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Thursday 26 August 2010

Mr. Polly Peck - alias Asil Nadir !

So Mr. Asil Nadir has decided to face the music after a serious financial crime of  'embezzling £30m' 17 years ago according to the Serious Fraud Office. He faces 66 fraud charges.   He has vowed to clear his name and landed in the UK about an hour ago. His passport will have been confiscated and his lawyers Bark & Co., will no doubt have been there to greet him...  He will be fitted with an electronic tag within eight hours of arriving in the UK.

Polly Peck was a food packaging firm that was involved in many areas, food, hotels, hospitality etc. The firm collapsed in 1990 after failing to pay creditors;  £700m was unrecoverable from the subsidiaries.  He famously fled to Cyprus where the authorities couldn't catch up with him. In an interview with the BBC this week he stated that he was subject to unfair injustice back in the early 90's hence his sudden departure which he states he had to do to care for his health.

The company started to face problems after, it was rumoured, that Turkey decided to withdraw tax concessions. His share prices hit £35 and then collapsed. He acquired Del Monte (he famously became The Man from Del Monte after the scandal) and had businesses in Cyprus and Turkey.  Unusually he was the single cheque signatory for the company and that seems to be where the problems began by all accounts.

The story behind the story...   Mr. Nadir was a Conservative party donor, a personal friend of Margaret Thatcher and goodness knows who else in the Tory party.  There is the case of the watch that he presented to Michael Mates, who was Northern Ireland Secretary,  with an inscription 'don't let the buggers get to you'.

So why does he return now and  who will turn their backs on him, and who will stand by his side ?  Ironic too that Michael Mates' son presented the lunchtime edition of the ITV news.

Mr. Nadir faces court initally on 3rd September - when the trial begins I wonder how many times he'll utter the words "I don't remember" ?

Tuesday 24 August 2010

The battleground of the NHS

As Unison prepares to take this heartless goverment to the High Court, the National Health Service becomes a battleground.

But we know that the dedicated health professionals and other staff will continue to treat and care for those who need their care.  Patients will continue to turn up at the doors of the many Outpatient Departments across the country.  Pathology/Chemistry Laboratories will continue to undertake the much needed tests to assist the medics in reaching a diagnosis and in monitoring their patients' conditions;  X-rays and other more detailed examinations will still be undertaken;  Nurses will go about their duties as though nothing is happening that affects them;  Doctors will ponder, consider what to do next and decide on what the best treatments are for their patients;  Porters will transport patients from one area of the hospital to the other;  Physiotherapists will manipulate the bits and pieces of our bodies that require manipulation.

Further behind the scenes other staff will arrange transport for those patients who need it, lunches and dinners will be prepared, wards will be cleaned, beds will be changed, medicines will be ordered, appointments will be made, letters and reports will be prepared...   these latter staff are the one's that the government is really targeting...  the one's who are likely to lose their jobs.  They are the real battleground for the NHS.  The former staff mentioned are likely to be those targeted later as the Tory government strips apart the hospitals, the clinics, the GP surgeries that we know and expect to care for us when we need
them !  What *is going to happen in the months to come.. ?

 The rhetoric will start and the battle will commence. And all the above will continue such is the professionalism of staff in our beloved NHS !

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