A Couple of Answers

The future of the NHS

Dear Brighton Voter,

1] Issues and questions like this appear as if they address something important but they simply skate over the surface. Politicians could commit to a free NHS but then it excludes a range of treatments [some places I understand already do not offer hernia or varicose vein treatment]. You could have an arrangement that meant when you are admitted, any state benefits you receive are transferred to the hospital – no charges as such, merely an accounting arrangement. It could be that the level of social care within your local area is so reduced that the hospital is completely overburdened and, yes it is free but the waits are months and months. The real issue is whether the level of health care freely available in our society matches the needs of the population and already that is not the case. For almost 10% of attendees, A&E waits are over 4 hours.

During the banking crisis the banks were handed literally billions and billions of pounds with no strings attached: just to keep them from going under. Two were nationalised at great public expense. Why? Because their precarious position seriously jeopardised the wealth of big corporations and rich people. You and I are still paying for it. If there were another banking crisis, the same would happen again: because they are held by our Government to be more important than we are. Unless we tackle this unbalanced system of power and privilege, commitments to free NHS care at the point of use are simply platitudes. What is the point of free health care if you cannot afford somewhere decent to live? If you cannot feed your children healthy food?

After the banking crisis we were promised reforms in the financial sector, since which we have had LIBOR scandal, drugs money laundering, tax avoidance scams, PPI fiddles…the list goes on despite more huge bonuses [and how many prosecutions?]. We were also promised no top-down NHS reorganisation, but we got that. You can see plainly where loyalties lie. The Government is there to serve the rich and powerful, and until that changes anything else is window dressing. They will promise anything and mean nothing. The answer? Kick them all out and take power ourselves in a democratic revolution that changes things for good. Vote socialist on May 7.

2] Yes health care would be free in socialism because everything would be free – we advocate a money-less society. We really believe money is the root of much evil and we can do without it pretty well, actually. I know it sounds strange and off beat but a few minutes reflection and perhaps it is not such a bad idea after all. There are plenty of cash less relationships in the world and there is no reason why we can’t generalise these further.

3] You may not agree with everything I have said; you may find something hard to accept. But if I have made any connections, if there are resonances with some of the things I’ve said, get in touch, come and talk to us. In this party everyone is equal and has an equal say: there is no leader. This is a truly bottom up movement aimed at creating a bottom up society. If you share our beliefs you can show this by voting socialist on May 7.

Kind regards

Howard Pilott

Prospective Party Candidate

The Socialist Party of Great Britain

Animal Rights 

A reply sent in response to FRAME (Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments) in answer to the following "would like to ask you, as a parliamentary candidate in the forthcoming General Election, to consider including the question of alternatives to animal testing in your campaign."

In reply to your email, I would ask you to consider this; Are you really that surprised that a society, Capitalism, which holds "Human Life" so cheaply and with such disregard, should treat other "animal" lives so poorly? Approximately 40,000 children under five years of age, die of starvation or directly attributable disease, every single day. Hundreds of millions have no access to sanitation, or clean water. Approximately 2 billion people go to be hungry every single night, in a world that can provide us all, every man woman and child, with a more than adequate level of nutrition. With statistics like these, do you really imagine that the tiny fraction of one per cent of the population who own the world and everything in and on it, will be swayed by any argument that can be made, in this profit before need orientated world, we so obviously inhabit? The answer is, and can only be, a resounding "no".

 The "only" answer to the problem above, as with every other problem engendered by Capitalism, by its very existence is, to replace the production for profit system with one, where the things we, as humans need to live, are produced for direct human use. Where the world and everything in and on it, belong to us all, equally. This is why The Socialist Party GB exist, to facilitate this change. When humans live in a world that treats people with respect and dignity then, and only then, can we have a world that treats other species, in a like-minded way. Capitalism can never fulfil this expectation. Only a system in which we all have an equal say and stake, can do this. This is exactly the world the SPGB are advocating. If you agree, then The Socialist Party is the Party that needs your "conscious" support. If you prefer to continue to support the plethora of political parties that support capitalism, then you can only expect the lack of respect that the vast majority of life receives, to continue, Ad Infinitum!!!

Steve Colborn,

The Socialist Party of Great Britain,

Easington Constituency Parliamentary Candidate.