Few politicians have the courage to tell the NHS harsh truths if it is to survive.
That’s because they fear a backlash from voters who see criticism as a threat to our greatest post- war achievement.
Yet those who pretend a health service that was the envy of the world when founded in 1948 is fit for purpose as we enter 2023 bury their heads in the sand.
Healthcare staff are as compassionate and caring now as they were then. But even they can no longer prop up a system collapsing around them – which is why nurses and ambulance crews will strike this week.
They know the NHS is not working. The seven million patients on hospital waiting lists know it too. And Wes Streeting is bold enough to say it’s not working.
Yet the Shadow Health Secretary got it in the neck for calling the NHS a service, not a shrine.
A shrine is for the dead. Mr Streeting’s plan is to keep the NHS alive.
Get all the latest news sent to your inbox. Sign up for the free Mirror newslette
His ambition is an NHS so good no one will need to pay for treatment. But in the meantime he will make full use of spare capacity in the private sector so free care can be delivered faster.
The NHS is there to help us stay well and heal us when we are sick. And if it needs a leg up from private hospitals to fulfil those core functions, then so be it.
Only stand-up comedians find anything funny about five million patients a month unable to get appointments with GPs.
Mr Streeting knows his scheme will incur wrath from the left of his party.
Some doctors do not think he’s the bee’s knees either. But we salute him for having the guts to put patients before politics.
Ukraine pain
It looked as if we had reached the beginning of the end of the hateful war in Ukraine.
Now it appears we are only at the end of the beginning. Ukrainian commanders predict another Russian offensive bigger than the first when the weather improves in February.
Which makes for a bleak Christmas for those Ukrainians struggling at home, and for the 11 million refugees hoping to return.
We send our heartfelt wish for victory however long it takes, and this message from our newspaper’s masthead. We are with you.
Gear we go!
Hats off to Top Gear’s Paddy McGuinness for cheering up the homeless with a string of gags at their Christmas dinner last week.
While this is a time for families, we should still do our bit for those who are lonely or alone.
As next Sunday is Christmas Day your favourite newspaper cannot be with you.
So here’s wishing you all a fantastic Christmas. And, of course, may your stockings be filled with top gear.
