More News From The Place Where England Used to Be

In UK, the National Health System is the pinnacle of achievement. Quality of care is excellent, and everyone is seen in a timely manner.

Oh, wait. That would be the US, where consumers pay directly. In the UK, they are seriously talking about NOT providing health care at all to people who are fat, smoke, drink, or are just too old because it's an unnecessary expense on a system already strapped for cash.

Except in Hull, apparently, where they have this great idea to improve public health by

...wait for it...

buying a yacht.

No, they don't want to spend £40M over the next two years by doing something unproductive like building a new hospital or refurbishing ALL the old ones, or maybe just giving taxpaying subjects their money back. They want to buy a yacht. To help, at the outside, 450 people.

I wonder if they would like to buy a bridge from me. You know, so they would get healthier by sailing under it.

The local residents are, predictably, too dim to see that this is actually a good idea, and not a way for Health Secretary Alan Johnson to get a free yacht ride whenever he wants one.

There is a list of VERY GOOD REASONS that UK doesn't trust their subjects with arms. They might get to thinking they had a right to their own money instead of buying fatcats yachts, for one.