The banana republic of Surrey has shown local council funding is broken | Simon Jenkins

The algebra is simple. The NHS is having another terrible winter. It does not collapse, but “spills demand” on to the next line of defence, local government welfare. But while the NHS gets more money annually from the Treasury, local government gets less, some 30% less since 2011. It cannot cope with the new pressure.

The equation resolves itself into rationing, by quantity and quality: fewer care places, fewer home visits and fewer district nurses leads to more bed-blocking, fewer operations, longer trolley waits.

Tory Surrey is a responsible supplier of post-hospital care. Like all councils, it is allowed by the Treasury to increase its council tax by 5%, specifically to boost its care budget and thus ease pressure on the NHS – which the Treasury is responsible for funding. Surrey county council regarded this as nothing like enough. It therefore activated its statutory right to hold a referendum on a 15% increase.

Far from showing delight at a wealthy council accepting this burden, the Tory government was appalled. Tories do not increase taxes. The chancellor (and Surrey MP) Philip Hammond duly did what Jeremy Corbyn called a secret deal. If Surrey abandoned its referendum and the 15% hike, it could retain revenue from a different tax – the local business rate, which normally went to the Treasury. That is, the Treasury would in effect spend more on health and care in Surrey, but secretly and, so far, just for Surrey.

This is the stuff of a banana republic. If Britain wants to spend more on health and elderly care, it should raise it and spend it honestly. Instead, the Treasury is running around its fiscal A&E department, staunching the flow of political blood by slamming on plasters wherever a patient screams or twists an arm.

Leaked Surrey council tax texts allow Corbyn to ambush May at PMQs

Some might argue that an NHS free at the point of delivery has had its day. New disciplines and incentives, through fees or insurance or more prevention, must constrain marginal demand. But for the time being, it makes no sense to squeeze the NHS at the top – where politicians are exposed – and dump its problems on to local government and different funding streams at the bottom. It wastes money and distorts priorities. It is illiterate public finance.

If Surrey is harbinger of a new health and care service, and business taxes are to relieve an ever-burgeoning NHS, so be it. But few places are as rich as Surrey. Revenue will have to be redistributed from rich to poor areas. In other words, it is not just the NHS that needs rethinking, but the whole murky world of local government finance.

The banana republic of Surrey has shown local council funding is broken | Simon Jenkins

Incredible Health Benefits of Eating Banana Flowers (And banana flower curry recipe)

Incredible Health Benefits of Eating Banana Flowers (And banana flower curry recipe)

10 Top Health Benefits of Banana Flowers

Everybody well known about the benefits of bananas, but very few knows about the banana flower. It is also called the banana blossom or a banana heart is tear shaped and has a purple color thats usually grows at the end of the banana cluster on banana trees.

In many South Asians and Southeast Asian countries banana flowers are usually used as a vegetable. Banana flowers are also make tasty curries, curries and fried foods anf its flavor is quite similar to artichoke.

10 Health Benefits of Banana Flower

Boost Mood & Reduce Anxiety

Banana flowers improves the mood and lessens anxiety due to having high magnesium. They serve as anti-depressants without side effects.

Cures Anaemia

They helps in increasing the level of haemoglobin in the blood. Good levels of haemoglobin helps in carrying nutrients to all the parts of the body efficiently which is necessary, it also cures anaemia naturally.

Cancer & Heart disease

Banana flowers contain tannins, acids, flavonoids and other antioxidants which helps to counteract free radicals and eliminates the oxidative damage which leads to cancer and heart disease.

Overcoming Diabetes

They are very good for diabetics, eating boiled banana flowers or eaten alone could lower blood sugar levels. This is because the fibers in banana flower is quite high. It also increase levels of hemoglobin in the body.

Increased Milk Production

Banana flowers are good for lactating mothers as it helps increase the breast milk supply. These flowers improve the dwindling supply of milk that aids new mothers to feed their young ones better.

Fight Free Radicals

Free radicals attack healthy cells and damage them, leading to problems like heart disease, cancer and skin ageing. Banana flowers are high in antioxidants content that fight free radicals and prevent them from damaging the body cells.

Curing the infection

One of the best functioning of the banana flower is treating the infection. As bananas flowers contain ethanol which inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria and also able to heal the wound naturally.

Neural Disorders

Eating banana flowers daily can also help prevent neural disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease as free radicals easily damage the neural tissue.

Weight Loss

Soup made from banana flower aids weight loss. Just add banana flower with garlic, ginger, and coriander leaves to the soup. Consumed it four to five times a week.

Menstrual Bleeding

Menstruation causes unbearable pain in women. Some go through severe PMS, while others bleed terribly. A cup of cooked banana flowers along with curd or yoghurt can help deal with these problems. Because this combination increases the progesterone hormone in the body and reduces bleeding.

