Mike Craig on why the NHS should not have to rely on charity.
You have to admire the monumental efforts of this old soldier, and the generosity of the thousands of people who sponsored him, but the NHS is neither about giving or receiving charity.
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Illness is neither an indulgence for which people have to pay, nor an offence for which they should be penalised, but a misfortune the cost of which should be shared by the community - Aneurin Bevan
The billionaires and millionaires are watching Mr. Moore and his supporters and laughing all the way to the off-shore banks with the money they've been creaming off our public services. This theft has left the NHS in such a state that people like Mr. Moore feel that they have to give donations in order to save it in this time of crisis.
The well intentioned people who put their efforts into raising funds for public services are inadvertently undermining them. The NHS is a public service, not a charitable one, and it is paid for through taxation and national insurance contributions. We have already paid for it!
By donating to the NHS we let the government off the hook. We are sending a message to the government and their friends the speculators that it's alright to continue to steal our taxes through PFIs and outsourcing. We're telling them to carry on regardless because when the funds have been siphoned off, we'll happily pay again to make up the shortfall.
Thanks Mr. Moore and thanks to all those who supported your initiative, but really folks, you'd do the NHS a lot more good by directing your efforts into a campaign to stop its deliberate destruction by a bunch of parasites.
It [the NHS] will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it. - Aneurin Bevan
⏩Mike Craig is a member of Left Horizons.
Mike Craig,
ReplyDeleteWell stated!
After all, no one solicits donations for the DVLA.
Eoghan,
ReplyDeleteIs the DVLA a public service? I cam think of many ways of describing it, none of them positive or even pleasant.
Good article and 2 points: 1) Soldiers like this man travelled the world securing the Empire's wealth for the few rather than the masses; and 2) the same people these soldiers fought for did away with the veterans hospitals and the treatment many of them required for injuries sustained in the line of service.
ReplyDeleteand therein lies the irony of it all - I suppose homecoming has led to many soldiers the world over taking a jaundiced view of their governments
DeleteChristy, Yes these points were in mind when I wrote the piece. It's probably the first time I have said anything positive about a member of the British imperial army, but this time one of them has put his fellow humans before the system.
ReplyDeletehaven't met one yet I would refuse the kiss of life from
DeleteAM,
ReplyDeleteExactly!