Dear Mr Dentist : On deserting the NHS

our family dentist has just told us he is going private only and wants us to sign up to pay £150 per person per year just for regular checkups. Following a recent unpleasant extraction this is what I wrote to him:

 

 

Dear Mr Dentist,

 

I enclose a cheque for £45 being payment for recent dental treatment. You will notice this is 40p more than your bill. I trust you will donate this to the charitable fund for financially distressed dental practitioners. Until you decided to send me a reminder of the unpaid bill in the post only 24 hours after the bill itself, I had not realised the gross economic hardship you and colleagues must be facing. If things get worse for you I can recommend a visit to the soup kitchen at The Salvation Army each Friday lunchtime where no one in need is turned away unfed.

 

Previously I had considered withholding payment as a protest against your immoral decision to withdraw from the NHS. I believe what you and many other dentists are doing in turning to exclusive private practice is totally reprehensible. In the first place you have acquired your skills and built up your practice with subsidy from the state but are now deserting the NHS because you seem to be more interested in filling wallets than teeth.  The official figures show that dentists in the NHS are not badly paid in comparison with most jobs, and are much better off than the vast majority of their patients http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dentalearnexp0506 

 

In leaving the NHS your are seeking to extract, or should I say extort, money from people who cannot afford it yet are desperate because of actual or possible dental pain. Though I personally can just about afford treatment under the NHS, millions of people who are on low pay or on benefits cannot. The shortage of NHS dentists in this region appears to be a cavity that cannot be filled so there is little possibility of finding treatment. The consequences of this for the overall dental health of the nation will be immense, as many of us will not have the opportunity for regular checkups or non-emergency treatment.

 

If you have a conscience I would urge you to reconsider in the light of some wisdom from the Bible.

Proverbs 22:1 A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

 

Proverbs 27:24 (obviously a verse specially for dentists!)
for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.

 

 

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More information on the Alma

I've had the followingf feedback from someone involved in the Resident's Action group

As I was at the last meeting I can update you on how PC Carl Ingram reported the facts of the case, he said he and his colleagues had collected a thick file full of witness testimonies and evidence of different incidents that accumulated into an unanswerable case - and the residents who turned up did not dispute that there had been large numbers of drug related incidents and of disorder inside and outside the building, arguing instead that these incidents had now stopped.

Carl Ingram was quizzed closely about the fate of those who were evicted at the last BRAG/PACT meeting - it isn't true that there was only 1 hours notice, as several residents were at the court case itself to contest the closure (the landlord didn't bother turning up!) and knew that the place was to be closed. The landlord was also served a closure notice. A few of the most vulnerable people living there were rehoused, mostly in better accomodation, and this was set up before the eviction.

This is of course not true for everyone who was living there - some were treated as being 'intentionally homeless because of their lifestyle' in Carl's words. No doubt these are the half dozen you talk about who are now sleeping rough.

He also said he had worked hard to sort out accomodation for other residents, though some in his words just sat there drunk while he worked hard to find them somewhere to live - he said "These people were adults, but were doing nothing to help themselves while we worked hard for them, I'll sleep soundly in my bed knowing I did everything I could to find accomodation for those people".

A couple of plain clothes Nimrod police were there, they said that their work had resulted in the conviction of several people from the Alma for drugs offences.

A figure who escapes criticism in your article is the owner of the hotel, who basically encouraged the sub-letting culture by charging a £25 a week surcharge to the residents, unlike most other hotels. In my opinion, it was his willingness to exploit this group of people and his failure to employ proper managers that contributed the most to the problems of the hotel.

All he loses is 3 months rent. Neighbours lost out in terms of quality of life because of the disruption to their everyday life by the activities in the hotel, and some of the residents, as you  point out, have lost a place to live.

I can also report that the mood of the meeting was overwhelmingly supportive of Carl Ingram and the eviction, though some people were concerned about the people who had been made homeless.

I'm glad to hear the other side of the story...and that at least there was some effort made... I  therefore have to change quite a bit of my piece in the light of this information before

 

Apologies Carl that I didn't have the full facts or appreciate the care you'd taken in the process.

 

On the other hand I would still say...

 

1. a provocative argument such as the bit I posted has the virtue of showing that there are different ways to see such a situation and that its dangerous to simply accept the views of the press and the herd.. Challenge at least means people have to justify what they have said and done in public.

 

2. I still stand by the basic points that

• closing the Alma in this way seems to have caused at least as many new problems in terms of rough sleeping as it has solved
• the process of bringing in a closure order is morally if not legally suspect as residents are evicted and punished without any evidence being brought against them individually.

