WHAT a weird set of reports from a parallel universe in last week's Echo.

On Thursday (Sept 9th) Mr Chris Loder MP assured us that the Elections Bill, with measures to make voting notably harder for significant groups of electors, and removing the independence of the Boundaries Commission, will "protect and strengthen our democracy," straight out of the latest 1984 Newspeak dictionary.

Mr Drax MP on Friday (Sept 10th) excelled himself, with a series of misunderstandings. He should be aware that the reason for the NHS's recent downgrading by the US Commonwealth Fund was not inefficiency, but inadequate funding.

But if he wishes to find waste in the NHS budget, he could examine the cost of the privatised "NHS" Test & Trace, budgeted with £37bn over two years.

Mr Drax could also examine the horrible mess of the privatised "NHS" 111 Covid help line. By implication, Mr Drax opposes the NHS's need for proper funding and staffing with properly paid professionals, and prefers outsourcing for corner-cutting profit.

What about our advertised £350m per week? That might go some way to positioning the NHS again as the world's leading health service in terms of universal reach and cost effectiveness (which is what "efficiency" should be about).

Mr Drax declares himself passionately "less State and low tax". He was last elected, in case he hadn't noticed, on an incoherent more state and low tax basis. Implicit in the manifesto was much higher state spending, to start to undo the damage of the attempt to put Mr Drax's passionate beliefs into practice. If Mr Johnson and his party keep their material promises (they have already broken several) there will be more tax rises on the way. As the poorest in the country are already overburdened, it will be a basic matter of decency and patriotism to ensure that those more able to bear a heavier burden are taxed to meet these needs. The wealthy have generally done very well over the last two decades. And it is, of course, a grossly misleading over-simplification to claim that "the lower the tax, the more money the Treasury raises."

We also on Friday had two pages trumpeting Mr Drax inviting Mr Johnson to come to Weymouth so that he could be persuaded to spend more of the money that Mr Drax passionately believes the State should be too small to spend. It seems, at best, an empty gesture.

Barry Tempest

Romulus Close

Dorchester

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