Chris Branson

Hi @drrosena.bsky.social, just want to flag how outrageous our Thames Water bill is. £562.07 for a one-bed flat - a 19% rise from last year. Our council tax is £793.60. Wandsworth is cheap but how can our water bill be 71% the cost of our council bill? Please urge your colleagues to do something

Rent tops £1,000 a month in more areas - find out where The cost of renting privately has surged in the last five years, but tenants may now see a slowdown.

This should be viewed as a national crisis. Surely the role of a democratically elected government is to ensure its population can live decent lives. Where is that money going?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The perils of recommending books to a screenwriter

Longlists in case of interest…

One of my very favourite recent traditions…picking our books of the year over a coffee. Happy New Year everyone

I guess that means you'll be watching Love Actually once or twice a week for the next month?

This is a lie.

There are many criticisms you might sensibly and truthfully make of the Sentencing Council and the Sentencing Guidelines. I’ve been making them for years.

But this is an outright lie. Pure fabrication. A fraud on the public.

Honestly, we ARE working

Are ‘crack teams’ reducing NHS waiting lists? We analyse the government’s claim that the Further Faster 20 programme has cut waiting lists, using data to scrutinise exactly what’s changed.

Our full analysis is published here.
www.health.org.uk/features-and...
and covered by @hsj.co.uk here www.hsj.co.uk/quality-and-...

That’s like a tiny little cream cake with a piece of candied fruit on top

Representing @nationalvoices.bsky.social members today @commonshealth.bsky.social on NHSE abolishment’s and ICB cuts - real opp to refocus on patient exp in restructure - bringing back PE directorate& PE accountability at ICB board level, using national patient surveys to drive improvement 1/2

This is a deeply depressing article. Change and innovation thrive in a culture which gives people the tools they need to do the job & supports positive risk-taking. If your hospital is inefficient because the ceiling is falling in or the IT is ancient, cutting the tariff won't drive improvements.

@sharonbrennan.bsky.social tells @commonshealth.bsky.social "we urgently need to know what the transition plan is" for the abolishment of NHS England, to reduce the risk of disrupting care.

Sharon also called for the return of dedicated patient experience directorate as part of the restructure

@sharonbrennan.bsky.social of @nationalvoices.bsky.social just now on the Health and Social Care committee describing how NHS England abolishment could impact on patients - the disruption is already being felt by some charities. From 9.30ish

parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

This government is exhibiting some ugly behaviours you wouldn’t normally associate with a “labour” party. If a company was folding or moving its business overseas, with 10,000 people set to lose their jobs, they wouldn’t sound so gleeful about it or keen to paint those workers as useless.

There might be a good case for this, but please spare us the cruel DOGE-like bravado and starting treating the staff affected with some dignity and respect. They're not all 'blockers,' they're just doing the job they have been given for a cause and an institution they genuinely love and believe in.

(But the comms around this and in particular the way they have treated the staff has been horrendous)

They're probably not contradictory - a load of the jobs being cut from NHSE will be moved to the department

If you're wondering how far abolishing NHS England will go to filling the NHS's £6.5bn funding gap for the year ahead, the answer is: not very. NHSE spent a total £1.8bn on staff last year, of which £400m was on staff working for local NHS orgs. Many of these posts will need to continue in DHSC

And don't even get me started about the prospect of the #TourdeFrance not being available to terrestrial-only viewers from next year. Feeling very nostalgic for the days when there were just 4/5 channels and great sporting events were available to all and brought with them a real sense of community.

The first great #cycling #springclassic of the season, #StradeBianche, is on Sunday and sadly I won't be seeing it. #Eurosport has been closed and absorbed into #TNT sports meaning the cost of watching cycling has gone from £6.99 to £31.99/month. Real shame for fans in the UK. #pricegouging

I truly loved and was inspired by #DavidLynch ‘s work, but possibly more than any other artist I was influenced and amazed by the way he talked about his process. Scene by Scene was a great show from a different age of programming and this is one of the best youtube.com/watch?v=MIlm...

(Posted from my iPhone)

“Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it. Don't wait for it. Just let it happen”

Here’s my present:
youtube.com/watch?v=wKiI...

Interesting - are you planning to see it?

Does anyone know if BlueSky has a setting so I still get notified if someone follows me unless they happen to be young, glamorous/barely dressed, improbably good-looking women with little or no posting history?

Following a refreshing two-week festive break I've just spent five minutes checking out the news on social media and am now absolutely exhausted

Meanwhile in the other place insanity continues to rule

…meanwhile I bumped into James Joyce at the barbers, and while I thanked him for his contribution to modern dance, I completely forgot to mention his books

Belatedly conducted our end of year ritual with my wife, where we pick our favourite books we’ve read. Another strong year… we are SO good at books @sharonbrennan.bsky.social