John Desmond Replies to Les May

John Desmond

AT the end of his review (of the journal Anarchist Voices), Les (May) asks ‘What would a Wardian NHS be like’? 
Colin discussed the NHS on pages 13 to 15 of his 1996 book ‘Social Policy’ published by Freedom Press.  He returned to the subject on pages 27 to 29 in his 2004 book ‘Anarchism’.  This book was his contribution to the ‘Very Short Introductions’ series published by Oxford University Press.  In both books, Colin rejected the NHS.  Colin did not write anything remotely similar to the assertion by Jeff Cloves, his obituarist, on page 9 of the 13th March 2010 issue of ‘Freedom’ (71 [4]) that ‘There can be no finer expression of mutuality than the NHS ….’ 
On page 15 of ‘Social Policy’, after discussing the Tredegar Medical Aid Society, Colin asked the question:  ‘Why didn’t the whole country become, not one big Tredegar, but a network of Tredegars?’  On page 28 of ‘Anarchism’, again after discussing the Tredegar Medical Aid Society, Colin expanded upon his question by observing: 
'Anarchists cite this little, local example of an alternative approach to the provision of health care to indicate that a different style of social organization could have evolved.’  
Paddy French echoed Colin’s observation in his little gem of an article ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ about the Tredegar Medical Aid Society on page 37 of the April/May 1999 (134: 35-39) issue of ‘Planet The Welsh Internationalist’:  
‘The society has … watched as local influence on the [NHS] withered away.  In five decades more and more of Tredegar’s medical services are provided further and further away from the town while control becomes ever more remote.’