NHS
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…
Andy Burnham interview: 'I wanted a different approach, because I'm mainstream Labour'
Andy Burnham on the NHS, ‘mainstream Labour’ and his party’s leadership
If you really love the NHS, you know it needs to change
To adapt Aeschylus’s aphorism on war and truth, the first casualty in a general election campaign is objectivity. Over the…
My life in ailments
My request to see my medical notes was granted in the end. I honestly don’t know why I wanted to…
Let Greece leave the eurozone
To listen to Greek government ministers addressing the outside world during their breaks from negotiations with eurozone leaders this week,…
To reform the NHS, use the politics of envy
‘Let’s make the rich pay more.’ Does that sound so right-wing? To me it has a positively socialist ring. It…
The real reason GPs are grumpy: the robots are coming for them
There’s something wrong with the relationship between patients and their GPs. I’ve spent much of this winter in my local…
