Martin Lewis: 100 things to make the country better…

Couldn’t agree more, Doodledog, evening classes were
great.I went to French,German,pottery,woodwork and guitar
playing for beginners.Lovely way to learn and socialise.

libra10

Back to the subject of roads. Why don't councils prioritise filling in potholes? On some roads you feel like you're on a roller coaster.

Also, litter louts - why can't they pick it up? When walking my dog each day, I usually collect litter left on the pavements and roads. Are they lazy, or just plain couldn't care less attitude?

The council's had their grant funding from central Government stripped away by the Tories while also having the right to sell capital assets or raise council tax capped and at the same time there are greater calls on their statutory duties (childrens services, education etc) so they look to make savings on their non statutory services such as road repairs, libraries children's centres etc

Ban pavement parking. Already happening in Scotland? Why not the rest of the UK.

I’d like to see all the foreign lorries charged £10 to use our roads, living near Folkestone and often near the Dover docks see daily it would bring millions and millions of £s to the UK and solve many if not all our poor road conditions,
As we have to pay tolls in France soon as we’re on the autoroute…
I don’t understand as it seems our government’s only drain our own people rather than help our country as a whole .
Or am I missing something?

Litter everywhere, especially roadside verges and near to fast food places and worst of all the dog poo bags hanging from bushes and trees and even just dropped on paths!

My bad, I should have said Type 45.

‘With only a few Type 45s in service at any one time, the coverage they can provide in defence of homeland targets against ballistic missile threats is limited.

"To defend London against ballistic missile threats, a Type 45 destroyer would have to be permanently moored in the Thames estuary.’

Adml Lord West - Parliament 2024

I would like to see a shake up of the judiciary. They are meant to be impartial but have increasingly been appearing to be unfairly politically motivated in sentencing.

I couldn't agree more. After I left school I attended many evening courses in a variety of subjects all affordable. Last year I thought I might do A level history and the fee was extortionate - certainly more than I could afford.

A propos adult education recreation courses, I paid £320 for the Spanish course, two hours once a week for 20 weeks, so that works out at £8 per hour, not unreasonable for a class of eight. Should those classes be more expensive to increase the subsidy for vocational courses and basic skills?

Parking on the pavement!

Back to the subject of roads. Why don't councils prioritise filling in potholes? On some roads you feel like you're on a roller coaster.

Also, litter louts - why can't they pick it up? When walking my dog each day, I usually collect litter left on the pavements and roads. Are they lazy, or just plain couldn't care less attitude?

Maybe: The cheapest gym for me living in Wimbledon Is
£36.50 appx. So not too cheap then

Allira

^As one Admiral said recently, we might be able to moor one Air Defence Type 42 destroyer in The Thames.^

Well, I don't know when he said that because all the Type 42s have been scrapped.

Although, as DH is prone to saying, we have more Admirals than ships.

As one Admiral said recently, we might be able to moor one Air Defence Type 42 destroyer in The Thames.

Well, I don't know when he said that because all the Type 42s have been scrapped.

As a Country, our GDP is flat lining yet people demand above inflation pay rises. UK productivity is lower than many comparable countries. Approvals for PIP are increasing at a rate of 2% every 3 months (with a high proportion of new applications for mental conditions) and we have a growing number of retirees adding to the State Welfare burden.

Despite the fact that the Government is committed to increasing Defence spending, we do not have the money to pay for it even though we are fighting a proxy War on mainland Europe. Could we defend London against a drone or missile attack, the answer is an emphatic ‘No’. As one Admiral said recently, we might be able to moor one Air Defence Type 42 destroyer in The Thames.

Putting it bluntly, we are living beyond our means. The Government knows this, and I suspect most MPs know this as well: that said, they cannot bring themselves to vote for welfare cuts as they know this will not win them any votes.

A few faded road signs is my view the least of our problems.

As Bumble Lloyd would say ‘I’ll start the car’.

Re further education, in the 80’s, my local secondary school ( in Scotland ) offered the opportunity to join the pupils in some subjects. I attained Higher level in Food and Nutrition and Secretarial Studies. That could be done again.

JustkeepswimmingDonna

More a big thing than a little thing but something REALLY needs to be done about children and young teens being exposed to porn on social media. It's an absolute disgrace that huge companies like Facebook are allowed to get away with not clamping down on it 😡

Yes.

Mobile phones are one of the worst things for young minds because they are not phones, they are windows to a dark sub-culture which is poisoning the minds so many young people.
Not just porn, vile misogyny, suicide sites etc.

Tiktok etc have so much to answer for.

the worriedwell yes, you're right management is needed in the NHS

The administrative roles you mention, recruitment, payroll, stock control and purchasing are vital and needs the right people to carry out this work.

However, a slimmed down management could work well as it did years ago.
Some posts are just unnecessary.

Another good call, JustkeepswimmingDonna.

I hope the government researchers are reading this thread. There are some great ideas on it.

More a big thing than a little thing but something REALLY needs to be done about children and young teens being exposed to porn on social media. It's an absolute disgrace that huge companies like Facebook are allowed to get away with not clamping down on it 😡

Graunty7

NHS. Remove all the managers
Have a sister staff nurse then nurses hsa for each ward .
A matron over all
Proper cleaning with disinfectant .

Yes have the nurses running recruitment, payroll, stock control and purchasing. A great improvement I'm sure, shame they'd have less time to actually look after patients.

I would love to see the “old” style nurse training introduced. In my day we worked full time on the wards got paid, not a lot but it was brilliant. When we qualified we knew how to run a ward! Ah well those were the days.

NHS. Remove all the managers
Have a sister staff nurse then nurses hsa for each ward .
A matron over all
Proper cleaning with disinfectant .

Road markings are a disgrace. Paint them on the road but how can you read them when they are covered up when 4 cars are waiting at a junction or roundabout. They should all be overhead. Speed on roundabouts should be restricted to 20 mph thus having a steady flow of traffic enabling others to join reducing queues.

Road markings. Yes.
I moved back to the North East 4 years ago and struggled to find my way round as so much had changed in 30 years.

I even wrote to the Mayor of North Tyneside about all the dangerously faded road markings. I got a snotty letter back saying that her teams walk all routes regularly and note any problems. I felt like writing back and suggesting they take their blindfolds off while they do it !