It’s the 75th anniversary of the creation of the National Health Service next week, which can only mean one thing: mass, ostentatious displays of affection for a creaking arm of the British state.
Still, even Mr Steerpike was taken aback by how quickly our state broadcaster descended into bizarre jingoistic tub-thumping for ‘our’ NHS ahead of the anniversary.
Last night the makers of Newsnight decided to capture the spirit of North Korea when they commissioned a children’s choir to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the ailing health service on air. The Cambridge Children’s Hospital Choir did a lovely job of course, but was it really necessary for the Beeb to go full-on Pyongyang?
Putting aside the fact that the NHS is not, in fact, a sentient human being that will appreciate the birthday wishes, it seems like there’s very little to celebrate when it comes to the decrepit health system.
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