The Virgin Vampire Of The NHS.

 

      While we sit in a cloud of illusions, and hear the false voices of the ruling parasite class, reassure us, that the "NHS is safe in their hands", silently, surreptitiously, it is being gobbled up by the vampires of the corporate world. Despite the phoney sickening syrup sounds falling from the mouth of the health secretary whose name sounds like a term that could be used to describe him, the Right Honourable Jeremy Hunt, is presiding over the wholesale privatising of the NHS.

        Vultures, vampires and parasites of the corporate world  are feasting on the inners of the NHS, with that self centred waste of space and tax dodger Branson leading the charge for plunder.

       From The Guardian:

       Richard Branson’s Virgin Care won a record £1bn of NHS contracts last year, as £3.1bn of health services were privatised despite a government pledge to reduce the proportion of care provided by private companies.
       Overall, private firms scooped 267 – almost 70% – of the 386 clinical contracts that were put out to tender in England during 2016-17, according to a new report. They included the seven highest value contracts, worth £2.43bn between them, and 13 of the 20 most lucrative tenders.
        The £3.1bn in contracts, a big rise on the previous year’s £2.4bn, prompted concern that profit-driven companies are increasingly involved in delivering care, in a development that undermines repeated assurances by the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, that they play only a marginal role.

        Don't listen to what they say, watch what they do, our bunch of Right Honourable Gentlemen, speak with forked tongue. Not only do lots of the vampires of the corporate world who snatch large chunks of the NHS, avoid paying tax, but when the lose a contract to a public, or charitable body, the sue. How dare public bodies tender for health care contracts, don't they know that the philosophy from the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption is "privatise everything"?

        Virgin’s £1bn haul means it now has over 400 separate NHS contracts.
       Its growing role has prompted particular anger among anti-privatisation groups. It pays no tax in the UK and its ultimate parent company, Virgin Group Holdings Ltd, is based in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven.
        In addition, it came under fire for suing six clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in Surrey, NHS England and Surrey county council last year after losing an £82m contract for children’s services to a rival bid involving a local NHS trust and two social enterprises. A settlement of the action appears to have involved the six CCGs paying Virgin an undisclosed sum.

        It is naive in the extreme to believe that by lobbying those Right Honourable Gentlemen, that sit in those Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, to get them to "save our NHS" will reap any results what so ever. Most of them have friends, shares, contacts and possible future lucrative jobs in that self same privatised health care gravy train. Much better to start by closing down that cesspool of of pompous power and privilege, The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, and set about dismantling the destructive, exploitative corrupt, greed driven system of capitalism. Any attempt at reforming or modifying this cancer on the planet is doomed to repeat the injustices, poverty, deprivation and wars of the present variant. Capitalism cannot be reformed.

The Public Gets Shafted, The Parasites Get Pampered.

 

       Once again we see the priorities of this parasite controlled state. While ideologically driven austerity is forcing down the living standards of most ordinary people, our lords and masters have decided to spend £4 billion doing repairs the that monument to British imperialism, The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, and as you and I know, that cost is likely to rise as time goes by. Then in the next breath, we are to spend £360 million repairing Lizzie Windsor's house in London, known as Buckingham Palace. No doubt that will rise as time goes on. I know that there is this lie being spouted that it is really Lizzie that is paying for this as the money will come from that raised by the "crown estates". However, that money is raised from parts of the UK and goes to the government for it to spend as it sees fit. It slides a portion back to Lizzie and her family to keep them in the style they don't deserve, the rest it spends as government money. So the £360 million repair money, is coming out of money that could go towards easing some social problems, of which we have many, but we know the priorities of that cabal with its fingers on the purse strings of "our" money. 

In need of urgent repair.

