Chad is Fine

 

See here for essential background: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2025/08/a-machine-shouldnt-speak-for-men.html.
I have an update on the above article I wrote the other day and it's very good news. It was found by a reader who told me about it in the comments. The love and solidarity shown to Chad Willoughby by the people of Taylorsville has triumphed over the heartless and mindless corporate bureaucracy that stripped him of his livelihood. The fundraiser raised US$6000 and that helped keep a roof over and food on for him and his family while he was unemployed, but I'm pleased to say another supermarket snapped him up very quickly. The grocery chain Harmons is a smaller institution than the global giant Walmart. It was founded in 1932 and has just twenty branches only in the state of Utah. They have given Chad a similar job as a cashier in their store in the nearby town of Sandy. Just like in the Taylorsville Walmart, he has quickly developed many admirers among the local residents who shop there. One of them, Candee Allred, organized a party for him in the shop's cafeteria. His customers cannot sing his praises loudly enough. They say he cheers them up whenever they're feeling down. No doubt this has increased the shop's popularity and therefore profit. His supervisor puts it very well: "His former employer's loss is definitely our gain." Source: https://www.sandyjournal.com/2022/01/03/380210/harmons-cashier-flourishes-in-his-job-and-gains-hundreds-of-neighborhood-fans. There are a lot of terrible things going on in the world right now and sometimes the evil seems overwhelming. It seems invincible, marching onwards with nothing and nobody willing and/or able to stop it. But we can stop it. The saga of Chad Willoughby proves that the light can defeat the darkness. (I will copy this article to HPANWO Voice because of the version of the background one I wrote there.)

A Machine Shouldn't Speak for Men

 

Yesterday I wrote an article on HPANWO Voice about Chad Willoughby, the shop worker who had been sacked, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2025/07/friendly-shop-worker-sacked.html. (Somebody in the comments has informed me that Chad has now found employment in a different grocer, one that I hope will value him more.) This article is not really a follow-up, more a hospital portering edition of the same one. I'll address other issues to do with this case that lie outside the scope of the Voice. The title of this article comes from the lyrics of an excellent song by the rapper Immortal Technique which is paraphrased from a speech made by Charlie Chaplin in his 1940 film The Great Dictator, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCoTVCgWX90 and: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7GY1Xg6X20. Why did Walmart sack Chad? It's not a good business model to dispose of employees who attract customers. There may be a connection to my own experience in the MRI although in this case the aversion comes from the top, see: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2025/03/he-loved-his-work.html. I've heard many stories about people who are fond of their work and take pride in it; and worst still, behave in a manner that makes it obvious they are enjoying it, getting into some kind of trouble. I include myself in this. In Chad's case it was from management; in mine it was from both colleagues and management. I wonder what Chad's fellow Walmart employees thought of him. In some cases it is the customer who objects, for example: https://www.reddit.com/r/starbucksbaristas/comments/hh0siv/i_got_a_complaint_for_being_too_friendly_and_it. Obviously they'd rather be served by some glass-eyed script-reading Stepford husband; that would somehow give them comfort. Some people can't abide seeing other people happy. They're like prisoners in jail; when one of the inmates tries to escape the others block his way and alert the warders. Another metaphor might be the strange crabs that live at the bottom of the sea whose body is so used to the crushing pressure and oppressive darkness that they can't survive without it. They don't feel that way about people with high conventional social status because such people are supposed to be enjoying their lives. The ones who grate are those with low status, shop assistants and HP's for example, who are not walking round with bowed heads and slumped shoulders, cursing every moment of their mortal existence. This is an awful situation because I feel humans are slowly turning into machines, just like the faceless and soulless consoles that shoppers use to buy their own goods from the supermarket. It's very revealing about my own life and why I made so many enemies at the hospital without even trying. Maybe this is why they eventually discarded me.

Big Spammer is Watching You- HP Edition

 

I have received the following email:
 
Hi Ben
 
We published A Market Report on Mobile Patient Lifting Equipment (2025) for You and Competitors. (sic)
The following manufacturers are covered:
 
Arjo
Baxter
Benmor Medical
Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare
Etac AB
GF Health Products Inc.
Guldmann A/S
Invacare Holdings Corporation
Joerns Healthcare
K Care Healthcare Solutions
Medline Industries
LP
Prism Medical UK
Stryker
 
If you have further interest in this report or related reports, we would be happy to share the sample report for your reference.
Best regards / Mit freundlichen Grüßen / 此致敬意,
Bella (...)
 
