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The commentators                    24-10-14

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...on the NHS

Healthcare, in an old country, is a continuous, rather than an episodic, service. It has to be integrated around the individual. Integration by central fiat, though, is a fool’s errand. In a recent international survey the NHS Confederation concluded that integration which begins from the attempt to cajole institutions into partnership produces no significant improvement to care.
- Philip Collins, The Times

For the new head of NHS England this was the first great test. Would he dare speak truth to power about the near-death state of NHS finances? Yesterday, he did. He said it loud and clear – £8bn is the minimum needed, no ifs, no buts. He didn’t pretend about the money, as his predecessor did: the NHS is flatlining in intensive care and he says pay freezes can’t continue. There is no escape for any political party now: they must say how they will find the money.
- Polly Toynbee, The Guardian

While Labour and the Tories pretend to be at war over the NHS, both parties were quite happy with the Five Year View plan yesterday. To paraphrase Jean-Claude Juncker, they both know what needs to be done to the NHS – they just don’t know how to get re-elected after they’ve done it.
-  Fraser Nelson, Daily Telegraph

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So desperate is the Welsh government to avoid scrutiny of their appalling failures in care, this week it has emerged that they are refusing access to OECD researchers for their report on healthcare quality in the four home nations – unless a guarantee was given that nothing would be disclosed until after the general election. The cynicism is breathtaking. For all their posturing, Labour’s terrible stewardship over the border exposes the big lie at the heart of Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham’s position on the NHS.
- Jeremy Hunt, Daily Mail

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Thursday 25 September Judges for the Editorial Intelligence comment awards announced their shortlists today, with ten nominations for the FT, nine for the Times, five for the Guardian, four for the Independent - and two for SubScribe. 
The Times and Sunday Times scored a clean sweep in nominations for the main award of commentariat of the year, which will be decided between David Aaronovitch, Camilla Cavendish, Daniel Finkelstein and last year's winner Caitlin Moran.
Guardian's Jay Rayner was shortlisted in the food writer category, but said that he did not wish to be considered as that award is sponsored by Tesco. 
The awards will be presented on November 25. 
See the full shortlists here

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The Independent offered a Q&A, the Times expert analysis and comparison with services elsewhere. And both had charts, facts and figures. These were statistic-rich properties. That is not the way of the Mail. It aims directly at the heart, avoiding the head at all costs. With maximum use of  adjectives and minimum use of statistics, it tells us that Welsh health services are a mess - and this is, it seems, entirely a result of the fact that Labour has been in charge of them for 15 years. 
- Press review

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Comment digest courtesy of
Editorial Intelligence

October 23
British politics
October 22
Ukip
October 21
Britain and EU
October 20
British politics

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October 17
Lord Freud
October 16
British politics
October 15
British politics
October 14
British politics
October 13
British politics

October 10
Isis and UK politics
October 9
British politics
October 8
British politics
October 7
LibDem conference
October 6
British politics

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October 3
Party conferences
October 2
Cameron's speech
October 1
Conservative conference
September 30
Conservative conference
September 29
Conservative conference

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September 26
War on Isis
September 25
Labour conference
September 24
Miliband's speech
September 23
Labour conference
September 22
Referendum fallout

September 19
Scottish referendum
September 18
Scottish referendum
September 17
Scottish referendum
September 16
Scottish referendum
September 15
Scottish referendum

September 12
Scottish referendum
September 11
Scottish referendum
September 10
Scottish referendum
September 9
Scottish referendum
September 8
Scottish referendum

September 5
Scottish referendum
September 4
Nato and Isis
September 3
Scottish independence
September 2
Hacked photographs
September 1
British politics

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