The NHS is collapsing, law enforcement in this country is a scandal, and privatised utility companies have licence to rape and pillage bill payers with scant regard for any quality of service or investment. As regards infrastructure, what is the point, for instance, of taxing private transport out of existence when public transport is non-existent in many parts of the country? Those are just a few of many examples of national failures.
Now, two weeks ago a road crew was filling potholes in my neck of the woods, and today the new patches are already sinking; I assume they were done on the cheap to fend off insurance claims for the time being, with an intention to do the job properly when the budget allows, and therein lies a problem.
Like the pothole issue, a lack of vision, short-termism, and the abject failure of successive governments to plan for the future have led the country to crisis point. One of my pet hates is HS2 for which the latest financial estimates predict a Phase 1 cost overrun of over £4bn on a baseline of £40bn, with only a 50% chance of even staying within that. What’s worse is that HS2 is not future proofing anything, and many people who it was said the project would benefit have been told they’re no longer in the plan. If it is finally finished it will only service a fraction of UK rail users so HS2 is nothing more than a fancy cash converter. By my reckoning, the Phase 1 cost overrun alone could pay the current average salary of 12,000 nurses for 10 years, or it could fund a few care homes to reduce bed blocking and stop people dying in A&E queues.
The NHS is a bloated organisation that would be vastly improved with less jobsworths, more clinicians, and some sense of financial probity, but it desperately needs a competent and trustworthy government to address that and the other issues that beset the UK; the trick is to find one.