Government information

If you wish to govern well you need access to good quality information about public services, budgets and outcomes. If you wish to do the job of holding government to account for its actions and inactions you need access to good quality information to come to fair judgements about how well government is performing and what needs improving.

It is currently difficult to get simple factual information from the civil service machine. I and others have not been given good factual answers when we have asked how much extra the NHS will spend, what it will spend it on, what its manpower budget is for the year ahead and how it will bring down the waiting lists. I have also been refused a factual answer to the simple question how many Chief Executives are there in the various structures of NHS England? I have also received no  answer to the question how much the government is  spending  this year on hotel accommodation for illegal migrants pending processing of their cases.

The briefing from NHS England seems to say that in short term the waiting lists will go up as more people engage with the NHS after the intense period of the pandemic and discover they need treatments and procedures. They have declined to tell us how much extra work they can do for the promised extra money, or how much of the one off costs of Covid can now be spared and redirected.

The Treasury as custodian of the budgets should insist on more detailed plans and link these to reporting  outcomes so that taxpayers see they are getting value for the extra cash being committed.

236 Comments

  1. Peter Wood
    December 2, 2021

    Good Morning,
    Sir J., as you’ve pointed out, you have asked important questions of ministers. It’s not the civil servants that need a kick, it’s the ministers who think that their answers are satisfactory. We see, day after day, ministers simply fobbing off important questions with a houghty, ‘don’t bother me with you petty questions’ attitude. How can we end this arrogance?

    1. Andy
      December 2, 2021

      You can start by electing people who tell the truth. (Not this lot).

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        December 2, 2021

        It also requires investing a modicum of effort into getting some kind of idea as to what that truth is.

        As the referendum showed, sadly, this country fails rather badly on that for many people.

        1. Peter2
          December 2, 2021

          You cannot just accept nor understand why people would have a different opinion to you can you NHL
          It is a weakness of the left in general.

          1. jerry
            December 2, 2021

            @P2; “It is a weakness of the left in general.”

            It is also very much a weakness of the right too, perhaps more so, after all how many times have I or others been told our fortunes on this site when stating some home-truths or facts, how many MP’s get/got slated almost daily. A prime example being the Brexit referendum, a question about leaving, nothing was ever asked nor settled as to how HOW we should leave, but few would know that reading this site, nor the such as Conservative Home etc. most of the time.

            But that’s partisan politics for you, people grip their burning candles despite the hot wax (self evident facts)!

          2. Peter2
            December 2, 2021

            Thanks for joining in Jerry.
            No, it is the left who can’t understand alternative opinions.
            Hence their current desire for the cancel culture and their history of gulags.

          3. jerry
            December 3, 2021

            @P2; Partisan as usual Peter…

            The right, especially those right of center-right, can’t understand alternative opinions.
            Hence for example their current desire for the carry-on regardless culture, ignoring the history of history of plagues. As for “cancel culture”, alive and well on the right too, the post war consensus & Brexit being a prime examples, as if trying to deign the last 80 years…

          4. Bill brown
            December 3, 2021

            Peter 2
            Every extreme regime right or left has Gulags

          5. Peter2
            December 3, 2021

            Totally wrong Bill
            Go away and look up gulags on the internet.

          6. jerry
            December 3, 2021

            @P2; “Go away and look up gulags on the internet”

            Oh dear… Perhaps you should read further than the first line when you look up word meanings… Are you seriously suggesting forced labor camps and detention camp have never existed outside of the USSR or other far-left regimes?

            From dictionary.com [my emphasis], also backed up by Webster’s & Collins dictionary’s;

            Noun (sometimes initial capital letter)
            1/. the system of forced-labor camps in the Soviet Union.
            2/. a Soviet forced-labor camp.
            3/. any prison or detention camp, especially for political prisoners.

          7. Peter2
            December 3, 2021

            No that’s not what I said Jerry
            But I realise if I say white you say black or vice versa.

            Gulags…which I wrote in my original post, are defined as being part of the dreadful USSR socialist regime.
            No amount if your usual whataboutery will alter that fact.

          8. RDEO9 MIMY MANE IN A PAST TGHREADSDF TAHRT OI WAS
            December 3, 2021

            @Peter2; Oh right, well best then you tell those three dictionary publishers (and the OED I suspect) they are wrong, I’m sure they will enjoy the laugh, at your expense…

            “Gulags
which I wrote in my original post, are defined as being part of the dreadful USSR socialist regime.”

            Stop digging, and wasting our hosts time… Care to cite were you used the term “Gulags as used in the USSR”? I’ll (re) quote what you said in reply to @Bill brown (below), as I said, in common English the term is now used to mean any prison or detention camp, especially for political prisoners -and that includes prisons and camps used by right-wing regimes to repress dissidents.

            PS, I hope you have never used the common English language expression “to hoover” when in fact you mean to Dyson (who some other non Hoover brand)….

            Totally wrong Bill
            Go away and look up gulags on the internet.

          9. Peter2
            December 4, 2021

            Is that you Jerry?
            Wrong again I’m afraid Jerry.
            Gulags are not commonly known as any old camp.
            Try Wikipedia for example and get back to us.
            And there are other internet sources apart from example which is just a last line added to one dictionary definition.
            PS
            I referenced the word gulag in the context of how the left behave.
            But carry on being pedantic if it fills your empty day.

        2. Paul Cuthbertson
          December 2, 2021

          The Globalist UK Establishment never thought they would lose the referendum. Similar with Hillary in 2016.

          1. jerry
            December 2, 2021

            Paul Cuthbertson; “The Globalist UK Establishment never thought they would lose”

            Bit like in 1997, 1964, 1945, 1929, 1924 then…

        3. Peter2
          December 3, 2021

          Jerry
          And you are not partisan?
          Hilarious coming from you.

      2. Nig l
        December 2, 2021

        Ah yes. I remember Tony Blair was an exemplar.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          December 2, 2021

          He spoke things which turned out to be false, because he trusted information from the US on WMDs, which itself was false.

          That isn’t lying, but it is the utmost in naĂŻvety.

          1. Peter2
            December 2, 2021

            Oh it’s now the USA’s fault. NHL
            How the left rewrites history.

          2. glen cullen
            December 2, 2021

            I’ll never forgive Labour for downsizing Remploy and never forgive the Tories for not reinstating & funding Remploy

          3. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 3, 2021

            Glen, Labour restructured Remploy to reflect the decrease in UK manufacturing generally, but expanding it in other areas.

            However, the Tories privatised it – of course – in 2015, and it is now largely owned by an American concern, so perhaps it should be renamed “Rexploit”?

      3. IanT
        December 2, 2021

        And not the other lot either Andy… and they think we are all Scum too!

      4. lifelogic
        December 2, 2021

        They have only just admitted that the government failed to stop a BA flight landing during the invasion of Kuwait – causing a long hostage crisis. Even now things related to the blood product scandal are still hidden. It took 30+ years to get some truth on the Hillsborough tragedy. Dishonesty and secrecy are the norm.

        1. lifelogic
          December 2, 2021

          Allister Heath is sound as usual today:-

          Too many people have a vested interest in this permanent Covid emergency. Blaming the pandemic has become a convenient excuse for bodies that fail to do their jobs properly.

        2. hefner
          December 2, 2021

          To put things in perspective (maybe), the blood product scandal happened in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the Hillsborough disaster in April ‘89 and the BA plane in Kuwait in August ‘90s. Which parties were in government in those days?

          1. jerry
            December 2, 2021

            @hefner; Indeed, oh how the right love to rewrite history! Take note young Peter2….

          2. Peter2
            December 2, 2021

            Thanks for the mention Jerry.
            Please tell me where I have re written history.
            Looking forward to your reply Jerry1…..

      5. Peter2
        December 2, 2021

        Who do you recommend young Andy?

        1. Bill brown
          December 3, 2021

          Peter 2

          Your recent comments on gulags says it all about your historical interpretation

          1. Peter2
            December 3, 2021

            Gulags were in every dreadful socialist dictatorship.
            Your weak whataboutery fails billy.

          2. Peter2
            December 3, 2021

            Have you looked up and researched gulags on the Internet yet billy?
            Plainly not.