 

 

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Closing the Alma Hotel

This week Lancashire Police applied to the courts for and were granted a closure order on the Alma Hotel on Fishergate Hill opposite County Hall.

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/39Drug39-hotel-shut-by-courts.4149203.jp

Undoubtedly many local residents were pleased as they saw this building as a blot on the landscape and were fearful and disapproving of many of the residents and of the activities alleged to take place there. Clearly it was one of the least attractive dwelling places in the city, it was the home for about twenty people who were at the bottom of the social scale, mostly workless and virtually penniless, and in many cases with complex social needs and histories involving addiction to drugs and alcohol.

The first indication of a move to close the Alma seems to have been in an report from the local police to the Broadgate Residents action group about a month ago. About a fortnight ago a closely typed legal notice was pasted to the door announcing an application had been lodged for a court order to close the place, later amended to indicate the date of the hearing as 3^rd. June. According to one of the former residents who I spoke to today on Wednesday the residents were given an hour's notice to collect their possessions and then evicted on to the street. I am told about half a dozen of the residents were given shelter in another property managed by the landlord, several of the others have found temporary "sofa surfing" places with friends, while at least half a dozen are for the time being at least sleeping rough.

It remains to be seen whether closing this unpleasant lodging house will improve the tone of the neighbourhood. Usually such actions do little more than displace the anti social activity to other neighbouring areas.

Whatever, the truth or otherwise of the allegations concerning drug dealing, and whatever the legalities of the process there are at least two things I found outrageous.

1. To evict poor and vulnerable residents at short notice while making no attempt to assist them to find alternative, suitable accommodation is inhuman in a way that recalls the "clearances" of the Scottish Highlands following Culloden. In that case the resentment has festered for two centuries. In the case of the Alma this may be more short lived but it is hardly likely to encourage them to co-operate with the authorities or to attempt to turn their lives around. And it is not fair on local charities like the Salvation Army and Fox Street Night-Shelter to expect them to deal with the human fall out.

2. To act against individuals in such a summary manner without bringing any of the individuals concerned before the courts seems to be against basic human rights. Surely if there was evidence of possession or trading of illegal drugs in the Alma hotel it should lead to arrests and prosecutions of the offenders. In British law a person is generally assumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt and should not be punished by the state unless found guilty by the courts. While it may prove popular with the locals to close down a "crack house" it seems to me that in this case the police have acted unjustly and without bothering to prove their case.

It worries me as yet another example of a political and cultural climate that is moving each day closer to fascism.

Vote for none of the above

It's local election day today. What to do.?. I can never vote Labour again after the lies about the war and increasingly because of their neo fascist tendencies on crime and civil liberties, as well as what they have done to public services with more privatisation and managerialist target cultures etc..  Even the Tories seem more attractive with their opposition to ID cards etc.. they are positively libertarian..  But here in Preston they have control of the Council, with Lib Dem support and have just slashed spending on the voluntary sector including turning down applications for money to support my own post at The Salvation Army.

 

So I'm just off to vote now and probably will end up writing in "none of the above".

 

 

Still at least I don't have a vote in the london Mayoral race where another one I could not vote for is actually an old friend and colleague Alan Craig.  http://www.thechristianchoice.org/

 

He presents himself as "THE Christian Choice".. and among his policies is opposition to building a mosque, which brings joy to the heart of fascists and white racists.  Actually some of the other policy ideas are not bad... and it would be good to have some more Christian influence and thinking in politics.  But not at that price, and not on the assumption backed by too many church leaders that there is only one Christian viewpoint on all these issues.

 

 

 

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Big Brother and the CCTV camera next door

 

Here are a few more thoughts and questions about cameras in Broadgate and elsewhere.

 

I grew up before 1984, and read Orwell's book at school. Not surprisingly I hate the idea of Big Brother watching you, (or for that matter of watching Big Brother on TV!). I leved through 1984 and if you remember that was the year of the miners' strike when the forces of the state brutally crushed the communities that were fighting for their livelihoods. So from a personal point of view I'm very hostile to the idea of the police or government watching you and me all the time and the fact that we are the most observed society in the world. I just don't trust that those in control of the cameras will only use them to protect the public from crime and terrorism. And as far as I'm concerned the same goes for fingerprinting, DNA registers and ID cards. 

 

In particular I hate the fact that there is a CCTV camera on my next door neighbour's house watching me every time I take the dog across the road to do his business. No wonder I always carry a pooper scooper and use it when necessary. I've actually asked politely three times now to have this camera removed, but to no effect, as neither the police, nor BRAG nor my neighbour seems to be taking responsibility for it. I understand I have a right to see all the pictures that have been taken of me, and I wonder what would happen if I made a serious formal request.

