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The land of austerity

Hello again

I have been busy these last few days. I don’t normally appreciate enforced holidays, but this year they have been quite handy. There are several changes that you will see shortly with GDP Resources. Firstly there is the new website which is nearly ready. All the content is complete, we have just to upload the products for download to the new server and set up the paypal links. That’s all in the hands of my webmaster.

Next I have 3 new products on the go. One is virtually complete and the second is being done now. The plan is for these to come with verifiable CPD, just waiting to hear from the GDC on that, which as I am sure you can understand, sometimes takes an absolute age. The third product won’t be out for some time, and it relates to HTM 0105 and the CQC. Only so many hours in the day unfortunately.

I have also written out my goals using my Mastermind Alliance product (remember, I originally did it for myself), and have set some very strict financial challenges to accomplish. There will be strong spending restrictions, and increased revenue via structures to limit tax. And that’s just on the personal side.

Shame the government can’t pull their finger out and do the same. The beloved Chancellor took a very small hatchet to the national finances, cutting spending by £8 billion....... and the promptly promised half of that to Ireland. They are still spending like maniacs, as has been seen by the record deficit last month. Don’t forget of course, that’s your money they are spending.

Of course my opinions on this are irrelevant. I know about as much about the nations finances as I do about quantum physics.......... basically enough to make it sound like I know what I’m talking about. So I will concentrate on the finances I can control, my own. This is going to be a very testing and interesting year.

If you have not already down so, getting control of your spending would probably be advisable right about now. Of course nothing in this newsletter should be seen as financial advice, heaven forbid. Just thought I would pop that in to keep the lawyers happy. It would seem to me that reducing your outgoings and increasing you incomings would be a tad prudent right now. I feel I have no need to mention the CQC and HTM 0105, which I feel are both topics beaten to death recently.

So let’s look at the average Brit. Just look at the price of petrol, which will increase the price of all other goods due to increased transport costs. Oh look, VAT. The UK consumer is about to get squeezed, especially if interest rates go up, which they pretty much have to unless the spike in commodity prices gets itself under control. Strange how the measure of international shipping (the Baltic Dry Index) is in the toilet showing trade between countries is way down, and yet commodities are up in the stratosphere. Copper and Gold being fine examples. There’s something not right about that.
The American consumer certainly isn’t the cause, despite the pathetic psychotic scenes of American shoppers fighting to get into shops to buy pointless Chinese plastic trinkets (that they didn’t need) just after the Thanksgiving holidays. Speaking of China, let’s not mention the empty cities, completely built but with no-one to live in them. Let’s not mention the billions of cars and trucks sat unsold in huge fields or the billions of square feet of new office space that remains empty. Yes, perhaps we shouldn’t go there.

This recession is far from over. In fact it’s probably only just started. So are you prepared? Are you ready to weather the storm that’s gathering on the horizon? Because if you’re ready then you will be there to witness the dawn of a new day with clear skies and soft breezes. You may even be able to profit from the situation.
But if you’re not ready, if you’re still living beyond your means, living pay cheque to pay cheque, then that storm’s going to hit you right where it hurts.
And perhaps I’m wrong, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time. Perhaps the economy is set to take off and boom like never before. And how would it hurt to have lower debts, lower expenses and a ready store of cash?

But I’m not here to tell you what to do. It’s just that I have the same sense of unease as I did at the start of 2008. Only this time I think most people sense it too. We are starting to see how truly fragile our society is. A few days of bad weather and the local Tesco saw its shelves empty because people weren’t prepared so they panicked. A few weeks of sub zero temperatures and the water infrastructure of Northern Ireland starts to collapse, and the national water board struggles to cope. A few days of snow and the world’s busiest airport shuts down, and turns into a basket case because it wasn’t prepared. They hadn’t factored in the worst case scenario. So when the snow fell, and to be fair it wasn’t even all that much, they were left undermanned, underfunded and overwhelmed.

Not a good position to be in when a crisis hits.

So have you made your plans to protect you, your family and your business? Or are you just going to wing it? After all, everything will probably be ok. And hey, we’re British, so stiff upper lip for Queen and country eh old bean. Stay calm and carry on.
It is very easy to be accused of being a pessimist when you talk like this. But that’s a bit like saying you’re a paranoid doom monger because you have insurance for your business, or a spare tyre for your car. We have these things for a reason. We have these things because sometimes the practice floods or you walk out of Sainsbury’s to find you’ve got a flat tyre. Preparation is not paranoia, it’s common sense.
How many people in Northern Ireland do you think will be keeping a few cases of bottled water in the cellar from now on?

How many people have now bought snow socks for their tyres or grit for their drive way?

Doing this after the fact at least shows you learnt the lesson........... but it’s a hell of a lot better to do it before the fact.

Be prepared, that’s what the scouts always say isn’t it. Do your SWOT analysis, or whatever way you want to do it, but get yourself ready. Yes the storm clouds may pass off into the distance and the sun may come out. But what do you think?

Personally, I think this year is likely to be one hell of a ride.

Yours in commerce

Stephen: Hudson the authorised representative for the legal fiction Dr Stephen Hudson BDS, MFGDP, DRDP

Please help support the Sick Dentist Scheme and the BDA Benevolent fund by buying my book atChoose Your Reality. A proportion of the profits from its sale are split equally between these two charities

PS: Please feel free to pass this newsletter onto anyone you feel may be interested in it

GDP Resources
Disclaimer: S.Hudson or SNH Publications will not be held liable for any actions taken based on the information provided in this newsletters. This information is for entertainment only.

What matters most is how you walk through the fire

 

Before we start our little adventure into the human condition, I would like you to do something for me. I want you to find some music, something that makes you feel alive, makes your heart sing and your eyes well up. I want you to put on those headphones, I want you to sit back and completely immerse yourself in it. Visualise a time when you felt alive, when you felt a passion for life that almost felt like it would make you break. Just one song, that’s all I ask. Go on, I’ll wait for you, no rush now.
Ok, you’re back. Of course some of you never left.

“Oh, I’ll do it later”
“well I’m sorry, I just don’t see the point”

Why didn’t you do it? You had the time. Oh well, your loss.

Life is an interesting experience, I’m sure you will agree. The disappointing thing, in my eyes, is that most people don’t live their lives. Their lives live them. They get up, grumble that it’s so early, try and wake themselves up, go to a job they hate, and then grumble on the way home about the traffic that’s stopping them from retreating to their box filled with its trinkets and electronic distractions.

This is not life. It is barely even existence.

They leave school, get a job, get married have kids, grow a bit wider in the middle, take up a hobby, potter about, watch a lot of TV and wake up one morning feeling strange. Then they look at themselves in the mirror and, with shocked silence realise they don’t recognise the person gazing back at them. They did what they were supposed to do, what they were told to do, and life just passed them by and visited some other more deserving fellows.

So much time lost. So much time wasted.

Life tries to give you a little nudge of course. It is only fair that life gives you a chance, an opportunity to WAKE UP. There you are plodding along, a few pounds in your pocket, got your stuff going together and then, wham, something completely unexpected hits you right where it hurts, knocking you flat on your face.
It happens to everyone, and when it happens it is very easy to believe that you have experienced a GAME OVER situation. Some people check out. Some people become broken. Some people stand up dust themselves off and shout

NEXT. COME ON, YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT.

If you are alive, it’s never game over. If you are breathing, and you mind still works, you always have choices. As Napoleon Hill once said, “Opportunity comes wrapped in impossible situations”

Pick yourself up, slap yourself a few times and walk headlong into the fire.
There is a very important lesson you need to realise here. Life does not just happen to you. You have control. You have control by how you react to Life’s little games. The decisions you make, and the way you make them will determine the quality of your life. It’s all up to you, no matter what your circumstances. Because as long as you are here there is always another way.

