If Ireland has only the 15th most consumer-friendly healthcare system in Europe now, what will it be like next year, following various budget cuts?
According to the latest rankings, there have been significant improvements in waiting times over the last few years with Ireland scoring highly for waiting times for major not-acute operations in particular. However, Ireland scored poorly for direct access to specialists, cancer therapy and MRI scans.
I’m glad I’m not in the Israeli military, given my rampant insomnia.
Pic of the day, click for link to source. Close contender here.
Top comment on the Chelsea striker and renowned diver Didier Drogba throwing a coin into the stand: “To be fair … It was probably a simulated throw”.
Resort for the super-rich goes bankrupt.
Best headline on post-US election coverage: You’ll still need an oak stake to kill the GOP.
Why? Why would you do this?
I can understand (but, as I’m sure you can understand, not condone) the actions of the frustrated people in this story:
‘Dear investors, thanks for trusting us and depositing your money,’ read a note posted on the door of a company in the southwestern province of Cauca after its owners disappeared.
‘Now, for being stupid and believing in financial witchcraft, you will have to work for your money’, it said, prompting depositors to storm the building, wreck the companys offices and loot its computer equipment and furniture.
Jeff Jarvis has been doing his thing in Dubai, about 160km up the road from my former home in Abu Dhabi. He has a nice spread of pics (I don’t seem to ever have posted mine) and talks a little about his attempts to find the “real Dubai”.
The diocese of Bath and Wells in England has banned garden gnomes from graveyards.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Bath and Wells said: “There is no such thing as a real gnome so why should we have such unnatural creatures in churchyards?”
The spokesman added: “Things such as gnomes and plastic flowers are not permitted because they are aesthetically unattractive and they make it harder to maintain the grounds.
The Planetary Society’s proposed “vigorous new space exploration plan” is surely timed to coincide with the US president-elect Barack Obama trying to get things together for his administration. Although currently short on details, the society is being smart by tailoring the plan to reflect the economic conditions, another thing Obama has to deal with.
There may be some good news if the president-to-be follows through with his promise to increase NASA funds by $2bn:
Bill Adkins, a Washington aerospace consultant who worked on space policy in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, said Obama probably could get an extra $2 billion from Congress for NASA if he asks for it.
“I think there will be a premium on the new Congress and the new president to show they can govern and not start off bickering about issues,” Adkins said. “If Obama actually puts the $2 billion in [his budget request] that he promised in his campaign, I think Congress is likely to go along with it because it’s not big enough to have a fight over. If Obama doesn’t, I don’t see the mood in Congress to add the money.”
Other sources who follow NASA’s prospects on Capitol Hill said Obama might be able to get an additional $2 billion for the space agency without having to make a formal budget request. Democrats are working on a $100 billion economic stimulus package that could be taken up this month and sent to Bush to be signed into law before the end of the year. Lawmakers also are talking about assembling a separate, possibly bigger stimulus package early next year after Obama takes office. Legislative strategists said NASA money plausibly could be added to one or both of the proposed bills.