Maybe like me you hear or read snippets of news and think: what is it coming to?

Youngsters stabbed; not injured but dead! One after the other. What is the answer?

One person had an answer: 'full rehab camps for those too young for prison- no TV, no music, just books.

Basic meals, exercise and educational courses. Psychiatry, behaviour training, ethics and values training. And a fine that they have to work off - not parents pay. And if they are sent back three times, he/she sent straight into the army at 16 to learn how to be an adult!' (from a `Have Your Say' website).

And I am inclined to agree. If parents can no longer teach respect then some kind of intervention is urgently needed and must be imposed.

The next item of news that caught my eye: an elderly lady sprained her wrist as she struggled to put out her

wheelie bin for collection.

`Oh, right,' I thought. `Maybe we can get back to the days when bins were taken out for us!' But no - it was an item about an invention by the said lady's grand-daughter: a moving pod using castors to maximise flexibility

and handling and featuring a brake to give the user `more control'! So the elderly do not get to retain some dignity even in the twilight of their years! Luckily my mother's neighbour puts her bin out for her. (She is 86 years old!)

Next up - Swindon council who told a group of youngsters they were facing anti-social behaviour orders. Their crime: playing football in the street! And one of them was only four years old! Their parents were rightfully angry:

`Kids can't even play outside now!'
Where are they supposed to play? All the green fields have been taken up by developers in the mad rush to build houses that they cannot sell anyway! And a four year old would not be safe at any local park even if there was one!

The Queen cannot afford to get the decorators into Buckingham Palace! The place also needs re-wiring! Well if Charles wants to protect his future inheritance maybe he should help her out. He reckons to have made a saving by powering his Aston Martin with wine! (Now why didn't I think of that?)

More seriously, as the NHS reaches a 60 year milestone, I read an interesting comparison between medical care here and in America.
The American writer's wife suffered a stroke whilst in London, and he says `The emergency workers came within five minutes and were wonderful. The two young East Enders looked and sounded like a couple of skinhead soccer fans, cockney accents and all. But their professionalism was matched with exceptional kindness. As I was to discover time and again in the British system, despite the often deplorable conditions of a bankrupt infrastructure, British caregivers-whether nurses, doctors, or ambulance drivers- are extraordinarily kind and hardworking.'
Sometimes it is revealing to see our country through the eyes of others. But it was not all good news! He continues:
`The equipment was not ancient, but it was often quite old. My wife and I giggled at heart and blood-pressure monitors that were literally taped together and would come apart as they were being moved into place.'
He also made frequent visits to buy extra tissues and wipes as cleaning became his main occupation upon his frequent visits to his wife. The actual cleaning was carried out by:
`a single worker with a mop and pail who could only do so much against a ward full of germ-laden filth.'
Back in America, he delighted in the pristine floors but felt that the lawsuit culture meant that therapists were reluctant to encourage his wife's recovery; whereas in Britain any slight regain of movement was praised and his wife's spirits thus lifted making recovery more possible. Not so in America as any promise of recovery that might not actually happen could prompt a lawsuit!

He also mentions that British health care is not `free'; that its citizens contribute a great deal towards it.

And no patient is turned away!

So maybe the NHS is something worth keeping and improving no matter what it takes!

If you have any `snippets' you wish to air send them me as an email attachment.  Email them to: tonyb@nottinghamshiretimes.co.uk and put 'snippets' in the subject line, I look forward to hearing from you.

Evelyn Arslan