Tom Shales, TV critic for the Washington Post, reviews the British prime ministerial debate last night and catches this item:
And if Americans have had presidential debates for 50 years, the British have had -- and been complaining about --"the National Health" since 1948. Questions about the National Health Service contained details that could well give the jitters to Americans already worried about recently approved health-care reform. Brown vowed that henceforth, all necessary operations would be performed within 18 weeks of diagnosis, which didn't sound very speedy and made one wonder how long the wait is now.
Good point! 18 weeks is the goal? What is it now? And what if they don't reach that goal?
And so, we might wonder, what does this mean sort of stultification portend for the US, now that we are moving down the same bureaucratic path?
A half century ago, my old Polish boss with a 19th century sort of wisdom said: Pete, if you hit someone while driving, back up & roll over them again. They are cheaper dead than alive.
ReplyDeleteAgain, in a review of my Utility employer’s 19 century leather bound Accounting ledgers (circa 1897), they indicated the company placed more value on its horses pulling the wagons of spooled cable than on a 73 year old employee who died on the job or another who couldn’t cut it anymore at 77.
It was a harsh world out there back then. Is history repeating itself? Your “18 weeks” evoked these memories. Maybe 18 weeks is just enough time to back up over the body? :-(