“There are people who find the very mention of money in the context of healthcare distasteful. Surely there is something elevated and ennobling about knowing that the sick will be cured regardless of their means, they say. Health, after all, is a universal human need. (So, even more, is food, although no one argues that it should be apportioned by a National Food Service.)” Daniel Hannan MEP and Douglas Carswell MP, “The Plan”
Fair play to Daniel Hannan. He’s come out fighting on the Telegraph blog section. One of his points makes particular reference to my claim that he should make his views clear in Britain and it is on this point that I’ll focus. [NB The Daniel Hannan blog section of the Telegraph site appears to be down]
Daniel’s defence, is that he has been making his views clear for many months and years. He says that he has even written a book to promote his views that has become a bestseller. It’s called The Plan – 12 Months to Renew Britain. I notice that he’s actually co-authored the book with Conservative MP for Harwich, Douglas Carswell.
I have some sympathy with Daniel in this respect. He is currently “the story”. I’ve written about how political editors in the parliamentary lobby choose one or two stories of the day and send the pack to pursue them with intensity. I know what that’s like and it can be deeply unpleasant. So, even though I fundamentally disagree with him over the future of healthcare, I genuinely understand what he must be going through now. It’s a limited defence though. He does after all, work, I presume, for the Daily Telegraph. And must therefore have had some understanding of how the press works.
And what must really gall him, is being the belle of the ball at the Conservative Spring Conference at the end of April and then dropped by David Cameron just over 3 months later. He doesn’t mention the NHS in his speech to the conference though:
[Daniel Hannan]
He does make his views clear on this programme:
[NHS health workers became aggressive]
Back to my point. I’ve said Daniel should make his views clear in the UK. He says he’s done that consistently. I can’t find a UK TV interview that he’s done where he talks about the NHS like he does in the above interview. So my challenge to him is to put himself forward to an interview with an Adam Boulton or a Jeremy Paxman. Then, I think, he should be allowed to get a well-earned holiday.
by Richard Wiseman. Did you know that you are more likely to accept someone’s argument after you have drunk a caffeine drink or that you have more chance of a lost wallet being returned if there is a picture of a baby in it? These unusual facts and more in Richard Wiseman’s quirky little self help book. A nice easy holiday read. 
