The least bad healthcare system in the world

Following my posting earlier this year, I can now call up reinforcements in my argument against the anti-universal-healthcare herberts in the States. John Lichfield, the Independent newspaper's Paris correspondent, had a full-page article in last Thursday's paper, stating the case professionally. "Given the challenges faced by all healthcare systems in an ageing world", he writes, "stealing successful prescriptions from friends and neighbours makes sense. Except, it seems, to the American right." Lichfield has experience of the three health regimes in question: UK, US and French.

His conclusion, paraphrasing Winston Churchill, was: "The French have the worst health system in the world, except for all the other ones that we have tried." He points out that Canada, the Netherlands and Italy, as well as France come out ahead of Britain in World Health Organisation league tables.

He balances the account by pointing out the drawbacks: the French system is not free at the point of access (though there is now available a carte vitale, a kind of health credit card, which simplifies payments) requiring the patient to pay up-front and claim back the officially-agreed rate for the treatment; and the system costs the state about a third more than the NHS does the UK (currently €157.6bn as against £100bn). The French system also positively encourages patients to shop around for treatment, as opposed to the NHS (and Dutch health service) where the point of contact is a general practitioner.

Artificial medicine shortages in the UK

It is alleged that patients are being put at risk because medicines intended for UK patients are being diverted for export. The BBC report covers UK as a whole, but there is anecdotal evidence that users of Welsh pharmacies have experienced shortages.

Incidentally, the Welsh authorities appear to be more at fault in a related issue. A report states that delays in receiving treatment are aggravating the state of substance abusers in Wales.

Home Office data loss worse than first thought

In August 2008, prisoner data on a flash memory device were lost by an employee of Home Office contractor PA Consulting. It transpires that not only were details of 127,000 people mislaid, as was first reported, but also 250,000 items of data from the Drug Interventions Programme. The report from ZDNet is here.

Naif al-Mutawa: a name to watch

Not a terrorist leader, nor the dictator of a US client state, but a man whose ambition is to rescue Islam from the fanatics and foster a climate of religious tolerance, all through the medium of a super-hero franchise, the 99.

He and his sister were featured in a BBC Radio documentary which unfortunately is not available online, presumably for copyright reasons.

Visit Neath Port Talbot

It's good to see the county borough council extending its WWW presence. Too many people outside the borough believe that it is totally industrial, whereas the truth is the opposite: the heavily industrialised part is confined to a strip by the coast, and the hinterland is rural (apart from one or two sites where coal mining on a small scale is taking place). Of course, there was once much industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries up the valley, but these sites, now long silent and often overgrown, are picturesque in their own right.

[For declaration of interest, see right-hand panel]

I would draw readers' attention particularly to the section of http://www.visitnpt.co.uk/which describes walking in the county borough. There is a downloadable booklet, which describes a selection of the many good routes. The Sarn Helen walk is particularly rewarding. It is tough going, not helped by churning by the motor vehicles which are allowed on the route for part of the year, but there are some spectacular views. It is also possible to see original Roman legionary road construction in a few places.

Putting my constituency hat on, I must also mention the work of Blaenhonddan Community Council and the Friends of Craig Gwladus, who have each produced pocket maps of various walks in and around Cadoxton and Aberdulais. Copies should be available in Neath & Port Talbot civic centres, and at the Aberdulais Falls visitor centre.

Australia now fourth in ICC world rankings

It makes it all the sweeter to read this on an Australian web site.

The Sydney Morning Herald report also says: "All the huff and puff of making amends for 2005 came to nought with Australia comprehensively outplayed over four days against an English side resolute in its belief, despite suffering a humiliating third Test defeat. Set an improbable world-record chase of 545, Australia were dismissed for 348 late in the day as long shadows crept across the Kennington outfield.

"The shadows will now creep over Australia’s selectors, coaches and players. Ricky Ponting's side has now lost three of its past four series, but this one will hurt most. How England were allowed to come back into the series following their innings and 80-run loss at Headingley is difficult to fathom."

England are not yet the complete item, but this series has brought on some younger players who will develop further, as will Strauss's captaincy.

Now attention turns to Northampton in midweek. Can Glamorgan produce another win on the back of the thriller in Swansea, and thus climb into the promotion zone?

Beveridge, Churchill and the NHS

In a detailed rebuttal of New Labour spin that the National Health Service was the sole creation of Aneurin Bevan, Seth Thévoz, a student of modern history at King’s College London, explains that not only was the first public mention of a National Health Service contained in the report of the commission chaired by Liberal William Beveridge, the Conservatives were also onside.

Tele-participation in party conference

The local Liberal Democrat web-site is advertising a facility for party members to quiz Nick Clegg by email for the Liberal Democrat federal conference which takes place in Bournemouth in mid-September.

I'd like to have seen the party go further, and open this facility to all people with email. After all, if journalists, most of whom are not party members (some very clearly not party members!) can conduct televised interviews on the stage at conference, and also chair events on the party fringe, many of which are excerpted for broadcast, why shouldn't the ordinary voter get a look-in?