Done to a crisp

摘要

A sense of perspective is needed. When steroids were first used, in the early 50s, there was a worry that these wonder drugs would bankrupt the NHS. Nasty side-effects cut down the prescriptions and saved the NHS from too much financial embarrassment, but the principle remains, and the NHS has never, in all its nearly 60 years, managed to stay within budget. If its current overspend is about £800 million, that represents — to quote a posting to one of the internet medical discussion groups — about 1% of its total budget. Each of Britain's 232 ordered Eurofighters costs £68.5 million, which is 2.5 times its originally estimated cost. We are spending £1.5 billion every year keeping troops in Iraq.