the NHS

Is the NHS nothing more than a means to ensure
that there are always enough fit workers for the factories,
offices and the rest of industry?
Could it be that the prime purpose for their existance
is to ensure the smoother running of the market place
and not so much for our sakes?
Maybe that’s why only a limited amount of cash is put into the NHS,
so long as there are enough fit and able workers
why waste money unnecessarily?
And while we’re on the subject;
there are two ways to deal with ill health,
treat the patients or
teach them how to avoid many of the causes of their problems.
Which do you think is cheaper?

Could it be that governments are frightened of the idea of
a highly educated population?
Possibly we haven’t yet seen a government educated enough
to recognise the problem and/or work out how to solve it.
Perhaps too many MPs are selfish,
instead of putting their county first
they choose party, family or even their own pockets.

October 1997

schools ?

Do schools exist just for the benefit of businesses?
To ensure that there are enough educated workers
to fill the vacancies in factories, offices
and other places of employment?
Look at the way GCE marks were allocated in the past,
each year a percentage of passes were allocated to those taking each exam.
This meant that if most students were working very hard one year,
borderline cases would fail, conversely,
if most students were lazy or off form another year,
borderline cases would pass.
So all that industry wanted was enough passes to fill their vacancies.
How many lives in the past may have been ruined
(or even just affected to an adverse degree)
by this callous indifference to
what passing an exam can mean to individuals?
So, it seems that schools, colleges and universities
are not there for our education
but just to supply the needs of the privileged.
Why else would past governments have allowed thousands of youngsters
to leave school without being able to read, write or do simple arithmetic?
They had enough, why bother?

October 1997

rape

Rape of a female by a male.
Rape could be considered the equal and opposite of murder,
attempted rape the equal and opposite of attempted murder.
Each seeks to give or take life to or from the victim, against her wish,
Perhaps the rapist, if known, should be forced to pay weekly
for the maintenance of the child, if born, until the child becomes a wage earner.
Rape, by a large male, of a small female,
rape by a group of males,
rape by an unclean male can:
lead to health problems in the future,
cause cancer of the womb,
increase the chance of cancer of the womb,
later on in life, prevent a woman having children.
Should the penalties for rape and murder be the same?
Should the penalties for attempted rape and attempted murder be the same?
Have judges considered these points?
Is a female judge more likely to consider these points?

statehold land

When a ’man goes to fight for hez country ’he risks loosing hez life to defend it. The partner and children could loose their loved one (and breadwinner). If war breaks out each ’man is expected to come to the defence of the country, but what do they get after? usually nothing!
Each citizen ought to be entitled to request and receive a ‘house-sized’ plot of land on which ’he can build a home. The cost? a nominal rent, say £1 per annum. This could be offered first to service’men, police’men and their kind, later to others who serve their country and gradually extended to most of the population. There would be exceptions... anyone who is earning above a certain figure, this sum could be raised bit by bit until it was about, say, twice the national average. Obviously, some wouldn’t need this option ( to have a statehold plot ), some wouldn’t want it and others wouldn’t be entitled to it.

Tony Ryder
01 216 931 905
70 Rowheath Road
Kings Norton B30 2EX July 1997
England

’man = man or woman

’he = he or she

hez = her or his

hem = her or him ( I know, it could be hir, but it seems a bit clumsy )

repossessions

many people have borrowed more than they should to buy a home
the money-lenders have encouraged this
because they have too much money in their coffers
and they want to make profit on it
they know that if payments are not kept up
all they need do is repossess the property and sell it
often just to cover the debt, so, the property is sold at a loss
at a loss to the ex-home owner and his family
the wife and children are not to blame but suffer
property speculators make big profits out of their misery

if legislation was brought in
to force lenders
to convert the mortgage into a lease until the borrower
was able to make mortgage payments once more
this would prevent families being made homeless
and may also encourage lenders not to make it so easy
for borrowers to go over their limit ( and get into debt )

why won't the government do this ?
and why can they not work together to achieve this goal ?

