troversial decision of North Protestors target hospital waiting lists: will Labour tackle the problem, or plead poverty and the need to choose 'We have to accept that the NHS cannot cope with demands for health care ...
'A realistic assessment of the world as it is shows that people with varicose veins stay on the waiting list for ever in London at the moment. Is it ethical to promise them a service which will never be delivered?….
"The question is not whether we ration services and choose priorities in the health service, Who is it spelling out this version of the age-old right wing claim that health care is a 'bottomless pit' never be properly resourced? Is Waldegrave? A heartless NHS No, it is the lead article in the April issue of the Socialist Health Association's journal Socialism and Health, written by trendy 'freelance health policy researcher Christine Hogg.
Thatcherism
It shows how far the nostrums of the Thatcherite right have penetrated the outer reaches of the labour movement.
Many SHA members will have been unpleasantly surprised by the article, after spending years combatting the 'bottomless pit' argument.
How many times have socialists had to argue against Tories and the right wing that demand for health care is measurable - and capable of being met by increased resources? "A finite number of people suffer from a finite range of ailments which propriate treatment. The prob finite, but the refusal of the Tory government - and Labour governments - to allocate the necessary resources.
Most of Europe shows that where health spending is given greater share of GNP than Britain, it is not necessary to list: they have bridged the and their economies have certainly not collapsed as a result!
New realism Ms Hogg, however, is part of realist movement among health academics. Her article followed on the conEast Thames Regional Health 'priorities'? Authority (NETRHA) (which covers 3.3m people) that a list of five 'minor operations would no longer be provided under the NHS The NETRHA announcement provoked a storm of outrage. Even the Guardian RUNNING AT A PROAT! which broke the eatorialsea in protest. The threat of a two-tier health service - with a comprehensive and up-to-date service available only to the wealthy, with a skid row service for the rest of us - was obviously beginning to become a reality.
The message was clear: if you live in NE Thames and suffer from varicose veins need wis dom teeth extracted, suffer from 'non-malignant lumps, want IVF fertility treatment or need tattoos removed you would have only two choices: go private, or go without.
How did Ms Hogg respond?
Yeltsin Boost BORIS Yeltsin's campaign to become the joint President of the Soviet Union received a powerful boost with his victory in the June 12 elections for the Presidency of Russia.
Despite sour grapes from Pravda and newspapers, International News Students' rally during Tiananmen event set up underground orranisations on campus. Liu andin, a stuaen al tur People's University, has recently been arrested for publishing the reformist journal Democratic Discussions.
In addition, students from four colleges in Beij ing have signed a statement pledging continued resistance. And in Shanghai, China's first human rights organisation has been established. But two of the organisers, Gu Bin and Yang Zhou, have been detained as a result.
The continued repression has not led to the reports over 42,000 cases of sabotage and resistance in industrial and mining enterprises in 1990. In addition, number autonomous workers' Organisations were discovered and strikes were reported.
Such reports, along with the unprecedented actions of the official trade unions, suggest a much greater level of resistance to the regime than had been pre viously suspected. In this context, Li Peng's protestations of and economic stability look like a bid to hold onto power. Some have suggested that