The Economist - UK (2021-11-20)

28 Britain TheEconomistNovember20th 2021

patients away from accident­and­emer­

gencydepartments.Thelatestattemptisa

healthandcarebillmakingitswaythrough

Parliament,whichthegovernmentprom­

iseswillmove“servicesoutofhospitals

andintothecommunity”.Yettwodecades

ofattemptstodojustthathavesofarhad

littlesuccess,notesNigelEdwardsofthe

NuffieldTrust,a think­tank.Thatisboth

becausepreventivehealthcareisinherent­

lydifficultandbecauseofhospitals’domi­

nancewithinthenhs.

Even ifthisattemptsucceeds,itwill

taketimetobearfruit.Spendingonhealth

careissettoriseby4%a yearforthenext

threeyears,whichwilleasepressures,but

notimmediately.ThedecisiononNovem­

ber15thtooffercovidboosterstoover­40s

willhelp,butwillnotmakea bigdentin

patientnumbers.Itisalreadytoolateto

meetmanyofthegoalsinthenhs’s emer­

gency­care“recovery”plan,publishedin

September (“patientsshould not be left

waiting in ambulances for handover to

emergencydepartments,”forinstance).

A spoonfulofsugar

SajidJavid,thehealthsecretary,isestab­

lishinga“deliveryunit”undertheguid­

anceofSirMichaelBarber,whosetupthe

originaloneforTonyBlairinthe2000sand

anotherforBorisJohnsonthatworksona

widerangeofpolicies.Thenewunitwill

include30­oddpeoplefromthehealthde­

partment,nhsandoutsidegovernment,

andwillscrutinisehealth­caredatainan

attempttocutsurgicalwaitinglists.This

focus on waiting times for operations

could, however, fall victim to deterio­

rationsinemergencycare,whichwillsuck

uphospitalbedsandattention.

Allthisisa problemfora government

thathasdonea greatdealtotieitsfortunes

tothoseofthehealthservice.Beforethe

general election in 2019, Mr Johnson

toured hospitals vowing more nurses,

equipmentandcash(ashealsodidbefore

theBrexitreferendum).Havingnowraised

taxesinordertoincreasespendingonthe

healthservice,evenmoreridesonitsper­

formanceimproving.Untilitdoesminis­

tersmusthope,asoneConservativepoliti­

cianputsit,that“peoplearequiteusedto

nhswarstories”.Yetthecomingmonths

maybringenoughcasualtiestoshockeven

hardenedobservers.n

Uncharted territory

England, years beginning April

Source:NHSEngland

Hospital-bedoccupancydueto covid-19, ’000

40

30

20

0

0

MFJDNOSAJJMA

01

2020

Emergency-care admissions taking

more than four hours, ’000

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

MFJDNOSAJJMA

01 20-20

I

nmarchagovernmentreportcon­

cluded that institutional racism was

not a significant issue in Britain. But

evidence heard by a parliamentary com­

mittee on November 16th suggested that

such complacency was misplaced. 

Azeem Rafiq, an English cricketer of

Pakistani origin who played on and off

for a decade for Yorkshire, a leading

county side, had alleged in interviews

and an employment­discrimination

claim that racial taunts and bullying had

driven him close to suicide. An investiga­

tion for Yorkshire conceded that he had

been a “victim of racial harassment” but

nothing more systematic. It imposed

sanctions on no one. Mr Rafiq’s evidence

to parliamentarians broadened this

long­running county row into some­

thing that may implicate senior sports

administrators and the national team.

Mr Rafiq, a practising Muslim, said

that at his local club when he was a teen­

ager, he had been pinned down by a

teammate and had wine poured into his

mouth. He claimed that after he joined

Yorkshire Michael Vaughan, a former

England captain, said of the county’s

Asian players that there were “too many

of you lot”. (Mr Vaughan denies this.) A

former teammate and England batsman,

he said, had called all Asian players Steve

and black players Kevin because their

names were too hard to pronounce.

When Mr Rafiq’s wife gave birth to a

stillborn son, he told the committee, the

club’s head coach suggested that he was

making too big a deal of it. Other allega­

tions included that some of his team­

mates had referred to players of Asian

descent as “elephant washers” and fre­

quently used the derisive moniker “Paki”.

That word, the club report decided, had

been “in the spirit of friendly banter”. 

Mr Rafiq thinks such behaviour is

common across cricket and part of the

reason that few Britons of South Asian

origin play the sport at high levels. They

account for around 30% of recreational

andclubplayers,butjust4%ofthepro­

fessionals who turn out for county sides.

Others point out that the sport brings

together posh white boys from private

schools and working­class South Asians,

providing occasion for displays of arro­

gance, and clashes over heavy drinking

and wild nights out. “Sledging”—taunt­

ing intended to distract a batsman—is

common and sometimes crosses into

abuse. It may contribute to a culture in

which offensive remarks are normalised.

Yorkshire seems to have been shaken

out of its complacency: its new chairman

has apologised to Mr Rafiq and said the

charge of institutional racism would be

addressed “head­on”. The bigger ques­

tion is whether this is an isolated ex­

ample of crass, outdated attitudes com­

ing up against modern sensibilities or

something more widespread. An in­

dependent commission on racism in

cricket set up in March has received

more than 1,000 calls since a request for

evidence on November 9th. The “flood­

gates” would now open, Mr Rafiq pre­

dicted. This reckoning is likely to have

consequences both on and off the field. 

Racisminsport

Just not cricket

Aparliamentary committee hears allegations of systematic anti-Asian abuse

Down but not out