We need a bold NHS rethink on how to provide free care for an ageing, rapidly expanding population
How long can the government increase its budget by billions per year before the system collapses?
HOW long can Britain go on simply increasing the gargantuan NHS budget by billions each year without radical reform?
The health service has become a bottomless pit. That won’t trouble the Left — they believe the State has infinite money to fill it. But those with a grasp on reality know it can’t go on.
Jeremy Hunt and his new boss Theresa May no longer face any realistic electoral threat. Their biggest worry is Tory rebels eroding their thin majority.
So now is surely the time for a bold rethink on how still to provide free care to an ageing, rapidly increasing population with an obesity problem and a need for ever pricier drugs.
Reforms will of course be fought at every turn, not least from GPs on cushy contracts and junior doctors who apparently now consider themselves a Left-wing political movement.
But there is no magic money tree.
The Tories have already injected massive sums, with more promised — yet big cuts to care are still on the cards.
Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn talks of renationalising every aspect of healthcare. But his crazy economics would bankrupt Britain and the NHS with it.
It should be obvious that the days of the health service, as it is currently run and funded, are numbered.
Let’s rethink it and improve it for the next 50 years.
A sharp Brexit
THE Government’s Brexit discussions need focus and urgency. That is why it must agree a definite date as early as possible next year for triggering Article 50.
Iain Duncan Smith is dead right to stress the need to settle rapidly on our negotiating position.
We cannot let it drift, or wait for the elections in France or Germany. They are irrelevant to the simple choice OUR country made to leave the EU.
And the longer we leave it, the longer we will have to endure the wearying demands for a second referendum, or even a General Election, based on the terms of our exit.
Article 50 will set us irreversibly down the path the majority backed on June 23 and still do, according to polls since.
Let’s get on with it.
Fleece hire
AVIS’ “Brexit tax” charge looks like a huge scandal.
It is clear from the speed at which they have apologetically refunded it that this extra fee had no merit.
And while Brexit may have been the excuse this time, how often are small charges randomly added to bills in the hope punters won’t scrutinise them?
The firm must check every bill issued to Brits on the continent since June 23 and refund any unjustified fees.
As it is, customers are already steering clear of Avis. Who can blame them?
