With NHS funding in dire straits we cannot afford to be soft-hearted on health tourists
A birth can cost £50,000, and as Patient Concern says: 'The NHS cannot pay for the whole world to have its babies'
NHS free-for-all
THE NHS is seen around the world as a soft touch — and it’s getting worse.
The Government insists it is clawing back a fortune from overseas visitors. Great. But the number of pregnant women from outside the EU giving birth here with no right to free care has doubled in two years.
Demanding patients prove entitlement to care has been effective in Peterborough and should be rolled out nationwide. Wherever possible, those not eligible should be charged upfront.
A birth can cost £50,000, and as Patient Concern says: “The NHS cannot pay for the whole world to have its babies.”
With health funding in dire straits we cannot afford to be soft-hearted.
No cover-ups
WHY should a 17-year-old murderer enjoy lifelong anonymity?
It may increase their chance of rehabilitation. But that’s only one consideration.
Those who rape or kill at 15, 16 or 17 aren’t helpless children who need molly-coddling by the justice system.
They need to feel the full force of the law and public scrutiny along with it.
Anything less is an affront to open justice. It could even endanger the public once the criminals are released.
We see the logic behind withholding the names of very young offenders guilty of lesser crimes. But allowing the legal system’s fetish for secrecy to expand beyond that is flagrantly at odds with the public’s right to know.
Ministers should kick these plans out.
Google hate
WHERE is the anger over Google’s refusal to stop effectively promoting sermons inciting terrorist murder?
Critics of the Press would love to regulate newspapers they disagree with out of business. Yet web firms which host mind-bogglingly incendiary material inspiring actual slaughter get a free pass.
Google, Facebook and Twitter have vast resources, in part thanks to the footling tax bills they get away with.
It’s time they properly policed some of the vile content they host.
Hypocrite Jez
NO wonder our troops threw Jeremy Corbyn’s festive best wishes back in his hypocritical mush.
Labour’s leader backed the IRA, wants Argentina to jointly control the Falklands, opposed bombing ISIS and wants to scrap our nuclear deterrent.
To all but his cult of naive young followers he is a laughing stock.
To our fighting men and women he is positively repugnant.