A new website allowing the public to submit ideas on how to improve the NHS has, of course, been flooded with ridiculous suggestions.
Ideas for the NHS
Today in ‘brilliant ideas that definitely won’t be derailed by an immature public’, we have the announcement by Health Secretary Wes Streeting to share their views on how to improve the National Health Service. The public engagement exercise, which is live now, will be published next year. You can add your thoughts here.
Naturally, the public have already started contributing ideas to Mr Streeting, ranging from the unusual to the plain absurd. Because country life dot co dot uk is, much like the NHS, a public service, we’ve looked into some of the strangest and brought them to you.
Paul O has suggested that we open hospitals an hour earlier, which is quite surprising as I would have assumed that hospitals didn’t necessarily shut. But it’s been a while since I’ve been to one I suppose.
Nicola suggested that we cover hospitals in solar panels, which is a good idea that doesn’t necessarily help with long waiting times, but is good for the planet. Nice one Nicola. One respondent suggested that we should replace ambulance sirens with ‘healthy eating advice’. Which is one of those ideas that makes you stop and think for a while.
This could have been Wes Streeting, if he was brave enough. Credit: Paul Hardy via Getty Images
Someone has said we should legalise cannabis. Because somebody always says that. Another highlight was an idea from William, who suggested that ‘everyone who successfully attends a GP appointment could be entered into a draw for Taylor Swift concert tickets’. Miss Swift would have to probably extend her current tour, but I suppose it’s doable.
Not sure I loved one suggestion that nurses shouldn’t need degrees to be nurses. I like my nurses to know what they are doing, rather than just figuring it out on the job, but then again I am a soft millennial.
An idea that does have some traction, but has sadly already been ruled out by Mr Streeting, is to put a Wetherspoons in every hospital ‘to reduce rates of mental illness’. Mr Streeting has also publicly declined to be fired out of a cannon to raise money for the NHS. Which is a shame, for reasons I won’t go into.
Nothing makes you more proud to be British than a reasonable effort to involve the public in decision making being ruined by that very public. Remember Boaty McBoatface? We do, fondly.
Rare fungi found in Dorset
The crown-tipped coral Artomyces pyxidatus. I am pretty sure this was in the Last of Us. Credit: Nick Dobbs
The very rare, delicate fungi Artomyces pyxidatus, known as crown tipped coral or candelabra coral, was spotted during a nature walk held at a Dorset Farm.
Expert mycologist Andy Knott, of Jurassic Coast Mushrooms, led a ‘Fungi Foray’ walk at the Countryside Regeneration Trust’s Bere Marsh Farm, Shillingstone, and spotted the crown-tipped coral, which for almost a century and a half had been thought to be extinct in the UK.
‘Our last reliable record of this species, prior to the 20th Century, was in 1886, thanks to a collection made by mycologist Carleton Reale,’ said Mr Knott. A dozen or so unconfirmed sightings in the 20th century were inconclusive, but in 2021 a specimen of Artomyces pyxidatus was officially recorded in Suffolk — and it seems to have been spreading healthily.
‘There have been a small number of finds around Sussex and Kent,’ adds Andy, ‘but on iNaturalist, a website I use, the discovery at Bere Marsh Farm is the only find in the UK west of the South Downs. It’s a real treat to have this mushroom fruiting in Dorset.’
You won’t spot these on forest floor or around the base of living trees: the fungus is most likely to be spotted growing on decaying hardwoods, and occasionally some softwoods ‘Unlike other similar looking ‘Coral’ fungi, these grow on decaying wood, instead of emerging from the ground,’ says Andy.
Quiz
1) Which British band named its fourth album Country Life?
2) The area around Sloane Square in London was formerly known as what ‘Town’?
3) What was Sir Alfred J. Munnings’s middle name?
4) Winter Density is a type of which vegetable?
5) Chatsworth House in Derbyshire is next to which river?
Will travel for crisps
Few things in life are better than a refreshing drink and a bag of crisps. One Huddersfield publican took it even further, offering pairings. Credit: Getty Images
There’s a festival for just about anything these days. Music. Sea shanties. Snails. So it was somewhat surprising to read about the first iteration of the International Crisp Festival, which took place over the weekend.
Started by John Fletcher, landlord of the Sportsman Inn in Huddersfield, the festival offered almost 70 flavours of crisp, as well as specialist pairing events. Flavours on offer range from caviar to salted egg yolk, according to the BBC.
‘The idea was, a bit like a beer festival where you get loads of different beers from different places, let’s do the same with crisps,’ Mr Fletcher told the BBC. ‘In the first weekend we sold what we’d normally do in a month in crisps. The first group in came from Nottingham especially for the festival. Between them that afternoon they probably did 20 bags of crisps and then took a carrier bag each home with them.’
Mr Fletcher added that he hadn’t tried every flavour of crisp, but that he had ‘eaten more crisps than I would like to admit over the last week’. His favourite flavour was Golden Wonder chip shop curry.
There were two pairing events held during the festival. Mr Fletcher suggested pairing a ‘classic Seabrooks cheese and onion with Timothy Taylors’s Boltmaker. It’s all about terroir, local products and working together’. Wonderful stuff.
Why did we demolish Euston station?
The arch outside the main entrance to Euston Station in central London, pictured in 1952. The arch was the largest Greek propylaeum ever built. Credit: Museum of London/Heritage Images/Getty Images
Euston station has been in the news a lot recently, from overcrowding troubles to HS2 line extensions. It’s a dangerous thing to say these days, but Euston is an absolute crime against transport and comfort, that has been getting progressively worse and worse and worse. However, it didn’t used to be. It used to be one of the most elegant stations in the capital, if not the country. So what happened? Martin Fone explains all here.
An oasis of nature in Kent
Paul O’Grady is much missed, especially by us here at Country Life. He did amazing things for comedy, for the stage, and for animals. His home in Kent became something of an oasis for nature while he lived there, and it’s now for sale with Strutt and Parker. It’s a very special home indeed.
That’s all for today – see you tomorrow
Quiz answers
1) Roxy Music
2) Hans Town
3) James
4) Lettuce
5) River Derwent
The Dawn Chorus: The Eden Project’s rarest plant is destined to take its own life
One of Britain's most popular tourist spots has got itself a Madagascan suicide palm, one of the world's rarest plants.
The Dawn Chorus: We tried a Guinness shandy so you don’t have to
Plus the quiz of the day, swimming the Channel three times to raise money for the Garden Museum, and why
Dawn Chorus: ‘If we don’t decarbonise heat, we’re b*ggered’
Straight talking from a business-minded climate activist, plus two of the few professional models to appear in a Country Life
Conker cheating scandal rocks world championships, a kingfisher becomes ungovernable, and dogs in the army rewarded with latest tech: It’s the Dawn Chorus
Plus, the quiz of the day, a modern day Arts-and-Crafts masterpiece for sale, plus Jane Austen's writing desk returns to
