So in America the main news is how Trump has sent five members of the COVID-19 task force to negotiate with the CDC to reduce the death count from the virus. He wants them to cut the count by changing the reason for the deaths to any underlying ailments rather than COVID-19, so that he looks better in the eyes of the American public with his re election pending.
In other news in the Republican chairman of the US Senate intelligence committee will step down while an insider trading inquiry is carried out. Richard Burr of North Carolina said he had decided to do so because he did not want the investigation to distract the committee from its work. Mr Burr's phone has been seized by the FBI as part of the inquiry. The senator, who denies wrongdoing, allegedly used inside information to avoid market losses from coronavirus. He declined a request for comment. Mr Burr and his wife sold as much as $1.7m (£1.4m) of equities in February, just before markets plunged on fears of an economic crisis.It is illegal for members of Congress to trade based on non-public information gathered during their official duties. Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, as well as Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, also reportedly sold holdings before the downturn, but are not confirmed to be under investigation. Ms Feinstein said she had answered questions from the FBI regarding trades made by her husband. So from the outside world America has a leader who is corrupt along with Republican senators who milk the country for what they can while they supposedly work for the good of their communities, states and country which just dumbfounds me as a UK resident.
Talking of the UK lets see what's happening in dear old Blighty, the headlines are leading with the story of about the NHS reopening which should include rapid testing and an adequate supply of protective equipment in place when the NHS does reopen services cancelled during the peak of the coronavirus outbreak, health unions have said. The unions have put forward a nine-point plan for the NHS to reopen safely as lockdown restrictions ease. And staff working through the crisis should be paid overtime and a public sector pay freeze ruled out, they say. The government has said it is working "around the clock" to provide more PPE. On the back of that headline another one outlines how some NHS managers have tried to stop doctors speaking publicly about shortages of personal protective equipment, the BBC has been told. WhistleblowersUK said more than 100 healthcare workers had contacted them since the beginning of March, raising concerns about COVID-19 and PPE. The Department of Health said no one should be prevented from speaking up. But Newsnight has seen evidence of pressure being applied to doctors to not share concerns they have about PPE. A newsletter sent out to staff at one trust suggested subjects for tweets, such as thanking staff for their hard work, paying tribute to retired NHS staff who had returned to the workforce and retweeting posts from the trust's account. It specified that staff were to avoid "commenting on political issues, such as PPE". Another trust put up posters in hospital staff areas which told healthcare workers not to "make public appeals for equipment, donations or volunteers".
All I can say to this is government intervention is overdue to stabilise the NHS and the boards that run hospital trusts should be held accountable for not managing the services better, they say we have a national health trust for the people, but all I see is board members taking their cut before the actual workforce gets a fair shake at earning a living and some doctors are paid far too much money for the actual time they spend dealing with patients. In my opinion top level doctors should take a pay cut which should then be filtered down to the actual front line staff rather than the pyramid payment scheme used in conventional hospitals. Yes I know doctors are paid for their experience, but the high paid doctors should be capped out at no more than forty or fifty thousand a year instead of the exorbitant salaries they currently demand.
Rant you tomorrow!
