Poets Corner 2 Nation State 05-03-2007 This weekend saw major demonstrationsagainst low pay and job cuts in the NHS; in fact in Birmingham there were two demos one at City Hospital, the other in Victoria Square. Brendan Hawthorne takes the pulse...
Nation State The health of the nation The state of the service The bills go up as the pills slip down Funding issues sterling work pushing dirt round wards with fund-held perks Super-bug outbreaks of epidemic proportions Write another report of vague distortions With such willing civil servants we should be ahead of the game now the welfare service exists only in name Another stealth tax closes up the purse and tries to do away with a district nurse Pay for your op before the chop The snip the snap the stomach clip The tuck the pull the plastic hip Resuscitation or the saline drip Jump aboard the methadone express Wear the corporate twelve-shirt for heroin distress Check yourself in check yourself out leave your pin alongside the bar-code reader They'll receipt all payment on any loss leader Bargain BOGOF's and a loyalty bonus are freely available but proof of identity is just not enough With age and outcome fate is duly cast Postcode syndication based on your present pre-occupation Life or death procedures are treated with disdain Long term maintenance they say is too expensive to retain Hold-ups cock-ups political foul-ups Junior accountants and myopic management sit in judgment coddling a personal plan doling out choice from a soiled bed pan Their raison d'etre is reducing lists when the public's bled then rapidly dismissed Service sector Barons close another ward Regretfully apologise for the ‘for sale' board The ‘no admission' signs are signs of things to come because welfare privatisation is always on their minds copyright Brendan Hawthorne, 2007 |
©2006 The Stirrer