NHS
So the near collapse of A&Es around the country is all my fault?
Oh, I see. So it’s my fault. There I was, thinking that the general swamping and near collapse of accident…
Even Ukip don't dare break the unhealthy consensus on the NHS
There’s an irony about Ukip’s rise. Nigel Farage party’s popularity is driven by a widespread sense that the main parties…
How the NHS silenced a whistleblowing doctor
Pity the healthcare professionals who dare to speak out about NHS problems
Portrait of the week
Home The government spent days announcing how the Autumn Statement would allocate funds. ‘Frontline’ parts of the National Health Service…
The very model of a political Chancellor
Autumn Statements lack the drama and traditions of the Budget. Gladstone never delivered one, there is no Autumn Statement box…
Why you have to listen to this year's Reith Lectures
Each year the Reith Lectures come round as Radio 4’s annual assertion of intellectual authority, fulfilling the BBC’s original aspiration…
Is the way our hospitals treat old people down to underfunding – or organised neglect?
The reality for elderly patients in NHS hospitals
Panic about Ebola in Africa – not here
Got Ebola yet? Early symptoms are very difficult to distinguish from either winter flu or, indeed, a particularly bad hangover.…
How to fix the NHS: a doctor's prescription
A doctor’s prescription
Spectator letters: In defence of the EU, the Welsh and Mary Wakefield
Breaking the unions Sir: By the time this letter appears we shall know whether the land of my birth has…
Maybe I should become a Slovakian health tourist
‘Let me get this straight,’ I said, looking my Slovakian friend in the eye. ‘You are going to go back…
It's not just Ashya King's parents who the authorities despise
My first act upon returning from my holiday was to sign the online petition to have the supremely irritating children’s…
Six rivals for the name Isis
Not in their name The BBC decided to start calling the Islamic terror group Isis by the acronym IS instead.…
Visiting Burgundy from my hospital bed
There have been some splendid rumours about my health. According to the most exotic, I was cas-evacked from a hill…
Spectator letters: A defence of nursing assistants, a mystery shotgun, and a response to Melanie Phillips
Poor treatment Sir: Jane Kelly’s article (‘No tea or sympathy’, 2 August) on the lack of empathy and emotional support…
In our hard-pressed NHS, must sympathy be rationed too?
Nurses might be overworked but they could still be kind
What Germans are worst at
What Germans do worst Some things Germans aren’t very good at: — Making reliable car engines. According to a survey by Warranty Direct…
The NHS ‘wellbeing’ monkey deserves to die
My young daughter has a furry beaver — lifelike in all but its eyes, which to me seem cold and dead.…
The ambulance service is in a state of emergency
Tom leant back against the bathroom wall, his face streaked with blood from the nosebleed, eyes half shut like an…
Farewell, Speccie
So we are all going to have to pay for fatties to have stomach bands and bypasses, are we? It…
How Wales was betrayed by its (Labour) government.
Devolution has left my country with catastrophic misgovernment
The big fat lie about cholesterol
Though I’m not generally big on banning stuff, there’s one substance I would prohibit without a moment’s hesitation — probably on…
How the NHS fails new mothers on breast-feeding
Why isn’t there a proper service to show new nursing mothers how to feed their babies?
Spectator letters: Ken Loach defended, and the music of Pepys
We need religion Sir: Roger Scruton (‘Sacred hunger’, 31 May) describes a reason, dare I say a ‘purpose’, for religion in…
Nigel Farage is becoming a moderniser
There are many words that you might associate with Nigel Farage, but moderniser probably isn’t one. Yet the Ukip leader…
