Dec 24

 Phonecall bright and early this morning. The GPs. Cancelling my appointment. The doc was feeling poorly, so, cancelled appointments all round. Could I instead do the 6th of January.

Shit happens. People get ill. And docs get ill more often than most I would imagine. So I can't really be annoyed by it. I accepted the re-schedule without any fuss, sure, I can do that.

The problem here is not the sudden cancellation. This is to be expected. But this combined with the fact that it takes weeks if not months to see a doc then becomes a huge problem. The problem is the rest of how it works and not the fact you have to cancel last minute on a given day. So. Jan 6th. I think this will be something like 8 weeks from the beginning of trying to get an appointment to actually getting one. Assuming that by the 6th, all things equal, I actually see a GP.

Once again I mull over the thought of what is the point in having a GP "service" there at all, if they are seeing you at best within 2 months of asking to see them. This is singularly without exception the absolute worst service I have in my life. Everything else, from private to public is light years beyond what's being offered by the NHS. Surely. It can't go on like that ? Surely, it either dies or it gets fixed ? But then again. Power never gives up power willingly. There is an incredible amount of power and money tied up in the NHS, and it wont willingly let that go. It is just the human condition. Any power structure, political, financial, social, is incredibly unlikely to go peacefully to usher in a New Thing. And by and large they will stoop to any despotic horrible low to keep themselves there. Peaceful revolutions are rare. 

But who knows.

The current Labour government, even from stalwart allies, seem to be getting a lot of flak for doing absolutely fuck all. Six months in, they have done nothing. No major policies. No major change. Nada. Zip. Excuses there are plenty of. They keep bemoaning about a hole in finances. Which as people are increasingly pointing out, yes, you've been saying that for 6 months, so what's the plan. Silence follows. The suspicion is the current government are paper tigers. No substance. And to be clear. This is not the usual right wing suspects, or the typically ring wing influenced media firing these shots, but left wing.

In such circumstances I hold out zero hope for them ever tackling a serious problem like the NHS. But time will tell. Given they've wasted six months of time already - 1 a full one eighth of their potential time at the wheel - I can't imagine they'll do anything very fast in future.

I have a nasty suspicion, that like many western democracies, the political class is bankrupt. Run out of ideas. Run of out talent. No gas in the tank. At some point you might imagine that it's just one side or the other exhausted. Bankrupt. But it would seem it's everyone. You can argue long about the reasons for this, and there are many potential issues. Late stage capitalism. Cronyism. Corruption of money into everything. Over critical media. Propaganda. State level interference from opposing countries. And on, and on. The problem you get at this juncture, is this kind of set of circumstances is a ripe breeding ground for extremism and autocracy, if not, in the end, outright descent into anarchy and war.

The modern ideals and methods of governance have never been tested. They haven't been tested for longevity - they are all relatively young. They have not been tested on merit. It takes time for these things to shake out. Decades. Perhaps this is the time it gets tested and found wanting.

I think there is a rule of thumb, that by and large, any system can endure for a number of decades before the wheels inevitably fall off. Systems rot and corrupt over time as people find ways to game the system. The NHS is itself a good example of this.

I was talking with my friend about this yesterday. The rot of modern life. And that in my opinion, there needs to be a rise of a new ideology. Something humanist. Something that takes some of the better ideals from religion - which is now largely a bankrupt idea - such as putting people first, not being a dick, being kind etc, not everything revolving around money, and combine that with a new common sense approach to politics and threading the needle between extremes. The old models are done. And I think more than anything the modern world feels the void of religion, a moral compass that gives you some other goal than earn money, accumulate shit, flaunt your wealth over the peasants, into something about making sure such basics as not poisoning the biosphere you rely on to live, and not murdering people willy nilly, and such like.

Realistically, that's not going to happen in calm waters. It will need blood and misery and suffering that compels such a thing to be birthed. Because this is human nature. Only a very sharp stick up the ass is enough of a motivation to change and do something. Everything else is met with complacency.

I doubt it will happen in my lifetime at this point. But a tipping point change of climate, which is very possible in the next 10 years, could be an early catalyst for it.

I'd bank more heavily on a major war before climate change tipping point however.

But who knows.