My view on the news - NHS reform and Pakistan

Health Sector

This is going to destroy the NHS. If the private sector are allowed to compete on the good bits on services, that will leave the NHS having to fund the non-profitable services and then it will run out of money and fail. End game is the collapse of the NHS. Where Royal Mail is going, the NHS will follow. Destruction of the public services, one by one. Once the conservatives have done as much damage as they can in their years of power, then the next government will have a much harder job to pick up the pieces.

This is the same for all the public services. The private sector costs more and delivers less. The only realistic answer to obtaining value for money is to improve the performance of the public sector and that can only be done by making management more accountable for the services they are delivering. The private sector is only an answer to putting public money in to private pockets.

Pakistan

They are already walking a tightrope between internal religious practices and the international stage. So far all calls for the death penalty under charges of blasphemy have been overturned; such is the fear of Pakistan of the rage of the International community. There really is no way out for Pakistan other than to come down hard on terrorist sections, otherwise it could end up being the bolt hole for such a majority of religious terrorists, that would become isolated on the International stage and that would then attract sanctions against it. It doesn't really have a choice unless it wants to cut itself off from the International community.