The Spectator

Wednesday

July 3, 2013

How the Spectator blew the whistle on the International Health Service

From our UK edition

At Prime Minister's Questions today, backbencher Philip Lee ambushed David Cameron on the subject of health tourism. He asked: 'As a doctor who once had to listen incredulously to a patient explain, via a translator, that she only discovered she was nine months’ pregnant on arrival at terminal 3 at Heathrow, I was pleased to hear the statement from the Secretary of State for Health today on health tourism. Does the Prime Minister agree that although the savings are modest, the principle matters? The health service should be national, not international.' The Prime Minister replied: 'My hon. Friend makes a very important point. This is a national health service, not an international health service. British families pay about £5,000 a year in taxes for our NHS.

The Spectator

Dear Mary on mobile phone etiquette, playing bridge, and the weather

From our UK edition

The Spectator's Mary Killen — otherwise known as 'Dear Mary' — was on Radio 4's Today programme this morning discussing whether or not it was right for a Sainsbury's checkout assistant to refuse to serve a customer who was on her mobile phone. Here's the clip from this morning's programme, and below we've put together some of our favourite Dear Mary dilemmas of the last six months. listen to ‘Dear Mary on mobile phone etiquette’ on Audioboo Q. I was sitting in a South West train the other day. A woman across the aisle was making nonstop calls into her mobile phone, speaking very loudly in what sounded to me like Cantonese. I found it excruciating. I could not think, I could not read, I could not do anything.

The Spectator

A complete and utter fraud

From our UK edition

In a perfect world, Kevin Rudd would not be campaigning for election but visiting an analyst. Therapy is the treatment of our age for those the ancient Greeks saw as tragic heroes, personalities at once sparkling and deeply dysfunctional. But an election campaign it is, with the Australian people as the judge and jury, and it is important to keep in mind a key issue at stake: just who is Kevin Rudd? Much has been made of the shambolic nature of Mr Rudd’s first term as prime minister. But it remains unclear why the 55-year-old former diplomat is such a dysfunctional figure. Most people don’t expect political leaders to have well-adjusted personalities.