You live in the greatest society the world has ever known. You have information, opportunity and experiences available to you that your ancestors couldn’t even imagine. The guy in a minimum wage job, living in a one bedroom apartment in the crappy part of town has a life infinitely more superior than Pharaohs and Kings from the past. Don’t believe me?

• Electricity
• Safe, running water
• Wireless internet, giving him access to a library not even the gods had imagined
• Public transportation
• The simple telephone
• Food from every continent packaged and available for his convenience
• Free health care
• A life free of Cholera, Diphtheria, the Plague, Smallpox, and Tetanus
• Movies available that would be unimaginable even 50 years ago
• The ability to travel to every part of the globe

You don’t have problems. You have challenges. The challenges are put there to see what you are made of, to see if you have what it takes to walk through the fire. They are there to teach you, to humble you, and to enlighten you.

They are there for you.

You think the contents of your bank account, or the baubles in your home are important? You think you are successful because you drive a nice car and can travel business class........ you think this because you have forgotten that success is an illusion. It is an irrelevance, a phantom. If you were given 6 months to live tomorrow, all your material goods would mean NOTHING.

The most important thing in life is HOW YOU LIVE, every minute of every day. It is your experience, you soul and your character that matters. That is what sets you apart from another human being. It is WHO YOU ARE deep inside that matters, and what matter even more is who you will BECOME. Not that suit you wear, or the gold shiny things hanging from your anatomy.

So who are you? And who do you want to be?

And now the most important question of all.

Are you Happy?

It’s a simple question. Are you happy? Is your heart almost stopped by the beauty and the majesty of life. Is your breath taken by the very passion that life can allow you? I’m talking about the passion of being alive that you can feel any time you damn well please. Or are you too worried about the credit card bill?

Yes our society is troubled. Yes we are being assaulted on all sides by regulation, laws and pointless political ideas. Our police are becoming corporate revenue collectors and our entertainment is 2 generations away from the Running Man.

But have you ever asked yourself why? Why is the greatest society the world has ever seen starting to feed off itself?

BECAUSE WE SIT THERE AND DO NOTHING.

We have forgotten that life has to be grabbed by the throat and shaken until it gives us what we want. Instead most of us just bend over and grab our ankles. We have to fight for our wants, or we will simply be left with our needs. Get off your backside. Decide what you want. Decide, or the decision will be made for you. This is after all why I created the Mastermind Alliance. What most of you don’t know is that it was created by myself and a friend......... for us. It was our guide, our beacon on a path with one final ending. Without a guide, you just wander aimlessly in the wilderness. And I wasn’t willing to accept that.

Now some of you will already know all this, because you are doing it. You are living it, breathing it, tasting it. Life is your passion.

Others amongst you are almost dead inside. You world is a collection of reactions and opinions to the thoughts and actions of others. Let that spark grow, that dream, that light that shines within you. Please, be all that you can be.

And some of you are in a dark place. A realm of heartache, illness, financial stress and depression. I’ve been there, we all have. Remember there are always choices. Even if you have just 6 months to live, you get the choice of how to experience those six months. There is always another way and there is always hope.

Remember that what matters most is how you walk through the fire.

And also remember that there are people infinitely worse off than yourselves. Which is where I now make a plea. Every year I choose 2 charities to donate either my time and/or money to. I believe that what you give out is returned a thousand fold.
One of the causes I chose to donate money to this year is Bridge2Aid, which as it happens is being supported by our old comrade Chris barrow. Just so you know, Chris hasn’t asked me to mention this, I just feel it a worthy cause, and why not donate through someone most of us either know or know of? If you want to know more, then here is his donation page http://www.justgiving.com/coachbarrow/
No pressure.

And to answer the question I was asked the other day as to why I write these newsletters............. it’s because of the passion I feel when writing them. The day they become a chore is the day I stop.
Yours in commerce

Stephen: Hudson the authorised representative for the legal fiction Dr Stephen Hudson BDS, MFGDP, DRDP

Please help support the Sick Dentist Scheme and the BDA Benevolent fund by buying my book at Choose Your Reality. A proportion of the profits from its sale are split equally between these two charities

PS: Please feel free to pass this newsletter onto anyone you feel may be interested in it

GDP Resources

Disclaimer: S.Hudson or SNH Publications will not be held liable for any actions taken based on the information provided in this newsletters. This information is for entertainment only.

SNOW

Hello again

Did you see it? It snowed the other week. Small white things fell from the sky and coalesced into a blanket of cold wet skiddy stuff.

Driving was, let us say, a bit of a challenge.

If only someone had told the Met Office, because they didn’t seem to know this weather was coming. So a BBQ summer and a mild winter turned into a “we had a summer?” and a winter that harks back to the Victorian era.  Funny how exactly the same thing happened last year.  In fact that's three year in a row the Met Office have got it completely wrong.  Good to see their £33 million computer is doing its job
It’s safe to say we don’t seem to handle snow very well. But I’m sure the “lessons will be learnt” and that those responsible for the failings will be suitably rewarded. You don’t get the sack for incompetence these days.......... you get promoted!  The closure of Heathrow is a national scandal.

Now 2 years ago I was in New York when it snowed big style, something like 6 inches in two hours. This occurred the night before a public holiday. And yet, the next day when I left my hotel, all the roads were clear of snow and most of the sidewalks too.
People actually came in on a public holiday to clean the snow off the pavements outside their property. Dumper trucks were fitted with ploughs, and gritters were absolutely everywhere.  But then of course, they are used to it so we are told.

It was like a military operation (where the military were actually kitted out with the equipment they needed to do the job).  That was why it was so effectively dealt with.  Admittedly they had a bit more of a challenge this year, but then, did you see how much snow they had to deal with???

Unfortunately WE live in a country where you can get sued for doing the public act of clearing the front of your house or business. Grit the path to your practice, and if someone slips, they can sue you. Leave the snow where it is to turn into ice, and they can’t, because it’s classed as an act of god.

The preceding paragraph is all you need to know about this country and the state it’s presently in. That and the perception that nothing works anymore. Well actually, there is one thing that works and works very well. The strange phenomenon where money just disappears from your bank account.

Many of you will have noticed that you often have more month at the end of your money. It’s like it evaporates into the ether. Where does it all go? You earn a lot more than the average person, and yet still you don’t seem to be able to accumulate enough to actually have anything that you could call savings.
And then your tax bill comes.

There is a law called Parkinson’s Law that states “Expenses rise to meet earnings”. If you do not break Parkinson’s Law, you end up in debt. You end up working to provide food and shelter for other people. Which brings me to a question:
Why do you work?

Do you work because you enjoy what you do, or do you work to pay for your THINGS? You work to pay for your house and your nice car and your oversees holiday and your trips to Waitrose. You work so that you have a level of lifestyle that you feel comfortable with.

Most people work 5 days to enjoy 2..... and they don’t really enjoy the 2.
To me this is utter madness. If you’re not enjoying what you are doing......... why do it? If your job is a chore, your life is basically slavery. You become a slave to your lifestyle. You think your IPods and your fifty inch flat screen TV’s make up for it, but they don’t.

They don’t even come close.

As Tyler Durden once wisely said, “The things you own end up owning you. Our Great War is a spiritual war. Our Great Depression is our lives”. Your life is not about your trinkets, it is about experience. It is about joy and love and fulfilment. You cannot get lasting meaningful happiness by using your credit card. That can only come from within. You don’t need a new food [processor and a microwave to be happy. You can just be happy. Now, this instant. There’s only one person who can decide if you are happy or not..... YOU. So make your own rules up.

