It's not getting any better over there

Four random news tidbits from the freedom-sapping wasteland that is the country of England, two health care-related and two which illustrate just how useless that particular Nanny-state's liberty-confiscating tactics are at preventing and solving crime:



1. The National Health Service itself admits that upwards of 4,000 women in that country gave birth in places other than delivery rooms (including parking lots, corridors and elevators) because of a lack of resources, specifically that the maternity wards were already packed to the gills:

"Health chiefs admit a lack of maternity beds is partly to blame for the crisis, with hundreds of women in labour being turned away from hospitals because they are full."

What's causing all of the difficulty? Why, saving money, of course:

"Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley, who obtained the figures, said Labour had cut maternity beds by 2,340, or 22 per cent, since 1997. At the same time birth rates have been rising sharply - up 20 per cent in some areas."

Rationing, in other words. Don't think it won't happen here as well.

An astute U.S. commenter to the article points out another salient point:

"Note that in the NHS pregnant women only have access to midwives and probably have to jump through hoops to get a real obstetrician and only if they are 'high risk'"

Interesting. Does anyone wish for that nightmare scenario to be repeated here?



2. The Patients Association, a UK charity, estimates that up to one million medical patients in England have been exposed to "cruel and neglectful care" over the last six years:

"The charity has disclosed a horrifying catalogue of elderly people left in pain, in soiled bed clothes, denied adequate food and drink, and suffering from repeatedly cancelled operations, missed diagnoses and dismissive staff."

Socialized medicine just looks more and more like the ideal solution for our country, doesn't it?

"Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said he was concerned that public confidence in the NHS could be undermined by the examples cited"

We'd be quite "concerned" too, if we were him. Here's just some of what Dr. Carter didn't want the public to find out about:

"Pamela Goddard, a piano teacher from Bletchingley, in Surrey, was 82 and suffering with cancer but was left in her own excrement and her condition deteriorated due to her bed sores.

Florence Weston, from Sedgley in the West Midlands, died aged 85 and had to remain without food or water for several days as her hip operation was repeated cancelled."

We'd be astounded if "public confidence" wasn't "undermined" over there these days, now that these horrific examples have become public knowledge. Why aren't the British people in revolt over this?

Our current system, flawed as it is, looks quite adequate when compared to this absolute mess, no?

3. There are over one million surveillance cameras in England, equipment that was installed at a cost of over one billion public dollars, creating a Big Brotherish nightmare of lost privacy and intrusiveness. Have they been effective at solving crime? Well, not exactly:

"But [Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville of Scotland Yard] admitted just 1,000 crimes were solved in 2008 using CCTV images as officers fail to make the most of potentially vital evidence."

A pitiful 0.1% success rate. That's just not going to cut it, especially when one factors in how the sheep-like peasants over there were repeatedly told how much giving up their privacy was going to protect them from the ever-increasing numbers of predators and thugs:

"Writing in an internal report, Mr Neville said people are filmed many times every day and have high expectations when they become victims of crime.

But he suggested the reality is often disappointing as in some cases officers fail to bring criminals to justice even after they are caught on camera and identified"

The British subjects gave up essential liberty for temporary safety, and yet received neither from their benevolent dictators. Looks like the wise Ben Franklin is still correct, even after all these years.

4. "Pint glass" control?

Yep, it sadly appears now to have come to that in today's England, as the Home Office there is preparing to mandate that plastic pint glasses be used in pubs instead of the traditional ones made of, well, glass, in a no doubt futile attempt to prevent them from being used as weapons in criminal assaults:

"Official figures show 5,500 people are attacked with glasses and bottles every year in England and Wales."

People are attacked every day with just about every conceivable object ever made, from gardening implements to kitchen appliances to office supplies to computer components. You name it, it's been used as a weapon at some point. Are the mental midgets over there going to eventually ban everything?

They're certainly on their way, that's for sure.

Here's a novel idea: how about allowing the common peasant the means to successfully defend themselves from attacks from the kinds of thugs who will use any object in order to rob or injure someone?

We'd bet good money that the assault rate would fall quite precipitously once the criminal "yobs" in that defenseless victim paradise puzzle out that they might get themselves injured while attempting to mug their law-abiding victims with the likes of a beer glass.