 

I can understand why in some circumstances such as in shops, or stations or public buildings people think security cameras are necessary to help fight crime. But I'm not really convinced they are much help in normal residential streets. People say the presence of cameras deters crime, people wont risk doing something naughty if they are going to be caught. The first flaw in this is that it will only work if there is a really big obvious notice that "You are being watched on camera". As far as BRAG's cameras are concerned they are not obvious at all and may in fact be illegal without clear signage.

 

The second flaw is that if criminals know they are there it is still easy enough to move down the street to do their evil work. Or simply to wear a balaclava or a hoodie pulled up. Chances are that on a dark night the offender is not going to be recognised. Furthermore as most offences seem to involve drink, drugs or a raging temper the rational fear of being caught does not work too well for most cases. All we can hope for is to catch and convict them afterwards.

 

The final and worse flaw is that if we feel we need cameras in quiet residential streets this will simply raise everyone's fear of crime beyond sensible caution to panic levels. As a result even more people don't go out on the streets after dark. One result of this is that with no one around, empty streets more easily become the territory of anti-social elements who can more easily take control of a turf and really make it unsafe for ordinary folk young and old alike. It would be far better if the whole community spent more time hanging around on street corners passing the time of day.

 

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Church and CCTV : Letter to Lancashire evening post...

I find it rather sad that a church in Fulwood (as reported in LEP 5^th Feb) is plagued by young people hanging around its premises, and that it has joined some of the residents in attempting to control, or move on the problem by installing CCTV cameras. I fear this will not be very effective, will only alienate the youngsters further, and anger many other young people who are already fed up with being lumped together and blamed for most of society's ills.

 

I speak as a 56 year old grumpy old man, grumpy because most of my generation wish the police would arrest, inflict physical punishment and banish all teenagers from our streets and public places. It is particularly sad when the church shows any sign of joining this prejudiced outcry. In the good old days when I was a teenager many churches, and other community organisations came up with a better solution, providing constructive leisure activities, sports and youth clubs and building relationships with young people, even with the "feral" teddy boys, mods and rockers who then roamed the streets of many cities.

 

Thankfully there are still a few churches, and other faith based and community organisations that still try to do the same, with committed volunteers and parents who give hours of their time to work with kids. Sadly it is far more difficult these days to do so, given the general hostility to the young, the shortage of volunteers, the highly regulated regimes youth services operate under, the pressure to meet educational targets and above all the lack of serious government funding to support general purpose youth work.

 

It is my belief that vast investment in youth work in the community would do far more to reduce crime and anti social behaviour than the repressive community policing and surveillance that is the current fashion. Recognising the positive contribution of the young to our society is long overdue.

 

 One way some of us are doing this is to serve our own ASBOs on suitable young people. These are certificates stating that the young person in question is Alright, Sensational, Beautiful and Original and is making a positive impact for good in the community. I would invite all the churches in Lancashire to join this movement. Certificates can be downloaded from www. Fyt.org.uk

 

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Homeless Rough Sleepers and hostel dwellers ... What works?

Having moved a couple of years ago out of the academic work back into
community work with The Salvation Army I'm not surprised to be encountering
fairly significant numbers of people who are on the margins of society,
caught in a web of poverty, homelessness and chaotic lifestyles often
compounded by alcohol and/or drug dependency, mental health and patterns of
offending behaviour and spells in and out of jail, on the streets or in and
out of hostels. We work with the Big Issue in the North and over just over
2 years we have enrolled 130 vendors in the hope that this might help them
out of their problems. The vast majority are male, not in any stable
relationships or families, long term workless and very rarely from an ethnic
minority background.

On a rough check I'm aware of only four of the 130 who have made it back to
anything like mainstream and productive lives, and a handful more who have
settled into a long term pattern of being a Big Issue seller and finding
some prurpose and income through this work. The majority slip back into a
pattern of dependency, begging and drawing on the support services of a
network of agencies include ourselves, other church based hostels, centres
and soup runs, drugs and alcohol agencies, job centre and benefits agencies,
and the police and probation service. None of this seems to be helping these
people very much or making much impact on the problem as a whole. A lot of
us are frustrated and looking for a better way to engage with the people and
the issue and provide interventions which make a difference (though of
course it's hard to see who would want to fund them).

What I'd like to know from the social policy community is who, (if anybody)
is doing serious research and thinking on this area of policy, and or
evaluating interventions as to what approaches (if any) are effective. In
short does anyone know on the basis of evidence what works?

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