And to be honest I kind of forgot that this last year. I forgot who I was and wandered onto a path of inaction and sloth. It’s a tempting path, it feels comfortable..... at first. But then you stop growing, and the mind starts to claw at itself. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do and a lot of changes to make. Fortunately I have the perfect tool at my disposal for this, my Mastermind Alliance goal setting product.
But back to the white stuff. Watching how people reacted to the snow made me think. The kids loved it. The adults hated it. The kids (and the big kids....... you know who you are) built snowmen. The grumpy grownups worried about slipping.

So when it snowed and you found yourself unable to get to work, what was YOUR reaction?

• “Ah good, I can have a day off from those annoying patients” – time to change jobs perhaps?
• “I can spend some quality time with the kids for a change” – were you not spending quality time already?
• “Damn, how am I going to make my UDA’s in this kind of weather? I’ll get claw back” - fear is no place to live your life.
• “Bloody council haven’t gritted the road” – well, do you really expect every council to be able to grit every road to perfection? Be realistic here.
• “Let’s have some FUN” – now that’s more like it.

Your response to the snow will tell you a lot about who you are. Who you are determines the results you will have in life. The question is, do you know who you are? Perhaps you should take a moment to answer that question.

Money

This is how I understand the situation we are now in...... and just so you know, I'm probably completely wrong.

A long time ago, you would have been paid for your labour in either gold or silver coin.

As populations grew, coins became impractical.  They were then replaced by bills of exchange that represented, and were redeemable against a fixed amount of gold or silver.  You would be paid for your labour in notes, and could then swap these at the central bank for the actual gold.  For safety you could store your gold in a bank, but they would charge you a small storage fee.

Unfortunately most western countries were made bankrupt many years ago, and all the collateral (including you) were seized by the creditors (the banks).  You became the property of the banks.  All the worlds central banks are private corporations.

Look at the £20 note - "For the Governor and COMPANY of the Bank of England".

Because all the land, gold and silver had been seized (leaving only your labour as the sole source of collateral) , the central banks produced FIAT currency.  This was a means to engage in commerce whilst in bankruptcy.  However, you were not told this.  you were told it was just like money.  Fiat currency can be created out of thin air.  If the central bank produces £1000, and releases this into the population, how then can a bank land you that £1000 and charge you £10 interest.  Where did that £10 come from?  That's right, the ether.  This means the debts can never be repaid, and countries must wait 70 years (based on Roman canon law) until their bankruptcy expires.  Unfortunately this bankruptcy lark works very well for governments, so they invariably go back into bankruptcy due to some "event", allowing the perpetuation of the FIAT system.

Look at the symbol for the British Pound - £.  It used to have two strikes going horizontally across it, now it only has one.  The same with the US dollar - $.  That used to have two vertical strikes, now it has only one.  So?  What about it?  This means your currency is a phantom, a fiction, meaning that the currency no longer has substance.

The pound in its physical note form is an IOU.  The central bank gives this to you to purchase things with.  Unfortunately you don't own it, it remains the property of the central bank.  So let's give an example.  You "buy" a car.  You hand over 10,000 IOU's and the dealer gives you the car, which you then register with the government (who acts as agent for the central bank).  You are allowed to keep possession of the car, so long as you follow the rules of your registration.  As soon as you break the rules (for example by not paying your road tax) the car is seized, because it never was yours.  It belongs to the central bank.  It would only become yours if you returned the IOU's to the Central bank.  As I understand this, the only way to do this is to put your thumbprint on each and every bill, record the serial numbers and present this list to the central bank.  The car dealership then presents your thumb printed IOU's to the central bank, discharging your debt, and allowing the central bank to issue new IOU's to the dealer.

Your debt is clear, and the dealer still has his 10,000 IOU's.  This is why it says on the Bank of England note "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of......"

Of course try and buy a car with £20 and see what happens.  Ok, I'll buy it with gold I hear you say........ ok, but how did you buy that gold?  With British pounds?  Anything you buy with IOU's becomes the property of the central bank until you return those IOU's, or pay them off with assets that were not purchased with FIAT currency.

Interesting what you uncover isn't it.

This from Infowars.com

#1 The official U.S. unemployment rate has not been beneath 9 percent since April 2009.

#2 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently 6.3 million vacant homes in the United States that are either for sale or for rent.

#3 It is being projected that the U.S. trade deficit with China could hit 270 billion dollars for the entire year of 2010.

#4 Back in 2000, 7.2 percent of blue collar workers were either unemployed or underemployed.  Today that figure is up to 19.5 percent.

#5 The Chinese government has accumulated approximately $2.65 trillion in total foreign exchange reserves.  They have drained this wealth from the economies of other nations (such as the United States) and instead of reinvesting all of it they are just sitting on much of it.  This is creating tremendous imbalances in the global economy.

#6 Since the year 2000, we have lost 10% of our middle class jobs.  In the year 2000 there were approximately 72 million middle class jobs in the United States but today there are only about 65 million middle class jobs.

#7 The United States now employs about the same number of people in manufacturing as it did back in 1940.  Considering the fact that we had 132 million people living in this country in 1940 and that we have well over 300 million people living in this country today, that is a very sobering statistic.

#8 According to CoreLogic, U.S. housing prices have now declined for three months in a row.

#9 The average rate on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage soared 11 basis points just this past week.  As mortgage rates continue to push higher it is going to make it even more difficult for American families to afford homes.

#10 22.5 percent of all residential mortgages in the United States were in negative equity as of the end of the third quarter of 2010.

#11 The U.S. monetary base has more than doubled since the beginning of the most recent recession.

#12 U.S. Treasury yields have been rising steadily during the 4th quarter of 2010 and recently hit a six-month high.

#13 Incoming governor Jerry Brown is scrambling to find $29 billion more to cut from the California state budget.  The following quote from Brown about the desperate condition of California state finances is not going to do much to inspire confidence in California’s financial situation around the globe….

“We’ve been living in fantasy land. It is much worse than I thought. I’m shocked.”

#14 24.3 percent of the residents of El Centro, California are currently unemployed.

#15 The average home in Merced, California has declined in value by 63 percent over the past four years.

#16 Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has come up with a new way to save money.  He wants to cut 20 percent of Detroit off from essential social services such as road repairs, police patrols, functioning street lights and garbage collection.

#17 The second most dangerous city in the United States – Camden, New Jersey – is about to lay off about half its police in a desperate attempt to save money.

#18 In 2010, 55 percent of Americans between the ages of 60 and 64 were in the labor market.  Ten years ago, that number was just 47 percent.  More older Americans than ever find that they have to keep working just to survive.

#19 Back in 1998, the United States had 25 percent of the world’s high-tech export market and China had just 10 percent. Ten years later, the United States had less than 15 percent and China’s share had soared to 20 percent.

#20 The U.S. government budget deficit increased to a whopping $150.4 billion last month, which represented the biggest November budget deficit on record.

#21 The U.S. government is somehow going to have to roll over existing debt and finance new debt that is equivalent to 27.8 percent of GDP in 2011.

#22 The United States had been the leading consumer of energy on the globe for about 100 years, but this past summer China took over the number one spot.

#23 According to an absolutely stunning new poll, 40 percent of all U.S. doctors plan to bail out of the profession over the next three years.

#24 As 2007 began, there were just over 1 million Americans that had been unemployed for half a year or longer.  Today, there are over 6 million Americans that have been unemployed for half a year or longer.

