How totally outrageous! People are getting tattoos removed on the NHS. Reported in the newspaper is the result of a request under the freedom of information legislation, regarding the amount spent on laser treatments to remove tattoos. In principle, I think it is utter madness that the taxpayer is covering the costs of removing marks that were added to people's bodies voluntarily. If someone can afford £100 for a tattoo, then they can fucking well live with it - or pay the going rate to try and get rid of it. How much more fucking straightforward can it be? Apparently a person just has to prove to a psychologist that he or she is distressed because of the tattoo and suddenly it becomes the state's problem, and up to the NHS to address. Fucking joke!
Anyway, having easily summoned a massive dose of indignation at learning about this, and seeing the cost, I was then drawn to another story taking up equal space on the same page. My "indignation" rose to a height rather greater than that which was allocated to tattoo removal. By the way, the cost given for this was just over £200,000 covering the last four years, although 40% of NHS trusts did not reply; so, it's probably then £400,000 - so £100,000 per year. The figures mentioned in the other article were staggering.
It turns out that Fucking Labour (that's my name for what they liked to call 'New Labour') axed fees for appeals against rejections for family visas. It used to be the case that for an immigrant to appeal, a fee of up to £500 was payable. However, the scrapping of this approach has led to a six-fold increase - 50,000 appeals last year (when it was at 8,000 per year beforehand). So, not only are we flooded with newcomers, family members (rather 'extended family' in many cases) are brought over on family visas; but if they are refused for whatever reason, then they appeal and cost us a fortune - and probably get in anyway, to outstay their visa limit later on. So, what is the cost of all this appealing? Well, it's not very appealing actually, and it's rather more than what it costs to get rid of tattoos. £1,000,000 per week !!! Yes, that's right, a million quid every week; 500 times the cost of getting rid of tattoos.
This country is fucked.
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