Reoriented NHS: Benefits of the EU: Survival hotel: Sexy farming: and a Whale of a field.

Same again at the Castle this morn, sunny, warm and calm, the study is still empty of non functioning thingies, and the garden is beckoning.

I have been testing out the VTEC (Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control) on the Honda, bought £20 worth of go juice-14.8 litres, and have travelled 140 miles so far-trip to Gatwick and back plus general running around and have discovered that the Civic is doing around 43mph on average, I love it when the “econo” light comes on.....

Which sort of brings me to the half arsed “idea” of Phil Hammond to increase the speed on motorways to 80mph.

On the trip to Gatwick and back I managed to reach seventy for about five minutes, the rest of the time was 50; or 40 when going round a bit of the M25, around town I am lucky to get to 20.

I remember the days when there was no speed limit at all on motorways-sigh.....

Conspiracy theory-raising the speed limit to 80 (if that speed can be attained) will increase fuel consumption by 20% thus pouring extra £billions into the exchequer in tax plus VAT.

Apparently

The NHS will have to "radically reorient" itself away from hospital-based treatment to avoid sleepwalking into a "financial crisis", the head of the NHS Confederation has warned.

Chief executive Mike Farrer warned in an article for the Guardian newspaper that the biggest money problem facing the NHS was the £20 billion of efficiency savings required by 2015.

Either the NHS will maintain standards but go bust while doing so, see standards slip but maintain its finances or manage to keep improving and stay in the black.

The independent membership organisation for all NHS employees fears the NHS will "salami-slice its way out of financial trouble" by using less effective treatment and cutting services as a result of the efficiency savings.

Recent research among NHS workers found over half expected patient access would get worse. Forty-two per cent said they thought their organisation was in its worst financial situation in their experience. 

Lot over overpaid, arrogant whitewashing surgeons will be on the dole then.....

And

The European Commission has threatened to take legal action against Britain if ministers do not water down rules limiting foreigners’ ability to claim benefits.

Ministers fear the move could leave taxpayers handing out as much as £2.5 billion to EU nationals, including out-of-work “benefit tourists”, a new cost that could wreck Coalition plans for welfare reform.

Iain (irritable bowel) Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, says the commission’s move is part of a “wider movement” by the “unelected and unaccountable” European authorities to extend their power over the UK.

Look who’s talking.

Right a bit to the flat land of very tall, very old wacky baccy smoking people

Holidaymakers are now being offered the chance to stay in hotel rooms - made from oil rig survival capsules.

The bright orange pods have undergone an incredible transformation and are now available to visitors to Den Haag, Holland, for about £50 a night.

They have been kitted out with lights, a survival suitcase and sleeping bags and guests can choose between simple hammocks or a normal bed.

Creator Denis Oudendijk even made one with a James Bond theme, which comes complete with silk sheets on the bed, champagne and a vodka martini bar.

The 44-year-old designer stumbled across the pods for sale on the internet while looking for a boat.

He explained: "I was planning to travel over Europe's waters by boat looking for waste to turn in to re-usable objects.

"I was looking for an enclosed boat for me which could function as a house and a research laboratory.

"Then I found the survival capsules on the internet and had the idea for the hotels."

 

Not really a hotel is it; more like a survival caravan site.

A bit further to the right

Organisers of a farming calendar are denying claims they are 'sexing up' the countryside by featuring glamorous models.

The Swiss calendar features a dozen scantily clad models in poses with farmyard animals including sheep, goats, horses and chickens.

But critics have accused organisers of exploitation and say they are shamelessly using sex to sell copies of the 2012 calendar.

However editor Mike Helmy said all of the girl’s featured worked on farms of lived in the Swiss countryside.

"It's sexy but not seedy and the girls really are from the farms and the mountains," he said.

"They're not just pretty models - they're ambassadors for farming."

She can come round and stack my hay anytime she wants....

 And finally: 

Up North

A young whale which died after it beached in the Humber Estuary is probably of a species rarely found stranded on the British coast, conservationists have said.

Experts examining the 33ft (10m) long animal, which died about 875 yards (800m) from the shoreline, say they are 95% sure it is a female sei whale.

The animal was trapped in shallow water near the East Yorkshire village of Skeffling, on the north bank of the River Humber.

Andy Gibson, of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said Sei whale strandings were very rare.

He said there had only been three strandings of this species in UK waters in the last 20 years.

''It is sad. It was in shallow water of about 1.2m (4ft) to 1.6m (5.25ft), making contact with the bottom,'' Mr Gibson said.

 

Very sad....but how did it get into the middle of a field?

That’s it: I’m orf to watch red footed tortoises yawning. 

And today’s thought: Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate.

Angus