       So where would you like to see that £4 billion + the £360 million go, perhaps to train more teachers, or doctors, or nurses.  Perhaps sort out some of the problems in social care. Of course you know that that will not happen, as the wealth of this country is earmarked for the wealthy of this country, that's how this system of capitalism works. You can live in cold damp houses, you can struggle to feed your kids, you can watch your health service crumble before being sold off, you can see you education system come apart at the seams. However, that's your lot, it is called austerity, an ideology that never extends to that army of pompous parasites that take it for granted that they should be privileged and pandered to for their every desire.This is capitalism as it was intended to work, it has another name, it's called plundering the poor, and it's doing just fine, you get shafted, they get pampered. Ah, the wonders and beauty of capitalism.

 You're doing just fine.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

 

Sticky Fingered Ermined Parasites.

 

                        Men in funny dresses, trying to keep up with the women.

          We in the UK still wallow in the putrid swamp that is imperialism, we spend millions of pounds on keeping its symbols alive, just to reminder us, the ordinary plebs, of who is the real power in our land. Within those ageing buildings known as the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, there is a section that goes by the name of The House of Lords. I thought that in a Christian country there was only one Lord, but we seem to have a house full of them, all of them as equally useless as the Christian one. The army of ermined parasites who are privileged to sit in that hallowed hall are those who have arse licked enough to help cement the power of the privileged. This cabal of ermined parasites are no different from their counterparts in "that other chamber" known as "The Commons", in so much as a lot of them have sticky fingers, and seemed to be drawn to an open till.

      In their publicly  subsidised club, it appears that if you sign in, a nice little deposit of £300 will be dropped into you bank account. Being a shrewd bunch some of them have grasped that all you have to do is sign in, then pop off to get on with your life elsewhere, and you have a little more spending money to the tune of £300. Some of course do sign in, and then go on into the place, but make their way to the publicly subsidised restaurant and bar, partake of their pleasure, then bugger off again, being "fed and waatered" on the cheap, at our expense, and £300 the richer. Apparently, one member was noted to arrive, ask his taxi driver to keep the engine running while ran in, signed in, then buggered off, £300 the richer. Just play that game five days a week and you have £1,500 to play with, a nice little sideline over and above you earnings.

       The fact that this was becoming known, the club decided to let one of their own investigate this matter, but after months of investigation, the ermined lady in charge decided to drop the investigation. Her reasoning, it seems, was that she did not want to name and shame those greedy sticky finger bastards, as it would be likely to cause a media frenzy. Who says crime doesn't pay. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Gerald Kaufman's Shining Moment.

       It is not often that we hear words of truth and wisdom from the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, I have little to no respect for any of those who walk its marble corridors of power, and sit and heehaw, playing the illusion, while indulging themselves in all the unearned privileges that go with being a member of the club.  Gerald Kaufman, who died recently, was a member of that cesspool of festering power and privilege, he never rated high in my esteem, but he has to be admired for at least one speech he made in that hall of farce. It was heart felt, sincere, and truthful, and I'm sure it upset a considerable amount of his fellow parasites.

      The speech is well worth publicising, and he deserves respect for his courage and honesty in uttering those words, in that symbol of British imperialism.

Thanks for the link Loam:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Making A Quick Exit.

       So David Cameron makes a hasty retreat out the door of the commons shortly after saying he would stay and contribute as a back bencher. We are used to politicians saying one thing, and then doing another, but such an about face, after such a public statement to the contrary, does make you think.

         Could he be taking to his heels just ahead of the an MP’s report which openly lays the blame for the Libyan disaster at his feet. His quick exit out the door was just one day before an MP’s select committee produced its findings on Libya. A damning report which states that Cameron’s 2011 military adventure as, “lacking both “accurate intelligence” and a coherent strategy for the aftermath of removing the dictator.” It lays the blame of the bloody collapse of Libya, the following refugee crisis, the rise of ISIS, squarely on “David Cameron’s blunders when he intervened to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi.”
They go on to say, “They saw “no evidence that the UK Government carried out a proper analysis of the nature of the rebellion in Libya”. and, “There was no “defined strategic objective” – which meant a limited intervention to protect civilians “drifted into a policy of regime change by military means”
       Does this not make him guilty of crimes against humanity, a war criminal? Will he now follow that other recent British war criminal Blair, and trot off on a very lucrative career spouting his verbal crap for fat fees.
       I don’t give David Cameron any credit for being different, he is just like the rest of that cabal of two-faced careerists that frequent that edifice to British imperialism, The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. We should know by now that they are all self-serving members of that cosy and profitable little club. However, it is a powerful and dangerous little club, and the sooner we abolish it the better for all of us.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

An Ideology Of Pain.

