UK Politics: Picking Your Career

[Spockydog]

6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Met police are no longer going to attend MH only calls.

Which is right, huge waste of our time and we don't have the required skills, but who is going to pick up the slack? 

I have mixed feelings about this, based on my brother's experiences with police when in crisis.

They arrive expecting violence. It doesn't matter that in my brother's case, he doesn't have a violent bone in his body. The time he got sectioned, because he kept telling the police he wasn't going with them, the fuckers wanted to tase him. They would have done, had I not got in between this prick officer and my brother. 

 

[A wilding]

6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Met police are no longer going to attend MH only calls.

Which is right, huge waste of our time and we don't have the required skills, but who is going to pick up the slack? 

I definitely sympathise with the police here. They indeed don't have the training.

Anecdote: a relative of mine was temporarily caring for a confused elderly relative last year, filling in a gap in her professional care. A minor emergency occurred, which had the side effect of distressing the elderly relative, causing them to flail about somewhat aggressively. They phoned 111 (NHS non-emergency helpline) to get some help. The 111 operator, rather than arranging advice or assistance, told them to call the police!

[BigFatCoward]

It's not even responding to the incidents that's the problem. If you section someone you wait all shift for the NHS to take over, its so inefficient.

If we could just drop them off as is supposed to happen, we wouldn't be implementing this rule. 

[Raja]

There aren't enough mental health professionals to do a mental health act assessment for a lot of these patients when they initially get there, so the police have to stay.

Cuts have consequences, and then you read things like this from the guardian

Quote

Treasury officials are said to be continuing to push NHS leaders to lower their estimates of how many extra doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals are needed over the next five to 15 years.

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by Raja

[BigFatCoward]

36 minutes ago, Raja said:

There aren't enough mental health professionals to do a mental health act assessment for a lot of these patients when they initially get there, so the police have to stay.

Cuts have consequences, and then you read things like this from the guardian

 

for clarity this wasn't me taking a dig at the NHS.  

the other side of the coin is that there are totally insufficient staff to care for them properly even when they are admitted, so they often managed to escape, which then means we have to commit a huge number of resources to dealing what inevitably becomes a high risk missing person.  

 

[BigFatCoward]

Not wanting to get into a specific thing about Schofield (but how the f'ck he is being courted for other shows when this is hanging over his head), but would any of you in a supervisor capacity bang one of your staff?  its such a recipe for disaster, why would you do it even if the power dynamic was less gross than in this case?

 

[Heartofice]

3 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

Not wanting to get into a specific thing about Schofield (but how the f'ck he is being courted for other shows when this is hanging over his head), but would any of you in a supervisor capacity bang one of your staff?  its such a recipe for disaster, why would you do it even if the power dynamic was less gross than in this case?

 

Of course you wouldn’t, and it’s especially grim that it’s clear everyone knew about it and covered it up. Hardly unusual in UK media though.

Obviously worst part is that he’s been ‘courting’ that guy since he was a kid. That in itself should stop him ever working again.

[Raja]

6 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

for clarity this wasn't me taking a dig at the NHS.  

the other side of the coin is that there are totally insufficient staff to care for them properly even when they are admitted, so they often managed to escape, which then means we have to commit a huge number of resources to dealing what inevitably becomes a high risk missing person.  

 

Yeah, I didn't take it as a dig at all tbh.

I have pretty regular interactions with the met cause we receive a lot of section 136s. Thankfully some have a pretty low risk of absconding, but some don't.

[Derfel Cadarn]

27 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

for clarity this wasn't me taking a dig at the NHS.  

the other side of the coin is that there are totally insufficient staff to care for them properly even when they are admitted, so they often managed to escape, which then means we have to commit a huge number of resources to dealing what inevitably becomes a high risk missing person.  

 

When I was a special, my neighbour and I had to attend a hospital dedicated to detained mental health patients, because another division had returned a detained woman who had escaped the night before.

Wwe arrived, the other two cops left, and before we’d finished speaking to staff, she had escaped again. Someone buzzed her out the door!

We the had to chase her on foot while the young member of staff (weating plimsolls while we were wearing boots, body armour etc) stood by and watched us. 
 

Eventually got her back and my neghbour had ‘words’ with the hospital  staff.

edit: don’t know about England/Wales, but ‘neighbour’ is what a cop’s partner cop is called’ 

Edited May 30, 2023 by Derfel Cadarn

[karaddin]

6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

for clarity this wasn't me taking a dig at the NHS.  

the other side of the coin is that there are totally insufficient staff to care for them properly even when they are admitted, so they often managed to escape, which then means we have to commit a huge number of resources to dealing what inevitably becomes a high risk missing person.  

Yeah it's really just a matter of underfunding across the board. Under funding the specialist services in the first place is what gets it dumped on the police, and even that is past the point of trying to make it work. Not a UK specific issue either, its how you get these towns in the US where the cops are 3/4 of the local government budget and think they're little kings.

I guess the area the UK is significantly differing on is extending that underfunding to the police?

[BigFatCoward]

Labour MP's can be creepy old men too. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65774184

 

[Spockydog]

Lol. 

 

 

[dog-days]

8 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Labour MP's can be creepy old men too. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65774184

 

That's my MP. Glad I didn't vote for him. 

His record in the expenses scandal is lousy too. 

I feel like I bring some kind of curse down on Labour MPs when I live in an area, given that Chris Matheson resigned (also for making unwanted sexual advances) last year. 

Edited June 1, 2023 by dog-days

[The Anti-Targ]

Can be allegedly creepy old men, of course. Innocent until proven guilty and all that.

I guess to kick him from the party, and possibly even force a resignation it's not necessary to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. So long as the accusations are credible that would probably be enough. Even if the allegations would be enough to be a crime it's hard to get criminal convictions for these offences a lot of the time so settling for a social/civil "conviction" and the associated consequences would probably have to do. Unlike Trump the guy probably can't brush of a civil determination of responsibility and still run for elected office.

[A wilding]

9 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Unlike Trump the guy probably can't brush of a civil determination of responsibility and still run for elected office.

Well he could if he wanted to, but would be doing it as an independent.

A plus for the powerful political party system in the UK I suppose. Though I do wonder what would happen if a popular figure like Johnson in his heyday was accused of such behaviour. Though, that said, the only thing that made my Johnson supporting aunt doubtful about him was his private life, so I am hopeful.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Rishi Sunak may join Cameron, May and Johnson as PM’s brought down by Boris Johnson. Truss only missed that list because she fucked her own premiership before Johnson had a chance to.

 

[Spockydog]

Absolutely disgraceful. If I hadn't already torn up my membership card I'd be doing it tonight.

 

[mormont]

John McDonnell, of course, famously never ever engaged in factionalism.

[Spockydog]

55 minutes ago, mormont said:

John McDonnell, of course, famously never ever engaged in factionalism.

You say that as if he's the only one condemning this bullshit. Spoiler alert: he's not. 

[mormont]

2 hours ago, Spockydog said:

You say that as if he's the only one condemning this bullshit. Spoiler alert: he's not. 

And you say that as if factionalism was not part of the Labour party since its foundation, and indeed of the Conservative party, the SNP, etc. One half of the party that is the Lib Dems was founded by Labour factionalism.

If factionalism upsets you, my advice would be never to interact with politicians. It's literally the only way to avoid 'this bullshit'.