This morning, National Public Radio had a piece about British reaction to the portrayal of the National Health Service in the American health-care debate. It was not exactly another example of the storied British Stiff Upper Lip. In fact, it's required listening.
Must-hear coverage aired on National Public Radio this morning of British reactions to the portrayal of the National Health Service in the American health-care debate. Various citizens' opinions air, and the personal experiences of the respective leaders of the Tory and Labour Parties (Opposition Leader David Cameron, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown) are described. Each of the latter two had experience with NHS as the result of having children born with severe health problems. Each is a big booster of the NHS.
There's a brief interview with Lord Ara Darzi, a surgeon and British government advisor concerning the National Health Service. A recording of Senator Grassley's comments about how the NHS would not treat Ted Kennedy's brain tumor is played for Lord Darzi. Darzi responds by saying that the Senator is lying and expresses shock that such demonstrably false statements are being injected into the health-care debate.
Links for the segments are here and here.
The web pages associated with those links state that audio will be available after 9 a.m. Eastern Time. If you did not hear these segments on your favorite NPR station this morning, I urge you to listen to them... and to recommend them to your relatives, friends, and colleagues.