NHS
I’m a junior doctor and I used to trust the Tories. Not any more
Like many of my fellow junior doctors, I trusted a Conservative government with the NHS. If it’s to stay strong…
Harriet Harman’s diary: the joys of being a ‘former’
One of my constituents has been in an Indonesian prison since May. Journalist Rebecca Prosser was arrested with her colleague…
Why won’t our condom-obsessed NHS back this wonder drug?
A new drug could reduce new infections to zero – so why hasn’t the NHS backed it yet?
No, even my daughter’s great hospital care doesn’t change my mind about the NHS
When Girl came off the horse it didn’t look like a bad fall. More like an involuntary and rather hurried…
Why can’t firefighters double as paramedics?
Our firefighters have less and less to do. So why shouldn’t they help overstretched ambulance services?
To defend the NHS, stop health tourism
Speaking after the Stafford hospital scandal in 2010, the then newly appointed Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, grandly announced plans for…
My local hospital is ‘listening to its staff’ – but not, apparently, the patients
Surely it can be no coincidence that the road by which one enters St George’s Hospital, Tooting, is called Effort…
Watch your backs, everyone: I haven’t slept for three years
Insomnia has a lot to answer for. I have not been sleeping well for years but a few months ago…
Customer surveys: just say no
Against the customer service Q&A
The humiliation that turned Andy Burnham from Blairite to union man
Andy Burnham is the Labour establishment’s choice as the next party leader. So why does he feel like an outsider?
Spectator letters: Allan Massie on the FBI; Christopher Booker on graffiti
The long arm of the FBI Sir: The White House may be less willing than it was to play the…
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, toured Europe trying to gain support for reforms to favour Britain’s position in the…
Treat the NHS as a religion, and you give it the right to run your life
Don’t drink, don’t smoke, keep fit, die young
The big fat myths of our ‘obesity epidemic’
Obesity isn’t soaring, and it doesn’t strain the NHS
Portrait of the week
Home A Bill to enable a referendum on whether voters wanted Britain to ‘remain’ in the European Union figured in…
The importance of selective inefficiency
Readers of a certain age may remember choosing a cassette player in the 1980s. In theory the process was simple:…
After Miliband’s ‘tablet of stone’ stunt, I may just spend election day in the pub
You have the advantage over me. You know the result of the general election, whereas I do not — a…
The over-75s are being asked if they would like to sign their own death warrants
It’s more than four months now since my 75th birthday, but I’m still waiting for a ‘cold call’ from the…
Spectator letters: England’s defining myth, and another forgotten genocide
Enemies within Sir: I thought Matthew Parris was typically incisive in his last column, but perhaps not quite as much…
Portrait of the week
Home Launching the Conservative party manifesto, David Cameron, the party leader, told voters he wanted to ‘turn the good news…
David Starkey’s diary: Why don’t we celebrate the triumphs of private dentistry?
To the dentist. And for an extraction. I hadn’t had a tooth out in decades. But the twinges when I…
Call me insane, but I’m voting Labour
Quite often when I deliver myself of an opinion to a friend or colleague, the reply will come back: ‘Are…
Portrait of the week
Home Tony Blair, the former prime minister, opposed a referendum on membership of the EU. In a speech at Sedgefield…
The Heckler: down with the actor-commentariat!
I’ve never been terribly keen on actors. I prefer hairdressers and accountants. And teachers and builders and lawyers. I may…
Here’s what’s wrong with the ‘public sector ethos’
Matthew Parris 14 November 2015 9:00 am
An infuriating benefit of readers’ online comments beneath the efforts of a columnist like me is that as you read…