Hmmm, a pretty good assessment of Daniel Hannan by Absolute Radio’s Christian O’Connell. I dunno, just because he got Comedy Dave to swear on live radio a few weeks ago.
All kiddin aside though, the mask has now slipped from Dave’s nice nice Tories. Hannan is something of a hero of the right for his video attacking Brown in the European Parliament, when Brown visited. He does make valid points, and these are points made here on this blog. However, being a Tory his remedies are not the remedies I would prescribe, they would be best described as cuts cuts and more cuts. He should have put “Land of Hope and Glory” on the video. I mean, wow Tory attacks New Labour politician shocker. Whatever next, Tory grandee calls for tax cuts for the rich shocker.
His appearance on American broadcasting’s equivalent to our own Daily Mail is unwise to say the least, particularly for someone representing the government in waiting (if the polls are to be believed). One of the reasons for America being an uncivilised country is that healthcare is still very much tied to wealth. Obama recognises this and is trying to get further than Clinton did (his failure effectively sunk his first administration). However American politics is much more of a cesspit of corruption than anything here (with the exception of the parliament Hannan is a member of), and this has been shown with the arguments put forward by the healthcare companies, and their spokesmen in the Republican Party. As far as I can tell, the main argument is essentially the cost in terms of taxation and about how socialist it all is. The argument Obama should be using is how barbaric the current system is that you are turned away from a hospital if you cannot pay, no matter how serious your condition is. 16% of GDP is spent on health in the US (compared to 8.4% in the UK, that’s the UK not England, the UK. Got that Yanks, good), yet 45.7 million people in the US do not have healthcare. That is not the sign of a civilised society.
Hannan’s argument was that the NHS has been a “60 year mistake” and he wouldn’t inflilict the NHS on anyone. Well gee thanks for that. We all have things to thank the NHS for, for me personally the reconstructive plastic surgery (still in its infancy at Caniesburn Hospital) done on my left hand nearly 30 years ago being the most obvious reason for my gratitude. Yes, the NHS has its faults, most of which have been caused by politicians (of both sides) over the last 30 years worshiping at the altair of private enterprise, and believing that the public sector was bloated and needed trimmed, regardless of whether it was working or not. Politicians like… well Hannan really are to blame. For Andy Burnham to attack Hannan for being “unpatriotic” is something of a pot/kettle interface.
To my mind, Hannan’s biggest crime is to go along with the big fat Republican lie about the NHS. The claim by Roger Helmer, a fellow Tory MEP, that “80% of Americans are getting better health care than we are in the UK” is also to my mind an unsubstantiated claim. The Investors Business Daily also claimed “people such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the UK, where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.". That’ll be British born Stephen Hawking then, who is on record as saying that he “wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS".
So to finish, here’s BBC4’s new enfant terrible Charlie Brooker on the nice, friendly, more right wing than Hitler American news networks.
3 comments:
Jings Allan, it's difficult to find your comment link now with your new design!
I've answered you on my blog, but I can see I'm speaking to a I Love the NHS person.
Can't you see that, aside from the NHI contributions workers pay, taxpayers spend billions on a service which has stood still for years and years.
Remember the fiasco about the first MRI scanner? The treasury said they couldn't afford to fund it and all hell broke loose when a company said they would pay for it. Now, years later the company still pays and we hear not one word of protest. That's because people were getting the best scanning technology can provide.
Personally, I don't give a damn who or what funds my heathcare (after my own contribution of course) because I just want the best and I know we're nowhere near the best in this country these days.
I'd be willing to listen to any debate about how to improve it. One thing's for sure, politicians shouldn't be running it, it should be the professionals.
If it was restructured, I bet the first thing the professionals did would be sack 80% of the managers!
Hi there, thanks for the comment.
It's not that i love the NHS, i think that i prefer the concept of "free at the point of use" to the US system of available only if you can pay. Having said that, you have made a lot of valid points on your blog about the deficiencies in the system. And no, we are not getting the best service in this country. I keep waiting for Ange to tell me that they whipped out slugs or other creatures not used in medicine since the end of the 19th Century.
I think that sacking about 80% of NHS managers would be most peoples idea for restructuring the NHS id it ment better care. The only people against it though would be... the managers. I agree with the point about polititians running the NHS, however that goes off into another debate about how do we pick who runs the NHS.
The Americans are that stupid they don't realise that a lot of their services are already socialist such as their Police, Fire Service, Armed Forces and the Health provision that their government provides for the poor at the present etc.
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