      6. jerry
        December 2, 2021

        @Andy; You have a valid point, thus we should not forget the (now proven) lies about WMD’s, nor the current and on-going lies about natures plant food (CO2) etc. In other words, given that all political parties and politicos are economical with the truth when the truth will damage, meaning we simply need to elect the least worst -not a good measure on the state of UK politics but as bad as this govt are they are the least worst!

      7. Donna
        December 2, 2021

        So who would that be Andy? Not the Great Bliar’s party, I presume.

      8. lifelogic
        December 2, 2021

        One of the problems is that voters do not generally elect people who tell them the truth. They want to hear that taxes are going to be cut and public services and benefits will get better. Once elected we get give vast tax increases, counterproductive wars, rather poor and rapidly declining public services, restrictions on freedoms and the net zero lunacy on top. Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, May and now Carrie/Boris all the same really.

        1. glen cullen
          December 2, 2021

          +1

        2. jerry
          December 2, 2021

          @LL; “[the electorate] want to hear that taxes are going to be cut and public services and benefits will get better.”

          Do they, I suspect most people understand full well the two are mutually incomparable! Hence why the majority are not shouting from the roof tops or on social media everyday about the level of taxation, unlike you Lifelogic (& @DOM}, they merely want taxes to be as low as possible. Sometimes that means there will be tax cuts, other times, such as in a pandemic or after the banks went into self destruct mode back in 2007-8, taxes may well have to rise -perhaps markedly to pay off the incurred costs to the Treasury.

          1. Narrow Shoulders
            December 2, 2021

            @jerry I think most people (at least secretly rather than ostentatious posturing) want their taxes to be as low as possible bur also spent only on the things they agree with.

            Personally I want no/ little tax and public services to attract a usage fee.

          2. Lifelogic
            December 2, 2021

            Over the last hundred + years government expenditure has gone from about 10% to about 50% of GDP. In the UK there is so much waste, incompetence, crony capitalism & corruption in the system (plus the net zero lunacy and over regulation of everything) so we could easily have far better services and far lower taxes too – were there any political will that is.

          3. jerry
            December 3, 2021

            @LL; Yes, and our life chances has increased by 200% over the same period, some by far more -education, health, security in older age. You (& @Narrow Shoulders, above) are basically just selfish, because you personally do not currently [1] need, nor use, such taxation funded, government provided, services as adults you think you should not have to contribute as an working age adult.

            [1] I say currently, for someone is only ever as far away from destitution, in the sort of society you both appear to wish for, as an uninsured accident or bankruptcy, perhaps both

      9. Paul Cuthbertson
        December 2, 2021

        Andy – The globalist UK Establishment control the agenda regardless of which party is in office.

    2. Everhopeful
      December 2, 2021

      +1
      Seems most odd that at a time when all parliamentary protocol, along with democracy, has been chucked out of the window a more robust method of getting answers can’t be employed.
      These Ministers are downright rude.

      1. glen cullen
        December 2, 2021

        +1 The leadership at the top dictates the behaviour of subordinates, and currently our civil servants couldn’t care a toss about democracy, the voting public or even our elected MP
        Boris certainly has that Sadim touch

        1. glen cullen
          December 2, 2021

          Sadim touch = Opposite of the Midas touch

          1. Everhopeful
            December 2, 2021

            +1

        2. glen cullen
          December 2, 2021

          The government has scrapped its ÂŁ1.5 billion ‘green home scheme’ after spending ÂŁ314 million to upgrade just 47,000 homes out of the 600,000 planned and spending ÂŁ50 million on just admin alone – order order

          1. Lifelogic
            December 2, 2021

            One thing the state loves is lots of admin. costs wages and pensions for largely parasitic state sector “workers” or crony capital consultants.

    3. Peter Wood
      December 2, 2021

      P.S.
      IF Bunter Boris wants an ‘easy win’ against the EU, simply declare very loudly that the UK will NEVER make vaccination, against anything, compulsory. Mrs Von de Leyen, along with other power crazed politicians, think it reasonable to propose enforcing the introduction of a man-made chemical into its population. This tendency to authoritarianism is truly disturbing; but situation normal for the EU.

      1. Andy
        December 2, 2021

        The UK a has already made vaccines compulsory for NHS and care workers. That is millions and millions of people.

        1. Beecee
          December 2, 2021

          Not yet young Andy, nor will it apply to those who are medically exempt.

          As c. 90% of NHS staff have already had double jabs – where are the missing millions?

          You spoil your arguments by displaying your ignorance.

        2. Micky Taking
          December 2, 2021

          yep – NHS millions and millions people doing what?

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        December 2, 2021

        Only the sovereign member nations have the power to make vaccination compulsory, to order lockdowns, or any of the other measures to do with disease control.

        VdL has been traduced by the usual in the UK media.

        1. Narrow Shoulders
          December 2, 2021

          Watch this space my child

        2. Peter2
          December 3, 2021

          “Traduced” by NHL’s view, is just reporting what she actually said in her speech.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 3, 2021

            None of the European Union’s institutions can compel any of its people to have any form of medication. However, its member countries in some cases can.

            If national governments agree with a central committee’s recommendation that where possible people should be required to have a vaccine then they are free – as far as their respective constitutions might permit – to implement such a policy in their own right, as some are already doing anyway, and as this country has previously done.

        3. Peter2
          December 4, 2021

          Oh its “compel” now is it?
          First you even refused to accept the EU had “proposed” the compulsory use of vaccines.
          So progress of sorts

      3. Dennis
        December 2, 2021

        Peter Wood – aren’t we getting enforced man made chemicals into us via fluoride in our drinking water plus a load of others no doubt?

      4. Nottingham Lad Himself
        December 2, 2021

        The UK has already made vaccination compulsory, notably against smallpox, incidentally.

        1. Hat man
          December 2, 2021

          As if there were any comparison! Smallpox had a case fatality rate of approximately 30 percent. Give us break, lad, go and get educated.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 3, 2021

            OK, how about polio, with a similar death rate to covid19?

  2. turboterrier
    December 2, 2021

    The perception is that in some areas of government they have decided to operate with the mushroom syndrome “keeping us in the dark and feeding us #####”
    Open government information takes away the any thoughts on deceit and what they are trying to hide. Basically if you apply the customer, supplier principles what is open and on the table can be discussed and understood both the good and the bad. The waste in government is horrendous and decisions not to impart information just destroys any remnants of trust that may have existed. Ultimately deceit or holding back of information emanates from the very top. It does not bode well for the taxpayer, after all we are the only real source of income the government has.

    1. Everhopeful
      December 2, 2021

      +1
      Some radio twerp, no doubt a govt shill was ranting on about charging over 60s ÂŁ100 per month for non compliance with jab. ( Here, not in Greece).
      Huge tax income there.
      So what if the govt. employs that method for everything?
      Eat bugs, or you pay
be cold, or you pay and on and on.
      And see how the supermarkets and NHS act as aggressive cohortes praetoriae to the govt.

      1. glen cullen
        December 2, 2021

        Via the smart meter they have the ability to turn off your heating if you don’t comply

  3. Mark B
    December 2, 2021

    Good morning.

    Again Sir John I am writing much the same thing as before. We here have been telling you what the problem is – The Civil Service (our true masters) !

    You see, since we joined the EEC / EU the Civil Service has enjoyed power without either responsibility or much in the way of accountability. They have been able to pursue policies that both they and the EU approve of and effectively side step parliament. This has come in the form of Statutory Instruments.

    Our Parliament it Potemkin Parliament. A Toy Parliament. And saddest thing of all is that those whose are put there are happy to be rule takers and not makers. After all, it is only ‘we’, the little people, that suffer.

    So it comes as no surprise that this attitude and total disrespect continues. Dominic Cummings correctly identified the problem. I just did not think much of his proposed solutions.

    Not until we start firing CS’s for the endless mistakes and Ministers make it clear that, whilst the CS may advise, it is the Minister that decides and, if said action(s) are not carried out there will be consequences.

    Time to bring the CS to heal !

    1. miami.mode
      December 2, 2021

      Mark, with your final remark does that mean that you would get a Head of the Civil Service to do a bit of “the laying on of hands”? I believe that Lord O’Donnell is still around.

