Over the last week there has been on line anger over a vote in the House of Commons to stop the NHS being part of a future UK/US trade deal. The vote itself was pretty much meaningless political posturing. The response on social media was full of plucky memes fighting NHS privatisation, complete with made … Read more
The US is at a turning point in the fight against CV-19. Deaths are still falling, but new infections are rising again as states re-open economic activity cheered on by the White House. The big risk for the US is that CV-19 takes hold in the large rural populations, which already suffer from high levels … Read more
There has been a lot of noise about HMG handing out contracts to private companies during the Coronavirus crisis without proper tendering. Lots of these contract awards are actually pretty sensible; emergency contracts for ventilators and testing services. There are however some eye watering contracts being awarded, including over £100m for the supply of PPE … Read more
Killings by Police Officers in Great Britain There have been 109 recorded killings by the Police in Great Britain since records began, which means mostly over the last 150 years. This doesn’t include events such as the death of Liddle Towers were police culpability was never established, and doesn’t include deaths by security services in … Read more
A few months ago I wrote about the impossible task that Trump had set himself getting rid of Obamacare: Trump’s basic problem is that the US has been drifting closer and closer to a socialised healthcare system for decades as Federal and State spending on healthcare has over-taken insurers and private individuals. All Obama did … Read more
Parliament has debated the new immigration bill this week. Government announcements are heavy on Brexity slogans about taking back control and “Global Britain”, but the reality is that the Bill gives Ministers the power to exclude people from the UK labour market who don’t hold a high level qualification and aren’t a higher earner. Decisions … Read more
In yesterdays blog I suggested that the new centralised system to provide PPE to care homes was run by a company called Clipper. The actual system that the Department of Health and Social Care has set up is run by Ebay. Clipper are the logistics partner who are distributing the equipment to all non-acute health … Read more
Over the next week or two the Government will be announcing the first relaxation of the lockdown that has confined us to our homes for the last month. The rationale for the relaxation is that we are doing well in our fight against Coronavirus. Which begs the obvious question – how well we are actually … Read more
This is from today’s Times. Another article wallowing in World War 2 nostalgia designed to appeal to an older generation who find that the C21st makes them anxious and who have retreated into a fantasy world of Spitfires and Union Jack bunting. Personally I don’t think bringing back national service is such a terrible idea … Read more
This is the last in a trilogy of posts from the era of Big Government. A cautionary tale of NHS procurement. Harold Wilson came to power in 1964, ending over a decade of Conservative Governments. He inherited a long running dispute between the NHS and the Pharmaceutical Industry over the price of drugs, dating back … Read more