#25 All over the United States, local governments have begun instituting “police response fees”.  For example, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has come up with a plan under which a fee of $365 would be charged if police are called to respond to an automobile accident where no injuries are involved.  If there are injuries as a result of the crash that is going to cost extra

An absolute MUST read

http://johnpilger.com/articles/have-a-nice-world-war-folks

Communism

In 1848, Marx threatened to organize a worker's revolution unless European governments:

1. Abolished property rights and applied all rents towards public purposes. [Modern equivalent: Don't pay your mortgage, lose your house. So who really owns your house?]
2. Levied a heavy, progressive income tax to equalize wages. [Modern equivalent:  income and payroll taxes approach (or surpass) 50% in many western countires.]
3. Abolished all rights of inheritance. [Modern equivalent: The estate tax.]
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants. [Modern equivalent: The 2008 "Hero's Act" which forces people leaving the U.S.A to pay the equivalent of their estate taxes on the global assets before they turn in their passports.]
5. Centralize access to credit in the hands of the State by means of a national bank and an exclusive monopoly. [Modern equivalent: UK state owned banks]
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. [Modern equivalent: Most of the US media is owned by 6 corporations, and the UK BBC is controlled by the state]
7. Free education for all children in public schools. [Note the emphasis on public schools. Paying for education isn't enough. What counts is indoctrinating the kids in how to be good little worker drones.]
8. A common agricultural policy to maximize the productivity of the land. [Modern equivalent: EUROPE.]

Imagine trying to explain to your neighbors that public education is a communist idea that's meant to indoctrinate children. Imagine trying to convince them that the estate tax is a bad idea, or that progressive income taxes are the key to communism.  Imagine trying to explain that the problem with the "greedy banks" isn't down to capitalism, but is in fact due to the corruption of socialism.

My advice...... don't bother.

A certain well known furniture shop

There is a well known furniture shop that came to this land several years ago.  We recently purchased some leather chairs for the waiting room of our practice.  I went in, showed the nice gentleman which chairs I wanted, and placed my order.

The chairs were delivered without legs.

Apparently you have to buy them separately

Chairs, without legs.

They're not really chairs then are they.

We had to pay extra for the legs.  Can you believe that.  Can you comprehend the idiocy of it.  I don't know what was worse, the fact that the chairs came without legs, or the fact that nobody told me.

The mind boggles

150

Hello again
According to my records, this is newsletter 150.

Crikey, to think I’ve put people through that many “rants”.

Now I was hoping to be able to say that my request for co-signers for a letter about the CQC had been a great success.

It wasn’t. To have had any chance of success, I would have needed at least 200 names. I got less than 40.

I won’t lie when I say I am disappointed, but I am not overly surprised. And don’t worry, I’m not going to go off on one and tell you off for not signing up. Not a bit of it. It was simply an idea, an idea that the majority either didn’t agree, were too scared to follow through with...... or just weren’t that bothered about (I suspect mainly the latter). An idea is not truth, it is not the way........... it is just an idea. People have ideas all the time.

To my mind I find it hard to understand how people can accept things like the CQC without any semblance of resistance. We see worse examples in our society where people lie down and let others tread all over them, to allow fear and apathy to rule their lives. But that’s just me. My notions on how to live life are no more valid than anyone else’s notions. So I have no problem with the lack of response. The majority of the people in this country have accepted that over regulation, a depletion of civil liberties and a withdrawal of cash from our bank accounts is an acceptable way forward. I have no evidence before me that says my way of thinking is better than the majority. To think that would just be blatant arrogance. I'm just one mind, and I'm usually wrong.

Whatever your belief system, that’s fine, because it's your belief system. You’ll get no more arguments from me. I will refrain from reminding you of my beliefs about the potentially challenging world our children and grandchildren may soon be living in because that aspect means little to me, and my vision of the future will probably never happen. We as a a people are immensely unhappy, so who is to say the way we are heading doesn't in fact lead to some ultimate Utopia. And to be fair, how the world will be 100 years from now means little to me anyway. I have no children you see, and I am unlikely to still be around. I am, of course, inherently selfish, and whilst I care what happens to other people, I care MORE about what happens to me. I feel no shame in saying that, because it’s the truth as I see it at this moment in time.

But in all fairness this wasn’t what i wanted to talk to you today about, and I will admit that I have just been a bit side tracked. Today I’m going to be talking about another aspect of human nature, specifically those individuals that are commonly known as emotional (psychic) vampires. I am sure you know the type of people I am talking about. They will find any flaw in your grand idea, any gap in your knowledge, and any nick in your armour to cause you pain, discomfort and embarrassment. They will see the cloud in the sunny sky, the toadstool in the forest, the slime mould on the rock at the base of the waterfall. They require your misery to feel fulfilled.

Many of them hide their true nature, often using others to do their dirty work. Some of you will employ them, some of you will have their ilk in your family. They are not healthy individuals. Many of them will be borderline sociopaths.

One of the reasons I write these newsletters is to challenge you. And it constantly surprises me how nobody ever seems to unsubscribe, although that might change after today hahaha.

Psychic vampires keep themselves well hidden, and rely on your good nature and your own doubts and fears to wrok their art.

It may well just be me, and there seem to be a lot more of these people about than there used to be, as I recently discovered when I restarted my blog. Let’s just say I have severely restricted the comment section. Life is too short. As the old saying goes, “don’t feed the trolls”. And as Chris barrow says on multiple occasions “Don’t wrestle with pigs in shit”. It’s almost as if the way our society is run seems to be breeding these personality traits.

What was probably more disturbing was not the actual comments themselves, but the fact that these comments were undoubtedly dentists. Yes the comments were anonymous, but it is no coincidence that attacks started a few days after GDPUK publicised the existence of the blog (the writing style suggests one or two emotionally damaged individuals were somewhat displeased with me.....poor dears). I’m actually surprised it took this long for such comments to arrive in my inbox. I haven’t as yet received a disparaging comment from a newsletter reader.

Perhaps that is because you are all emotionally grounded. I actually found the blog comments immensely amusing, and I think if I ever published them , you would to. Best to let them be deleted though. Words after all have power.

But these people are all around us. They are the ones who sue you because they can’t accept responsibility for their own lives. They are the ones who were bullies at school, and who rise to positions of power so they can lord it over their minions. They laugh at the misfortunes of others and think that the world owes them a living. It does not. Life owes them, or anyone for that, nothing.

They are to be pitied, because most of them are dead inside. But more importantly, they are to be ignored and avoided wherever possible, because a large number of them are likely to be sociopaths (and no I am not saying the people who commented on my blog were sociopaths, I am making a generalisation).

I am sure you know how important it is to choose your peer group very carefully. Your peers will directly reflect your success in life. If you hang out with no hopers, you will be dragged down to their level. Hang out with ethical millionaires and your bank balance will likely grow.

It’s as if you become a sponge sucking up the energy around you. Good or bad, you suck it right up.

Best to hang around with decent people don’t you think. After all, there are plenty of us (did you like the implied compliment there by the way?)

Apathy

I recently asked my newsletter readers (of which there are around 600) to join with me in cosigning a letter to the nations press about the CQC. I will let you know how many respond.  I know it isa long shot, but I have to try.  Even Tony Jacobs of GDPUK only got just over a hundred, and there are around 4000 dentists registered on his forum.

This is why the country is in the state it is in.  We, as a people, do not stand up for ourselves and let those we deem to be more powerful walk all over us.

If you don't stand up for yourself, nobody else will.