 

       Jingle bells, jingle bells, have yourself a very merry Christmas, 'tis the season of good will, but what if your one of the nations disabled. The chances are you will be struggling, distraught, and looking at an empty table. This system which at present is being managed by a millionaire cabal from the Oxbridge sausage factory, who don't give a shit about people, is all about accountancy. Shifting wealth from the poorest and most vulnerable to the richest and most powerful. Today, the team of “Right Honourable Gentlemen” wielding the levers of power in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, are probably the most callous, vicious, self-centred and dangerous ever to stick their snouts in the political feeding trough. They will slash the living standards of all, including the poor, sick, elderly and disabled, with a gay abandon, and flourish of smug self-righteousness, portraying it as necessary reforms to balance the budget. While in the next breath, deciding to blast the Syrian people with destructive missiles at whopping £800,000 an bang. 

      Across the country people are bleeding from the claws of poverty, none more so than the disabled, all inflicted to help big business, all carried out to a strict ideology. In capitalist economics there is no place for compassion in the calculations.

This from The Herald: 

       Tibbitt, a single mother who has no other support from family or friends, applied for disability living allowance (DLA) on behalf of her son after she gave up working in an office in order to care for Jordan.

      She was awarded the benefit for one year, along with a carer’s allowance, but when her son recently turned 16 she was told she would have to apply for a new form of benefit for him, known as Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

       However, when Jordan feel ill she failed to complete the form in time for the DWP’s deadline due to the gravity of her son's illness. He had to be admitted to hospital for nearly a week and has been in and out for various appointments, including a bronchoscopy under general anaesthetic to examine his airways. He has also been diagnosed with an inflammation in his hip bone, which the doctors believe could be linked to the strong steroids he has to take, and has been given crutches to help him walk.

       Tibbitt received a letter from the DWP in late November saying her son's application for PIP had been rejected because the form had not been sent back in time. On same day she phoned the DWP to advise them of the circumstances why, sent the application form by recorded delivery and was told a decision would then be given in 10 days.

       But just days ago, letters arrived from the DWP advising the DLA and her carer’s allowance had been stopped. Tibbitt said she has been told there is no record of her previous conversation with the DWP and it will take up to nine weeks to consider the PIP application - leaving her all but destitute well into the New Year.

Read the full article HERE:

       I have no doubt this case is not unique, not the worst, but is replicated in varying degrees across the country. What makes this even more nauseating, is that it is inflicted by those with unimaginable wealth, those who don't know what it is to worry about a bill, to cut down on food to care for your child. Why do we tolerate this humiliating indignity from those who are lesser beings than ourselves. Why do we stand by and watch our sick, elderly and disabled being treated in such an inhuman manner, when we can well afford to see to everybody's needs? We create all the wealth on this planet, isn't it about time we decided how we will distribute that wealth? 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Where Are The Pitchforks?

         Well our “Lords and masters” are beginning to show their true colours. What a load of two-faced, corrupt, self-gratifying weasels, sitting there in their ermine, pontificating on standards, and legislating how we should behave. Then scurrying off to spend the money we pour over them, in all manner of under the table activities. 

 This isn't a painting of before the French Revolution, this today in austerity UK!!

      Lord Sewel, Lord Janner, Sir Peter Hugh Morrison, Sir Peter Hayman, Sir William Van Staubenzee, Leon Brittan, just a few of the parasites who have been exposed. The whole establishment embedded in that edifice to power and privilege, The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption is riddled with unearned privilege, financial fiddling, perks, winks and nods, and back handers. 

You and I pay for each one of them to be there.

