound so that leaflets can be delivered for the parties they want to know more about.

Why do I feel this?

There were lots of leaflets and bill boards saying vote NO so much so that I struggled to keep the phrase out of my head - now I was prepared for this sort of thing but first time voters and much of the population probably didn't even notice the subliminal message sinking in. The YES campaign had similiar things I just didn't see as many. And to make it worse there was a vote NO leaflet in the polling booth which threw me so much I had to recheck I'd done the ballad correctly. Especially with having to put an x next to the choice you want - I always think eek I'm marking it wrong due to x being used to mark things as wrong on childrens homework.

Not everyone in the UK is literate and I've known people who assumed you put the x next to the one you don't want. But that is a differnet matter.

My point is that humans are highly suggestible creatures we are designed to live in groups with some sort of hirachy even if it is only in times of danger. Politicians like any leaders have to know how to tap into the getting people to do things systems it is part of their job. But the thing is with propaganda is that it becomes a game of money - which group can put out enough flyers, adverts and fuzzybugs.

Alaric asked me how having a website with all the information on it was different from a leaflet and I said the thing is you choose to look at the website with leaflets and TV they just sit there even if say they are on the scrap pile looking at you, getting their message to sink in.

Now the thing is I am looking for this sort of thing as just having a baby I know I am highly susceptable to being swayed (it's so you listen to the rest of the group on how to look after babies first time mothers are affected worse) this is why advitising is not supposed to target new mothers.

And yet all those little tricks Darren Brown knows for getting people to vote a certain way/pick a certain box are nothing compared to what the population receives with every election.

Of course the general issue here again is apathy and the fact that most people do not care or worse think they are not intelligent enough to understand or even worse that it doesn't matter what or how they vote everything will still continue to be crap for them. So the issue then is how to get the population motivated to vote without it being a war of money - ie those who can afford the most brain washing techniques win?

I don't really have an answer other than perhapse the leaflets should have been about using your right to vote rather than YES or NO.

Why I am voting Yes (by sarah)

Tomorrow is the referendum about the way we vote - I will be voting for change, voting for Alternative Voting or AV as it is known. Our current system is First Past the Post (FPTP).

Now AV is not the best system it has no proper weightings etc.. but the maths of the more advance systems is beyond a lot of people and if people don't understand they are not going to vote. As it is, lots of people seem to be struggling with this anyway.

The thing is I believe that AV is better than our current voting system because though it is called first past the post it isn't. No, it's not - we vote in constituencies which may not have representatives of all parties and people are voting in mind of which party is going to get one of their members in as Prime Minister. This is where the current system breaks down.

For a start you could have a situation when, say, in Labour seats the Liberal Democrats almost won and in the Conservative seats the Liberal Democrats almost won but though this means over all they or the Green Party or who ever is the thirds/fourth party they will never win. To me this is not first past the post - it's because we are technically only voting for our local MP so it shouldn't matter which party they are in. But it does.

If there were no parties as such this would be ok as the MP's would vote on what they, as individuals, thought was right and there would be no towing party lines even when they grate against the skin. Whether this would lead to a weak government or not is a thorny question.

What this means is that people go out and vote and say they really want to vote for that nice Labour Chap who also does things in that alliance thingy with another party but they won't because the Labour government was sinking and everyone felt it was time for a change and everyone knows that means you have to vote conservative, right?

That's the way it goes in this country; back and forth (of course in the old days it was Lib Dems and the Conservatives until Labour came up trumps).

Now, imagine the winners only had a small majority to get in and then they vote in their Prime Minister - well the result is one of compound error - you are rounding up and forgetting to take that into account before you more onto the next stage of the process. If our political system was a lab report the lecture would be demanding "Where are the error bars!". Of course it's not easy to have a Prime Minister who is only Prime Minister give or take 30%... but you get the idea.

First past the post secures a two party system in this country - something which the powers that be will not want to change (think about it) and I think this is shown most clearly in the leaflets that have found their way through the door.