house contents insurance

house contents insurance through the police

insurance companies make huge profits
which go into the pockets of the shareholders
would it not be better for the police to be the only ones
to issue insurance cover for house contents ?
they would then be the ones to make all the profits
which could then be used to improve police services
pay, pensions, cars, research, etc

2007

health insurance

health insurance through the NHS

insurance companies make huge profits
which go into the pockets of the shareholders
would it not be better for the NHS to be the only ones
to issue insurance cover for health ?
they would then be the ones to make all the profits
which could then be used to improve the NHS services
pay, pensions, medicine, research, etc

2007

fire ( buildings ) insurance

fire ( buildings ) insurance through the fire brigade

insurance companies make huge profits
which go into the pockets of the shareholders
would it not be better for the fire brigade to be the only ones
to issue insurance cover for buildings ?
they would then be the ones to make all the profits
which could then be used to improve fire services
pay, pensions, cars, research, etc

2007

traffic lights

why not make the top 2 lights on traffic lights
downward pointing triangles
like warning signs

red = stop

red & amber = stop

amber = stop

green = go

this would help those who are colour blind
and may make it more obvious what the sign means
the triangles could be slightly larger than the circle for go
a space could be left at the top for a future addition
a blue light ( see blue wave )

2007

bottle domes

Proposal to help the homeless overseas

The idea is to slightly change the shape of the large PET plastic bottles in which water and fizzy drinks are sold.
By altering the overall shape to that of a truncated cone, that is a slight taper, the bottles can be reused as bricks to build a dome.
With a taper of about 5mm a dome of about 3,000mm height can be constructed. If the bottles are used empty the dome will be very well lit,
but the bottles can be filled with earth, polystyrene, rubbish, or clay.
A bottle can be used as a mould in which to make clay bricks.
A plug of about 30 bottles taped together could be used to form a double-glazed window.
A doorway can be formed with two or three planks of wood making an equilateral triangle.
Once built the dome can be covered with a cement finish even using chicken-wire beforehand to add strength to the structure.

I appreciate that the concept is open to suggestion and improvement.

July 1997

Blue Wave

Proposal to speed up emergency services through heavy traffic

The initial concept is that
all existing street lights in busy roads of major city centres could have a blue light added. In addition to this, a fourth, blue light could be added to traffic lights at junctions in these zones.

The ‘blue light’ circuit would be arranged in groups corresponding to sections between side streets - similar to the American ‘block’ system.

These groups would be linked into a central
emergency services computer.

Upon receipt of an emergency call, the switchboard operator would tap in the address, and the computer would calculate the optimum route for the vehicles, taking into account any existing road works, traffic accidents, etc. All blue lights along the route selected by the computer would immediately be activated - possibly in conjunction with an audible warning. All traffic and pedestrians along the route would then have plenty of prior warning to clear the roads and stay clear ensuring swifter access to an emergency. This could even be made a legal requirement. Traffic lights on the periphery of this zone could all be set to prevent ingress but allow egress from the zone helping to thin out the traffic.

I appreciate that the concept is open to suggestion and improvement, for example, in roads without central reservations, two blue lines, about ten feet (3 meters) apart, could be painted along the road. Remember, we’re talking about busy streets in some town centres, not every village in the country. Every effort should be made to clear this area when the blue lights start to flash.

The public would have to be taught to use the system. In light of the increased, and increasing, density of traffic, ease of access along these busy routes by emergency vehicles is fast becoming a necessity.


