The Future is in Our Pockets

Photo from the Guardian

So, today a lot of public sector workers went on strike, and quite a few didn't. Public sector workers are doctors, nurses, firemen, policemen, teachers, library assistants, dustmen, civil servants, dinner ladies, school caretakers, social workers etc.  They are the people that provide so many services that we rely on. If we want reliable public servants they need to be paid a reasonable wage. After all, you get what you pay for.

Some of those public sector workers don't earn enough to be able to buy a house, some are quite comfortably off and others, the bosses, earn very high sums indeed. This is a reflection of the private sector. Some private sector workers are not paid enough to live on, some are OK and others earn more than I would know how to spend.

This is a wider reflection of our society in general, which is not a fair society, in fact the inequalities are growing more than in most developed countries.  Some people are paid much more than they are worth and some people's work is not given it's proper value.  I'm not suggesting that we should all be paid the same, but we need to start to realise as a society that it is not good for anyone when some people get paid obscene amounts while others aren't even given a living wage.

Photo from the Telegraph

The unfairness continues when we retire, and the main reason for the strike was that the government is asking public sector workers to pay more towards their pension, which for many earning around the national average means about £100 a month extra.  At the same time as paying more towards their pension it seems the pensions will be smaller and people will have to work longer before they are entitled to them.

It does not seem that the extra money these people will pay for their pensions will go into a pension fund to secure the future of their pensions, but directly into government coffers, which could make it seem like a tax on people who work as public servants, historically at least, at a lower wage than they could expect in the private sector because helping others was more important to them than earning high sums.

Once, it seemed like a good idea for government to be an example of best practice when it came to valuing their workers, ensuring them a decent pension and treating them fairly.  Instead of leading the way, this government seems to be trying to make it easier for businesses to treat their employees unfairly and without respect.


We are in a recession, it is true, but the language used about public sector workers has at times made them sound like they are sponging off 'hard-working tax-payers' rather than being 'hard-working tax-payers' themselves in most cases, many of who are willing to go the extra mile because they care about their patients, pupils or the others they serve in the course of a day's work.

Yes, I do work in the public sector myself, but only part-time, and I didn't work while my children were young, so I can't expect much of a work pension.  I work because I enjoy helping people and because it's nice to have some money I can call my own.

 

The other side of all this is how we spend our money.  Do we try to buy as much as possible with our hard-earned cash, or do we try to balance our needs with the amount of good we can do with that cash?  Do we try to support the local economy, organic farmers or buy Fairtrade?  Do we think about the impact our purchases have on the environment and on those who helped to produce what we buy?  Do we think carefully about the impact our purchases have on us and our loved ones?

Are we more concerned with our entitlement than with others' needs?  If we have enough, can we give something to help those less well off than ourselves?

Photo from BBC

 I heard Sir Alan Sugar tried to return his Winter fuel allowance because he does not need it.  It seems this was not possible, but he and anyone else wealthy enough not to worry about paying their heating bills could give the money to Age UK or Shelter or similar charities.




We may have a government which doesn't seem to care about struggling individuals, fairness or the environment, but we can use each pound in our pocket to vote for a better world.  Money has a voice of its own, which seems to be the only one the Tories understand, indeed it is the voice governments of all persuasions seem to listen to most.  It is no use saying we want a fairer society and a more sustainable way of doing things if we don't act and spend our money in a way that bears that out.  Governments are led by what we do, not what we say, as are businesses: if we buy it, they will continue to make it.  Let us use the money we have, wisely, it is more powerful than we may realise.

What Price, an Old Person's Life?

Old age is a state of mind

There has been a lot of talk in the news lately at the appalling neglect and general bad treatment many old people suffer when in hospital.  I was particularly interested to hear a Southampton hospital mentioned.  I could be wrong, but I assume it was the Southampton General where my aunt spent 5 weeks last Autumn, it doesn't have a good reputation locally.  It was a very distressing time for all her friends and family as we didn't really know why she needed to be there and she didn't seem to be getting treated very well.  Her essential medication, which keeps her Parkinson's under control was not given to her for two or three days after she was moved onto a ward after being discharged from A&E, so she was shaking violently for several days until she was given her medicine and it had time to take affect.