Nuff said

Interesting

My research has uncovered this, which I think relates significantly to the proposed CQC fees

The EU report on Competition in Professional Services 2004

"State regulation which imposes or favours anti-competitive conduct or reinforces its effects, infringes Articles 3(1)(g), 10(2) and 81 EC. Where a State delegates its policy-making power to a professional association without sufficient safeguards, that is without clearly indicating the public interest objectives to respect, without retaining the last word and without control of the implementation, the Member State can also be held liable for any resulting infringement.

Ultimately, in the Commission's view, in all scrutiny of professional regulation a proportionality test should be applied. Rules must be objectively necessary to attain a clearly articulated and legitimate public interest objective and they must be the mechanism least restrictive of competition to achieve that objective. Such rules serve the interests of users and of the professionals alike."

The EU is definetly the way to go here.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52004DC0083:EN:NOT
PS: information only, not legal advice

And Rome Burns

Hello again
Many people know about the Romans. They know that they were a great economic and military power that controlled most of Europe and the land around the Mediterranean for hundreds of years. They were successful because their disciplined approach to warfare, government and commerce. At least initially. It is when this discipline failed that the decline began. We don’t know for sure why the Roman empire fell, all we know is that it did (like all empires). There are however competing theories

• It didn’t help that there was a gradual erosion of the currency to create inflation and thus help fuel the great machine of commerce and war that fed the empires expansion. The inflation became hyperinflation
• The Army was corrupted by the massive influx of Germanic mercenaries who changed the core values of the most highly trained military on the planet. Ironic really considering it was the Germanic tribes who went onto ransack most of Italy
• The moral corruption of the leaders and the populace, exemplified by the destruction of the Roman Republic and the creation of a virtual dictatorship through much of the latter Emperors.

What the bloody hells this then, a History lesson?

No. It’s an example of how we haven’t learnt from history.

We are at a point in this country, where we are close to a point of no return in the evolution of our society. If you look at agencies such as the CQC with its bizarre mutation of the English language, the place we are going looks like a Kafkaesque hybrid of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. This prospect is not something I am overly pleased about. There is still time to change the path we are on, and it is up to us to make that change, for the sake of future generations.

Or we can let our offspring grow up in a world where our Grand children will never really understand the concept of privacy and freedom, potential victims to an autocratic state machine that is soulless and without wisdom or empathy. They will be nothing but numbers, units to be milked to grease the wheels of corrupt commerce by governments and dishonorable corporations. This isn’t some great conspiracy, it’s just the way the compass needle is pointing. We need to point it another way.

My recent CRB application at the Post Office was a classic example of the madness which will soon become the norm. In I walked to join a single queue in a room the size of half a football pitch. The downtrodden, the dejected and the derelict all waited in the central queuing area with me (I’ll let you decide which of those 3 categories I was in). People mumbled to themselves incoherently, as the line made its progress through the barriers, all the time watched by a minimum wage slob who masqueraded as a security guard. How the criminals must have quacked with fear.

“Window number 8 please”

I got the application in, but only with the help of 3 Post Office staff members who were less than complimentary to the CQC. I also declined to engage in the Irony of taking my Shotgun Licence as a form of ID for a CRB check. This was a procedure dumped on the post office staff from a great height, with most of them having little or no training. And they say CQC implementation isn’t being rushed.

And all this to be able to do a job I have been doing for 15 years, even though dentistry is not even a regulated activity under the CRB regulations. Interesting times.
And then there was the recent Sheffield lecture, headed by those unfortunates at the BDA and a representative of the CQC. The CQC rep talked about fairness, and how “End Users” were entitled to learn about their treatment in a language they understood.

“How Ironic that you say that whilst holding something so incomprehensible” I shouted, pointing at the Guidance tome she held in her hand. I don’t think I’ll be getting any Christmas cards off her this year.

And even more recently, a colleague received a response letter from our CDO (to his questions about HTM 0105), the syntax and tone of which very clearly told him to shut the hell up and stop bothering those more important than him.

Do you see what I see, or am I just like the loopy old man you won’t sit next to on the bus? Our protests and complaints are cast aside because they are few and far between. We do not shout with a single loud voice, nor are we relentless in our agenda. Those who choose to implement their mindless agenda on us are dogged and ruthless. But they are also fearful. Fearful of exposure and the uncompromising voice of truth. Fearful for their jobs, fearful of the relentless finger of shame that can be pointed by the public.

“It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong” - Voltaire
I would rephrase that

“It is dangerous for the government to be wrong when the people are right”

Now let’s get something perfectly clear here. I’m not telling you to rise up and hang them all from lamp posts. I’m not in fact telling you to do anything. I’m just rambling inanely. Thoughts enter my head and they get transferred to this keyboard. Illegal actions are to be avoided at all costs. There are no Pitchforks and torches required here; after all it’s not Victor Frankenstein we’re dealing with here. No it’s something far worse.

It is ourselves.

It’s our own fear, our own doubt, our own inertia, and our own apathy. The problem here is our meek and feeble acceptance to things we know are wrong, that we know are damaging and that we know are criminal. We turn on our TV and hope we can forget...... but the elephant is still there with you. It’s there when you are in your surgery, when you buy your newspaper, when you pay your taxes. The elephant in the room is staring you in the face and you may well have to eventually acknowledge its presence. But that if course is up to you.

Am I just talking about CQC and HTM 0105? Of course not. And there is still great beauty, compassion and honesty in the world, like the roses in a garden. But if all you do is concentrate on the Roses, the garden will soon get overrun by weeds.

Your liberty carries a price. It requires dedication, commitment and fearlessness. Are you willing to pay that price? There is no right or wrong answer here, because the choice you make will be the right one for you.

It’s up to you. You either stand up for what you believe in, or you shut your mouth and watch what you have acquiesced to. Make your choice. Either is fine, it’s your reality you are living after all.

By the way, I am available for children’s parties......... I’ll soon have a CRB check to prove it

Yours in commerce

Stephen: Hudson the authorised representative for the legal fiction Dr Stephen Hudson BDS, MFGDP, DRDP

Please help support the Sick Dentist Scheme and the BDA Benevolent fund by buying my book at Choose Your Reality. A proportion of the profits from its sale are split equally between these two charities

PS: Please feel free to pass this newsletter onto anyone you feel may be interested in it

GDP Resources

Disclaimer: S.Hudson or SNH Publications will not be held liable for any actions taken based on the information provided in this newsletters. This information is for entertainment only.

The Reality tunnel

Let us venture briefly into the realm of Quantum Physics and the notion of the infinite consciousness.

Your brain has a filter.

Every second, your brain filters out what it deems to be irrelevant.  This is why you were not aware of the shoes on your feet until I mentioned them.  or the pressure of the glasses on your nose.  You were not aware of the the fact you were breathing or that your heart was beating.

Now add this to the fact that everybody has deep ingrained belief systems.

An example of your belief system can be created by finishing the following sentence

"Life is............."

Your belief systems filter what you see around you.  If you believe that all Muslims are terrorists (they aren't by the way), that will cloud your judgement the next time you meet a Muslim.  If you had a tyrannical Catholic upbringing that you rebelled against, that might cloud your opinion of "The Church" in general.

Your filter will also affect what you hear see and feel.

After all you do not see with your eyes, you see wit your brain.  Electrical signals are sent via the optic nerve to the brain to be deciphered. 

Many people see what they want to see.
Many people hear what they want to hear.
Many people feel what they want to feel.

Have you ever displayed anger or resentment to someone because you misunderstood what they said?  You chose that reaction based on your false perception.

This is where your reality tunnel comes in.

If you go through life expecting the worst, your mind will filter the incoming data to match your belief system. 

So finish the following saying:

"People are................"
"Money is...................."
"Life is.........................."
"The CQC is..................."