I've often had that strange feeling that someone's watching me. I've recorded these suspicious incidents in articles like this: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2025/07/big-spammer-is-watching-you-3-tripod.html. Now I've had a spam email that demonstrates once again that there is a system somewhere building a profile on me based on my tastes and interests expressed though internet activity. This email is different though; it has a particular hospital portering theme. The companies on that list all exist. I have a feeling the text is an AI translation because of its stilted syntax and somewhat forced tone. I'm not sure why all the words in the opening sentence are capitalized. The last line includes a phrase in two foreign languages, German and Chinese, and both mean "best regards". I tried Googling "Bella's" full name and it came up a blank. I find it disturbing that there is somebody out there who has created a "file on me", even if it just an automated system and even if it's for an innocent purpose; in this case advertising. It could even be beneficial because it could connect me to products that might interest me. The problem is that if online advertising agencies can do this to me who else can? What else do they know about me? What do they plan to use the information for?

Against Inverted Snobbery

 

We live in a world where injustice is one of the daily niggles and obstacles in life for almost everybody. We can reduce it in our own lives, but we cannot eliminate it. I think so long as we don't contribute to it ourselves through our own actions and inactions then we have to be satisfied with that. A common mistake when coping with injustice, whether real or just perceived, is one I see a lot in wokery, feminism and so-called "Celtic" nationalism; that is to fetishize it to the point where is becomes a part of our identity, and even, in a strange way, a part of our self-esteem. (See here for background details: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2021/08/women-in-ufology.html and: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2024/10/cvd-is-ruining-wales.html.) Of course this delusion is not confined to the above tendencies. We hospital porters have our own kind, in fact so does the rest of the working class. In a way it is understandable. When dealing with the SULBN's and psycho midwives of this world, see: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2024/01/how-dare-you.html and: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2024/01/well-take-it-from-here.html, how do you expect us to react? This totally unprovoked, baffling and meaningless hostility is going to have an effect. It's going to change people's lives. It changed mine; in fact before I joined up with the HP's I didn't even believe it existed. Sure, I'd heard stories from older friends and family members, but I dismissed them. Surely nobody would be unpleasant and aggressive to another person for no reason at all, except because they can and want to due to social status, would they? The common and most instinctive reaction to this abuse is simply to abuse back; blindly and without discrimination. There are many things wrong with this approach. When you go to war against an abstraction all you usually end up achieving is harm towards individuals who are themselves innocent. Along with that comes the narcissism and arrogance of victimhood, which is the staple mentality among the groups I mention above. I think this is why I didn't last very long in union shop steward training. I saw through it quite quickly. Many people have remarked about how strange it is that so many trade union officials end up in administration. I've even coined the phrase "the shop steward to management pipeline". I think a lot of those men are primarily motivated by envy. This is what you'll find when you dissemble their inverted snobbery. They go on and on about "workers rights", but as soon as they find an opportunity to get their feet under the top table they leap at it. (Nicolae Ceaușescu, the last communist leader of Romania was once asked how he fought anti-government rebels. He replied: "I don't fight them, I offer them a job.") So I think inverted snobbery is something of a satanic tempter for HP's and the working class in general; but it is extremely destructive, to yourself and others. However, injustice without catharsis is one of the worst experiences you can endure. I consider it a form of mental torture, probably the most common type. Something must be done about it, and without inverted snobbery what do we do then? Well, there are two solutions. The first is that I find immoral acts often bring their own punishment; I do believe in karma. I've noticed it in my own life. The second is my own invention, the dignity statement, for example see: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2023/12/telephone-dignity-statements.html. Just give those two solutions a chance! If they don't work, feel free to go back to pacing the lodge floor in endless circles railing against "posh bastards!"; but if they do work for you, I swear to you, you'll find them a salvation.
See here for more background: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2024/05/hard-work-by-polly-toynbee.html.
And: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2024/10/hospital-porters-guild.html.

Uch!