Sources:

– http://www.findhomeremedy.com

– http://vegihealth.com

– https://www.healthbenefitstimes.com

More Read:

10 Top Health Benefits of Banana Flowers

Meet the "super banana" a vitamin-enriched upgrade that could save lives

Banana boost … the new GM ‘super banana’ is enriched with alpha and beta-carotene, producing the fruit itself orange rather than cream-coloured. Photograph: Alamy

Title: Super banana.

Age: Extremely new.

Visual appeal: Coming quickly.

A super banana? D’you mean that, unwilling to rest on its laurels as presently the world’s most amusing fruit, the banana has joined the checklist of superfoods, alongside garlic, goji berries, blueberries, broccoli and the like? No.

Are we speaking about just 1 banana? That has served the banana neighborhood selflessly for years and on whom there has been conferred some kind of banana honour? No.

So all which is left is – banana superhero! Wow! Like Bananaman but an real banana! That I ought to have lived to see such occasions! Incredible! No, this is a genetically modified banana with the likely to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands, if the existing human trials, which have just begun, go well.

But which is even a lot more super! How is it going to do this? The super banana is enriched with alpha and beta-carotene (making it orange rather than cream-coloured), which the physique converts to Vitamin A.

Are individuals in Africa brief of Vitamin A? They are certainly. About a million young children a 12 months die or go blind because of it. This modified type of the Highland or East African cooking banana, one of the staple food items in the region, should go a long way towards rectifying this.

This is not a super banana. This is an excellent banana. A splendid banana. Best banana?

How did I not get there? I do not know. I imagined of it minutes in the past. Just been waiting for the proper time.

Nicely, kudos. But tell me a lot more. Who’s behind this probably existence-saving plantain? Professor James Dale is the head of the nine-12 months venture, funded by nearly £6m from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, at the Queensland University of Technological innovation in Brisbane, Australia.

He should be pleased. But I’ve been about as well long not to inquire – are there any downsides? The typical inquiries about the unknown attainable consequences of genetic engineering. Dr Helen Wallace of GeneWatch points out that there is proof that too considerably beta carotene can be carcinogenic – what if people with no the vitamin deficiency eat the fruit?

Couldn’t they just keep away from the orange ones? If they know their recent vitamin amounts, sure.

Ah. Anyway, hopefully almost everything will flip out at least super-ish in the finish.

Do say: “What an wonderful capacity for very good science and humanity possess!”

Do not say: “This 1 seems like a willy! Phone That’s Life!”

Meet the "super banana" a vitamin-enriched upgrade that could save lives

Healthy recipes: gluten-cost-free banana pancakes

This blend of oats, almonds and flax can make each and every pancake brilliantly thick with a flawlessly warm, squishy middle – just like excellent American pancakes – even though the addition of ripe banana to the batter can make them so sweet that they want only a drop of pure maple syrup for further deliciousness. Topped with fresh blueberries, walnut pieces, sliced banana, strawberries and a little additional maple syrup, they are basically divine. They are super-healthful, as well the oats and almonds imply they are filling, so you truly can’t consume hundreds of them. This is also the simplest pancake recipe that I have ever utilised it truly does requires only 5 minutes to place together, and each pancake turns out perfectly – even the first 1.

2 ripe bananas

⅔ cup ground almonds

¼ cup ground flaxseed

2 tbsp pure maple syrup, raw honey or raw agave

two tsp cinnamon

Coconut oil for cooking

1 cup blueberries (optional)

For the topping

Pure maple syrup

A handful of blueberries

A handful of walnut pieces

A handful of strawberries, sliced if big

1 ripe banana, sliced

Place the oats in a foods processor and blend for a minute or two, until they type a smooth, dusty flour. Then slice the bananas, adding them and the remaining components (except for the blueberries) to the processor with the oats and a cup of water. Blend right up until a smooth mixture types. The mixture must flip out nicely and be fairly thick, not too runny. Transfer to a mixing bowl.

If you’re using blueberries, stir these in now.

Location a frying pan on the heat for a minute or two, and once it is really scorching include a teaspoon of coconut oil and permit it to melt. Then add a quarter of the mix to the pan, using a spoon to form it into a round. After about a minute check the bottom of the pancake. If it would seem cooked, flip it above and permit the other side to cook for another minute. Then remove the pancake, add an additional teaspoon of coconut oil and go once more.

Stack up the pancakes as they are cooked and serve covered with maple syrup, blueberries, walnut pieces, strawberries and banana.

Recipes from Deliciously Ella

Healthful recipes: sweet potato brownies

Healthy recipes: gluten-free of charge almond, quinoa and pumpkin-seed bread

Healthier recipes: sun-dried tomato, aubergine and pine-nut pasta

Healthier recipes: hazelnut chocolate spread

Healthy recipes: courgette noodles with minted avocado sauce

deliciouslyella.com.

Healthy recipes: gluten-cost-free banana pancakes