Daybreak at Cragbank

The view out to the bay at daybreak this morning, from the bathroom window in the back. About four degrees of frost until the sun finally came round. A glorious day's sunshine and a walk along the canal side as the sun was setting: very pleasant but very cold. I'm heading back to North Wales tomorrow, but Jane is staying on with her mother for a few days. The transfer from hospital to home went smoothly and on time, and the care system started to kick in seamlessly. A slight hiccup remains, however, but we hope to resolve that over the next few hours.

Overall, the experience has highlighted just how brilliant the NHS and its staff is and works, despite the egregious under-funding by successive - you've got to say it - Tory governments, and mostly under the tenure of this particularly socially-disengaged incarnation of free-market twonks. We are of an age that have lived our entire lives under the safety-net of the social contract and free health and social care. We are of an age that we can remember that during our first four or five decades, the system worked. We are of an age where our parents' generation are falling down the cracks in the care system and that we ourselves face an indeterminate future as we age.

The people behind this are indifferent, callous and invariably wealthy. It needs to stop. Don't forget that the generations coming up behind us will face similar problems as they age and will need treatment and care too. What future is there for them, when not only has the greatest health and social care system in the world - but the environment and our economy to boot - been totally scuppered by a bunch of feeble-minded, self-obsessed sociopaths - psychopaths even - masquerading as the masters of the universe? I think the answer to that is written plain for all to see. A total reboot is necessary...

Addendum: Hiccup sorted. District Nurse visit: things do work, but the people at the sharp end really are under the cosh, and woefully under-rewarded and underpaid to boot...