The NHS in Northern Ireland is the worst in the UK. During the April/June 2021 quarter, more than 349,000 people were waiting for a first appointment, 53 per cent for more than a year, an increase of 39,000 over the same period in 2020. Adjusted for population size, waiting lists in Northern Ireland are 100 times larger. than those of England, a country 50 times its size.
That comes from the excellent Perils and Prospects of a United Ireland, by Padraig O’Malley. Consider a detailed, thoughtful 500 pp. book. on political issues that you probably don’t care much about – is there a better way to learn politics and political thinking? Every page of this book offers something important.
Elsewhere, of course, we are told that reluctance to give up their health care system is a major reason why Irish reunification is not very popular in the North, and that holds for Catholics as well.
This one will make the list of the best fiction of the year.
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