Britain | Bagehot

Britons turn into Borat when it comes to health, housing and avocados

Column For Make Benefit of Glorious NHS 

Borat cheering on the NHS
Image: Nate Kitch

Even by the standards of Britain’s odd love affair with the National Health Service (nhs), the organisation’s 75th anniversary celebrations were weird. At a special service at Westminster Abbey on July 5th, the nhs’s George Cross award (Britain’s highest civilian accolade for gallantry, no less) was solemnly paraded. The prime minister and leader of the opposition gave readings. “The home of God is among mortals,” said Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, quoting Revelations in homage to an organisation that removes kidney stones. The Dean of Westminster declared that “The nhs sets before us all the better angels of our nature.”

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Borat’s Britain ”

From the July 8th 2023 edition

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