Peter & Christopher Hitchens: National Health Service - Live Call-In - Part 8 (1994)

May 31, 1994 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww....

Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/08/christopher-hitchens-and-peter-hi...

The National Health Service or NHS is the publicly-funded healthcare system in Great Britain (though the term is also used to refer to three of the four national health services in the UK, collectively). The NHS provides healthcare to anyone normally resident in the United Kingdom with most services free at the point of use for the patient though there are charges associated with eye tests, dental care, prescriptions, and many aspects of personal care. The NHS has agreed a formal constitution which sets out the legal rights and responsibilities of the NHS, its staff, and users of the service and makes additional non-binding pledges regarding many key aspects of its operations.

The NHS provides the majority of healthcare in England, including primary care, in-patient care, long-term healthcare, ophthalmology and dentistry. The National Health Service Act 1946 came into effect on 5 July 1948. Private health care has continued parallel to the NHS, paid for largely by private insurance: it is used by about 8% of the population, generally as an add-on to NHS services. In the first decade of the 21st century the private sector started to be increasingly used by the NHS to increase capacity. According to the BMA a large proportion of the public opposed this move.

The NHS is largely funded from general taxation (including a proportion from National Insurance payments). The UK government department responsible for the NHS is the Department of Health, headed by the Secretary of State for Health. Most of the expenditure of The Department of Health (£98.7 billion in 2008-9) is spent on the NHS.

Aneurin "Nye" Bevan (15 November 1897 - 6 July 1960) was a British politician of the first half of the 20th century. The son of Welsh coal miners Bevan was a lifelong champion of social justice and the rights of working people. He was a long time Member of Parliament for the Labour Party and became recognized as one of the leaders of the partys left wing, and of left wing British thought generally. His most famous accomplishment came when, as Minister of Health in the post-war Attlee government he lead the establishment of the National Health Service, which provides free medical care to all Britons.

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[crothersdaniel]

It's nice to hear the Hitchens brothers agree on something i.e. the NHS.

[19STU84]

Long live the NHS. Don't let the Tory scum put it into private hands!

[JoeGitface]

Christopher Hitchens : piss artist par exellence.

[nakedmambo]

That woman is clearly putting that accent on to impress the brothers, it smacks of falseness.

[bakersteven3]

I think , like any country, neither the Hitchens or the thugish football fans are typical.

We have a mixture of people, just like any country.

[Redfingers]

@tjb1982

Peter was saying that the "real brit" is some drunken fucked up "oy mate" kinda bloke at a soccer game. They don't sound so fuckin' elitist when you live around that kind of human garbage.

His whole point is that there is no such thing as a "typical" uptight British snob because the typical brit is just like the typical American....a disgusting piece of trash.

[tjb1982]

Sorry, but Peter talking about snobs is a little paradox. In my view, he himself is a typical uptight British snob. Even though I respect his opinions and his bright mind, his way of talking is sometimes hard to bear.

[PurushaDesa]

Good job with that detailed description covering the NHS for American viewers.

[radomu1]

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