The following article is by Dr Timothy Tomkinson, a doctor currently working in the NHS. 

What an interesting little parallel there is between the ignominious sights in UWE last week, and a few paragraphs in an Orwell book from 1939: Coming up for Air.

It is now a familiar sight, when someone expresses views clashing with those of the radical Left, a small number of the latter will invariably appear in balaclavas to hurl abuse and disrupt things. At face value this is clearly comical. It underlines perfectly the lack of intelligence possessed by someone if they are unable to engage in persuasive rhetoric. This is especially so as they claim that the speaker, Mr Rees-Mogg, is a “fascist”, a “homophobe” and a “racist”. If these accusations were true they would surely be very easy to defeat with simple debate and exposing the ideas for what they are. When an ideology lacks substance, only then do you defend it, as John McDonnell has done, by calling for Direct Action rather than debate.

The following article is by Dr Timothy Tomkinson, a doctor currently working in the NHS. 

Walking through the Emergency Department on an average day, it is clear that the system is not coping. From both the long waiting times by each patient’s name, to the hallways filled with elderly patients on trollies, it is evident that the NHS is not keeping up with demands.

Whilst we can all agree that there is a very real problem with the NHS, the big question is how we change this. Accessing any news source, it seems clear there is cross-party support for more NHS funding, as well as public opinion polls showing an equal desire – perhaps from both individual and government sources. However, in order to improve the NHS, we first need to determine the exact cause of the crisis (both in the short and long term). Therefore, we should consider a few facts:

The following is a guest post Dr. Timothy Tomkinson. 

The other day I stumbled across this poem by Tennyson. Written a hundred and thirty two years ago and although a little garish, it is remarkably relevant to the present day. Of course there can be many interpretations but beyond the slightly grating overtones it is high-minded and enduring. At its core it calls for individual freedom, and discerns where balances of power lie.

It is a splendid tribute to an enduring outlook, as he correctly states the priority that the UK and Anglosphere have traditionally put on freedom. To paraphrase Disraeli, “I prefer the liberties we now enjoy to the liberalism they profess, and find something better than the Rights of Man in the Rights of Englishmen”. That is the sentiment echoed in the poem and borne out today. The fact that in the UK one may prefer the freedoms and liberties that we have been gifted, more than the illusory rights professed by more authoritarian regimes (although the times are changing).