Now ask yourself how those belief systems have guided your life so far.

have they empowered you, or held you back?

I merely ask the question

I recently had an email

I recently had an email off one of my newsletter subscribers in regards to the CQC and my last newsletter (will be posted here shortly).  She wanted to know what she could do.

Here was my response.

The first thing we have to remember is that in the great scheme of things, the CQC doesn’t matter.  They are an annoyance more than anything.  There will be plenty more annoyances along the way.  Those who see their health and mental wellbeing affected need to change their perspective.  I have always said that if a job is causing you health problems, then you either change the way you do things, or go and do something else.  Dentists killed themselves treadmilling 6 days a week, and now dentists are pulling their hair out because of a bunch of incompetent bureaucrats.

THEY ARE NOT WORTH IT, and the staff of the CQC are just as much victims as we are.  They didn't ask for this, they had it dumped on them from a great height.  They are unprepared through no real fault of their own.  Perhaps the CQC have been created to produce this very reaction in the profession.  The corporates are laughing their socks off. 

Learning to laugh at your troubles is the first part of dealing with them.  The idea behind the CQC is so patheticas to be a fine display of what it now means to be British.  Be thankful we are not in America....... recent reports show that 46% of GP’s will be leaving medicine due to Obama care.

The second thing we need to remember is that organisations such as this do not like bright lights shone on them.  The more dentists who plague them with questions, demands and ideas, the more dentists write to MP’s and newspapers, the more the CQC will drift into the focus of the public.  The more the public see what an irrelevant waste of resources the CQC are, the more their position becomes untenable......... especially with their head up before the select committee.

Talk to the dentist you know.  Form an action committee.  Decide on a plan of action on what you intend to do.  Write to the head of the CQC by recorded post.  Ask questions, demand answers.  Do not let them fob you off.  The more who write, the more they have to listen.  Write to the BDA and the GDC, demand they take action.  Write your MP, let him/her know that it is his/her family that will be affected by this farce, just as said family will be damaged by HTM 0105.  Pool your resources. 

And remember the words of Winston Churchill

Never, ever, ever, ever give up

Perspective

Everything seems pretty dark at the moment what with the CQC, HRM 0105 and austerity cuts.

But you have to look at the big picture.

Most of us have a roof over our heads
Most of us can afford to eat and heat our homes
Most of us have access to clean water
Most of us have friends and family we can turn to
Most of us aren't at deaths door
Most of us have a mind that allows us to think
Most of us have access to technology the likes of which people even 15 years ago couldn't have imagined
Most of us can walk down the street safely
Most of us aren't stuck in Iraq breathing in Depleted uranium
Most of us aren't three pay slips away from homelessness

See the good in your life, see the strength, to help you deal with the mosquitos that are presently bothering you.

From Hansard

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/101101-0003.htm#10110215000101


(NB: The venue is the House of Lords, at 10:42pm on November 1st, 2010.)

Lord James of Blackheath: At this point, I am going to have to make a very big apology to my noble friend Lord Sassoon [Treasury Minister], because I am about to raise a subject that I should not raise and which is going to be one which I think is now time to put on a higher awareness, and to explain to the House as a whole, as I do not think your Lordships have any knowledge of it. I am sorry that my noble friend Lord Strathclyde [Leader of the House] is not with us at the moment, because this deeply concerns him also.

For the past 20 weeks I have been engaged in a very strange dialogue with the two noble Lords, in the course of which I have been trying to bring to their attention the willing availability of a strange organisation which wishes to make a great deal of money available to assist the recovery of the economy in this country. For want of a better name, I shall call it foundation X. That is not its real name, but it will do for the moment. Foundation X was introduced to me 20 weeks ago last week by an eminent City firm, which is FSA controlled. Its chairman came to me and said, "We have this extraordinary request to assist in a major financial reconstruction. It is megabucks, but we need your help to assist us in understanding whether this business is legitimate". I had the biggest put-down of my life from my noble friend Lord Strathclyde when I told him this story. He said, "Why you? You're not important enough to have the answer to a question like that". He is quite right, I am not important enough, but the answer to the next question was, "You haven't got the experience for it". Yes I do. I have had one of the biggest experiences in the laundering of terrorist money and funny money that anyone has had in the City. I have handled billions of pounds of terrorist money.

Baroness Hollis of Heigham [Labour]: Where did it go to?

Lord James of Blackheath: Not into my pocket. My biggest terrorist client was the IRA and I am pleased to say that I managed to write off more than £1 billion of its money. I have also had extensive connections with north African terrorists, but that was of a far nastier nature, and I do not want to talk about that because it is still a security issue. I hasten to add that it is no good getting the police in, because I shall immediately call the Bank of England as my defence witness, given that it put me in to deal with these problems.

The point is that when I was in the course of doing this strange activity, I had an interesting set of phone numbers and references that I could go to for help when I needed it. So people in the City have known that if they want to check out anything that looks at all odd, they can come to me and I can press a few phone numbers to obtain a reference. The City firm came to me and asked whether I could get a reference and a clearance on foundation X. For 20 weeks, I have been endeavouring to do that. I have come to the absolute conclusion that foundation X is completely genuine and sincere and that it directly wishes to make the United Kingdom one of the principal points that it will use to disseminate its extraordinarily great wealth into the world at this present moment, as part of an attempt to seek the recovery of the global economy.

I made the phone call to my noble friend Lord Strathclyde on a Sunday afternoon—I think he was sitting on his lawn, poor man—and he did the quickest ball pass that I have ever witnessed. If England can do anything like it at Twickenham on Saturday, we will have a chance against the All Blacks. The next think I knew, I had my noble friend Lord Sassoon on the phone. From the outset, he took the proper defensive attitude of total scepticism, and said, "This cannot possibly be right". During the following weeks, my noble friend said, "Go and talk to the Bank of England". So I phoned the governor and asked whether he could check this out for me. After about three days, he came back and said, "You can get lost. I'm not touching this with a bargepole; it is far too difficult. Take it back to the Treasury". So I did. Within another day, my noble friend Lord Sassoon had come back and said, "This is rubbish. It can't possibly be right". I said, "I am going to work more on it". Then I brought one of the senior executives from foundation X to meet my noble friend Lord Strathclyde. I have to say that, as first dates go, it was not a great success. Neither of them ended up by inviting the other out for a coffee or drink at the end of the evening, and they did not exchange telephone numbers in order to follow up the meeting.

I found myself between a rock and a hard place that were totally paranoid about each other, because the foundation X people have an amazing obsession with their own security. They expect to be contacted only by someone equal to head of state status or someone with an international security rating equal to the top six people in the world. This is a strange situation. My noble friends Lord Sassoon and Lord Strathclyde both came up with what should have been an absolute killer argument as to why this could not be true and that we should forget it. My noble friend Lord Sassoon's argument was that these people claimed to have evidence that last year they had lodged £5 billion with British banks. They gave transfer dates and the details of these transfers. As my noble friend Lord Sassoon, said, if that were true it would stick out like a sore thumb. You could not have £5 billion popping out of a bank account without it disrupting the balance sheet completely. But I remember that at about the same time as those transfers were being made the noble Lord, Lord Myners [former Labour Treasury Minister], was indulging in his game of rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic of the British banking community. If he had three banks at that time, which had had, say, a deficiency of £1.5 million each, then you would pretty well have absorbed the entire £5 billion, and you would not have had the sore thumb stick out at that time; you would have taken £1.5 billion into each of three banks and you would have absorbed the lot. That would be a logical explanation—I do not know.

