09 April 2023 , 23:01
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Ambulance services collapsing after years of neglect under the Tories are a symbol of wider national decline.
That delays are forcing one in three patients to give up and get themselves to hospital in taxis, buses and on trains is an indictment of chronic under-funding and mismanagement.
These are people who desperately need medical treatment, rather than the relatively few cases of callers abusing the 999 system who the more desperate Tories would prefer to highlight to distract attention from a problem they have created.
It is chilling to acknowledge that lives are lost or put at risk because of these considerable delays, as response time targets are missed by record levels.
Uncaring Tories can now only dream of rebuilding the service they inherited from the last Labour government.
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
Britain’s pride
Ukrainian forces training in Britain to use the tanks, missiles and other weapons we supply to repel Vladimir Putin’s invaders are making a heroic effort.
They will be the ones doing the fighting back home but we can all be proud that Britain is defending democracy in Europe and assisting a neighbour that is only a short flight away.
Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and even Syria were controversial military operations involving Britain but, over a year since Russia’s unprovoked invasion, we can hold our heads high for helping brave Ukrainians defend freedom.
Our supply of equipment is matched in Europe only by Germany, and this should not be overshadowed by the Government parking Volodymyr Zelensky’s plea for warplanes.
In this battle there’s no doubt we are on the side of the good guys.
Air we go
Grumbling about the heat is one of the characteristics of Brits abroad.
But at least we form an orderly queue for our cooling early-morning pints at the airport.