Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 12/26

[SVPete]

Washington Post: Socialized Medicine is Struggling in the UK

https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2025/12/26/washington-post-socialized-medicine-is-struggling-in-the-uk-n3810249

The Washington Post editorial board continues to challenge its progressive readers today with an editorial taking a shot at socialized medicine in the UK. As the paper notes, the UK's National Health Service is in the midst of an annual winter crisis reminiscent of COVID. The cause this year is the regular flu which is overwhelming hospitals and causing the nation's health secretary to warn sick people to stay home unless absolutely necessary.

The NHS has existed for years in a perpetual state of emergency. This was the case before the pandemic hit, and it has only gotten worse. Hospital corridors overflow and routine procedures get canceled due to a catastrophic event commonly known as “winter.” It comes around every year, yet the system, despite annual funding increases, still somehow remains unable to cope.

A campaign to keep people away from hospitals during the holidays is underway, which includes begging the public to seek out other forms of treatment for “less serious” injuries and ailments. The British press compares the messaging to “Covid-era stay-at-home pleas,” which included asking patients who needed care to avoid medical facilities in order to “protect the NHS.”

The Post is right about the current crisis. Wes Streeting, the UK  health minister, compared the health system to a Jenga tower just two weeks ago, i.e. a system on the verge of collapse. Part of that strain is being caused by an impending strike by doctors.
...
The result of an overwhelmed system is what has come to be euphemistically known as "corridor care."

The stats also showed that A&E departments are experiencing “worryingly high” levels of corridor care and demand heading into winter.

In November, some 50,468 people waited 12 hours or more in emergency departments, often on trolleys in corridors. This is the highest on record for that time of year. Some 2.35 million people went to A&E in November, the highest on record for that month.

An annual "crisis" points to several issue:

* Inadequate facilities space;

* Inadequate diagnostic equipment (e.g. compare per-capita numbers of MRI machines for the US and England);

* Under-staffing.

Decades-running annual crisis ... welcome to the less-than-wonderful world of government-run healthcare.

[SVPete]

WORST OF 2025: The Celebrity Freak-Out Award

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/geoffrey-dickens/2025/12/26/worst-2025-celebrity-freak-out-award

Of course, every year, there is way too much bias for just one category. So we broke down the Worst of 2025 into five additional categories (The Craziest Analysis Award; The Trashing Trump Award; The Damn Those Conservatives Award; The ICE Breakers Award for Hating Trump’s Deportation Policy; and the Celebrity Freak-Outs Award).

Today, we present the WORST OF 2025: The Celebrity Freak-Out Award.

WINNER
“I don’t think he [Donald Trump] won in a free and fair election. You heard me. I’m coming out and saying it myself. I don’t care if that means I look crazy because Elon Musk – who’s this other Nazi guy running around town who owns X….He’s a professional Nazi in my humble opinion. And he’s good friends with Trump….He was giving out million-dollar checks to people if they would vote for Trump. That’s illegal. It’s unconstitutional and illegal.”
— Comedian Kathy Griffin on her podcast Talk Your Head Off with Kathy Griffin, October 15.

Interesting, she has a wig on a stand over her right shoulder. I wonder what her real hair color currently is (she ain't young), not that I'd want to use the test in the book M*A*S*H.

WORST OF 2025: The Craziest Analysis Award

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/geoffrey-dickens/2025/12/25/worst-2025-craziest-analysis-award

Today, we present the WORST OF 2025: The Craziest Analysis Award.

Without further ado, here is the winner (followed by the top runners-up):

WINNER

“This is not a media failure. This was a failure of the Democratic Party. And I just sort of, sort of the virtue signaling that some people have done to try to say that the media missed this story [Joe Biden’s decline]. They didn’t miss this story….I just refuse to accept this, this stupid premise because it’s a right-wing manufactured, right-wing premise in order to, to stain in the media.”
— Former NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd on Chris Cillizza’s Substack podcast, April 28.

Welcome to Lake Nasser, Chuck.

[ADsOutburst]

“This is not a media failure. This was a failure of the Democratic Party. And I just sort of, sort of the virtue signaling that some people have done to try to say that the media missed this story [Joe Biden’s decline]. They didn’t miss this story….I just refuse to accept this, this stupid premise because it’s a right-wing manufactured, right-wing premise in order to, to stain in the media.”

Miss? No. Miss would be the word if it had been an honest mistake. It is more accurate to say the media probably actively hid this story.

[SVPete]

Miss? No. Miss would be the word if it had been an honest mistake. It is more accurate to say the media probably actively hid this story.

Indeed. There were probably several dozen "reporters" who had observed and heard LIEden regularly, even several times a week. They knew what LIEden's mental state was, but hid it because they saw LIEden as having the best chance to beat Bogey-Trump.

There probably were a lot of browned under-garments and quite a few browned desk chairs when LIEden dropped out.