 

I was in London on Monday making a video for HPANWO TV, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2025/07/awake-and-aware-conference-2025.html, and happened to walk past the University College Hospital. This was originally founded in 1834, but the old buildings have been replaced by a typical new PFI pile on the corner of Gower Street and Euston Road. It is a tall and compact building without any space between the walls and pavements as you'd expect in crowded London. I never went to the main entrance which is on the north facade, but I decided to go in and have a look at the emergency department which is behind a surprisingly small door on the east side. As I walked up the entrance ramp I saw a pregnant woman who looked like she was in labour. At the time I wasn't sure if the UCH had maternity services; as it happens, it doesn't. This is unusual because maternity tends to be attached to general hospitals. I would have warned her and her husband if I'd known. Inside the emergency department I faced another surprise; it was very small, not much bigger than a GP's surgery waiting room. There were some rows of seats, only about thirty, and lots of people were sitting on the floor. It was very overcrowded and people who couldn't find space to sit were standing precariously against the wall. There was a reception desk behind a sheet of armoured glass and a door to minor side where a grim-looking security guard in a covid mask sat. The waiting room itself was totally sealed off from the rest of the hospital. I heard a voice on a loudspeaker say: "Could we have a porter to cubicle five with a wheelchair please." I looked over and saw a row of windows behind which was a wheelchair stack. Sure enough a porter appeared. He used a key to unlock the wheelchair; it was connected to the stack by a chain, like some supermarket trolleys. Why? Do people steal them? (Actually we did have a few go missing at the John Radcliffe and I found one in a pub. That's an amusing story I will relate another time. However, we never felt any cause to chain them together.) I wanted to salute the porter, which was the main reason for me entering the hospital, but my brother was behind the reinforced plate glass screen and so would never have heard me call to him. See here for the hospital's official site: https://www.uclh.nhs.uk/our-services/our-hospitals/university-college-hospital. This hospital's A&E was totally different to the one at the JR. It is clearly built with security as its top priority. Maybe that's a sign of the times we live in. The waiting room is far too small and the atmosphere inside it was tense. God knows what it's like late on a Friday night! I will look at the main entrance and report on it when I can, but I'm willing to bet it will be very different to the emergency entrance; large, grand, intimidating and pretentious.

Lucy Letby- More Arrests

 

See here for essential background: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2025/02/new-lucy-letby-panel.html.
Police investigating the series of baby deaths in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital have made a further three arrests. The three unnamed administration officers are being held under suspicion of manslaughter. They may have committed gross medical negligence in the case of the deaths because they wilfully ignored warning signs from the unit's records, specifically those connected to Lucy Letby who has been jailed for fifteen life sentences after being convicted of murdering the babies... but did she? See links below. Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes of the Cheshire constabulary said: "In October 2023 following the lengthy trial and subsequent conviction of Lucy Letby, Cheshire constabulary launched an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the Countess of Chester hospital. This focuses on senior leadership and their decision-making to determine whether any criminality has taken place concerning the response to the increased levels of fatalities. In March 2025 the scope of the investigation widened also to include gross negligence manslaughter. This is a separate offence to corporate manslaughter and focuses on the grossly negligent action or inaction of individuals." Source: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/01/lucy-letby-countess-of-chester-hospital-bosses-arrested. All three have been released on bail and no doubt right now they are sitting in their homes desperately machinating some scheme to throw each of the other two under the bus and come up smelling of roses themselves. I'm not sure how familiar the police are with NHS managers, but I hope they are savvy enough to realize that they are some of the greediest, weakest, most deceitful, most amoral and downright crafty people you can possibly imagine. One thing's for sure, if we see any convictions over this, the person who goes down will be the one least to blame, if not somebody totally innocent; and, as the comedian Bill Hicks used to say, the little demons will be left to run amuck. I'll make another post as soon as there are updates.
See here for more background: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2024/07/is-lucy-letby-innocent.html.
And: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-gas-spanner-programme-89.html.

Ex-Footie Coach is Honourary HP

 

The former football manager Luke Williams has gone up in the world! He has just lost his position coaching Swansea City FC. He quit in February after a run of seven defeats in just nine matches. This has made him unpopular with the fans and in the end the board decided to let him go. As regular followers will know, I have got into the habit of considering airport mobility helpers honourary hospital porters, for example see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2025/06/ben-in-desert-2.html. Even though they are not technically HP's I find it impossible not to compare them to members of our ancient and noble profession. Their job is to assist disabled passengers around the airport, through customs and security, and on and off the aircraft. They push the travellers on wheelchairs and I've been saluting them and saying "Pride and Dignity Brother/Sister Porter" when I pass them. They usually smile and thank me. Luke Williams is one of these honourary HP's at Bristol Airport. Source: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/sacked-swansea-city-manager-luke-31906436. I wish him luck with it. He has not commented on whether he will be applying for any other league football coaching roles. Perhaps he will become too fond of his new life to change it.