     The only vision that goes through my head when I think of this cesspool and its putrid inhabitants, is people and pitchforks, but then, that's just my vision. 

 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

 

The NHS Is Doomed.

    Just out of hospital, and before I start my ranting, I would like to thank all those well-wishers who sent their thoughts and good wishes my way. Thanks to Mick, Ben, Anne, Keith, Roger, Nick, Euan, John, Janice, and others that slip my mind at the moment, thanks a million, see you all soon.
       During my recent misfortune of spending a spell in hospital, during which period I had plenty of empty time to observe and think. My conclusions were that the NHS is “doomed” , no ifs, no buts, no doubts, its is doomed. No matter which particular colour of tie you vote into those Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, that rests on the banks of the Thames, it's doomed. All they do is follow the dictate of their lords and masters, the financial Mafia, which will allow the to modify the pace at which it will hit the buffers. 

      It is not the employees that are at fault, from my experiences I would say they are a dedicated and compassionate bunch. When you see a young person walking calmly and serenely done the ward with a pleasant smile, while carrying a cardboard container of somebody else's shit, and carrying it as if it were a bouquet of wild flowers, you kind of know, they will be there for you. That's not to say that the collapse will not be related in some way to the staff problems. Speaking to some of the nursing staff, it appears that some arsehole, has devised a scheme whereby nursing staff can work four 12 hour shifts in a row, with two days off, and then another two 12 hour shifts. Tell me how you can keep your dedication, compassion, attention to detail and concentration at 100% during those hours of work. Also what happens to you social life? It can't be done. Stressed, pissed off and over worked staff, will leave and be replaced by more to be trained all over again, or they will put up with it and be forced to work at a lower level of concentration.
      However, that is not where the foundations will be eroded, it is the economic system under which the NHS is supposed to live and thrive. Every item that comes into the NHS, from MRI scanner to Aspirin, only comes in if there is a profit for some large corporation. If the profit starts to disappear the goods will not come, or the price will go up. This continual squeezing profit from the NHS will eventually make it unsustainable.

       All those caring and hard working individuals that rally under the banner, “Save Our NHS”, who are you appealing to? Once you have your mass following, who will you be appealing to, to save our NHS? You will be appealing to a cabal of very rich lawyers, CEO, millionaires, and products from the Oxbridge sausage factory. Most of whom will not use the NHS, they'll be with BUPA or some other private health care corporation, and further more, a high percentage of them will have interests in private health care companies. Basically, they don't give a shit about your NHS, in actual fact a lot of them will gain immensely when it is finally sliced and diced among their corporate buddies. Do you think they will listen?
       The economic system under which we live will kill of the NHS. As costs rise and the system creaks more and more, the cry will go up from the greed brigade of the corporate world. that its only hope is to bring in private companies to make it more efficient. That which was once the NHS will be neatly sliced and dished out to the corporate buddies of the scum that comes out of the Oxbridge sausage factory. The only hope of saving the NHS, is to change the economic system under which we bleed. 

      So to all those marching under the “Save Our NHS” banner, why not have a bonfire of those banners and create a new one. A banner under which we can all gather, “Let's Change The Economic System”. Not only will you save our NHS, but you will save our libraries, our schools, our parks and public spaces, you could create an excellent transport infrastructure, end the housing shortage, and shape our villages, towns and cities they we the people want them.
       See you all soon under the banner, “Let's Change The Economic System”.
       For a wee glimpse at those sitting in those Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption and their sweaty fingers in the private health care profit machine, CLICK HERE. This list is a year out of date but it is still relevant.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Escape Machine.

       I got a bit pissed off with all the double speak coming out of that cesspool, the Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption, and the thought of the oncoming assault on our people. So today I thought I would take a wee break and go for a spin on my carbon-fibre dream machine, see the photo below. It was wonderful, came back renewed, and ready to start my ranting once more. No prizes for guessing where the photo was taken, but I wonder when they will privatise it, there's lots of money to made there!!!.  

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Smell The Stench Of Raw Capitalism.