She only needed to be in hospital because the manager of the Care Home she had just moved into felt she couldn't cope with her and refused to have her back after my aunt's broken wrist had been dealt with.  She told the hospital that her medication needed adjusting as my aunt was falling over several times a day and this was the second time in three or four days that she'd been taken to A&E.

The hospital did nothing until we rang up after about a week to find out what was happening.  Then we had to telephone the Parkinson's Nurse ourselves as they didn't have the gumption to find out her number - she is the only one in their area.  A week or so later we found out that someone had contradicted her instructions and cancelled the visit from the Psychiatrist.  I think it was my sister who discovered this and pleaded with them to re-book the visit.

The long and the short of it was that although promptly sorting out the correct dose and type of medication my aunt needed and assessing her mental state could have resulted in her being discharged from hospital several weeks earlier, it all seemed to much trouble and without us continually phoning or seeking out staff to speak to when visiting her we felt she would quite possibly have been left in a corner and forgotten. Friends and family members also helped her to drink and also gave her food as she always seemed ravenous. She was unable to eat or drink without assistance.

She was on several different orthopaedic wards during her stay, because she had broken her wrist, but that was not the reason she was in hospital.  The wards with mostly older patients was where she was treated the worst.  When she was moved to a ward with a wider age range we noticed an improvement in the attitudes of the nurses.

This seems to reflect other people's experiences.  It seems that for some reason the staff on wards for the elderly seem to lack the motivation or basic human compassion to give basic care to these vulnerable patients, many of whom are able to do little for themselves and cannot even speak up for themselves.

I wonder why this is.  Is this simply a reflection of the general attitude of our society?  I read in my mother-in-laws' paper that some women over 50 find that men don't seem to see them any more and tend to ignore them, yet 50 isn't very old these days, it is merely middle aged.

There is also a tendency in our society to only value anything for it's monetary value.  The biodiversity and great benefits our woodlands and forests bring to us seem to have been forgotten by our government eager to raise money.  People who don't earn a wage and pay taxes such as stay at home mums and many elderly folk don't seem to be found as interesting as high-flying executives earning big bucks.

Another problem raised during discussions about how we treat our old people in hospital was that there seems to be too much emphasis on the medical treatment and technical side of thing to the extent that the humanity and human needs of the people undergoing the treatment becomes lost from view.

I wonder also if the staff at some of these hospitals are overly stressed and perhaps undervalued, demoralised and even demeaned by there over-stressed, target-driven superiors?

Whatever the cause, we cannot consider ourselves to be truly civilised if we continue to allow our old people to be treated in this way.

Do you see all old people the same, or do you appreciate that people age differently and there are many active and capable people in their 70's and even 80's.

How do you view those old people who are frail and vulnerable?   How would you like your parents to be treated when they reach that great age, if your parents are still alive?  How would you like to be treated yourself when you reach that stage in life?  Could that change the way you treat the elderly?

A Reflection on Compassion and Non-Violence

Sunday will be the 8th day of the experimental No Impact Week and it is suggested we have an 'Eco-Sabbath'  by keeping all our electrical gadgets switched off.  I plan to visit my parents tomorrow, so that will be easy for part of the day, but I shall probably switch my computer on in the evening to skype my hubby, who is in Lausanne at the moment.

I think it is good to have a day a week to allow ourselves to unwind and reflect and be spiritual, in the sense of connecting with our deeper self, with other people and with the natural world around us.  I think I would still call myself a Christian, although I haven't been to church in a while, but these days my spirituality doesn't involve rules or doctrine, in fact that sort of thing strikes me as likely to stifle spirituality.

A couple of years ago I came across a Buddhist who writes books that made a lot of sense to me, and indeed one of his books is called 'Living Buddha, Living Christ' showed me an expression of Christianity that was very close to what I had come to believe at the same time as presenting Buddhism as very similar.  Both Jesus Christ and the Buddha seem to have wanted to show people a better way of living and these very similar ways have been adopted and adapted over the years into something rather different from what they were meant to be.