If I were Prime Minister: Every privatised corner of the NHS would be taken back into public

[Agnosticsherbet]

Last edited Thu Feb 5, 2015, 01:00 PM - Edit history (1)

If I were Prime Minister: Every privatised corner of the NHS would be taken back into public ownership

I would take my moral lead from Labour’s 1945 Election manifesto, which seems to me an ideal blend of hope in a better future and determination to bring it about.



However, we have to deal with things now that were not dreamt of then, so I’d begin by cancelling Trident (an absurdly over-powerful weapon for a medium-sized country to wield) and putting the entire nation on a green pathway. The threat of climate change is the biggest potential danger we face, and we seem to have no idea either how important it is or how to stop doing the things that are causing it.

Then I would call a constitutional convention: a gathering of representatives from every section of the population to take a long hard look at the way we are governed, the institutions that control our lives, and the way we can control them. Our electoral system has now passed beyond a joke. Our governments are effectively appointed by the small minority of voters who live in marginal constituencies.

As an American, buried in the slurry of our own political system, I was amazed at what this man had to say. I have no idea if he has a chance of winning, but he does have some interesting, liberal / progressive ideas.

[Ken Burch]

1. Your link didn't work...but I found one that did.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/if-i-were-prime-minister-every-privatised-corner-of-the-nhs-would-be-taken-back-into-public-ownership-10015388.html

[Agnosticsherbet]

2. Thanks, I will fix the link.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Interesting ideas - but no; he isn't even a political candidate.

A great writer; author of 'His Dark Materials'; and a man with probably too much of a conscience ever to have any chance in politics.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. And Peter Hitchens called him "the most dangerous author in Britain" with "his own sinister agenda"

which has to be a recommendation (Hitchens couldn't stand the atheist and anti-clerical messages in His Dark Materials).

[LeftishBrit]

5. Being called 'the most dangerous X in Britain' by a Daily Mail writer...

usually means you're doing rather well.