    2. acorn
      December 2, 2021

      The Civil Service works solely for the Downing Street “Executive”, not the “Legislature”. What you want is a Trump style category of Civil Service employee he called Schedule F. All career civil servants involved in “policymaking”, would no longer be covered by civil service protections against arbitrary dismissal. They would be subject to the same rules as political appointees; they serve at the Presidents pleasure. This would allow Trump to implement a massive government purge on his way out the door. Schedule F was eliminated by President Joe Biden on 22, January, 2021, nullifying the personnel changes.

  4. Mick
    December 2, 2021

    I think the answer to your questions will be answered today in the by-election , your government doesn’t give a rats tail to the nurses in the NHS who have worked there socks off this pass couple of years,

    1. Ian Wragg
      December 2, 2021

      Correct. A good trouncing at the by elections should send a warning shortly.
      We badly need Farage to enter the fray and mix things up.
      The liblabcon have got away with murder for far too long.

      1. Everhopeful
        December 2, 2021

        +1
        Ian Wragg
        Oh I daren’t even hope.

        1. Everhopeful
          December 2, 2021

          New plague panic = diversion??

      2. jerry
        December 2, 2021

        @Ian Wragg; “We badly need Farage to enter the fray and mix things up.”

        Are you trying to suggest SKS would make a better PM, or perhaps you want another minority govt as we had after the 2017 general election, as that will be the only consequence of what you suggest.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          December 2, 2021

          Well, he certainly got a few million well and truly mixed up during the referendum campaign…

      3. lifelogic
        December 2, 2021

        Farage managed (eventually) to force Cameron to grant a Brexit referendum. But can he (or anyway) get them to ever cut government size, taxation levels and the endless waste down to size and get a sensible energy policy out of them. I suspect not as Labour SNP are even worse sensible voters have no where to go.

        We need to halve the size of government and abandon the net zero insanity.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          December 2, 2021

          If it weren’t Farage, then the europhobic, foreign-owned UK press would have fashioned a clone to do the same as he did, and almost anyone who could walk and breathe at the same time would have done for the purpose.

          It didn’t take much. All he had to do was to loudmouth paraphrases of their headlines, They had done all the real work for him long before.

          1. Peter2
            December 2, 2021

            The majority if the press is pro EU

          2. Narrow Shoulders
            December 2, 2021

            A thirsty man in the desert will drink the sand my child.

            The press could not have fashioned the champion if there was no appetite.

          3. Lifelogic
            December 2, 2021

            The press was nearly all pro EU as was the BBC and all the government propaganda.

        2. jerry
          December 2, 2021

          @LL; That old lie again. Mr Farage (nor UKIP) was in no position to twist the arm of Mr Cameron, on the other hand our host and other eurosceptics on the Conservative back benches were and did.

          1. Lifelogic
            December 2, 2021

            Indeed but without Farage winning the EU elections it would never have happened.

          2. Peter2
            December 2, 2021

            Action and reaction Jerry

          3. jerry
            December 3, 2021

            @LL; The EU elections, like the EP and MEPs, were irrelevant to the granting of the Brexit referendum. If UKIP had any involvement in gaining the referendum it might well have been the fact that the votes taken from the Conservatives in 2010 deigned the Tories an outright majority, indeed Mr Farage even boasted of the fact; ‘it was UKIP wot caused it [the coalition]’, or words to that effect. Thus perhaps keeping the UK in the EU another 5+ years, Tory eurosceptics having by then won the argument within their party, hence provision for a Brexit referendum within the wider coalition agreement with the LDs.

            @P2; That was my point, the action and reaction needed to be in Westminster and the HoC, not Brussels/Strasbourg and the EP.

          4. Peter2
            December 3, 2021

            You are entitled to your rather eccentric opinion Jerry, but most political commentators have repeatedly said that Cameron was put under great pressure by the rise in polularity of UKIP and their success in the EU elections.
            That, together with Conservative back bench pressure led Cameron to call for a referendum.

          5. jerry
            December 3, 2021

            @P2; I am not offering an opinion but stating a constitutional fact of UK sovereignty, only the UK govt and HoC could grant such a referendum, thus Mr Farage and the UKIP MEP’s did not have a vote until 23 June 2016, along with the rest of us… If we had been reliant on the EP and 700 odd MEPs granting us a Brexit referendum we would still be waiting! 😼

            An opinion, based on facts in the public domain;
            By 12 May 2010, with the coalition agreement between Cameron and Clegg signed-off there was no reason for Cameron to need to twist the arms of the would-be UKIP supporting electorate, the next election was 5 years away, thus UKIP were an irrelevance to decisions made at the time, but he did have to take notice of his eurosceptic back-bench as they could have caused (internal party) problems away from the coalition agreement via the 1922 committee etc.

            A for political commentators, especially those of the right-wing might well be trying to lay blame upon UKIP, rather than the Conservative party.

          6. Peter2
            December 4, 2021

            Yes I know all that thanks Jerry.
            But we are talking about what pressures led to the referendum being called by the Government.
            PS
            Clever how you got a dig in about right wing commentators again.
            You just cant resist it.

      4. Paul Cuthbertson
        December 2, 2021

        The Establishment despise Farage and will do everything to ensure he is never voted into a position of influence. They did not think they would lose the referendum.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          December 2, 2021

          He is the Establishment, like most europhobes in high places.

          Stop being so silly.

          1. Micky Taking
            December 2, 2021

            My God you write some bullshit.

          2. Paul Cuthbertson
            December 3, 2021

            NLH – The Globalist UK Establishment starts at the VERY, VERY top and are very rarely in the public eye. Just remember we are ALL subjects, however the times they are a changing and Nothing can stop what is coming, Nothing.

        2. jerry
          December 3, 2021

          @Paul Cuthbertson; “however the times they are a changing”

          Indeed I fear you might be correct, especially now, but perhaps just not what we expect! Remember it was the socialist “Red Wall” areas that won Brexit, and for there to be a socialist revolution in the UK the first requirement since Jan 1973 was the ditching our EEC/EU membership, something the hard left had not wanted in the first place, hence the 1975 referendum and the 1983 Labour manifesto commitment -unilateral withdrawal. What is more we might not even need to become a Republic first either…

      5. The Prangwizard
        December 2, 2021

        How nice that would be but ‘fraid it won’t make any difference. If it happens we will just get a new BS angle and with ‘Boris’ in charge the wrecking of our nation, its sovereignty, its economy and its image will continue on the road to disaster and ridicule.

    2. Everhopeful
      December 2, 2021

      Tell that to my tooth!

  5. David Peddy
    December 2, 2021

    Well done for asking the questions.
    The clowns that occupy the DoH apparently do not know how many CEOs there are in the NHS ? Could the number of Trusts be clue ? Presumably somebody in that Department has that number at their finger tips or is that just expecting too much ?( it’s c 200)
    How can the costs of accomodation for asylum seekers ( aka illegal immigrants ) be confidential ? Surely we invoke the FoIA ?

    1. Donna
      December 2, 2021

      A Minister or Civil Servant who doesn’t want to release information regarding the costs of accommodation for asylum seekers/illegal immigrants can be very inventive with the reasons for refusing to release the information under the (No)FoIA.

  6. SM
    December 2, 2021

    I do not know how you maintain your calm demeanour, Sir John, in the face of such idiotic short-sightedness. Forget about the damage it is doing internal Party politics, it is an insult to the electorate and a serious risk to Parliamentary democracy.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      December 2, 2021

      As in most things, the simplest explanation is often the correct one.

    2. glen cullen
      December 2, 2021

      +1

  7. Sea_Warrior
    December 2, 2021

    And I want to know the totality of NHS money given to GPs during the pandemic. My guess: that it’s gone up a lot while their output has gone down.
    P.S. I’ve had three texts from my GP surgery inviting me to come in for a booster – after I had already booked to have a booster at an NHS hospital vaccination centre. Left hand, right hand?

    1. SM
      December 2, 2021

      A friend in London who suffers the severe aftermath of cancer and a major stroke attempted to contact her GP surgery yesterday, but was told she must call at 8am. This she duly did this morning: she was told she was 11th in the queue, she waited for 20 minutes and was then told that all appointments were fully booked.

      1. lifelogic
        December 2, 2021

        Just respect the NHS as Javid would say. Whereas for pets needing a vet it is no problem sir what time suits you best?