      The Bullingdon Club, now in control of the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, has stated that it will introduce more legislation to restrict the use of strikes. No doubt it was a directive from their millionaire buddies in the corporate world. So it would seem that when you sign on as an employee of a firm, and that firm treats you like shit, refusing to negotiate your grievance, you are supposed to just put up with it. You will not have the right to say, this has gone too far, we are refusing to work under these conditions, and call a strike until the matter is resolved. No doubt the corporate greed  machine will call this democracy. As Howard Zin and Noam Chomsky have said, big business loves fascism. We are almost there, give the Bullingdon Boys an few more months and see what they unleash on the ordinary people of this country.

      You will be expected to work submissively, or stay at home and watch TV. The streets will only be for consumers. As far as the Bullingdon Club advocates of raw capitalism are concerned, the gloves are off, they are drunk on their new unfettered power. Be prepared for a ferocious fight back, or be shown no mercy, as they capitalise on that power.

The era is different, but the lie is the same.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Electing The Lying, The Greedy, The Power Seekers.

      Well the grand five yearly Crooks and Liars competition is drawing to a close, and all the competitors have all followed the rules impeccably. They have used every variety of lie and deceit, in every variation, they have hurtled vitriol at each other, they have all promised Utopia, they have refused to answer questions, and on the odd occasion they have come out of their little bubble of unreality, and touched mere mortals in the street. During this Crooks and Liars competition, each candidate names the other as a lying, misleading and dangerous anti-democratic menace. 

 

      However, those who win this extremely expensive charade of smoke and mirrors, will, with a smiling arrogant pomposity, take their seat in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, referring to each other as "Honourable Members". They will then proceed with the usual activities of handing out little titbits to their friends and buddies. A little slice of the NHS here, a little subsidy there, a little tax relief to needy millionaire friends. Of course they will not forget themselves in this divvying up process, there are lavish expenses to be fiddled, there are foreign junkets to be enjoyed, wining and dining with the great and good,(the greedy), and attending to their lavish pensions. 

       All of this will of course, be paid for by pillaging the public purse, taking from the poor and the needy, and that's what makes this, not just a stupid lying game, but an attack on the welfare of us, the ordinary people. The Crooks and Liars competition is just another way of perpetuating this greed driven system of exploitation of the people. It's not funny, it is a deadly serious procedure to create the illusion that you, the people, are in control. To a degree you are, you can take part in this charade and hand them power, or you can ignore them and take control and organise your communities the way you want them, working in co-operation with other communities, by communities I mean of course, all that is in them, workplaces, shops and offices, etc. We don't need an cabal of Crooks and Liars divvying up our wealth to their advantage, but they do need us for their unearned lavish lifestyle. We can surely sort this out.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

We Can Surely Fix This!!!

It is just around 3 weeks to the Great Big Crooks and Liars competition, the “general election” and the crazed competitors are running around the country kissing dogs' arses and shaking the back legs of frogs, all in an attempt to impress the general public. No deed is too bizarre, lofty millionaires will even touch the bairns of ordinary folk, and smile. I always feel that it is aptly named, “general election” , after all we are really electing generals to lead the slaves. What is it all about, what really happens after the “big event”? We should know, we have had lots of them in the past which we can examine. In each Crooks and Liars competition in the past we have had the various groupings, called parties, as they have lots of fun, produce their magic formula, called “a manifesto”. As you read each magic formula you come across lots of words all arranged differently from the other's magic formula, but all basically saying the same thing. For example, each one will say that they will end poverty, give everybody a decent home, create a good standard of living for everybody, and see that the population is taken care of, from the cradle to the grave. They will dress it up in various recognisable sound-bites, but it is still the same old crap.        In my 80+ years I have experienced a lot of these Crooks and Liars competitions, I have read lots of these magic formulae, and to this day I have not seen one fulfilled. I was born in poverty, son of a miner and a waitress/cleaner/shop-assistant/factory-worker, in one of Glasgow's many slums, Garngad. So the single-ends have gone, but the poverty remains, homelessness is on the increase, and the health service is deteriorating, and people are having to rely on food-banks to survive. So why do we keep repeating the same old failed process? We know what happens when the winners of the Crooks and Liars competition, don the robes of power, and take up residence in that edifice to imperialism and privilege, the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. They sit down and do the bidding of the financial Mafia, they work out the best way to implement the financial Mafia's grand plan of total privatisation. All public assets are to be sold off to the corporate world. Everything that can assist the corporate world will be done, depressing wages, restricting trade union activity, end social spending, reduce corporate taxation. The winners of the Crooks and Liars competition are the puppets of the financial/corporate Mafia.      If we the general public are hoping to create a better world for all our people, our children and grandchildren, Then we have to stop expecting a bunch of pampered privileged careerist to do it for us, they are part of the problem, in no way are they the answer. We have to take control of our lives, that means control of our communities, our work places, the means of production and distribution. We can run all these affairs without the aid of an overpaid fat-cat CEO, and a bunch of doing-nothing, greedy shareholders. We have toiled long and hard, we built every house, factory, ship, and lorry, we delivered every product, we grow every morsel of food. However, sadly we do it to the dictate of a bunch of greedy self interested pampered parasites, whose interest are contrary to ours. We can surely fix that.   Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Sneaky Dave At It Again.

