Nye

Another full day in London but much less stressful than yesterday. I met an old university friend and his wife and son at the Victoria & Albert Museum. More on that in tomorrow's blip because I don't want to waste the photos I took there. But this evening, I went with my daughter Jen to see Nye at the National Theatre. It was brilliant, a celebration of the NHS and Nye Bevan, its founding father. Michael Sheen was exceptional as Nye, on stage for the whole of the play. A universal health service free at the point of need - the mark of a society that understands that access to health, and indeed to the.law (the other great passion of mine) should not be dependent on whether or not one can afford it. Sadly, the poliical consensus that kept the NHS funding in line with inflation (and health costs have always been one or two points above the general rate of inflation), has been broken by 14 years of an  austerity policy towards funding public services. The pressure on the NHS today reflects that.