      2. Dennis
        December 2, 2021

        SM – I’ve been told I am 16th in the queue, then 9th, then 5th, then 12th, then 18th etc., etc.

      3. glen cullen
        December 2, 2021

        The 8am first come first serve booking was introduced so that the GPs can claim they’re met all there appointment targets without any waiting times that day.
        It’s a flawed system that only accommodates the fittest who can call and wait long periods on a telephone. This system should be banned

      4. a-tracy
        December 2, 2021

        SW advise her to e-consult and if her surgery doesn’t offer that send them an e-mail and keep e-mailing until she gets an appointment or change surgeries.

    2. a-tracy
      December 2, 2021

      There is a ÂŁ15 per jab service charge (it takes about a minute of a jabbers time) for the GP with a 10-15 min wait in a crowded room, so it is no surprise they are keen to get you in they are competing with each other.

      It is this sort of competition that people like Lifelogic seem to want. I was offered a jab time in the working week which with journey time would have taken up about 1.5 hours of my working day, prior to this all my jabs had been very inconveniently at the hospital taking 2.5 hours of my day up, the GP surgery offered a Saturday -I chose that appointment much more convenient 5 mins from home.

      1. lifelogic
        December 2, 2021

        The way the GP is paid per patient PA which means they have every incentive not to see patients as they get paid anyway – so the the bad ones do exactly this. Hospital have every incentive to have 3 hour waits to deter people too.

        1. Dennis
          December 2, 2021

          LL – I read somewhere that the old Chinese system of doctors was that there were paid if you were well and not paid if you were ill. Would it work here?

      2. Paul Cuthbertson
        December 2, 2021

        A+TRACY – Why take the jab anyway.

        1. a-tracy
          December 2, 2021

          Paul, we are told the vaccine works by the NHS and that it is protecting people (especially the old and vulnerable) and that it is keeping them out of hospital (but who knows what to believe anymore) I hope that we can still trust doctors but if it gets to the point when you think they’re all involved in a big conspiracy then we’re all stuffed anyway. If you were told you needed blood pressure medication or insulin for diabetes would you believe the Doctor or not?

          We are told repeatedly it is for the benefit of everyone and that’s why I took it reluctantly. I’m very concerned about it, already having 2 AZ jabs but this booster is Pfizer is strange, 3 jabs in one year isn’t good (why are we having to have so much and different brands) and I know people personally that have had the jabs and still contracted covid and died, a colleague knows a young male that had a heart attack and died on the walk from the clinic after having his jab, and another male I know ended up in A&E with heart problems after having his jab. I don’t like that I wasn’t well for four days what is in that jab that caused such a massive pain in the arm, neck, shoulders and joints, temperature, insomnia and then general fatigue.

          BUT i just want this to be over and now its even more troubling that they’re saying it will never be over and we’ll have to be injected every year. I actually agree with Boris giving people free will this Christmas, if they are afraid then don’t go to a party if you feel confident in the jabs then go and live that was the point of taking them, if we have to take the jabs and then get locked up then no more jabs they can’t have this both ways, if the vaccines don’t work what is the point and if they do work and only give you a mild dose then that will raise your personal immune system for the future in a less risky way.

      3. glen cullen
        December 3, 2021

        ÂŁ15 per jab, I’d be a rich man if I had that gig

    3. graham1946
      December 2, 2021

      I’ve been telling my GP since 1986 that I gave up smoking then. Still when I go he asks if I smoke – seems simple things don’t get on the computer. God knows what he types in.

  8. DOM
    December 2, 2021

    Is this Johnson led Socialist government considering mandatory vaccination now that the EU is proposing to do the same? Maybe this is the intended purpose of the increases in funding now being pumped into Labour’s health ministry

    A Tory government that accepts and refuses to reform all that Labour had built since 1997 and then chooses to strengthen and expand it is not a Conservative government, it is a deceit against the voter

    1. Everhopeful
      December 2, 2021

      I would say that it has been global policy for years while all this was planned.
      Why 100%? Because it is really about digital control?
      Why no care ( from ANYONE) about the harms and deaths? Population control?
      Why at the expense of sanity, humanity, healthcare and everything else that made our lives worth living?
      The censorship was planned for THIS!
      Why was it necessary to pay off the entire media?
      (GB News appears to be waking a little 
but is that false opposition?)

      1. beresford
        December 2, 2021

        Unless JR knows different, GB News’s hands are tied by OFCOM and they are unable to air any criticism of the ‘vaccines’. They do regularly criticise mask mandates, lockdowns, and passport schemes. Not much coverage anywhere of the situation in Australia, where Aborigines are allegedly being seized and forcibly jabbed.

        1. Paul Cuthbertson
          December 2, 2021

          beresford – No cover of the Ghislane Maxwell case either.

        2. Everhopeful
          December 2, 2021

          +1
          Yes and did you see that report ( including actual Aus TV news footage) about those three teenage boys who “escaped” from a quarantine camp (ffs!)!!
          Hunted down like animals because they tested positive on the ooky test.
          Has Johnson condemned this or the behaviour of Austria or Germany 
or any of the newly totalitarian countries?

      2. Everhopeful
        December 2, 2021

        Strange though.
        Those Israeli double ( or was it triple?) jabbed medics claim to have caught Omicron in London.
        I know many double jabbed who have had cold after cold after wheezy rhume since the jaberoony.
        Very, very odd. Almost as if their immune system has been compromised in some way?
        Yet the worse we get the more jabs we must have!
        Keep taking the medicine!

        1. Mike Wilson
          December 2, 2021

          I know many double jabbed who have had cold after cold after wheezy rhume since the jaberoony.

          You must know some very sick people. Being old myself and now living in an area with a lot of retirees, most of the people I know are thrice jabbed. I know of no-one who has had any issues. I haven’t had a cold or flu for years. Praise be.

          1. Paul Cuthbertson
            December 2, 2021

            Winter is coming!!!!

          2. Everhopeful
            December 2, 2021

            That is called “tempting fate”.

        2. Excalibur
          December 2, 2021

          I see there were two stoppages at football games last evening owing to medical emergencies in the crowd. Nothing to do with vaccinations, of course.

          1. Everhopeful
            December 2, 2021

            +1
            Of course not!

          2. Donna
            December 3, 2021

            Neither is the large spike in very fit sportsmen and women suddenly collapsing with heart attacks, often on the pitch.

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      December 2, 2021

      The “European Union” is not proposing anything of the sort – it has no remit to impose such a rule.

      VdL simply said that it would be proper for member countries to consider – as data emerges – whether it would be appropriate for them as sovereign nations to consider such an approach according to their respective constitutions etc.

      If there were a Union-wide approach then it would always be voluntary on the part of the nations as to whether they joined in, just as it was with the vaccine purchase scheme, and burgundy passports.

      1. Mike Wilson
        December 2, 2021

        VdL simply said that it would be proper for member countries to consider …

        It is not her place to make any comment on what member countries should, or should not, do in regard to this issue. But she thinks she runs a supra government – so she has to have her say.

      2. Peter2
        December 2, 2021

        The EU is proposing that jabs be made mandatory.
        The word “proposing” has been used by the EU and Dom and you.
        To try to claim it isnt, flies in the face of announcements from the EU NHL.
        Why so defensive?

        1. Everhopeful
          December 2, 2021

          +1

        2. hefner
          December 2, 2021

          Excuse me, what is the EU NHL? The National Hockey League is in North America, isn’t it?

          1. Peter2
            December 2, 2021

            So heffy
            Have some sympathy for those of us who mix up our letters.

        3. Nottingham Lad Himself
          December 2, 2021

          The relevant body might well propose that national governments consider such a thing.

          However, it would have no power to compel them to implement it.

          1. Peter2
            December 2, 2021

            That is why you and they said “proposing” NHL
            Puzzled why you are so sensitive about what the EU are proposing.

          2. Micky Taking
            December 2, 2021

            Just testing the wind direction, eh?

        4. Bill brown
          December 3, 2021

          Peter 2

          Badly informed again.
          In Italy , Spain and Portugal it cannot be made mandatory according to the constitutions

          1. Peter2
            December 3, 2021

            That’s irrelevant bill.
            NHL was saying that the EU are not proposing a mandatory vaccine.
            But they are.
            That is all I was pointing out.

