Homer Simpson Joins UK Staff On Strike, As a result of Lisa Wants Braces

In case you’re out of the loop on British information, here is what you missed: every part is f***ed. International elements like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, and rising inflation are partly accountable, however the U.Okay. has been left in a uniquely unhealthy place to climate these storms because of a decade of austerity measures, the impression of Brexit, and the Conservative authorities’s efforts to denationalise any public service that is not nailed down. The Nationwide Well being Service (NHS), which is especially firmly nailed down, has been a major goal for privatization by the use of gradual dismantling. NHS nurse salaries have fallen by at the very least 20% in actual phrases since 2010, making a vicious cycle of nurses quitting and NHS trusts being unable to recruit sufficient replacements.

Nurses are among the many employees strolling out, voting to strike for the primary time within the Royal School of Nursing’s 106-year historical past. However the struggles of the NHS are tousled with a a lot bigger machine of damaged infrastructure. Cuts to social care have turned hospital wards into de facto care houses, making a scarcity of beds that has turned ambulances into de facto overflow wards. The ensuing delays have led to folks dying in the course of the hours-long look ahead to an ambulance, with as much as 500 extra deaths each week on account of the pressure on emergency care.

In the meantime, postal employee strikes have left letters and parcels to pile up outdoors depots, the place they’re chewed on by rats and foxes. Rocketing vitality costs and meals inflation have left many households going through a “warmth or eat” dilemma. Rising rates of interest have led to lease will increase even because the housing market stagnates. Public transport is a large number. Persons are chilly, hungry, and depressing. And Lisa wants braces.