So how would it be if we financial advisers were nationalised (the NAFs, not the NHS) and had to see 40 punters, ten minutes each, a day? “Do you have money or do you want money? You want it? OK, you can borrow it or save it, what’s it to be? How much? Sign here. Next…” I guess it’s ‘sleeping pills or antibiotics’ with less chance, in the short-term at least. of killing the clients. In my Allied Dunbar days, it was called ‘closing’.
Years ago when I worked in Greece, families used to fly their poorly relatives to London to get better medical treatment. Now it’s cheaper, even with the cost of flights and hotels, to go to Lithuania for a hip replacement and Hungary or Turkey for a bit of dental work.
In the real world, large chunks of the NHS are already sort-of privatised. In Gloucester, many cataract operations are carried out by a private company; which, yes, has cut waiting times considerably. In Oxford, three GP practices are now owned by a private company....
Pension rules have, since ‘Pensions Simplification’ a few years ago, become ridiculously complex. Much of the ad hoc, short term stuff added since has had unforeseen effects, such as huge tax bills for doctors having to work extra hours to keep the NHS afloat. They...