            PS
            Constitutions can be altered if there is a majority vote.

          2. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 3, 2021

            If there were a referendum here on compulsory vaccination and the pro won it, would you support those defying “the will of the people”?

          3. Peter2
            December 3, 2021

            Interesting hypothetical.
            I’m in favour of mass vaccination for Covid.
            I think it unlikely the UK would go for compulsory vaccination by law.
            But I do think some EU nations may well go down that imposed route.

    3. Iain Moore
      December 2, 2021

      Socialist Government it is , look at the wokery we are being subjected to, a Marxist Government couldn’t have exceeded them in their actions. Little more than a year ago I was fearful of the military going the same way as the police, but even I couldn’t have guessed at the speed at which our military has fallen to the woke culture. Today we hear it is government’s policy to remove the male culture from the military and arbitrarily double the number of women there , of course no thoughts about whether it is a good idea or not, no, our military capability is to be determined by virtue signalling. No thoughts about “People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf” now the priority is to not mis-gender the enemy.

      1. Everhopeful
        December 2, 2021

        +1
        Spot on.
        I love that quote.

      2. glen cullen
        December 2, 2021

        Since the 90s women have been able to apply for 99% of the posts in the military, they’ve had 30 years to join without any barriers if they wanted to
today’s announcement is just misdirection and PR

      3. Fedupsoutherner
        December 3, 2021

        The way our militry are being cut there won’t be an army to rely on for protection soon let alone giving us the jab.

  9. Everhopeful
    December 2, 2021

    Look.
    We have lost everything.
    And now they are going to jab us every year. By force.
    Prison camp U.K.
    And where is my tax money?

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      December 2, 2021

      Everything?

      What, your home, savings, clothes, car, job, pension, human rights and anything else that one could name?

      What an extraordinary claim.

      1. Everhopeful
        December 2, 2021

        Maybe you will be happy owning nothing?

    2. glen cullen
      December 2, 2021

      Germany making the Jab mandatory in Feb….thats a worry

      1. Everhopeful
        December 2, 2021

        +1
        Terrifying.
        And no doubt Johnson will follow suit.

        1. glen cullen
          December 2, 2021

          I feel the hand of Bilderberg, Davos and the UN

        2. Nottingham Lad Himself
          December 2, 2021

          Boy, some people are so easily scared.

      2. Lifelogic
        December 2, 2021

        Appalling.

        I have had all my jabs but there are loads of very good reasons not too take a jab especially for youngsters and especially for people who have already had Covid.

  10. Fedupsoutherner
    December 2, 2021

    Everything is getting out of control John. I can barely watch anything on the news today concerning the Tory party without feeling immense disappointment at the wasted opportunities to be had with Brexit and an 80 seat majority. The public are crying out for strong leadership but all they see are a bunch of hand wringing sops afraid of their own shadow. Your party is a disgrace in that it can’t see what needs to be done. It’s pretty obvious to most of us.

    1. Andy
      December 2, 2021

      It is amusing you still believe there are any opportunities from Brexit. You have years of actual information which prove you wrong and you choose to ignore it. Genuinely baffling.

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        December 2, 2021

        Andy. Genuinely baffling. As are most of your posts.

        1. Bill brown
          December 3, 2021

          Fedsouttherner I think Andy is more or less right

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        December 2, 2021

        Yes, and NI has economically outstripped all the other nations and regions of the UK for some reason.

        I wonder if it’s membership of the SM and CU?

        1. Micky Taking
          December 2, 2021

          Corporation tax being the lowest? Possibly a clue? And there’s you claiming all this research.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 3, 2021

            Er…reread old flower.

      3. IanT
        December 2, 2021

        Well Andy, it seems to me that Germany is really starting to struggle with a slowing economy and growing inflation.

        Unfortuately (for the EU’s largest net contributor) they are finally paying the price for being part of the Eurozone, because the ECB can’t help them without really stuffing the other poorer members, which has always been a fundamental flaw of the Euro (without full fiscal union).

        The ECB should really be looking at urgently uping interest rates and tapering it’s money printing faster. However, it is not going to do so quickly (it can’t) so I suspect all those careful German savers are going to be very unhappy with Ms Lagarde.

        ” The ECB has increased the assets on its balance sheet by a monstrous €154 billion ($181 billion) per month so far this year via an alphabet soup of programs, blowing by even the crazed money-printers at the Fed with their average rate of $123 billion a month. While there appears to be consensus at the Fed that “tapering” its asset purchases will begin this year and will be completed in the first half next year, with assets then remaining level, the ECB announced today that it will start tapering its asset purchases now.
        And thereby it is way behind the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and the Reserve Bank of Australia.” (Source Wolf Street – Sept 2120)

        The UK seems to be doing well outside of the EU at the moment (better than Germany is) and thank goodness, we never adopted the Euro – or we really would have been screwed!

      4. graham1946
        December 2, 2021

        Remoaners are like the Japanese soldier found in the jungle 20 years after the war ended, still fighting. Genuinely baffling.

        1. glen cullen
          December 2, 2021

          +1

      5. Mike Wilson
        December 2, 2021

        You have years of actual information which prove you wrong

        Really? As far as I can see, nothing of any significance has changed. The lights are still on (just), there is petrol for the car, the shops are full of things to buy. House prices are on the gallop again. I suppose that is because of Brexit?

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          December 2, 2021

          There are always numerous blank spaces in my local Co-op, with apologies for the absence owing to continuing supply chain problems.

          Of course, if you’re only looking for cheese strings and Doggie Treats then perhaps you don’t notice.

          1. Peter2
            December 2, 2021

            You need to go to another shop NHL
            I have 4 supermarkets near me.
            No shortages.

          2. Nottingham Lad Himself
            December 2, 2021

            Reread my last para.

          3. Peter2
            December 2, 2021

            Just two products in your last paragraph NHL
            Tens of thousands in my local supermarkets.

          4. Fedupsoutherner
            December 3, 2021

            NLH or Martin. No shortages in any of the 4 supermarkets near me. Shelves packed out yesterday with normal food and Christmas stock.

          5. Fedupsoutherner
            December 3, 2021

            NLH. Does looking for cat food count?

    2. lifelogic
      December 2, 2021

      Exactly. The obsession with the insane net zero agenda and taxing everyone to death while wasting the proceeds seems to have taken over all else. This while ordering us to respect the NHS and pushing vaccinations on children and people who have had Covid why?

      1. lifelogic
        December 2, 2021

        The Irish advice on vaccinations says:-

        Myocarditis

        Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle. It was reported in around 1 in 1 million doses of the Moderna vaccine. But the data we have so far shows that the risk of myocarditis is higher for boys and young men. Based on data from the United States, the estimated risk is: 1 in 16,000 in boys aged 12 to 17 1 in 20,000 in young men aged 18 to 24 1 in 100,000 in girls aged 12 to 17

        In the UK this might mean 600+ cases in boys aged 12 to 24 if per jab and they all have two jabs. This is a serious condition are we really sure that this is sensible? Also why no such clear warning in the UK? Plus many undiagnosed cases on top too perhaps.

        1. Mike Wilson
          December 2, 2021

          @LifeLogic

          I had the Pfizer jab recently – my third. First two were Astra Zeneca. AFTERWARDS I was given a leaflet. The word ‘Myocarditis’ was mentioned on there. I realise that, according to them, it is very rare but, even so, I would have liked to have been told BEFORE they jabbed me with it.

          I’m fairly sure it said I have a 1 in a million chance of myocarditis from the Pfizer vaccine.

          As a reasonably fit and healthy 69 year old – same weight as when I left school – I wonder what my chances are of dying from Covid.

          1. Lifelogic
            December 2, 2021

            Alas I am not quite the 12st I was when I left school. Higher risk factors seem to be age, being male, being bald, being overweight, blood group A and many other health conditions. The figures I have looked at suggest a fit male, your age, vaccinated, not overweight & with the better hospital Covid care we now have. You probably have no more than 1/800 chance of dying – should you actually even catch it that is.

    3. Paul Cuthbertson
      December 2, 2021

      Turn off the the TV, ignore the MSM and do your own research. So much truth “out there”.

  11. Iain Gill
    December 2, 2021

    can the Speaker not force the government to answer questions from parliament?

