A National Disgrace

Rishi Sunak is the man for the job. He looks so smart and collected compared to the last occupant of No. 10; though, let's face it, who wouldn't? This Sheriff is all about integrity (don't ask about his wife's tax affairs or why he served at the behest of a clown for so long) and fiscal responsibility: firstly, he wears glasses, so his economic acumen is unimpeachable; secondly, he and his Chancellor "balanced the books" with some abracadabra (punting on the hard decisions and kicking the can down the road, long after the next election). Notwithstanding, there is one area in which this magnanimous Premier may suffer from a blindspot. He does not quite comprehend why the plebeians need universal - free at the point of use - healthcare. Haven't the proletariat heard of private medical insurance? 

What follows is a fair assessment with one caveat: the vitriolic criticism of the Government's unforgivable failures must be tempered by the aforementioned point on the PM's unfamiliarity with poor-people healthcare (maybe the guy with the offshore share deposits deserves some slack too). So, with that necessary qualification out of the way, let's get serious for a moment. 

The Government's handling of the healthcare crisis has been nothing short of cataclysmal. Once a symbol of national pride, the NHS is now plagued by long waiting times, inadequate staffing, and a severe lack of resources. People with life-threatening emergencies wait for hours for an ambulance to turn up. Elderly stroke patients are being left to wait hours in A&E, unable to receive the care they desperately need. Young people are suffering under the weight of anxiety and depression, with many waiting years to receive any meaningful psychiatric help. 

The Government's underfunding of the NHS, combined with its reckless political decisions, has led to a crisis in the healthcare system that is causing incalculable suffering for patients and healthcare workers alike. Furthermore, the Government's failure to address the mental health crisis caused by the pandemic is an unforgivable dereliction of duty. The craven Prime Minister and his clueless acolytes have the gall even to attempt to spin a yarn with their refusal to admit that the NHS is in crisis. 

Perhaps only a nuclear armageddon would qualify as a "crisis" for this band of political fools. It is high time for the Government to take responsibility for their actions and make the necessary investments to ensure that the NHS is adequately funded and equipped to provide the care that the people of this country deserve. A citizenry unable to access proper healthcare, or worse, afraid even to attempt to seek care, does not bode well for the Tories' (correct) insistence on the importance of higher productivity and economic growth. Just like scientific data, economic data do not yield automatic political answers. Concerns about fiscal discipline and the nation's creditworthiness are profoundly well-placed. However, a myopic focus on number-crunching misses the bigger picture. This Prime Minister, either through caprice or naivete, almost always misses the bigger picture of what it means to be a leader with courage and conviction. 

The Tories' actions towards the NHS are nothing short of a concerted effort to emaciate the once-great healthcare system. If they continue on this path, they might as well abolish it and erase National Insurance contributions from the tax code. The Government's refusal to provide any meaningful increase in pay for nurses is an insult to the hardworking men and women who are the backbone of the NHS. Remember clapping for NHS workers during the first lockdowns of the pandemic? Well, now we might as well be slapping those key workers (and sending some of them to food banks to plug the gap).  

A prolonged and injurious spell of austerity, stretching from the era of the hapless Chancellor, George Osborne, has eviscerated most of the public sector. The NHS was never perfect, and it never will be. Any colossal government programme will suffer from maladministration, waste and graft. That is the nature of things. Those who (wrongly) dismiss - in categorical terms - the idea of free markets (because they are a remnant of a "white patriarchy" and cause "inequity") must also accept that government welfare programmes - even noble and necessary ones like the NHS - are not immune from failure and inefficiency. Notwithstanding, this emergency is of a different character and magnitude: the National Healthcare Service is on its knees; another knock may demolish it completely.