My noble friend Lord Strathclyde came up with a very different argument. He said that this cannot be right because these people said at the meeting with him that they were still effectively on the gold standard from back in the 1920s and that their entire currency holdings throughout the world, which were very large, were backed by bullion. My noble friend Lord Strathclyde came back and said to me that he had an analyst working on it and that this had to be stuff and nonsense. He said that they had come up with a figure for the amount of bullion that would be needed to cover their currency reserves, as claimed, which would be more than the entire value of bullion that had ever been mined in the history of the world. I am sorry but my noble friend Lord Strathclyde is wrong; his analysts are wrong. He had tapped into the sources that are available and there is only one definitive source for the amount of bullion that has ever been taken from the earth's crust. That was a National Geographic magazine article 12 years ago. Whatever figure it was that was quoted was then quoted again on six other sites on the internet—on Google. Everyone is quoting one original source; there is no other confirming authority. But if you tap into the Vatican accounts—of the Vatican bank--— come up with a claim of total bullion—

Lord De Mauley [Government Whip]: The noble Lord is into his fifteenth minute. I wonder whether he can draw his remarks to a conclusion.

Lord James of Blackheath: The total value of the Vatican bank reserves would claim to be more than the entire value of gold ever mined in the history of the world. My point on all of this is that we have not proven any of this. Foundation X is saying at this moment that it is prepared to put up the entire £5 billion for the funding of the three Is recreation; the British Government can have the entire independent management and control of it—foundation X does not want anything to do with it; there will be no interest charged; and, by the way, if the British Government would like it as well, if it will help, the foundation will be prepared to put up money for funding hospitals, schools, the building of Crossrail immediately with £17 billion transfer by Christmas, if requested, and all these other things. These things can be done, if wished, but a senior member of the Government has to accept the invitation to a phone call to the chairman of foundation X—and then we can get into business. This is too big an issue. I am just an ageing, obsessive old Peer and I am easily dispensable, but getting to the truth is not. We need to know what really is happening here. We must find out the truth of this situation

Sounds to me like someone is looking to buy the UK.
I am lost for words

The CQC....... AGAIN!

Hello again
As you may be aware, the CQC will soon descend upon us. Unfortunately for you lot, I have a small problem with the CQC. Whilst I admire the idea logic behind protecting the public, the CQC in my eyes is not about protection, Quangos never are. It is about increasing the power of government and those connected to government, whilst tightening the regulatory noose around the neck of the profession even further. I say government, I doubt those we elected actually know what is going on. The wheels of the civil service are just rolling on from the last administration regardless. I would like to think that the present administration would stop this juggernaut in its tracks if it new the truth.

You have to remember, this isn’t just us this is happening to. Virtually every industry is having regulation after regulation dumped on it from a great height. And I don’t even blame the CQC. From where I’m standing, they are as much a victim as anyone here. They have been tasked with something they are ill prepared for, and have little in the way of understanding about what dentistry actually entails, non of which is their fault. Much of the problems that will arise will do so because they don’t understand what it is exactly that we do, but the registration rolls out regardless. They, in their eyes, have a job to do and the growing aggression and resentment from the profession will only harden their stance. And they haven’t even gotten to the doctors yet.

However, with that being said, there is something you have to remember. The government doesn’t care about you, it only cares about itself. It only cares about feathering it’s own nest and about justifying itself by exerting more and more control to counter perceived threats.  This is the way of all governments, it is to be expected.

And despite my mention of growing aggression from the profession, really most of us do nothing. We bend over and take it. Some of even ask for more.

But let us for a moment look at the big picture. There are 600 people who are signed up to my newsletter, most of them being dentists. And I am talking to you all when I ask the following question, as well as the growing following of my blog.

What kind of a country do you want your children to grow up in?

Do you want a country where they are free to speak their minds, to express their ideas, to go about their business with the minimum hassle from government pen pushers and their lackeys? Or do you want them tagged, monitored, cowed and conformative, where they dread the day agents of the state knock on their door and say “Citizen, your papers please”?

Which do you want?

Because now it’s time to choose. Yes that’s right, you have a choice in the matter. You can bow down to the CQC and let them descend upon you twice a year like locusts, or you can tell them NOW that their regulation is not needed. You can let them know what you think, they are after all inviting you to do this. So have you? Have you been to their website and told them what you think, given them your ideas?

So here is a proposed action plan:

• Write to your MP and tell him/her that the CQC is unwanted, dangerous to the public and an unnecessary burden
• Contact Tony Jacobs at http://www.gdpuk.com/ who wants a list of names to go along with a letter to the editor of one of the big newspapers.
• Read the Health and Social Care Act 2008
• Take their issued guidance and ask for them to send you a copy in a form of English you can understand. It is incomprehensible.
• Research what they are proposing. Does it breach anti competition rules? Does it breach the EU human rights legislation?
• Write to the head of the CQC and tell them that much of their proposed regulations are already covered by our existing regulator the GDC. Ask for clarification on whatever points you do not like.
• Write the GDC and tell them the same.
• Go onto the CQC website and engage them in their consultations.
• Go to the upcoming meetings and ask the CQC representatives questions.
• Write to the newspapers, to Private Eye, and let them know that the CQC are a risk to the public and will reduce access to dentistry.
• Write to the BDA and insist they do more to counter the CQC or you will cancel your membership

Or you can sit on your hands, and moan into your beer in a years time

And now here is your warning. The proposed actions, if done as an individual will put a big spotlight on you, and you do them at your own risk (see the disclaimer below). You will be noticed. Files may well be opened on you, and you may come under scrutiny. You may even go to the first in the line when it comes to inspections and investigation. Men in overcoats and hats may follow you down the street when you pop for a chip butty (ok, ok, that won’t happen). Who can say? What I can say is that sitting on your hands doing nothing is the safer, and easier option..... at least for you, at least initially.

But what about your children? What about ten years from now when there are two more regulatory bodies just as damaging, just as unwarranted and just as expensive? When the regulation affects other aspects of your life and the life of those around you.

“Oh come off it Steve, the CQC are hardly the Stasi”.

No they aren’t. Many of the people working there are decent, honest individuals who are just trying to make their way through life (as evidenced by the low satisfaction ratings people have with working for the CQC). They are not the Stasi, the KGB or the CIA. They are, to some, a symbol.

A symbol?

A symbol of what this country has become. A symbol of where this country is going. It is a symbol of where you as an individual can make a stand, now, in this instant. A stand for yourself, a stand for those around you, a stand for your children. As an individual your stand will feel meaningless, an ant against a Lion.

But together, your voices will be heard, and the Lion will run. You will be able to shout from the rooftops and hear the quivering of those in power. They do not care if you stand alone. They do mind if you stand on masse, if you shine a spotlight on the darkness of their proposals.

Together we can bring some sanity to this and send a message that this tightening of the noose stops NOW. You send a message that you have had ENOUGH. Yes the CQC might get through, but at the very least your legal, non-violent rebellion will instigate concessions, and give them pause. It will make them think “if this is the rejection we get from the dentists............”

Now some of you won’t see what all the fuss is about. Some of you won’t have a problem with the CQC or what they represent. Some of you may even see it as a good thing. Perhaps it is, who am I to say otherwise?

And you know what, I have no challenge with that. If that is your belief then I respect it.

If however you feel in your heart what i feel, if you see with your eyes what I see, then how can you roll onto your back and expose your belly? How can you look yourself in the mirror knowing what you know?

Fear is no longer an excuse. Fear is their weapon, their power, but only if you let fear control you. The choice is yours. You have a moral right, no a moral duty to act with your beliefs. What does you heart say? Find out and act accordingly.

Just keep it polite, civil and legal.  That's not too hard to ask now is it.

