Caroline Lucas
Our much-loved service is
in danger. Thousands of jobs have been axed, including more than 4,000 senior
nurses. More than 50 of the 230 NHS walk-in centres have been closed and 66
A&E and maternity units have been shut or downgraded. On top of this, the
future mandated by the 2012 act is one where all hospitals in England
The private sector is
circling – there is, after all, a very tempting prize to be picked off – an
annual NHS budget of £120bn. Private health firms already pocket £18m a day –
that’s £6bn in the last year – from the NHS budget. More than 170 GP surgeries
are run by corporations. Today, if you call 999 it could be a private ambulance
crew that comes to treat you. Based on the trends that these figures show,
private firms are on course to net £9bn of the NHS contracts that are up for
grabs. The direction of travel is plain to see.
The inescapable truth is
that the private sector is camping out on the lawn of the NHS, cherry picking.
Even Norman Tebbit pointed out the dangers of this, and wondered how young NHS
surgeons would learn if the private sector had nicked all the easy stuff. This
is a problem that is getting worse, but it is not new. Private hospitals’ share
of NHS-funded patients grew rapidly between 2006 and 2011. By 2010-11 private
companies performed 17% of hip replacements, 17% of hernia repairs and handled
8% of patients’ first attendances in relation to orthopaedics or trauma, such
as a broken limb.
Now Darwin's Rhea:
Now Darwin's Rhea:
©2015 Am Ang Zhang
An ostrich-like bird, the Darwin’s or Lesser Rhea (Rhea pennata
pennata) is one of the most distinctive, fabled and endangered residents of
Patagonian steppe grasslands. Two species of rhea, the Greater and Lesser,
occupy overlapping ranges in Patagonia . Lesser
rheas typically weigh 35-55 lbs and have spotted dun, brown, grey and white
feathers. Rheas are sociable birds, typically living in groups of five to
fifteen. Rheas do not fly, but thanks to their unusually large wings, which
they spread behind their bodies while running from predators, they can sprint
at speeds over 35 mph.
©2015 Am Ang Zhang
Rheas are omnivorous, eating everything from herbs, shrubs,
seeds and roots to insects, grasshoppers, and small vertebrates such as lizards
or frogs. Their main predators are pumas, foxes, and birds of prey. Mating
season lasts from September to December. During this time, one male will mate
with several females, all of which deposit their eggs in the male’s nest site.
The males incubate the eggs for 40 days. When one chick hatches, it begins to
call, which stimulates the others to hatch. The whole brood will hatch within a
period of 1-2 days. Males are then in charge of rearing the chicks, which will
remain in his care until May or June.
©2015 Am Ang Zhang
Rheas attracted Charles Darwin’s attention when he visited Patagonia during his voyages on the HMS Beagle. Darwin had seen many Greater Rheas, but had only heard
tell from gauchos of the existence of a smaller Rhea in southern Patagonia . Puzzled by the existence of two related but
different species—which challenged the then-accepted theory that every animal
was created in a fixed form, perfectly adapted to its place and life—Darwin
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