Labour and Tory NHS cash splurges are a mistake

I’m sending someone down to the supermarket later to do a bit of shopping on my behalf. I have given them a rough idea of what I want but my main instruction is that they must spend the entire £150 that I am giving them.      

If that was really how I did my shopping it isn’t hard to imagine the result. I would end up with bagfuls of stuff I didn’t really want and didn’t need. Some of the food might be good value but an awful lot of it wouldn’t be. Whoever did my shopping would simply pile up the trolley as quickly as they could, until they had spent my £150.

It sounds stupid, so why, then, are the main parties promising to do a very similar exercise with the NHS?     

This morning, Labour and the Conservatives have engaged in an arms race over how much they can promise to spend.