Keeping it Simple
I think our government treats me like an idiot. And not only that – like a variable idiot.
Energy is what’s currently got me angry. I’m switching supplier (you’ll all be thrilled to know) and it turns out that a standing charge for gas and electricity is being implemented across the board by all suppliers. Doubling my bills, in effect. My bills have doubled; hundreds of pounds a year I’m now losing on this. And why have they doubled?
Because our government wanted to make things simple.
Us little people, us innocent scurrying masses – we are confused by choice. I don’t want to be able to modify my behaviour based on my energy usage, I don’t want to have options or opinions. I want everything spelt out to me and made simple. A simple tariff for simple minds. Because I am simple. And now, it turns out, poorer as a consequence. (I actually have correspondence from Ofgem on this theme – however, as it’s so banal I’ll leave it in a separate post, rather than clutter this!)
And yet!
When it comes to the NHS, our government wants us to have choice! Because even though we can’t understand the difference between an energy tariff that charges less at night and more in the evening, even though we can’t read a clock or comprehend a gas meter, when it comes to cancer care we’re all experts. I definitely want to be able to walk into a hospital and say, ‘ah-ha, Dr Brown, you propose chemo but Dr Smith at this private clinic, after I paid £500 for his opinion, told me I’d be okay with just a little light lemongrass and you know what, oncology expert that I am, I think he’s right.’ Don’t get me wrong – I want my opinion to be respected in the NHS, I am the patient, I want to be fully informed and make an informed judgment. But at the end of the day I don’t want a choice between services in my hospitals. I want a frickin’ brilliant service across the board. I want Dr Smith to be as good as Dr Jones, I want them to both say, ‘take the chemo’ because it’s the best thing that can be done.
Our government is cutting choice in those areas of life where we can take responsibility for ourselves – our finances and the way we live. While simultaneously they claim to give us choice in the one area where you don’t want to choose, you just want the very best, for everyone, that the system can provide.
