The sound and fury of the squalid scramble to lead the nasty party ignores all the real crises. The burning planet is nowhere on the agenda, bar locking up climate protesters. As the pay crunch heads for almighty strikes due to the public sector falling even further behind private pay, their remedies are agency strike-breakers and tax cuts that reward better-off people most.
But oddest of all is that there is so little said about the NHS gasping on a life-support machine, even though it ranks high in voters’ concerns. A devastating report from the Commons health and social care select committee reveals “the greatest workforce crisis” in its history, with long waiting lists caused by a shortage of 105,000 doctors, nurses, midwives and others.
