Just going back to Torminalis first post "we can't go on spending over 50% of GDP on the public sector". The greatest myth the ConDems have managed to perpetuate through the right wing press is that out-of-control public spending is what got the country into a financial mess and not the global economic meltdown.
There are two very simple, clear, graphs here that do a lot to piss all over that claim.
The other thing to remember is that, as someone else has pointed out already, the majority of public spending does not go on public servants (ie employees). The 'dirty hospitals' you're complaining of are to a great extent a result of the privatisation/outsourcing of services such as cleaning. Put a company in charge of cleaning that's put in a bid at the lowest possible price, likely employing workers on short term contracts at low rates, whose aim is to do the minimum possible to reach the SLA that was set (and which needs an inordinate amount of resource to report on and monitor but is actually near impossible to enforce) and the quality goes out of the window.
Once upon a time you had cleaners employed by the hospital itself, probably at no greater cost, who had some job security and continuity, and possibly took some pride in their work.
