GORDON PARSONS is bowled over by a skilfully stripped down and powerfully relevant production of Hamlet
The fight to save the NHS
HELEN MERCER welcomes the personal account of an NHS worker and activist for its lucid exposition of the impact of privatisation by stealth
In which we accompany the Bard into Cymru to meet his musical accomplices, young and old
SUE TURNER is inspired by the example of a librarian’s struggle to confront the book-banning movement
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews I Am Martin Parr, September Says, The Monkey, and The Gorge
RITA DI SANTO applauds a touching and witty opener that touches a hot topic in Germany: the future of the immigrant population
SIMON PARSONS is discomfited by an unflichingly negative portrait of motherhood and its trials
Critical: Why the NHS is being betrayed and how we can fight for it
Dr Julia Grace Patterson
Mudlark, £16.99
RISHI SUNAK wants us to unite around ”shared values,” so here’s one – the NHS. An Ipsos Mori poll in August 2022 found that the NHS came out top when the public was asked “what makes us proud to be British?”
The poll is cited in Julia Patterson’s excellent book, which provides a heartfelt introduction both to the strengths of the NHS as originally constituted and the disastrous process of the last 40-50 years by which the NHS has been privatised, fragmented and (part of the process of privatisation) starved of funds and trained staff.
Julia Patterson is an NHS psychiatrist who now works full time with the campaign she co-founded – Every Doctor. I would urge everyone to go to the Every Doctor website, https://everydoctor.org.uk, for invaluable maps showing just how extensive outsourcing and PFIs are across Britain and the extent of MPs’ (Conservative and Labour) financial interests in private healthcare companies often through investment funds, such as Egerton Capital or Apax Partners LLP (linked with Keir Starmer and Teresa May respectively).
More from this author
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
