Stephen Hawking (8 January 1942 - 14 March 2018) - one of the greatest scientific minds of all time.

However, this post is not about his scientific research and discourse but about whom such a person chose to be as a citizen. Here is the description of his politics from Wikipedia; this information if fairly thoroughly referenced on the Wikipedia entry so I have not duplicated those references here.

The Politics of Stephen Hawking

In March 1968, Hawking marched alongside Tariq Ali and Vanessa Redgrave to protest against the Vietnam War. He was a longstanding Labour Party supporter. He recorded a tribute for the 2000 Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, called the 2003 invasion of Iraq a "war crime", supported the academic boycott of Israel, campaigned for nuclear disarmament, and has supported stem cell research, universal health care, and action to prevent climate change. In August 2014, Hawking was one of 200 signatories to a letter opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue. Hawking believed a United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit) would damage the UK's contribution to science as modern research needs international collaboration, and that free movement of people in Europe encourages the spread of ideas.

Hawking was greatly concerned over healthcare and maintained that without the UK National Health Service he would not have survived. Hawking stated:

"I havereceived excellent medical attention in Britain, and I felt it wasimportant to set the record straight. I believe in universal health care. And Iam not afraid to say so."

Hawking feared that privatisation and use of agencies cause profit to be extracted from the Health Service. Hawking stated, "The more profit is extracted from the system, the more private monopolies grow and the more expensive health care becomes. The NHS must be preserved from commercial interests and protected from those who want to privatise it." Stephen Hawking alleged ministers damage the NHS, he blamed the Conservatives for cutting funding, weakening the NHS by privatisation, lowering staff morale through holding payback and reducing social care. Hawking accused Jeremy Hunt of cherry-picking evidence which Hawking maintains debases science. Hawking also stated:

"There isoverwhelming evidence that NHS funding and the numbers of doctors and nursesare inadequate, and it is getting worse."

In June 2017, Hawking endorsed Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the 2017 UK general election, citing the Conservatives' proposed cuts to the NHS.

Hawking feared Donald Trump's policies on global warming could endanger the planet and make global warming irreversible. Hawking said, "Climate change is one of the great dangers we face, and it's one we can prevent if we act now. By denying the evidence for climate change, and pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Donald Trump will cause avoidable environmental damage to our beautiful planet, endangering the natural world, for us and our children." Hawking further stated that this could lead Earth,

"to become like Venus,with a temperature of two hundred and fifty degrees, and raining sulphuricacid".

Who am I to argue with such a great brain?

Stephen Hawking's death at 76 is sad but we should also celebrate what he achieved as a scientist and as a human being. That such a man should hold true to the philosophy and political ideals espoused by the above political detail, makes me sadder at his passing but also gives me hope.

NASA tweet 14/03/2018:

Remembering Stephen Hawking, a renowned physicist and ambassador of science. His theories unlocked a universe of possibilities that we & the world are exploring. May you keep flying like superman in microgravity, as you said to astronauts on @Space_Station in 2014 pic.twitter.com/FeR4fd2zZ5

— NASA (@NASA) March 14, 2018

Junior doctors begin fourth strike in contract dispute

The junior doctors and the rest of the NHS need our support. I posted on FB yesterday about a trainee midwife who had worked two 12hr shifts on consecutive days without time for food or rest breaks, many of her course have already dropped out due to the stress they experience and see around them that will only get worse once they qualify.

Who do YOU want to be treated by, who do you want your partner, baby, child, parent to be treated by?
I want well trained, alert, inspired, caring staff - they can't be that without proper rest, support, sensible working hours and OUR support!!

We can still have the best health service in the world, it does take money but WE are ALL worth it!!

Article in The Guardian
Junior doctors begin fourth strike in contract dispute

Drugs in prisons...

Surely an increase in drugs seizures in prisons is due to more drugs getting in and not better security! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30859350

Government spin in operation here!

A huge increase in drugs found does not equal better searching/security, there could be a link but it's unlikely and who would actually think that it was a direct link when the biggest increase is in private prisons. Private prisons do not have a good track record! The more obvious conclusion to draw would be that there has been a major increase in drugs smuggled into prisons - now this might just go alongside an increase in security but the uderlying factor is likely to be an increase in drugs.

The government is desparately trying to prove privatisation works before the general election. Well on recent evidence it doesn't:

• Hinchingbrooke Hospital inadequate - Privately run by Circle
• HMP Northumberland: Prison 'stand-off' comes to an end - Privately run by Sodexo
• Oakwood Prison: 'Near riot' claim as inmates damage cells - Privately run by G4S

What price privatisation of our NHS?

Hinchingbrooke Hospital - Inadequate

To me this doesn't just say NHS 'privatisation doesn't work', it also says something very fundamental about our NHS. If our NHS is failing it is because it is UNDERFUNDED. If a private company, that chose to bid to run Hinchinbrook, can't pull it off it means we are not putting enough INTO our healthcare system. What do we have, if we don't have health?

Furthermore, do you, YES YOU, think that someone should be making a profit out of health care? Making a profit out of our taxes? Should my or your ill health line even more private companies pockets? Isn't it enough that our health is held ransom by 'Big Pharma'?

Read Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Pharma

To finish with a little food for thought...

If we all become healthier what future do the private healthcare companies have then? Ok, I know this is the silly extreme but think about it! There is no profit in private healthcare companies reducing our need/dependency on them whether it be reduction in a need for their drugs, their hospitals, their care homes or their anything else!