Tony Ryder
01 216 931 905
70 Rowheath Road
Kings Norton B30 2EX

July 1997

bloated

Could it be that later on in life we don’t get fat, we just get bloated,
and not because of the foods we eat but rather
because of the combination of foods that we eat? Also,
could eating the same amount, but over an extended period,
help to reduce this bloating?
If we eat smaller quantities of food every 2 hours
does this help to reduce the swelling of the stomach,
even allowing the stomach to shrink in size a little
so that we don’t feel hungry so often, and
could we, in future, feel satisfied on smaller plates of food.
If we don’t eat a mix of food that creates gas
will this also reduce the tendency of the stomach
to swell as we get older?
Nomadic man used to eat all day long,
little snacks here and there as and when the opportunity arose.
Could this be part of the answer?
Would a mouthful every hour be enough to sustain us, eventually?

August 1997

religion - philosophy

assume that each of us is an eternal spirit, in a temporary body, on test,
here on earth

expect that when the body dies, we realise all the harm we’ve done,
and that we suffer disconsolation, in proportion to the total harm done

don’t harm (help?)

that is, don’t harm others, animals, birds, fish, insects, plants, the environment
or even ourselves

28-day club

Or a better name, if you can think of one,
could help many small businesses in Birmingham.
It doesn’t have to be 28 days to begin with,
it could be 56 to start off and be
reduced by 7 days each year for, say, 4 years.
This would be better than the current situation.
The scheme would have to be started by the Council
and half a dozen or so large companies like Cadburys,
the top ten if possible.
They would agree to pay all bills by the 56th day
and would encourage other companies
with whom they do business to do the same.
They would try to persuade medium sized companies to join the club,
then later on smaller companies would also be invited to join.
If preference were given to businesses already in this club
it might be an incentive for others to want to join.
Not being in may indicate that you don’t pay your bills on time
and you aren’t someone to do business with.
Those who failed to keep their promise
would have their membership revoked.
A list could be kept at the Council House for members to consult.

I appreciate that the concept is open to suggestion and improvement.

An extended alphabet

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
a b c d δ θ e f g γ h χ i j k l m n o p q r s $ t u v w y z

It’s been suggested that
there are about 44 different sounds
used by the human race, but let’s just look at
some of these sounds
to begin with.

The C could be withdrawn
and not used for a period of about 5 years.
It should be replaced by the K or the S
in all spelling. This alone would help many children,
foreigners and people with learning difficulties.
How are you supposed to pronounce the word Celtic?
Keltik Seltik Keltis Seltis
and the names Cyrus, Cambyses, Cyaxares?
for some it can be daunting!

The letter X can be replaced with K and S (eg fiks). . .

Later on, with the C & X now available,
we could assign a new sound to each:

X could become the ch dipthong
as used by the Scots in loch
& the Welsh in Llanelli.

C could be brought back into use
to represent the CH sound, as in the slavonic tongues,
possibly with a vertical line through it,
to help older readers to distinguish it from former use.
Alternatively
we could underline letters that have a new pronunciation.
Either method could also be used
with the S for an SH sound.
Many folk throughout Europe are already familiar with
names like Milosovic Lictarovic etc.

The dipthong PH could be replaced with F,
the Greeks never used two letters for this sound,
so why do we? Why do we need to show a Greek origin?
Our TH represents two distinctive sounds.
The dipthong TH could be replaced with
δ and θ as used in this thought (δis θought)
many schoolchildren are already familiar with most, if not all,
of the Greek alphabet as used in maths and physics.
These two Greek letters fit perfectly
the two sounds that we represent with TH.
And from where did we get our current alphabet?
Most of the Latin alphabet comes from the Greek.

[The Greeks could do with borrowing our B and D characters,
sounds that they have to show by using MP and NT,
(ask some Greeks to write bumpy dent
and see how many spell it correctly)]

If we aren’t going to pronounce the p in psychiatrist, etc
then why use it, it just confounds
those who struggle with their reading.

I’m not suggesting that we create
a fourtyfour-character alphabet; yet.
Not even that we implement all of the above changes.
But we could start with some of the simpler ones
(remembering that, generally,
changes take about 70 years to be fully accepted).
Tony Ryder
01 216 931 905

August 1997
England