The Darzi Review of the NHS

The Government had asked Lord Darzi, an academic surgeon at Imperial College London, to conduct an ‘independent’ review of the National Health Service. In September 2024, his 163-page document was published. While highlighting some of the major flaws in the NHS – long waiting lists, an increase in the number of avoidable deaths, poor productivity – HART’s Dr Gary Sidley finds Darzi’s proposed solutions trite and uninspiring, comprising little more than appeals for additional taxpayer funding and a ‘tilt towards technology’. It seems nothing has been learned from the increasingly evident major deficiencies in the NHS, powerfully illustrated by some of its counterproductive responses to the covid event. Unless you want just more of the same in the future, read Dr Sidley’s alternative proposals.

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Our institutions are hollowed out

This is what totalitarianism looks like Republished below is an article from Jonathan Engler, first published 19th August, on his substack page, where he looks at two examples from here in the UK: The first is The Royal College of Nursing, which says (of the recent protests): “These scenes around the country are nothing short […]

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The Good Fight

A heart felt rallying cry to stop attributing blame and start focusing on how each of us can make a difference. We’re all different, but in essence, as long as we’re all fighting for humanity, then we’re all on the same side, we are all allies.

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Covid-19 Response and Excess Deaths

On 18th April, Andrew Bridgen finally secured a full length debate on this vexed topic, the original text of which is available here. Full length in theory, but shortly before the debate was due to begin, the deputy Speaker told him he only had 15 minutes instead of the 30 minutes he had prepared. After a complaint to the Speaker’s office the compromise was 20 minutes.

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Book Review – Will Ellsworth-Jones’ We Will Not Fight (2008)

Like with so much history that is shrouded by the mists of time, the detailed tales of the thousands of British men who refused to fight in the First World War make for fascinating reading.  These conscientious objectors came from all walks of life – socialists, communists, pacifists, Quakers, Jehovah’s witnesses, Methodists, the Bloomsbury Set – and found a unity of purpose in their protest, allowing them – for a time being at least – to put aside quite substantial ideological differences.  

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