George Pickering at The Mises Institute has a useful article on the Tory leadership contest. Many hope that Steve Baker will join the contest or play a prominent and influential role in a future government. He appears to be one of the few Conservative MPs (perhaps the only one at present) with true Austrian economics credentials. I recommend visiting The Cobden Centre for an indication of his thinking. See also this interview.
Meanwhile, the hubbub raised over the fate of the NHS has muddied the waters over what was actually said (and intended) during interviews given by President Trump on his state visit to the UK. These videos will hopefully clarify matters.
The NHS is certainly in need of reform: few would dispute that. But the nation is divided over what should be done to improve the quality of both its service and working conditions for staff. Options discussed include:
- Complete privatisation;
- Partial privatisation;
- Partial payment for services (looking to Sweden or Japan for inspiration);
- Cutting of non-essential services; and
- Increasing state funding.
Added to the confusion created by different ideological perspectives is the complexity of the system itself, which will affect attempts to reform the system. Local trusts mean, as far as I can tell, that the system might not be as uniform as one might think.
There are also differences facilitated by devolution (Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland), which affect the unitary harmony of the nation. For years there has been discontent amongst the English over services provided in other parts of the UK, but not in England, that appear to be funded (partially) by English tax payers’ money. The obscurity of our funding system means it is not easy to obtain facts on this matter; the emotional outrage connected with it makes it hard to treat the matter objectively.
Lastly, as a clarion call to intercessors, watchmen, prophets, seers, preachers, and evangelists, I would point out the danger the UK is in regarding ungodly control of its key institutions. I would beseech you to pray for God to show us what must be done, including the means by which power can be transferred to those who are worthy to wield it.
All Along the Watchtower 
The NHS is something I mostly refrain from commenting on, firstly because for too many it has become their religion. But also because while our health care is very good, our system has made it unaffordable expensive as well. It’s hard to see an equitable way out for either, but these systems have the power to break our countries if we don’t find some solutions.
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I completely agree: the NHS will destroy us unless we curb it or give up something else: e.g. state education. We must also do more to protect our borders.
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Your state education, from what I read, you rkids would be better off to go play in the sandbox. I’m not sure it can really be as bad as it sounds, but the state can screw up things beyond recognition.
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Well, there are a couple of things to say about UK schools:
A) Brainwashing is a problem: both active and passive. Of course, there are plenty of people taking the red pill – and the God pill – via the internet. But a lot of society is sitting in a spiritual darkness and the schools are doing nothing to prevent it.
B) Parents are not providing spiritual and moral teaching to their children. If both parents and schools are failing, then that leaves our children open to the winds of chance.
C) Creaming: where families are able to get their kids out of the state system, the state system itself will become a catch basin for poor, troubled kids. So if you happen to work in one of those schools, life is awful.
D) People will the ends, but not the means. If you want an education system that works, you have to get rid of the cases that it cannot deal with. That is the reality. But whenever this is suggested, people say: “Then you’ll have the kids on the streets or unemployed or in borstals.” Well, yes. But if you want the education system to work, that is the price you have to pay. Either choose to have it work and accept this or refuse this option and accept that the education system does not work and stop complaining about it. You cannot have it both ways.
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I agree with that all, and it’s no good to support those that can’t at more than a bare subsistence level or you make it an option for others. Which is the basic problem with the welfare state.
I while I didn’t before, I do not that we have all the same problems, and are also pretty much with out solutions.
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It’s a question of discipline apart from anything else: if the kids continue corrupt, with little resistance, up to 18 and then toe the line in the work place merely so that they can draw a paycheck, then they have not had true character reform in their souls. That is not good for society. The banishment of Christianity from education is a big part of that problem: where kids do not have a real appreciation of God and morality, they will generally lapse into the leftist, crooked version of morality. They can be red-pilled out of it, but there is a risk that they will become far right in that process, because it is often one of anger.
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Yep.
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