Health of nations.

Meetings are taking place in the US, concerning the issue of privatised vs public health services...

Here`s a report from "Enigma", an activist, mother and nurse who is speaking out on behalf of those who have no medical insurance.

There are news reports coming from the US, with interviews from the right-wing opponents of the "National Health Service", and there are wild, unsubstantiated accusations of failings within the British system.
To which of course, one must point out that, "warts and all", at least we have a system that serves every single one of us according to our needs, and that the "burden" is one that we have pride in carrying.

We may not have so many missiles, but at least we got socialised medicine:). Actually, Wales hasn`t even got an air force, or a navy (apart from one or two small fisheries protection craft), we`ve a few hundred soldiers, presently under the "command" of the UK government, who in their quest to rule the planet, in the sixteenth century, after many fiery confrontations, finally took control of Wales through the "acts of union".

No debate concerning the National Health Service should omit the story of its` founding, the details of which encompass the coal mines of Britain, the writings of Marx, and the tale of a boy of 13, driven to work underground in the coal pit through poverty and a lack of schooling..

Aneurin Bevan was born in November 1897, of a typical Welsh family of the time, his father was a coal miner with 10 children to feed and educate, and Aneurin, (or "Nye", as he was called"), soon found himself underground, dust covered and hand- hewing coal for a wage that barely covered the cost of food and rent.




As the other miners talked with him, they realised he was "special", and between them, they sent him to be educated in the hope that he would lead them from their misery and squalor.



In a short time he became first a trade unionist and then a politician.

In 1925, his father lay dying of pneumoconiosis, the "miners` curse", Nye was there, holding him, sharing the last breaths and thoughts, and it is said that it was then he vowed that of all things he would do in his life,

the establishment of taxpayer-funded healthcare for every man, woman and child, would be his primary goal.

Not only a friend of the American Singer and activist Paul Robeson...

There`s more to the man from the hill...

In no small way, do I, and millions of others, owe life to this man, and I certainly couldn`t imagine Wales without our health service, "Free to all, in time of need, and at the point of delivery."

Bad luck or carelessness, but in my younger days, having had some surgery & stitching here and there, I`d be a fool not to believe in the policy of taxpayer-funded medicine.
As it happens, I`ve been fortunate for many years not to need a doctor, but don`t begrudge my taxes paying for the day when that need arises, or indeed, how could anyone fault a system that helps us all, the new-born, the sick, and the elderly without any distinctions of class or wealth.