       The Oxbridge millionaire cabal sitting in the Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption, have been working hard, not of course in our interest, but the interests of their millionaire corporate buddies. The prince of parasites and defender of deceit, Cameron, is doing his damnedest, to gratify the desires of his masters in the financial Mafia, who have their fingers in the oil industry, by pushing the full-steam ahead button on the fracking laws. Nothing must stand in the way of the money-junkies as they hunger for their next fix, gorging on fracking profit.

     Though with the Saudi’s torpedoing the price of oil to try to sink the fracking competition, the fracking junkies may never get their hit. Never the less we have to be vigilant.

This from Greenpeace:

      Wow -- David Cameron's plan to force fracking on us just hit a new low. The prime minister wants to change the law to allow fracking firms to drill under our homes. But now he's fast-tracking his plan through Parliament at a blistering rate.
       Only a HUGE backlash from our MPs can stop him -- and we've got just days to make it happen. Can you tell your MP to vote against the prime minister's plans to force fracking on us?
    Sign the urgent petition to all MPs: https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/fracking-vote

    Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it's often known, is a controversial process where a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals is blasted underground to release trapped gas and oil.
     It's already been banned in France and Bulgaria, and just last month New York joined the list of US states that have taken action to stop the industry.
      Despite massive public opposition, David Cameron is determined to bring fracking to the UK. And right now he's on the cusp of changing our laws to make it easier to roll it out.
   But the prime minister's plan can't get the go ahead without approval from MPs -- and inside the halls of Westminster, a backlash is starting. The Scottish National Party and the Green Party have spoken out against Cameron's plan. Amongst Labour and the Lib Dems voices of dissent are on the rise, while Conservatives are feeling increasingly nervous as we approach the election.
      MPs will vote on the issue before the end of this month -- that's far earlier than expected and a move that would slash the time for debate and scrutiny.
    152,000 people have already asked their MP to vote against Cameron's plan, but we'll be even stronger if thousands more join in. Can you quickly sign?
     We're piling the pressure on before the crucial vote. Alongside our friends at 38 Degrees and Friends of the Earth, teams of volunteers will visit several MPs at their offices -- handing over our petition face-to-face. And then next week, we'll double our impact by sending letters to every single Westminster MP -- telling them who's signed the petition in their constituency, and calling on them to vote down Cameron's plan.
     Together we'll make this petition unmissable, so if you haven't yet, please sign today: https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/fracking-vote

With all my thanks,

Richard
    PS I know you've received a few emails from Greenpeace this week and I hope you're not feeling too overloaded. I wanted to let you know about this urgent news as the new law that will make us powerless to oppose fracking under our homes is being rushed through at an alarming rate -- so we must act fast. Please sign: https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/fracking-vote 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk