A PERSONAL VIEW

I do not think anyone could deny the fact that the existence of the NHS held the United Kingdom together during this pandemic. The initial appeals by the Government to save the NHS was in fact an appeal to the NHS to save the Government. The public’s acknowledgment and appreciation of the NHS was apparent from the outset of the pandemic.  Our health care system, although imperfect, often criticised, and more often taken for granted, was the front line against the pandemic. Its activity allowed breathing space for the government to stumble through its often fumbling struggle to deal with the day to day measures required to keep the populace reasonably together, and on board with its various decisions on how to cope with the ups and downs of the effects of the virus. The government seeks to claim credit for guiding us through the pandemic, whereas the reality is, that without the NHS structure being in place, it would have dramatically failed.

This government, with its beggarly and meagre approach to funding and supporting the NHS, now seeks by faint praise to benefit from the work of the NHS, whilst behind the scenes it is doing everything it can to privatise the NHS.  It is doing this by making it subservient and reliant on private companies who will extract as much profit from it as it can. The manufactures of drugs and private medical services that are emerging, will turn the NHS into a Committee charged, not with providing health care, but scrutinising tenders for contracts from companies to provide the services, medications and equipment for whatever medical facilities are left for National Health Care. Those facilities will also turn out to be managed by committee with an eye to business and frugality, rather than the Health of the Nation.

The business of Government is to provide services to the public and not provide businesses to service the public. This government is about business and providing for its cronies and favoured few, to profit from providing the public services this government seeks to off load. This Government is not about responsibility, it is about getting rid of responsibility.

The British electorate however, fails to see any of this, and credits the present Government with the roll out of the vaccination program, which has been organised through the NHS. There is something rather sad about the current British character. I do not understand its nationalist undertone; this little England view which dominates the political landscape and accepts this schoolboy mentality government without any principle or integrity. The blatant clownishness of its leader, who is allowed to carry on with impunity from photo op to photo op, overriding every code of ministerial conduct, riding on the back of other people’s work, is beyond funny. It positively makes me ill.

I despair of a labour party is disarray. That it has lost its edge with the working class is absolutely clear. Had it taken a clear and specific stand against Brexit and taken a stronger stand on its traditional labour policies, it might well have kept those labour voters leaning against membership of the European Union on side. Indeed, it would have kept them on side of a strengthening labour party. As it is, that underlying nationalism at the heart of working class Britain, drove them into the hands of the Conservative party.

The labour leadership and parliamentary party created its own undoing by refusing to come together, because of personality clashes with a leader who expanded the membership of the party despite its internal squabbles. Young people across the nation flocked to join the party, in spite of the allegations of anti-Semitism and the continuing mantra that Corbyn was unelectable. He became unelectable by continuous haranguing from within his own party and a nationalist press that railed against him at every opportunity. Hardly any of his own parliamentary party colleagues made any effort to bring the party together and instead allowed the party’s own divisions to bring about its demise.  That is what we are witnessing and I am afraid will continue until it splits completely into its various factions.

Unfortunately, until the British electorate becomes more educated and more sensitive to its real needs, the nationalist conservatives will continue to sit in Westminster and play at Government. They will continue to distribute the taxpayer’s money to their own and any dissent will be blown over. Legislation will be implemented to prevent any challenge to governance. It is already being proposed and will soon be on the statute books. The prime minister will control any investigation into ministerial conduct and refuse to allow for any effective criticism of power. This is already on the cards. And still middle England is prepared to support this shower.

So brace yourselves for yet more cupidity and stupidity from the powers that be.

What is most bizarre, is that during the Cameron/Clegg coalition government, Osborn’s austerity programme was fronted by the Liberal Democratic minister and Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander. He gave the appearance of making all the austerity decisions and as a result, at the next election in 2015, the Liberal Democratic Party all but disappeared, and the people really responsible were elected to form their own conservative government. How strange is that? In any event, the Liberal Democratic party is now hardly heard from at all, and will continue to lose their deposits in coming elections. So, I ask you why are the conservatives still in government? When will they ever be called to account? What is wrong with the British electorate? Can they really not see what is going on?

If the Labour Party keeps up its current lack of focus and waffle, it will forever stay in opposition. It needs to speak up about the NHS and come up with specific proposals even though it is not in government. It must treat media questions about what it would do if it were in power with specifics and not evade with flimflam. It must tackle ministerial irresponsibility with specific and carefully thought out comment and not let go. It cannot let 'Just Boris' keep moving on.  It must come together and stop the eternal internal squabbling it seems to cherish more than actually serving the public interest by getting into government. It too must grow up and stop the schoolboy mentality of governance.