Tory Crony, Daniel Hannan, Criticises the NHS on Fox News.

[Shadowtraveler]

I can't believe the article BO posted from the Australian. Where do they think Hawking came from? Did they think he was actually an american?

It probably has to do with the fact that he doesn't sound British, so they naturally assume he's American. /bad joke

[Big Orange]

Here is the actual offending clip:

[Simplicius]

I can't believe the article BO posted from the Australian. Where do they think Hawking came from? Did they think he was actually an american?

A bit of a nitpick, but also an explanation:

1.) It was me who posted it, not Orange;

2.) The Australian was not the originating source of the editorial. That dubious honor goes to the Investor's Business Daily, which is a US paper (as if you needed to be told.) The Australian was one of many sources who reported the editorial and its factual error;

3.) IBD are twats not only for claiming that Hawking didn't live in the UK, but for claiming that he would have died were he subject to care under the NHS. Since Hawking does receive NHS care and is not dead, this is a factually incorrect assertion. In stating the correction, they glossed over that second error which was quietly removed even though (because, more likely) it undermines the whole editorial.

[Crazedwraith]

Sorry for for confusing you with BO, Simpilicius. Apparently I fail at reading an comprehension and yes, my wording was slightly ambiguous but I am aware it was not The Australian that were actually making claims.

Ironic wouldn't Hawking be much worse of with the American system? Insurance companies are going to try their damnedest to avoid long running severe conditions like his, that they will needed to regularly pay out for. Surely the cost of health insurance for him would be thought the roof if anyone even tried to give it to him.

[Elfdart]

Looks like people in the UK are getting sick of this Republitard bullshit:

[Big Orange]

This whole sordid affair shows just how politically and socially dysfunctional America is - while I'm still doubtful that most Americans are are ignorant and arrogant, it does show that those who are ignorant and arrogant have sadly got the most loudest, most shrillest voice in political affairs. A bad job well done by them for dampening a UHC proposal that could've saved their nation in the long-term.

While Cameron is in damage control overdrive (as he should be), it does demonstrate that his party has young members who are intent on ruining Britain's quality of life and economy to line their own pockets, like their predecessors back in the 80s and 90s.

[Crazedwraith]

Looks like people in the UK are getting sick of this Republitard bullshit:

Well as Mitch Benn said on the now show recently. its not so much we like the NHS, we'll bitch and moan about it for hours, but its ours, so we tend to get uptight if johnny foreigner wants to diss it. Only brits are allowed to complain. (although not on american TV obviously)

[Lusankya]

Looks like people in the UK are getting sick of this Republitard bullshit:

Well as Mitch Benn said on the now show recently. its not so much we like the NHS, we'll bitch and moan about it for hours, but its ours, so we tend to get uptight if johnny foreigner wants to diss it. Only brits are allowed to complain. (although not on american TV obviously)

I'm certain that a large portion of the annoyance factor would also come from people misrepresenting your complaints: rather than portraying them as a desire for the system to be better, they're taking them to mean that you think the system is fundamentally bad.

I'm not sure about the NHS, but in Australia the majority of complaints about Medicare are that it should be more expansive, and people who claim that it shouldn't exist are a practically voiceless minority. Pretty much any complainy levelled against Medicare ends with "those dickheads in Canberra should do something about that*." I imagine it would be similar in England.


*Near exact quote from a doctor I know - and his professional opinion, as it was in correspondence to another doctor.

[[R_H]]

A "North Korean system"? Seriously, WTF. That's the dumbest thing I heard today. On that note, does NK even have a health care system (other than for the elites)?

[Big Orange]

Charlie Brooker really tore into Daniel Hannan on his You Have Been Watching show. Also Lord McColl, Shadow Health Minister, has proven to be another liability to Cameron:

August 19, 2009
Shadow health minister’ Lord McColl's links to private GP firm embarrass Tories

The Shadow Health Minister, Lord McColl, is a paid consultant to a new private healthcare company that provides a fee-paying rival to the National Health Service’s family doctor service.

