In my mind, I have a terrible fear that this once proud and great nation of ours is rushing towards third-world status. I know it sounds like a sweeping statement, but just take a look at the state of almost everything that governments and councils are in charge of.Locally speaking, we pay more each year for less, while those in charge help themselves to ever-larger slices of the pie.
National Concerns
Nationally, my list of concerns begins with the health service. I haven’t been able to get a GP appointment in five years. Despite paying into the system like others of my generation for most of our working lives, us older folk should be at the front of the queue!
Certainly ahead of all those Johnny-come-latelys and non-contributors who demand services and become indignant when they don’t get their own way.
Frontline Care, Government Failures
I am a firm believer that the folks on the front line—the doctors and nurses—are fantastic once you are inside the hospital system. They saved my life once.
We all have a vested interest in a properly run health service, whether for our family, friends, or workmates. However, somehow, mismanagement by successive governments has created an unsolvable problem that no one seems capable of addressing.
Broken Systems and Discipline Debate
Let’s not even get started on potholes! Immigration is a shambles, as we all know. Or the fact that we have more civil servants overseeing our military than we have soldiers. I bet those desk jockeys are great with their biros!
What about education? It’s all too “woke” these days. Maybe it’s time to reintroduce the cane? It did me and my mates no harm—in fact, it kept us in line and stopped us disrupting the ones who actually wanted to learn.
The police have a thankless task. They’re too frightened to act in case they hurt someone in the line of duty, which might lead to them being sacked.
Not sure about you, but I want a return to a police force and to ditch the “service” part of it. The yobs just take the mick out of the poor old coppers at every opportunity. Even the villains want their families protected from what’s going on out there.
Politicians, Business, and the Way Forward
When it’s all said and done, politicians are pretty hopeless at trying to be businessmen, just as businessmen are terrible politicians.
But the country is a business—and it’s more or less a basket case, brought about by incompetent politicians.
Remember, it’s business that pays the bills for every public service. We have a saying in our business: “The health of the company must always come first.”
You just can’t have deadwood bringing it down. If the current government continues to kill entrepreneurs’ passion, they will kill the country.
There are answers, that’s for sure—nothing that a Margaret Thatcher couldn’t solve. Failing that, down the tubes we will go.
Hope for the Future
Great people, great innovation, great skills—in fact, we’re the best country in the world, but we are in danger of being “lions led by donkeys.”
We need to ensure that we make our voice heard at every opportunity. Communicate how we feel to our MPs and Councillors and make our views known in the ballot box.
By Philip Miller, MBE
Executive Chairman
Stockvale Group Of Companies