Yours in commerce

Stephen: Hudson the authorised representative for the legal fiction Dr Stephen Hudson BDS, MFGDP, DRDP

Please help support the Sick Dentist Scheme and the BDA Benevolent fund by buying my book at Choose Your Reality. A proportion of the profits from its sale are split equally between these two charities

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Disclaimer: S.Hudson or SNH Publications will not be held liable for any actions taken based on the information provided in this newsletters. This information is for entertainment only.

Nuff said

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voh3I2h6PBo

Perception

Hello again
There is a perception that the UK is a first world country. We have running water, indoor plumbing, street lighting and a welfare system. We have a system of laws and a deep cultural history that is the envy of most other countries. The country is an infinitely complex network of businesses, services and infrastructure.
It works, but underneath the polished facade we see that the system appears to be straining. This is because it has become too complex. As our population and technology grows, we find more and more ways to remove the simplicity from our lives. This does not make our lives any easier, despite the perception that it does.
Take the I-phone. It couldn’t be easier to use, and yet I challenge any of you to tell me how it actually works. I know how a normal bog standard telephone works, and if one broke I might even be able to fix it. But an I-phone, hell I haven’t got a clue.
Take my car. A few months ago a little orange light lit up on the dashboard. I phoned up the garage to ask what it meant...........

“Oh, that means that a little orange light has come on. Bring it in and we’ll let the computer diagnose it.”

They needed a computer to tell us what was wrong with my car...... what happens when something goes wrong with the computer? How do they diagnose that, another computer? Now I remember my dad fixing his own car years ago............ no chance of doing that these days, not unless you like driving around in classic cars.
I bought a pair of shoes the other day. Remember those tags that were placed on clothing so that it couldn’t be nicked from the shop without the alarm going off.......... well in this case the tag was (and still is) inside the shoes. RFID technology. Marvellous............ and also unsettling.

Now there is a danger to all this. As technology advances it makes old technology obsolete. The old technology is replaced and becomes a curiosity residing in museums and the garages of eccentrics and collectors. It becomes more and more difficult to go back to that old technology. And have you noticed that as technology progresses it becomes more and more fragile. It also tends to make us more reliant on said technology. (If a major Coronal Mass Ejection from the sun hits us in the future, the books in the library will still be there. Probably won’t be able to say the same for much of the digital recording media we like to use.)

“The things you own end up owning you” – Tyler Durden

As an example, take the I-phone again. My first mobile phone allowed me to ring people and send these amazing things called text messages. My I-phone allows me to take pictures, view my bank accounts, read my emails, watch TV, plan my whole life and there is probably even an App that allows me to control satellites. And if you lose it you better hope you have it all backed up.

There is also the view that this technological advance actually holds back our advancement as a species. In 1969 some chaps went to the moon using the computing power of today’s pocket calculators. Unfortunately we no longer go to the moon because it is too expensive and too complicated. We now have a situation where we are surrounded by electromagnetic radiation, where unhappiness is rampant and where cancer strikes one in two. Cancer used to be a rare curiosity. I would argue that technology is not benefiting us as much as we think it is.

And speaking of NASA, there is a story that explains my point quite nicely. NASA spent about a billion dollars inventing a pen that could write in zero gravity. It could write upside down, under water and in a vacuum. It was a very impressive achievement.............. but you know what, the Russians didn’t have that problem.

They used pencils.

We are now creating technology for the sake of creating technology. And all this technology requires more technology to make it work. And in a time when the earths resources are beginning to disappear like draught beer at a student party.......... that’s not wise.

In fact, it’s complete insanity.

And look at dentistry as another example. Care to tell me how many different types of composite there are on the market. How many different bonding systems are there? Oh is that one stage, two stage or three stage? Do we remove or keep the smear layer? And let’s just go through all the different porcelains shall we.

It’s enough to make you head spin. And yet you the technology that was available when I qualified in the 90’s is more than adequate to restore the majority of the population’s dentition. And it’s not just technology that is becoming more complicated, it’s also a mindset. Let me explain the mindset as I see it. I’m not saying this is the truth, it’s the truth “as I see it”. Many of you will disagree with me, and I would be upset if you didn’t. I bring you ideas but I don’t expect you to accept them blindly. After all, I’m not some Guru in an Ashram.

Speaking of Gurus, there are a collection of so called “Dental Gurus” who preach a message of excellence. Excellence in clinical dentistry, in customer service and in service delivery. Much of what they preach is valid, valuable and useful, and unfortunately they have started preaching a message that is also damaging, at least in my mind. There is now a growing perception that unless you have super high tech, professionally designed dental practices with flashing lights and interactive websites, that you are somehow not a “successful” dentist. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this kind of practice. I just don’t think it is the model for most of us. Let me explain.

All this costs money. The marble floors and 50 inch plasma screens in every room requires a significant investment. This means the person sitting in your chair needs to pay more... a lot more. My question is really, is it necessary? Is this what the patients want.......... or is it what our EGO’s want? And it also means that you, as the dentist, are snared by that practice, you become locked in. Your investment actually limits your options and brings considerable, and I would say unnecessary risk. I think there is an easier way. The key is not what the premises look like, not the fancy gadgets you buy to complicate your life even more. I have to question the concept of getting oneself into massive debt to deliver what are effectively the same services.

Dentists seem to have an amazing ability to spend money. In Texas, they have a saying for it

“Big hat, but no cattle”.

They also seem to have an amazing ability to work more hours than they should....... “because they have to”. Unless you are one of the rare breed that absolutely live for your job (you know, the type of person that eats lives and breathes dentistry) I think it is important to remember that there is a life to be had outside the dental surgery. I know of a private dentist working a 6 day week because he’s so busy with new patients. To me, that’s no different than the old NHS treadmill that killed so many of us. He and the many like him are too busy making a living to actually take the time out to design a life.
I’ll put it this way. If on your death bed you complain that you didn’t do enough crown preps in your career, then please work as long and as hard as you like. If you are an entrepreneur who wants to be the next James Hull, then please burn that midnight oil, create your legacy. You are to be commended. For the rest of us, just concentrate on the basics. Keep it simple, keep it safe and keep them smiling.

You can do good dentistry from basic premises. They just need to be:

• Clean
• Comfortable
• Welcoming

You put good staff and ethical, caring and skilled dentists in there, and you will have a successful business. “You should go and see my dentist, he’s really nice”. THAT is the key in my view. And there is nothing to stop you making the place look nice aesthetically, but do you really need to take out a loan the equivalent to the national debt to do it? When I bought my practice I put in wooden floors. It cost about £3k, and I paid for it from the profits of the business. A very basic thing to replace the manky tiled carpets that were there previously, but even to this day the patients comment.

In my opinion, ONE of the reasons to be in primary care is to make a living sufficient enough so that you can earn your financial independence. This way you can reach a point where you are working because you want to, not because you have to. And that point should come well before retirement age. That way, when life comes along and drops a bombshell at your feet (and it will) you can deal with it without the added pressure of worrying about your finances.

You shouldn’t be working in your 50’s because you have to. You should be working because you WANT to.

The old model of treadmilling didn’t allow this. And the way I see the economy heading over the next 5-10 years, putting a huge financial monkey on my back is perhaps not the way i want to go.
Regards

Stephen Hudson BDS, MFGDP, DRDP

Please help support the Sick Dentist Scheme and the BDA Benevolent fund by buying my book Choose Your Reality. A proportion of the profits from its sale are split equally between these two charities


Disclaimer: S.Hudson or SNH Publications will not be held liable for any actions taken based on the information provided in this newsletters. This information is for entertainment only.