NHS car parking charges in England. A tax on the sick?

I had this letter published in the Western Daily Press on January 3rd.  The editor gave it the headline "English patients face unfair 'tax on sick'."

"We supposedly live in a United Kingdom where one would assume all its citizens are treated equally, but that appears not to be the case.  NHS hospitals in England made a record £174million last year from charging for car parking, but such charges are not the same across the UK.  While car parking charges have been largely abolished in Scotland and Wales this "tax on the sick" is still levied in England.  The same situation exists with regard to NHS prescriptions; only the English have to pay. 

Since Devolution, MPs representing English constituencies seem to have entered a fog of indifference at Westminster, making them either unwilling or unable to recognise and remedy these and other inequalities.  Create a Parliament for England and its members could no doubt be just as vigorous and successful in obtaining rights, benefits and opportunities for their constituents as those sitting in the Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Irish Assemblies are for theirs."  

S,W.
Ilminster, Somerset.

St. Mary's Church, Yatton, in North Somerset. Known long ago as "The Cathedral of the Moors".

In this Boxing Day blogpost I write of St. Mary’s Church in Yatton which in more ancient times was known as the Cathedral of the Moors, due to its prominent position on the North Somerset Levels.

The village of Yatton is described, rather unkindly, by Simon Jenkins in his England’s Thousand Best Churches (Penguin Books, 1999) as: “dreary”, but of St. Mary’s he writes: “. . . but the Perpendicular church detaches itself and its churchyard from the eastern suburbs and lends majesty to Yatton Moor.”

St. Mary’s lost most of its spire in 1595 leaving it with an odd, truncated appearance, but the south porch and west front have been chronicled in glowing terms by Simon Jenkins, Arthur Mee and Edward Hutton.

Jenkins and Hutton recount the inscription on the grave of gypsy Merily Joules which reads: “Here lies Merily Joules / A beauty bright / Who loved Isaac Joules / Her heart’s delight.”  She died in 1827 and Isaac is said to have been so overcome that he pitched camp by her grave for fourteen years until he joined her in death.

Yatton sprawls alongside the B3133 between Congresbury and Clevedon with St. Mary’s handily situated near a free car park.  I have often used it when paying my respects to a great aunt who died in 1977 and is buried in the extensive churchyard.  In fact so extensive that I have yet to come across the grave of Merily Joules!        

St. Mary's Church in Yatton, North Somerset.  Most of the spire was lost in 1595.

The Parish Church of St. Mary in Bridgwater, Somerset.

This Christmas Eve post is on the Parish Church of St. Mary in Bridgwater, Somerset and its link with two notable figures of the seventeenth century.

Admiral Robert Blake, Oliver Cromwell’s General at Sea, was born in Bridgwater in August 1598 and was baptised in St. Mary’s.  Blake’s statue is just around the corner from the church at the top end of Fore Street and a museum dedicated to him is only a little further away in the appropriately named Blake Street.

The Duke of Monmouth climbed the tower of St. Mary’s to observe the King’s forces gathering around Westonzoyland 4 miles to the east.  Deciding on a daring night attack, Monmouth led his army out of Bridgwater and across Sedgemoor, through the mist and darkness, only to be soundly defeated in the early hours of July 6, 1685.

St. Mary's Parish Church, Bridgwater, in Somerset.

St. Peter's Church, Staple Fitzpaine, in Somerset. A graceful tower in the folds of the Blackdown Hills.

At this time of year I thought, once again, it would be appropriate to post about notable Somerset churches.

Tucked away in the folds of the Blackdown Hills between Castle Neroche and Corfe is Staple Fitzpaine and its village church of St. Peter. The road north from the T junction between Staple Common and Neroche falls away steadily until you reach the fringe of Staple Fitzpaine where it begins to rise.  As you drive between the hedgerows uphill toward the village the tower of St. Peter’s Church rises above the trees ahead of you.

The church stands on a ridge between a manor house, built in 1840 as a rectory, and six almshouses founded by Sir William Portman in 1643.

St. Peter's Church, Staple Fitzpaine, in Somerset's Blackdown Hills.

Describing Staple Fitzpaine, Arthur Mee in his The Kings England, Somerset (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, 1968) writes: “Who will see a Somerset village looking at its best, let him come to this church gate with its row of seventeenth century cottages.  It is a charming place with an old-world setting for one of the loveliest towers in the county of great towers.”

