I’m obliged to Iain X for allowing me the use of his popular website to publish a letter I wrote last July. It was written in response to correspondence from Dr David Wilson (Labour’s privatisation of the NHS - Hebrides-News.com) – a letter to which I was denied a reply for reasons known only to the editor’s chair.
I’ve reopened the letter because it’s contents are still relevant in light of Dr Wilson once again using the local press to deploy his bullying tactics against anyone who dares criticise any aspect of SNP policy. To put the letter below into proper context, I would recommend readers first view Dr Wilson’s aforementioned correspondence – Iain M Macdonald
Miavaig Uig
Isle of Lewis
Dear Editor
I was relieved to see Dr David Wilson’s name grace the pages of Hebrides News once more (letters July 2). We last heard from the frequent Heb News correspondent over two months ago when he boldly set forth for the Himalayas intent on climbing Mount Everest
There followed a lengthy ominous silence prompting fevered speculation about Dr Wilson’s fate. Had he suffered some dreadful mishap? Perhaps he’d been badly mauled by a renegade yak; been carried away by a hungry, or worse still…..amorous Himalayan yeti?
Our concerns were unfounded. Contact has now been restored with Dr Wilson who’s made it safely back to his Western Isles home. Dr Wilson deserves credit for his brave attempt to climb Everest, shaming many younger couch potatoes.
But the doctor of economics returns from his Himalayan adventure not to spellbind us with tales of rockface heroics but to present us with an impressive portfolio of what he claims to be the troubled financial affairs of an inferior privatised English NHS. All very interesting, but of limited relevance to Western Isles residents. We have plenty problems with our own island NHS who in recent years required a £3 million taxpayer funded bailout from the Scottish government to keep it afloat
The financial information supplied by Dr Wilson is his attempt to conclusively prove the NHS is being privatised by the Labour Party. But what the doctor of economics presents to us as financial facts is purely his own opinion. We could get another ten economists to interpret the same data and each one would propose a different conclusion to that arrived at by Dr Wilson.
Economics is not an exact science Dr Wilson can produce statistics to his heart’s content but they can’t prove anything until we’re all agreed on the correct definition of a privatised NHS. Furthermore, how can Labour be privatising the NHS when they are no longer in power? Dr Wilson should address his concerns to the Tory/LibDem coalition who have the authority to revoke or amend current policy.
But what right have I to pass judgement on such worldly matters? And me just a rustic rural maw who, according to Dr Wilson, has never ventured further than the village boundary.
Hopefully, my lowly status and retarded disposition doesn’t disqualify me from endorsing Dr Wilson’s stated concerns about the unhealthily close relationship between politicians and wealthy financiers. Political parties, in common with many other organisations,need to raise funds to pay for their everyday running costs. However, I agree with Dr Wilson that a better way could be devised than relying on the patronage of wealthy donors, often of dubious reputation.
My preferred solution to end this ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ culture would involve funding our political parties.from the public purse. But what does a peasant like me know about such things? The learned and cultured Dr Wilson will doubtless propose a superior plan to address a problem which is equally prevalent north of the border.
The SNP have regularly been the recipient of generous monetary gifts from a godly, church-going benefactor held in great reverence by all true Scottish Nationalists. In return for his generosity, the millionaire transport tycoon Sir Brian Souter will expect the SNP to refrain from enacting any legislation detrimental to his business interests. This is the unspoken agreement implicit in all such donations, regardless of political party. Although all parties are guilty of such practices, by far the worst offenders are the Tories and their City of London donors.
Dr Wilson won’t thank me for providing the above examples and muddying the waters in his relentless crusade to cast Labour as the sole villains in every story, ignoring any contradictory evidence and blaming the party for all manner of ills even though they no longer govern in Scotland or the UK. Quite obviously Dr Wilson harbours a growing personal grudge against a Labour Party whom he once actively supported and represented.
Standing unsuccessfully in South Lochs/Harris as a council SNP candidate in May 2012, Dr Wilson’s political aspirations were thwarted by another yokel like myself; a taxi driving Labour Party member from Siabost (Councillor D J Macrae). It’s easy to understand why this recent blow delivered by his former party has left a rather bitter taste lingering in the mouth of our Western Isles economist.
Yours Faithfully
Iain M Macdonald
