Thoughts for the day

[davywavy]

If suicide isn't a selfish act, how come people who jump under trains tend to do it during rush hour when it'll screw up the day for thousands of other people?

Have you ever noticed how much John Willams' Superman theme owes to Aaron Copelands' Fanfare for the Common Man?

If you play Lucretia, My Reflection by the Sisters of Mercy at 1.4x speed, it stops being a morbid dirge and becomes quite a fun dance track. However, if you play This Corrosion by the same band at the same speed multiple, it sounds like Pinky & Perky singing it.

Aneurin Bevan, when he founded the NHS in 1946, predicted that as time went by the NHS would make the populace of the UK healthier and so the cost of running the service would decrease. More than 50 years later, we're still waiting.

Comments

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

I was very good today. I jumped in front of a oncoming truck, hoping to kill myself but jumped out of the way as I felt guilty for the driver. See my unselfish act for the day! :)

[borusa.livejournal.com]

Aneurin Bevan, when he founded the NHS in 1946, predicted that as time went by the NHS would make the populace of the UK healthier and so the cost of running the service would decrease. More than 50 years later, we're still waiting.

The population is healthier. Lifespans have increased drastically. People no longer wander around unable to see properly because they can't afford glasses, unable to hear because they can't afford hearing aids and dying from infections because they can't afford hospitalisations.

What Bevan didn't predict was the change in what was possible for medicine to do, and how much that would cost. I think he can be forgiven for that, but there were other flaws in the system that we're still living with.

[ex-boog351.livejournal.com]

Well we definitely live a lot longer, but advances in medicine have meant it costs more to keep people alive for that bit longer. The problem with the NHS is really that it is weighed down by beauracracy. The wastage in the NHS is indicative of the inefficiency of a wholly centrally planned market, but given that the British public insists it does provide care free at the point of use for all, it is just something that needs to be accepted. I don't think it is a particularly efficient system, but perhaps it is more equitable than a system that is based on ability to pay.

[jonnyargles.livejournal.com]

Boo for old people living longer!

Boo for lengthy operations that cost £30,000 and give people about three days of life!

Boo for short-term emotion rather than utilitarianism being used to administrate a national institution!

First point:

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

Because by that time, they're past thinking about other people - past *being able* to, in fact?

Because some at least are hurting so badly that hurting other people on the way out seems entirely reasonable?

Because there are more crowds & more trains at rush hour, making it less likely that someone will be able to stop them in time?