Of St. Peter’s Church tower, Edward Hutton writes in his Highways and Byways in Somerset (Macmillan & Co., 1923): “No man can desire a better, I think, for though it is not very high, it is very nobly formed and its decoration is worthy of it, crowned as it is with a cluster of tufted spears, brave and graceful.”

The tower of St. Peter's Church, Staple Fitzpaine, in Somerset.  The gargoyles appear to be in the form of a goat. 

Fascinating patterns on a frosty morning.

A frosty morning produced fascinating patterns on the roof of my old Subaru Impreza.

Fascinating patterns on a frosty winter's morning.

Welsh Football Association rule out English managerial appointment!

As a patriotic Englishman who admires the Welsh sense of Nationhood, I was saddened to read the views of the chief executive of the Football Association of Wales Jonathon Ford.  This week he was quoted on the BBC and on the website Football Paradise as saying the next manager of the Welsh team would be: “Welsh most definitely, foreign possibly, but definitely not English”.

I suspect that if the chief executive of the English FA had said the next England team manager would be “English most definitely, foreign possibly, but definitely not Welsh”, all hell would have broken loose around him!  

Here are the links to the reports:   

https://www.footballparadise.com/the-faw-rule-out-english-managerial-appointment/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42234166

UPDATE 28th December.
According to the Independent it seems that Jonathon Ford is to face a disciplinary commission over his comment that the next Welsh manager will "definitely" not be English.
Here is a link to the newspaper's report:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/faw-wales-next-manager-english-comments-jonathan-ford-disciplinary-comments-a8107341.html

"Somerset receives less funding for services than most other counties in England", reports the Chard and Ilminster News.

I was surprised to read in the Chard and Ilminster News (“Somerset receives less funding for services than most other counties in England”, November 20) that out of 37 county areas in England Somerset ranked fifth from bottom as regards Council funding received.  Furthermore, Somerset receives, at £540 per head, the least of all amongst the counties of the South West.

The County Councils Network have published figures which show that on average county councils received £650 per head for spending on the services they provide while a city or metropolitan borough receives £825 and inner London a whopping £1,190 per person.

In such circumstances it is a pity that Somerset County Council no longer exists within its traditional county boundary.  Perhaps it is time for North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset to be reunited with the rest of the County in order to give it more political and financial clout.

It seems that Somerset’s financial position in England mirrors that of England within the United Kingdom.  In a recent blogpost Robin Tilbrook, Chairman of the English Democrats, informed us that British Government public spending, as a consequence of the Barnett Formula, is as follows: Northern Ireland receives most at £14,263 per head; Scotland a lavish £13,054; Wales an ample £12,531 while England receives only £11,297. 

We may live in a United Kingdom, but it seems all the nations within it are far from being treated equally!

Here is a link to Robin Tilbrook’s blogpost:

http://robintilbrook.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/updated-differences-in-uk-government.html

Iain Dale, columnist, broadcaster and former Conservative Parliamentary candidate, believes in an English Parliament.

I was encouraged to see that columnist, broadcaster and former Conservative Parliamentary candidate Iain Dale believes in an English Parliament.  In his column in Conservativehome he writes of his appearance on a panel in Norwich seeking to answer the question: “What does it mean to be English?”

It does seem a bit of a cheek to even be asked such a question!  No-one would dream of asking what it means to be Scottish, Welsh or Irish, or French, German, Italian, Russian, American or any other nationality for that matter.  In Britain it is always the English who seem to have to justify their sense of nationhood and identity. 

Be that as it may, Mr Dale spoke alongside John Denham, former Labour Cabinet Minister, who also supports the creation of an English Parliament.  Below is the relevant part of the article which appeared on Conservativehome on today (December 12).

“On Monday evening. I took part in a panel in Norwich which sought to answer the question: “What does it mean to be English?”

John Denham, the former Labour Cabinet Minister who now leads the Centre for English Identity at the University of Winchester was one of my co-interlocutors, and did a far better job of answering the question than I did.

Indeed, we agreed on so much (such as believing in creating an English Parliament, for example) that we nearly formed our own political party there and then.

The event took place at the Forum in the centre of Norwich, and there were around 120 people there. It was a very engaged audience which asked some quite challenging questions. However, I’m still not sure I answered them very well.”

Here is a link to Mr Dale’s article on Conservativehome

https://www.conservativehome.com/thecolumnists/2017/12/iain-dale-trump-a-warped-narcissist-who-gives-succour-to-racists-white-supremacists-and-islamophobes.html