14 NEWS Best articles: Britain
THE WEEK 22 February 2020
The sickness
at the heart of
our GP system
Allison Pearson
The Daily Telegraph
Does your GP letyoutalk about morethan oneailmentwhenyou
seethem? Countyourself luckyif they do,saysAllisonPearson.
Surgeriesacross thecountryincreasingly enforceastrict “one
appointment,oneproblem”policy.Iraisedtheissue onTwitter
the otherday andwas inundatedwith responses.Amongthem
was one fromamotherwhosedaughterendedupinA&Ewith
pneumoniaafter her doctorrefused to examinehercoughduring
avisit aboutdepression.All agreed itwasacrazypolicy,given
that conditionsoften involveanumberofdifferent symptoms,
andthatpeoplecan beshy about admittingupfront what’s
bothering them. The problemgoes back to the overly generous
dealTony Blair’s government cutwithGPs in 2006.Veryhigh
salaries(“roughly twicewhataFrenchGPearns”)enableour
doctors tolivecomfortablywhileworkingjustafewdays aweek.
Result? It can takeweeks to seeaGPand,eventhen,you’re
rushed through. Nowonder oursurvival rates for cancer, so
reliant on promptdiagnosis,lag far behind many of ourpeers.Market forces
are wrecking
universities
OwenJones
TheGuardian
The treblingof tuitionfeeswas supposed to unleasha“golden age
for English universities”,says OwenJones. It wouldmakethem
more effective,weweretold, moreresponsive totheneedsof
students. How emptythosepromiseslooknearlyadecade on.
The sectoris nowincrisis:nearlyaquarter of English universities
are in deficit,and rolling strikeaction by staffisset tobegin this
monthin74institutions. Universityacademicsareupinarms
about theirgrowingworkloadandlack of job security: 70%of
highereducationresearchersarestuckonfixed-term contracts.
Underfinancial pressure to get “bumsonseats”, universities are
splashingcash onadvertising and“flashybuildings”toimpress
visitors, andpresiding over rampant gradeinflation: the number
of first-class degrees hasshotup80% sincethe introductionof
tuitionfees. Introducing the logicof market economicsinto higher
educationhasled toasituationwhereby students aretakingon
hugedebts forincreasinglypoor-valuedegreestaughtby
“overstressed, underpaid,precarious”staff. “Whatamess.”How to fix the
UK’s housing
problem
Liam Halligan
Financial Times
The UK hasbuiltaround threemilliontoofewhomes over the
past 30 years, says Liam Halligan. That’swhypropertyisso
unaffordable.It’snot becausewelackspacetobuild. Farfrom
being“concreted over”, thegreen belt hasmorethan doubledin
size since the1970s. Itaccountsfor 13% of England’slandmass;
housing,includinggardens, accounts for justover 1%.No, the
real problem is the“shortage of land,with planning permission,
controlled by thoseincentivised to buildquickly”. Thebig
developerswhomonopolisesupplyhavestageda“deliberate
go-slow”tokeepprices high.Tobreak this deadlock we haveto
reformour landmarket. Asthings stand, thegranting ofplanning
permission canleadthe value ofland to shootupmany hundred-
fold,withthis “planning gain”going almostexclusively to
landowners anddevelopers. Planninggain shouldinstead be
splitbetweendevelopers andlocal authorities,as it is inmuch
of thedeveloped world. This would “dampen price speculation,
resultingin cheaperlandand, therefore, moreaffordablehomes”,
whilegenerating fundstobuild localschools andhospitals.Labour must
stop bashing
the rich
Sonia Sodha
The Observer
Landlordsarecomingupwith
evermoreinnovativewaysto
avoidpayingbusinessrates
onemptyproperties,councils
havewarned.Theirlatest
wheeze,saidMartinStubbs
ofBradfordCouncil,istosay
buildingsarebeingusedfor
agriculturalpurposes,thereby
exemptingthemfromthetax.
“Someofthemhavetakento
bringingsnailsinandtellus
theyaresnailfarms,”hesaid.
“It’saboxwithsomesnails
init,it’sassimpleasthat.”Armedrobbersstole 600
toiletrollsfromadelivery
manasfearsthecoronavirus
couldcausesupplyshortages
grippedHongKong.The
victimwasthreatenedat
knifepointasheunloaded
hisvannexttoasupermarket
intheMongKokdistrict–an
areaknownforitsTriad
crimegangs–beforehis
assailantsfledwith£
worthofrolls.Twomen
werelaterarrested.AmanfromFloridahas
complainedtoahospital
afterbeingtoldto stop
takingalife-sizedDonald
Trumpcut-outtokidney
dialysissessions. Nelson
Gibsonsaidhestartedtaking
the modelto the treatments
for“emotional support”,
but hassince beenasked to
refrain. “Theytoldmeit
wastoomuch,”he said,
“andthat it wasn’tarally.”Several workers ataUSfast
food restaurant have been
fired after one was filmed
takingabath in its industrial-
sized kitchen sink. Footage
posted online showed the
man sitting up in the soapy
sink water atabran ch of
Wendy’s in Greenville, MI.
Another person can be heard
shouting “Wash yourself”,
to which the worker replies:
“It feels likeahot tub. I’m
just enjoying life, boss.”ITMUSTBETRUE...
IreaditinthetabloidsHowcan theLeftbest tacklethe “toxic populism”embracedby
right-wing leaders such as Donald TrumpandBorisJohnson?
One school ofthought, says SoniaSodha, is that it shouldtry
to beatthem at their owngame by adoptingthe “them vs.
us narrative”with anewspin: targetingbankers instead of
immigrants, billionaires instead of benefit scroungers.Butthere’s
aflaw to thatplan,whichis thatbashing therich doesn’timpress
voters. Thelatestresearch on public attitudestothe wealthy
suggests that far from resenting them, most people ratheradmire
themandwantto jointheir number. The evidence shows that
voterscan bewonovertothe case for higher taxeswhenthe
policyispresentedasapractical meansfordeliveringabetter
society,butaren’t swayedwhenit’spresentedsimplyas ameans
forpunishingthe undeservingrich. This is somethingLabour still
needs to learn.During theelectioncampaign, it neverexplained
why the“privileged few”shouldpaymore, assuming this wasas
“self-evident”toeveryone elseasitwas to them.Jeremy Corbyn’s
successors must beware of making thesame mistake.