99 not out

All this week, a 99 year old war veteran has been doing laps o the garden of the care home where he now lives, to raise funds for the NHS, hoping to do 100 laps before his 100th birthday at the end of the month.

He did, and rightly the nation lauded this fine old gentleman for his act of passion and kindness, and yet few questioned as why his act was needed when we, as a nation, pay our taxes for a fully-funded health system.

His act of charity should not have been needed, and yet the very people whose polices made this act necessary saw nothing two faced in standing at their back doors to applaud him with other unsung heroes on Thursday night.

There is a direct connection between the deliberate underfunding and understaffing of the NHS and what we see now, and that was a political decision, not because there is no magic money tree in the Downing Street garden, just the Conservative Party chose to cut taxes for the super-rich and not collect tax from multi-national businesses like Amazon and Uber.

I salute the war hero and what he has achieved, £15 million raised and counting, but should not have been needed, if only Peston and Co would ask the Government at one of the daily briefings.

And about PPE.

And testing.

And if they have a plan.

And how many deaths would the Government consider a success?