Free Republic

Rhetoric: “In Britain, the government itself runs the hospitals and employs the doctors. We’ve all heard scare stories about how that works in practice; these stories are false. Like every system, the National Health Service has problems, but over all it appears to provide quite good care …” — Paul Krugman, NY Times, August 17, 2009 Reality: Earlier today I posted some quotes on the failure of the U.K.’s government-run health (s)care system. Little did I know that on Friday the London Daily Telegraph had some disappointing news on the Britain’s system. Noel Sheppard at NewsBusters reports: In the same...

DAMNING reports on the state of the National Health Service, suppressed by the government, reveal how patients’ needs have been neglected. They diagnose a blind pursuit of political and managerial targets as the root cause of a string of hospital scandals that have cost thousands of lives. The harsh verdict on the state of the NHS, after a spending splurge under Labour between 2000 and 2008, raises worrying questions about the future quality of the health service as budgets are squeezed. One report, based on the advice of almost 200 top managers and doctors, says hospitals ignored basic hygiene to...

Imposition of VAT on groceries is being actively considered by Whitehall officials as a radical means of reducing the national deficit. The feasibility of introducing the food tax is being raised informally between civil servants, industry bodies and retail insiders. So politically-sensitive is the move that all the talks are occurring "under the radar", according to retail industry insiders. Basic supermarket groceries are currently immune from VAT, along with books, newspapers and children's clothes. However a VAT levy on food of between three and five per cent would raise billions of pounds in tax and help reduce Government borrowings, which...