Endeavour Health, which was set up by two hedge fund advisers, claims to be Britain’s first comprehensive GP network, offering access to the best doctors and the opportunity to beat NHS queues and have appointments at any time they want.

Lord McColl’s involvement with a private healthcare provider highlights the strains within the Conservative Party, which is trying to present itself as a champion of the NHS while also maintaining its traditional links with the industry. David Cameron has been forced to reiterate his commitment to a free health service after the prominent Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan described the NHS as a “60-year mistake” that he “wouldn’t wish on anyone”.

Endeavour Health was founded last year by two financial advisers, Briton Yadin Shemmer and American Jonathan Weiss, to compete with the NHS.

With the NHS struggling to cope with demand for swine flu treatment, this private rival has responded to the pandemic by offering emergency appointments and testing for a fee. Endeavour Health also provides 24-hour cover to customers paying a monthly subscription and will give a consultation to anyone walking off the street for £100.

The private company already boasts speedy access to what it calls the best GPs and dentists across Britain, with offices in cities and towns from Edinburgh to Guildford.

Mr Cameron’s office said he had been unaware of Lord McColl’s role with the private GP network. Sources close to Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said that the peer had never raised the issue with his colleagues in the health team.

However, the growing links between the private sector and Tory health frontbenchers are also demonstrated by the disclosure that Mark Simmonds, a Shadow Health Minister, accepted flights and accommodation for a mission to the United States courtesy of Britain’s biggest private health provider, Bupa.

The flights and accommodation bringing him to Boston were worth £4,512. He visited Massachusetts General Hospital, a medical foundation, and Health Dialog, part of Bupa, which specialises in “health coaching and shared decision-making”. He arrived at the beginning of the political storm in the United States about President Obama’s ambitions to increase the poor’s access to healthcare. Right- wing Republicans denounce the reforms as a socialist plot.

It was Mr Hannan’s candid remarks to American TV that forced Mr Cameron last week to reiterate that the NHS was “a great institution” and it was the Conservatives’ “number one mission to improve it”.

The six-day fact-finding visit by Mr Simmonds happened in March, just after he delivered a speech saying that he would maintain and strengthen the NHS. But rolling back the state monopoly is clearly in his sights. He told the Health Service Journal last month that the Tories would let GPs use the private sector to commission patients’ treatment instead of relying on health service trusts.

Bupa has been increasingly negotiating partnerships to provide care to NHS patients and last year bought London’s premier private hospital, the Cromwell.

Growing financial links between the Conservative frontbench health team and businesses promoting private alternatives to state provision go deeper. Lord McColl’s active involvement with private education, especially his role with an independent college that charges state pupils to cram for A levels during holidays, will fuel suspicions that he favours alternatives to public provision.

Lord McColl, a shadow health minister since 1997, declares in the Lords register that he is paid by the company behind the Collingham Sixth Form College in London. The college yesterday said it gave him a “very modest honorarium” which he donated to an African charity. He also serves as a director of St Paul’s, the independent school in the capital.

Baroness Morris of Bolton has also flirted with those who promote private sector provision instead of the state. She became president of the World Travel Market, earning £3,000 a year, in February. This body runs an annual four-day conference in London, organised by Reed Travel Exhibitions, where expertise and information is swapped about new destinations and opportunities in emerging sectors. The World Travel Market describes medical tourism as “one of the fastest growing healthcare industries”. Its next gathering, in November, will feature advice on “The Medical Tourism Market: Opportunities and Trends”. Visitors can learn about “the opportunities for both inbound and outbound medical tourism in the UK”.

Since April, she has also been a director of a charity funded by companies taking part in the controversial private finance initiative, which gets businesses to invest in state projects. The founders of the Transformation Trust — such as Balfour Beatty Capital, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Carillion — are behind the multi-billion pound Building Schools for the Future programme. The charity will pay for projects involving teaching schoolchildren about Formula 1 motor racing, running a children’s Shakespeare festival and providing breakfasts to pupils.

The baroness is a trustee of the Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools and a governor and trustee of the independent Bolton School.

A Tory party spokesman said: “These interests are already fully declared, in the public domain and in no way undermine our absolute commitment to the NHS.”

Times Online