They have all been "Vote No" ones and, though it says no tax payers money has been used to print them, I wonder who is paying for the time the MP's are spending on this? The objections on the leaflets made me roll my eyes - this like how much it will cost to explain it to people. Well you know most of that's already been done so that money is already spent.

Things like "only three other countries use AV". So something is new/unknown; that doesn't make it bad. Soap was seen as evil when it was first introduced into this country. People believed it washed the protective layer of grime off your hands so you'd get ill.

They say that Australia wants to get rid of it - but where are the studies to back the claim up? The leaflets treat the general public as idiots too - which unfortunately seems to be winning people over. I talk to people and they say they are voting No and just parrot what is on the leaflets. And we're stuck with people not wanting change; they just want tomorrow to be the same as today but with a bit more beer or chocolate please?

I had hoped that the internet and access to free information would alter this but of course we have an aging population so I may be waiting a while. Anyway I'm voting yes to AV because I believe that it is better than the system we've got - it will mean I get to vote more how I feel I should without panicking I'm wasting a vote. They say it will lead to more hung parliaments, but isn't that basically what we've just hand under FPTP anyway?

The Royal Wedding – I didn’t go but… (by sarah)

The Royal Wedding is currently going live on TV's and computers all over the country - I have sent my family off to a street party to celebrate it more due to the fact it is a community thing than anything else. The truth is I can not imagine anything more boring than watching a wedding on telly. If I'd been well enough I may have gone and eaten hot dogs at the pub and watched the kids parade their hats and flags but I'm not so I haven't - they've gone anyway with a slightly perplexed Alaric.

I find all the hype really really annoying and the plates and things for sale everywhere with their faces on but I think meh it doesn't happen often and I know people from other countries etc... are probably flocking to buy the stuff so that's good for our economy (at uni alot of the oriental students would buy everything with a union jack on it!).

So I feel slightly put out by all the fuss but at the same time I see people getting excited and I feel that it is not right to take this away from them. I have friends who have been sewing (and even crocheting) bunting for weeks, others who have been baking cup cakes like deamons and everyone is pulling together to do community events.

I don't have the right to rain on their parade. Which is one of the reasons that I have been saddened to see some people smirking over the fact that this or that street party looks like it might be a flop. It's not nice - people have put in a lot of work and these things can be alot of fun and anything that gets people to talk to their neighbours is a good thing.

The slightly more alarming thing is the protest - now I like protests and think we need the right to be able to protest and people have this right if they really disagree with the wedding - I can see that in a time of cut backs that the amount of money being spent on police and things for the wedding must chaff. But part of the issue I think is that the media have whirled this whole thing up with encouragement from the government in an attempt to reinstate the constitution of mariage. This means that the main point has been missed - this is Their Wedding - it is them saying they love each other as people. What they have been turned into is celebratese - idols and as such people stop thinking of Will and Kate as well... people.

I hope that bombs are not set off even just 'distruptors' as I hope people will think about how they'd feel if someone did that because they were getting marraide or having a I'm moving in with my girlfriend/boyfriend party. If people had died because of mine and Al's wedding we would have been destroyed as people, it would have crushed us utterly.

As for the issue of weather we should have a monachy at all - I think I should save that one for another post.

And what about the police aka tax payer money going on this? Well one solution that presents itself is that maybe the royal family should pay - now I don't actually know what has happened about this but to me that would be the worse thing that could happen - if they pay for the police help then the police are no longer the police - they become a private army with an agenda that is not to protect the citizens of this country but to look after the interests of the rich. As for weather they should be offered the protection at all in that case - well how would you like it if you couldn't do anything in public for fear of being mobbed to death probably by people who adore you?

I would not swap places with Kate or any celeb to be honest - even before I met Alaric I loathed that celebs have no privacy. I have enough issue with the fact that I rarely go anywhere without being recognised by someone. This can be exhusting and everyone expects you to talk to them and remember who they are as well - and that is just by being me - I am not famous I've got maybe 100 people who follow my writing and art as 'fans' and most of those I've known for years. But even I have ended up having to go to the police about stalkers because people like me too much :/

So just thinking about it - I'll not watch the royal wedding I don't know them, I don't care what sort of dress she is wearing or anything like that but I do wish them happiness and I think it is going to be hard for them to have as all those little spats couples have are likely to be plastered all over the news - the strain that puts on relationships is not good.

p.s. I do like talking to people so don't take this as don't talk to me! Just be aware I get tired especially standing up on crutches!

