One of the great "joys" of life is receiving a call from a stranger who asks me if I want life insurance, loans, to swap phone provider etc.Not!
Cold calling is one of the banes of life in the digital age (those of you who have been called by Contact4 may appreciate these articles here and here).
Therefore it should come as no surprise whatsoever to learn that Nanny intends to get in on the act.
Matt Tee, director of NHS Direct, recently postulated (can I say postulated here?) at a "stakeholder consultation" (why can't Nanny speak English like wot you and I speak?) that NHS Direct could in future "cold-call" specific people in deprived areas or hard-to-reach groups to offer them health services.
Tee said, rather threateningly to my view:
"We have got a good idea of where the most unhealthy people are living and, rather than waiting for them to come to us, should we not be going to them and offering them a free life check over the phone?
And if we think that they might have an issue with their diet or weight, we might refer them to a personal trainer."
Nanny, it would seem, has a little list of fat people!
I don't care much for her keeping lists like this.
I most certainly don't care for the idea that Nanny will be cold calling me!
Nanny knows where you live, what you eat, what you drink, what you smoke, how many times you visit your doctor and for what ailments. You will obey nanny's orders or you will not be allowed to 'access the health care service provision' of the NHS.
ReplyDeleteNow, please be sensible and follow orders or nanny might have to be a little bit firmer with you naughty children.
I would love to see the source of the figures that prove how providing someone in the target categories with a 'personal trainer' is guaranteed to save money in 20 or 30 year's time.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how many things in our lives are presented as being a benefit a long way into the future, when the careers of the perpetrators will be long forgotten and they will be enjoying their cast iron pensions.
Grant
Another sinister move by Nanny.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what happens if someone is ex directory.
I hope that my telephone company would not give Nanny my number.
It won't be long before we are fitted with a sub dermus chip at birth so that we can be monitored by Nanny throughout our lives.....For our own good of course.
In the light of comments in the previous post on how to screw these bastards by using their own idiocy against them, perhaps the right strategy in the case of a call from one of Mr Tee's minions is to claim a long and complex list of non-existent, but relatively serious ailments, thus keeping them stuck to the 'phone for so long that they cannot acheive their targets. That'll piss 'em off. Particularly if you also allow them to make an appointment for you with their tame personal trainer - and then claim to be too ill to attend.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's how to deal with cold-callers:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXaMjl8oAAw
Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteMorgan:
ReplyDeleteThat clip is so funny, I shall attempt something similar next time I have a call from Bombay or elsewhere.
I love it!!
This is indeed sinister.
ReplyDeleteHow do they know where unhealthy paople live.
Why do they know this?
What else do they know?
I appreciate the humour on this site, but this is not funny.
Obviously, the government has all our addresses and health records through the State Health System.
ReplyDeleteEqually obviously, they made a lot of noise about data protection so that they had an excuse for taking all the private data away from doctors for use in precisely this way.
This is just the first time they have been blatant about it.
Judging by some of the tubs of lard squashing the benches in Westminster they should start this little initiative closer to home.
ReplyDeleteDoes no-one during the inane discussions that must precede this ridiculous parade of puerile ideas point out the rights of privacy and freedom that Englishmen have formerly enjoyed? The freedom to get fat, to get drunk, to smoke, to express opinions, to argue with the little men of the uniformed civil services and to ridicule the government of the day?
150 years ago young blades in London enjoyed hugely the innocent jape of knocking policemens helmets off and then running away out of whistle blast. Metaphorically speaking, is it not high time that we all knocked Nanny's helmet off . . . so to speak?
Where are the free minded, free spirited Englishmen of my youth, my father's day, my grandfather's day, . . . .and before?
Dixon,
ReplyDeleteOne-by-one, like me, they have left the country.
I'm still not sure whether I left out of cowardice or prescience; either way, I'm only prepared to come back in order to join the revolution,