    1. graham1946
      December 2, 2021

      I have often thought this. Seems his only power (or what he chooses to use, maybe) is to stop them calling each other liars, though we all know tat is exactly what they are. He lets them get away with all sorts of waffle, never a proper answer.

    2. Dennis
      December 2, 2021

      Iain Gill – apparently not. If I were the leader of the opposition I wold not turn up for PMQs as it’s a waste of time and I would have many better things to do.

      1. glen cullen
        December 2, 2021

        +1

  12. Garry Y
    December 2, 2021

    Sir John, it’s also impossible to get factual information from Government ministers. All announcements refer to “the country” or “our nation” with a deliberate policy not to say England. Instead the Government misleads the public into thinking initiatives or agencies are UK wide. Hence we have “UK Health Security Agency ” and “National Highways ” with an England only remit. Amazingly however they always state when they are throwing more of “the country’s” money to Scotland and the other devolved nations.

  13. Andy
    December 2, 2021

    I can help you with one of your questions Mr Redwood!

    It costs £0 to house illegal migrants in hotels. Illegal migrants are illegal. The clue is in the name. We don’t help them because they are here illegally.

    Of course, you probably do know but dare not say – that it isn’t illegal to claim asylum. It isn’t illegal to arrive by dinghy to claim asylum. The Tories think it helps their narrative to be dishonest about this. But it really doesn’t.

    Asylum seekers are only offered temporary hotel accommodation when the Tory run Home Office is unable to process their claim quickly and efficiently enough.

    1. Fedupsoutherner
      December 2, 2021

      So once they are refused asylum they are still here 7 years later and in some cases go on to commit acts of terror. Oh no, that’s definitely not quick enough. The UK won’t be very attractive for your kids or grandchildren in years to come. If you’re as successful as you claim then why haven’t you left yet for the sake of your children? You’re always going in about how pensioners have ruined it for them.

      1. lifelogic
        December 2, 2021

        Why bother wasting money considering their asylum case if all stay anyway?

    2. beresford
      December 2, 2021

      Yes, but this is sophistry. The fact, as admitted by the UN, is that the majority are economic migrants and have no right to be here. The real poor are those in hovels in France who have no money to pay smugglers unless they can get a ‘loan’ from a gangmaster. Use of a dinghy is not just another means of transport but abuse of maritime law, deliberately placing oneself in danger so others are obliged to rescue you. And for some reason the migrants are not expected to pay for the cost of their ‘rescue’ or prosecuted for placing the lives of their children at risk. Other scams include spurious asylum claims, pretending to be a child or homosexual, pretending to come from a country which is at war or doesn’t accept repatriation, and fake ‘conversions’ to Christianity. The real villains are the politicians who either by idleness or intent refuse to change our laws in an agile fashion to counter these scams. ‘International law’ is routinely ignored by other countries when the safety of their own country is put at risk.

      We should ask what is happening to these predominantly young men when their bogus asylum claim finally runs out of appeals. I suspect that they are surreptitiously released into the community to find their way into the black economy and phone their friends and relatives urging them to make their way to soft Britain.

    3. Peter2
      December 2, 2021

      You are being pedantic young Andy.
      Arriving in a dingy having thrown away your identity documents and your passport and shouting asylum is illegal.
      They are economic migrants travelling from a safe democratic country.
      They are queue jumpers, simple as that.

      1. glen cullen
        December 2, 2021

        +1

      2. bill brown
        December 3, 2021

        Peter 2

        You really have no idea of constitutional changes in sovereign nations in teh EU, it shows a total lack of understanding of Europe , How sad

        1. Peter2
          December 4, 2021

          Well educate me then Billy.
          Why so shy?

    4. No Longer Anonymous
      December 2, 2021

      Andy

      Andy

      This is what’s on offer to people refused asylum (aka illegal immigrants.) Government website:

      https://www.gov.uk/asylum-support/eligibility

      “You can ask for the following if you’re homeless, do not have any money to buy food and you can show that there’s a reason why you cannot leave the UK yet:

      short-term housing
      help with prescriptions for medicine, dental care for your teeth, eyesight tests and glasses
      a payment card for food and toiletries
      You will not be given the payment card without the housing and you will not be given any cash.”

      Perhaps the next question in the Commons should be “What percentage of asylum seekers whose appeals are rejected leave the country by deportation or by free will ?” Especially seeing as the failed asylum seeker is given yet another chance to stay in the UK with the “… and you can show a reason why you cannot leave the UK.” clause.

      Andy. Please desist with this silly “Illegal immigrants cost zero.” You have been comprehensively proven wrong on this by me and others.

    5. IanT
      December 2, 2021

      Really Andy? The number I saw was ÂŁ48k in the first year per head (and more for children).
      That’s ÂŁ1.278B for the 26,631 that have croosed the channel ytd – just to fund their first 12 months here.

      They will all need housing, healthcare and education over the longer term – and at what cost? I’ve never arguged for zero immigration but it does need to be controlled – and this Channel Migration is the worse kind of immigration, with no control over who comes here and no idea what they will contribute to our Society. Frankly, it’s just glorified queue jumping, masquerading as people fleeing persecution (from France?).

      BTW – I was interested to note that your beloved EU is beginning to change it’s tune on mass migration across it’s external borders – with changes to “asylum” rights in some Eastern European Countries. I suspect they know this will become an increasing political problem for the EU if they cannot control immigration. Of course Schengen isn’t helping them to do so…another cause for unrest within the EU over coming years…

  14. Donna
    December 2, 2021

    It is partly incompetence and partly obfuscation. Information is power. THEY want the power. They don’t intend giving it to you. It’s as simple as that.

    And if they won’t give it to you, there’s no chance of Joe Public getting it through the (No)Freedom of Information Act …… which Blair has now said he regrets creating.

    The Civil Service and Quangocracy are out of control. This Government has allowed and massively facilitated the lack of control with its lunatic Covid policies.

    If it wasn’t for Brexit I almost wish Corbyn had won the last General Election because it looks like a period of cataclysmic Labour governance is the only way the CON Party will wake up to the long-term consequences of Johnson’s appalling Not-a-Conservative- Government..

    1. Everhopeful
      December 2, 2021

      +1
      Your final para
EXACTLY!

    2. Nota#
      December 2, 2021

      @Donna +1 well said – spot on

    3. No Longer Anonymous
      December 2, 2021

      Please join me in changing it next time. For that very purpose.

      Vote Labour.

      The Tories are not our friends.

      1. Donna
        December 2, 2021

        Labour would be lucky to keep its deposit where I live …. and I will never do anything to help change that.

        I gave the CONs a chance in 2019 but my local MP, Chris Loder, will never get it again since he’s done nothing to support the restoration of our Civil Liberties. I’ll be voting for Reform UK.

      2. Narrow Shoulders
        December 2, 2021

        Spoil your paper. Do not legitimise any of them.

        The more who spoil their papers the better chance of a real overhaul

    4. Rhoddas
      December 2, 2021

      +1 Spot on Donna!

  15. Everhopeful
    December 2, 2021

    We could compare this govt. to revolutionary France.
    Or to a failing Roman Empire.
    We could compare Johnson to Henry 8th. ( Brexit, not wives).
    But we would not be allowed to compare it to the regime it now most resembles.
    How odd.

  16. Narrow Shoulders
    December 2, 2021

    If the more anti-government , pro left wing consideration media outlets in this country genuinely concerned about the NHS as an operation rather than an institute this post would be headline news.

    NHS disciples love the idea of it not the output.

    As a footnote Sir John (and no doubt the Nottingham child will point out) this is your government which is not able/willing to provide answers to its own MP.

  17. Narrow Shoulders
    December 2, 2021

    If you would like to find out how much an immigrant room in a hotel costs or which temporary agency is coining it in from increased NHS spending you will have to wait the the media to discover that a Conservative MP or Minister has recommended said hotel or agency or that they have an interest in one.

    Otherwise the media is not interested in waste or efficiency.

  18. Sakara Gold
    December 2, 2021

    Its OK. Its not real money. It grows on trees and Sunak plucks it when Bungling Boris spouts one of his irresponsible electoral promises

  19. Oldtimer
    December 2, 2021

    Either they know and refuse an answer, which is totally unacceptable, or they have not got a clue and refuse to say so which also is totally unacceptable. Johnson heads a government which is as arrogant as it is incompetent. Time for Conservative MPs to replace him.

  20. Keith Jagger
    December 2, 2021

    Sir John; I fear it is not just withholding information that can be laid at the door of the blob (Civil Service.) Having looked at the Government’s website to see the new rules on mask wearing, and then reading the Statutory Instrument voted through the House of Commons, I am disturbed that the website goes further than the law! Total mismatch. Is this deliberate misinformation for scaremongering or to serve their own agenda? Is it presumed MP’s won’t bother to check? I suspect the latter as I attended a Ruby Wedding of some previous “friends” a few years ago where many guests were reasonably high ranking Civil Servants and their attitude and arrogance over a matter in the news at the time was so unbelievably arrogant and awful
    that we nearly left before the starter course was finished. They need serious reform. No wonder no Government ever achieves its goals.

  21. alan jutson
    December 2, 2021

    John, The public have simply been played by Governments for years with Mushroom type management principles, and farcical election promises, you are now finding out that most MP’s, yourself included, are now also being played !
    I wonder if the Ministers, and even the Prime Minister realise they are perhaps also included.
    Our democracy has been failing for years, the faceless ones appear to be in charge, but no one really seems to know, or even seem bothered, who they are.
    All these so called government figures which go to help shape Government policy with their so called facts and figures, must now surely be put into question.
    You have now highlighted the NHS, and illegal immigration, but you have only just scratched the surface.
    You asked very simple direct questions, you got simple evasion with arrogance as a response, and they think they have put you in your place.
    I think you now know, if you did not already (and todays post suggests you did) that we have reached a point in our politics where something drastic needs to change, and change fast.
    How many years ago was YES MINISTER broadcast, it’s been going on that long at least.

  22. Norman
    December 2, 2021

    Good that at least you are asking the questions, Sir John. We are seeing that democracy is hamstrung globally now. This is a sign of the times – a warning to everyone, not just politicians. ‘Red sky at morning…’ Cf. Matthew 16:2-4.

  23. Bryan Harris
    December 2, 2021

    The blob continues to disrupt the analysis of what is going on – They can neither give us any facts nor even allow any light in on what is going on. THIS is deliberate subterfuge.

    How were the CS allowed to get the upper hand, telling ministers what to do and calling the shots?

    This must all come out into the open, so that the world can see what a mess our so called democracy has become, thanks to the way the blob now rules everything!

    How does the government plan to take back control?

  24. Nota#
    December 2, 2021

    If you wish to govern well you need access to good quality information about public services, budgets and outcomes.

    That is of course an expected outcome in a Democracy. This crowd from the top down just doesn’t give a dam its about the ‘headline’ and that means spend, spend, spend. We live in a Dictatorship with a political ruling elite that see control put above the sensibilities of accountability.

    When the dust settles and they have been consigned to the bin it is the rest of us that will be paying the bill, and our children and their children to. It seems to be forgotten we have still not yet paid of the Brown Governments debts.

    The Socialist destruction of the UK is in full swing.

  25. jerry
    December 2, 2021

    Anyone else notice what our host did between writing his first and second paragraphs? Talking about the “Government” (made up of elected MP’s) and then switching to complain about the “civil service machine” (made up of Civil servants)… If the civil service are not acting correctly then it is in the power of the elected government to tell the civil servants to do better, ultimately reform said service and if it comes to it go off-script within parliamentary privilege, those on the back benches of the governing party have the means to seek assistance via their party machine, and those in opposition can I’m sure make full use of the Westminster tea rooms etc.

    Where’s ‘Jim Hacker’ when we need him, not that he always won, but at least he tried!

  26. a-tracy
    December 2, 2021

    This makes me laugh, the demands from the government for payroll information digitally monthly is demanded with fines if you don’t do it correctly and on time. Forms are also sent (even though you have the information monthly) demanding to know how many staff you employ with deadlines from the statistics agency.

    How are Chief Executives paid? By the individual trusts or by a central NHS payroll?

    Perhaps the MP in charge of the Health Service just doesn’t know and it sounds like he doesn’t know who to ask. It sounds like they don’t have zoom meetings together or a simple tot up of participants would give them the answer.

  27. Lynn Atkinson
    December 2, 2021

    Isolation hotels for British people returning from ‘red’ countries is not ‘commercially sensitive’.
    But if we knew what these boat people cost the British sense of humour could well fail.
    Thank you for asking these questions Sir John.

  28. Kenneth
    December 2, 2021

    Just to underline this issue, the National Audit office has just released a report where it states:

    “…government cannot have confidence its spending in many policy areas is making a difference.”

    Link: https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Evaluating-government-spending.pdf

  29. Rhoddas
    December 2, 2021

    It will either be their downfall at the next election or the men in suits will arrive sooner and tory members get to vote on a replacement PM who will purge the Blob …. keep up the pressure Sir J

  30. Mark J
    December 2, 2021

    I make no apologies for saying this. Boris Johnson is no longer fit for purpose.

    He made encouraging noises in the run up to the previous election. Although much of this has just proven to be hot air.

    Brexit was done in Boris’s eyes, yet we are still tied to the ECJ and EU rules in N.I. A fudged attempt by someone who again spoke tough: ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’, yet bottled it at the eleventh hour.

    We know full well he has no intention of dealing with the migrant crisis. In the past he advocated an amnesty for illegal migrants. How is flooding the country with large numbers of welfare dependant individuals, beneficial to our economy?

    The NHS needs top down reform. Yet the solution – as always – is just chuck more money at it, in the hope the problems will rectify themselves. Without reform these problems will never go away. How much more of the UKs income will the Government willy nilly chuck at the NHS?

    I suspect even a ÂŁtrillion a year would not be enough to support this bloated, beaurcratic organisation.

    The Conservatives need to start listing to the very people whom voted them in. If they continue to ignore and pander to minority opinions, then expect to lose.

    This does not mean, racism, homophobia, etc, etc is to be allowed in society. However, it means standing up to the idiots whom, for example, demand historic statues are torn down due to ‘racism’.

    Elections are not won by minority views, but what the majority agree is best for the country.

    The Conservatives have clearly forgotten this.

  31. acorn
    December 2, 2021

    JR’s problem demonstrates just how useless the HoC is at legislating to its own advantage. If MPs want budget line by line information, why have they not asked for it by way of a cross party Bill?

    That’s what the US Congress did. Members of the House and Senate who attract a larger portion of their bill cosponsors from the opposing party, are much more successful at lawmaking. Bipartisanship is linked to increases in members’ overall legislative effectiveness; especially to moving legislation through committee and on the floor. A level of bipartisanship that is totally alien in the UK’s Punch & Judy parliament where Downing Street always wins.

    The US Treasury issues a Daily Treasury Statement https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/daily-treasury-statement/deposits-and-withdrawals-of-operating-cash . Also, its fiscal service issues a lay version at https://datalab.usaspending.gov/americas-finance-guide/

  32. MikeP
    December 2, 2021

    Some years ago, late 1980s, working as a Management Consultant, I was hired by a big Government Department (I shan’t reveal which) to advise them on the following:
    – what are objectives and how to set them
    – how do personal objectives contribute to Departmental objectives
    – how to set an annual budget
    – how the private sector tackled all this.
    They were clueless, had no concept of targets or budgets, how and where to start getting information to build one, or being held to account through regular review processes and appraisals.
    It seems nothing has changed !!!

  33. Iago
    December 2, 2021

    I have just read in Conservative Woman that the government and others are suppressing and have been suppressing information about the great effectiveness of ivermectin in treating the new disease. I do not suppose that the government would answer truthfully any questions about this, but this matter is urgent as the new German leader and the EU dictatrix are now calling for compulsory vaccination with the poisons. We need a complete removal of this augean stable system of government, that includes the civil servants, who should at a minimum be fired with no pensions.

    1. Dennis
      December 2, 2021

      Iago – yes the effectiveness of ivermectin when early symptoms are felt is well known and the UK and other govts. refusal to allow it is a scandal whose time is well due. My own doctor knows nothing about it except ‘it doesn’t work’ but can give no info on how it is used. That doctors do nothing to inform themselves about what knowledge is available is criminal.

      To get early symptoms and have no treatment but to just isolate for a week is stupid. Even if ivermectin proved not to work in some it has no ill effects so why no prescribe it?

    2. The Prangwizard
      December 2, 2021

      The problem we have with the civil service is like a building with dry rot. Once started the rot grows without any further need of the conditions which got it started. It simply feeds off everything around itself and consumes and destroys all the goodness it comes into contact with.

    3. Donna
      December 2, 2021

      The efficacy of Ivermectin has been known about for a long time. Ever wondered how India dealt with the Delta variant so quickly when a very small proportion of the population were jabbed? The answer is Ivermectin.

      The US and UK Governments (and EU) refuse to approve it. If there were effective treatments for Covid, it would not have been legal to give emergency approval for the experimental gene therapies they are coercing people to take. The Pharmaceutical companies are making a fortune …. and it would be very interesting to see the Investment Portfolios of the members of SAGE.

  34. Peter from Leeds
    December 2, 2021

    Sir John,

    It sounds like you are making the case for a new QUANGO!

    The “Office of What Taxpayers’ Money is Actually Spent On”.

    OWTMASO?

    PS Love Wokingham painting double yellows UNDER cars and then issuing tickets.

    1. Beecee
      December 2, 2021

      Something similar happened to me in Nottingham some years ago. I parked in a side street with a 4 hour max, no return sign etc, and got back to find a ticket and that the signage had been changed to 1 hour max.
      I should have taken the train!
      lol

  35. X-Tory
    December 2, 2021

    If you want information about NHS waste and incomptetence then how about this: I have just received a letter from the NHS informing me that I should now get a flu vaccination. Very nannyish and unnecessary, since adults should be left to manage their own healthcare, but I’LL let this slide since I have two larger complaints. The first is that I have already had my flu jab!! So this letter shows that the NHS internal records are a total shambles. And my second complaint is that this letter was FOUR pages long. It does not take four pages to tell someone to go to their GP and get vaccinated. Indeed, it only takes one page. The other THREE pages were written in TWENTY FIVE different foreign languages!!! This is madness. If people can’t speak English then they shouldn’t be here, and they should certainly not be receiving free NHS care. I would suggest that you might want to ask a question about how much money the NHS spends on foreign langages but what’s the point? The government will not have a clue.

    1. Dennis
      December 2, 2021

      I get NHS letters about appointments I have already attended a month before!

  36. glen cullen
    December 2, 2021

    If the information given to a seasoned and admired MP is haphazard, incomplete or non-existent 
..You have to wonder what information is Boris getting

  37. DavidJ
    December 2, 2021

    Our taxes pay for government spending so we are entitled to full information on how it is spent, not some excuses as to the availability of information. They should be required to produce detailed annual accounts for us to see.

  38. BOF
    December 2, 2021

    Sir John, your questions are always succinct and umambiguous. If anyone deserves straight answers it is you.

    Because of Parliamentary protocol Ministers get away with just about anything they like and without you being able to grill Ministers to extract the truth from them , I do not believe anything will change, so let us have robust to the point of confrontational exchange in Parliament. Let us see what these Ministers are really made of.

  39. Mike Wilson
    December 2, 2021

    If those of you who are Tories – members of a local party etc. – could get your way and get rid of the blowhard in 10 Downing Street, who would you replace him with? I mean realistically. So don’t say ‘Mr. Redwood’.

  40. Denis Cooper
    December 2, 2021

    Blimey, after all these years of silence the government has finally rebutted an anti-Brexit falsehood:

    https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2021/12/02/news/us-steel-tariffs-link-to-northern-ireland-protocol-a-false-narrative-government-2525365/

    “US steel tariffs link to Northern Ireland Protocol a ‘false narrative’ – British Government”

    Maybe next somebody in the UK government will point out that this Irish claim is utter nonsense:

    https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/11/15/levelling-up-7/#comment-1276472

    “… any checks or controls anywhere on the island would constitute a hard border … ”

    Then we could get on with establishing and enforcing a sensible system of export licences to check and control the trickle of goods leaving Northern Ireland for the Irish Republic, rather than the nonsensical displacement activity of EU checks and controls on all the imports coming into the province.

    1. acorn
      December 2, 2021

      Trump imposed 25% and 10% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on the European Union in 2018. The tariffs were withdrawn in October of this year, but they remain in place for Britain due to its exit from the EU.

      In a communication seen by Reuters, a U.S. Commerce Department official was quoted as saying that talks with the UK on easing metals tariffs could not move ahead. The official cited U.S. concerns about British threats to trigger emergency clause Article 16, the report said, especially from the U.S. Congress.

      The EU wants a united Ireland inside the EU. The US Congress and Presidency wants a united Ireland inside the EU. An ex Secretary of, now demoted to Minister of State; is simply parroting lines from the Boris bull***t menu.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        December 2, 2021

        Yes, it’s time that this Postmodernist journalism was binned, along with the rest of its utter tripe.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          December 2, 2021

          Sorry, I should rather have said “Postmodernist official statements reported as substantial by the press”

      2. Denis Cooper
        December 3, 2021

        https://uk.investing.com/news/commodities-news/lack-of-usuk-trade-deal-not-connected-to-postbrexit-concerns-us-official-2526285

        “Brexit not a factor in U.S.-UK trade deal delay, U.S. official says”

        “WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. administration official on Thursday said the country’s failure to remove tariffs on UK steel and aluminum has no connection to concerns about post-Brexit trade rules affecting Northern Ireland, rejecting a recent report … ”

        Now over to you to provide some numbers for a) the economic impact on the UK of this particular problem with the US and b) the potential economic benefit to the UK of a special trade deal with the US.

        Out of the kindness of my heart I’ll give you some help with the second question:

        https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/09/24/the-problems-with-the-single-market/#comment-1262165

        “The study shows that the relative impact (i.e. as a share of GDP) of the TTIP is similar for the UK and US economies – between 0.15 and 0.37 % of GDP. For the EU27, the study suggests that the relative gains would be about twice that – between 0.4 and 0.8 % of GDP. The difference in the magnitude of the FTA’s potential impact on the UK and the EU is explained by the difference in the two’s initial level of openness with the US.””

  41. glen cullen
    December 2, 2021

    If the Green Party don’t win the ‘Old Bexley and Sidcup by-election today, can we assume that the people have rejected the green concept and that this government will therefore cancel its green revolution policies

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      December 3, 2021

      Well, the “Cancel HS2” candidate didn’t even bother standing, Glen.

  42. Lindsay McDougall
    December 2, 2021

    Why not try something unorthodox – bring a motion of No Confidence in the Civil Service?

    1. glen cullen
      December 2, 2021

      I like it

  43. bill brown
    December 2, 2021

    Sir John,

    It assumes you have a government which is competent to supervise the deliveries by the NHS, but as both the PM and the entire government is incompetent .

    1. Peter2
      December 2, 2021

      Well don’t vote for it again Bill.
      It is your wonderful right as a voter and citizen.
      Unlike the EU Commission and Council which you don’t ever get to vote for or against.

      1. Bill brown
        December 3, 2021

        Peter 2

        I do get to vote who sits on the council if I am an EU citizen so wrong again

        1. Peter2
          December 3, 2021

          No you don’t bill
          It is comprised of heads of state of all EU countries.
          No one votes for them to then become EU Council members.
          There is no separate election.

          1. bill brown
            December 3, 2021

            Peter 2

            Each country has an election to elact a party adn then a party leader, who will then become party and country leader so it is all democratic and part of an election process.

            What is is you dont not understand? about democracy?

          2. Peter2
            December 4, 2021

            It is as I said bill.
            You dont get to vote directly for candidates for the position of EU Council member.
            But it doesn’t matter because these national leaders who get to be appointed Council members of the EU without any citizens voting them into that position only meet a few times a year.
            The Councils work is really carried out by unelected bureaucrats.

            The real power is with the unelected Commissioners and the unelected 5 Presidents (by European citizens).

            What is it you dont understand about democracy Billy?

  44. rose
    December 2, 2021

    How about asking the Minister if he has been given the answer you are not allowed to have? If there is obfuscation over that too, we will have had it confirmed who the bosses are.

  45. Mark
    December 3, 2021

    The biggest lack of information within government, let alone offered to the public, concerns the cost of net zero policies. The result is quite disastrous.

Comments are closed.