Dear NHS (by sarah)

Dear NHS

I love you, you save my life, keep my children disease free with immunisations and keep my parents going. But sometimes I think you need a big hammer taking to your structure.

The main issue I have today is appointment booking. Getting to the Drs today I booked in and found it was only saying Nurse, I did not worry at first as I had double checked when I made the appointment that I was booking both nurse and Dr. So I finished booking in on your funky touch skin panel and waited for my nurse appointment.

Getting into my appointment I find that the room is double booked and the nurse has to move use into another room she knows is free, then the smear I'm having because I'm still bleeding and loosing gloop 9 weeks after having my baby apparently shouldn't be done whilst I'm still bleeding :/

That all done along with blood tests I've had to starve for I leave - the nurse was lovely but I still felt disorientated which is why when I tried to book in for the Drs appointment I felt I must be doing something wrong and asked at reception - where it turns out I don't have one :/

Now I wasn't thinking so left thinking this was my fault until Alaric reminds me that I double checked and that he hadn't called NHS direct at the weekend when I lost a load of black jelly ribbons as well as blood because I was seeing the Dr this week.

Getting home I check and find that my doctor doesn't actually have a clinic on Tuesdays which I summise is part of where things have gone wrong.

I find this sort of error so frustrating because it shouldn't be able to happen - they printed me out an appointment slip and we noticed it had said just nurse and asked and they said no I was booked for both and they would be one after another which was why there was only one slip of paper. Now I think this was a combination of us not knowing the Dr didn't work Tuesdays and the receptionists not listening and assuming things as I had two things needing doing by the nurse. As a patient I myself made the mistake of assume the two things to be being done in ONE appointment where as they must have been thinking of it as two.

This is not the only time this sort of thing has happened either - I've had cases of letters with dates on them when the hospital clinic doesn't run, or has a day name (Monday, Tuesday) that doesn't correspond to the date given. I've turned up to an appointment at the Drs to be told I'm discharged from a clinic at the hospital I hadn't even known I was supposed to be attending but was supposed to be at a week ago. And so on... some of these things are easy to sort out and some are not. Like whilst at university I waited two years for an MRI scan to sort out my pain and muscle stuff only to find out that in agreeing to go on the pain management course had taken me off the waiting list. To be fair the Dr I had at the time was very angry that I had too wait so long for the diagnostic tests some of which I 'fell' off the waiting lists for three times through clerical error :/

Dr surgeries and hospitals still rely on post to get appointment letters too you - why they can not email, text and post I don't know - they say it's a security risk - and I suppose having neighbours end up with your post and opening it isn't?

The other thing is they are expected sick people to remember stuff which really is not going to work very well.

How they relay information, store it and use it needs an over haul, the amount of money and resources lost due to patients not turning up when they should could be drastically reduced with sending reminders. Plus it would save people having to book so much time off needlessly for appointments that then don't happen.

Plus there have been situations were what I have been prescribed by a locum at the drs surgery never getting into their records - that I find scary - I would prefer all the A&E departments, Drs etc... to be linked up - because I can't remember all the meds I've had and if I'm treated in Essex the Dr in Gloucestershire still needs too know. Obviously there might be need for nominity in say the family planning clinics and SDT treatmets and the whole issue of domestic violence and control can be thorny but there should be a way of exempting people not having it so everyones in a muddle all the time.

I was really pleased when I saw computers appearing in Drs surgeries as I thought this would help but they don't even keep all you files there accessible they still do things like printing out the old stuff and keeping it in boxes in the antic :/ So your entire medical history is not avaliable to them there and then.

This does not make sense to me.

The same as not having the medicines in a searchable data base as to who can and can't take it - rather than have the Drs having to flick through huge books.

You may think this is a mountain out of a mole hill but were the NHS is concerned an error of miss filing can cost lives as we very well know.