I don’t believe that all those who voted for Brexit were racists; or – to put it differently, because I have no evidence for this – I don’t want to believe that they were racists. There were, and are, better reasons for voting for ‘sov’rinty’ than that. For those who were racist, however, it must be disconcerting to find that the white Europeans who used to work for us have now been replaced by browner Asians and others, who must appear more objectionable than Klaus from Germany or Marie from France, to anyone who measures a person’s worth by the colour of his or her skin.
This is what my recent experience in a British hospital brought home to me. All my (admirable) doctors and nurses were non-European (apart from one – but is Lithuania in the EU?), and – as it happens – women. Mind you, this was in Hull, where I understand the shortage of British-trained medical staff is more acute than anywhere else in the country. Is it the same elsewhere? And did Brexit play a part in this? Was one of its effects to make Britain even more multi-racial than before? That would be ironic if so; and perhaps a reason for true – global – internationalists to thank Farage.
Back in Sweden it’s all very different, of course. The health system works here as it doesn’t any longer in Britain. I’m getting excellent treatment (for the same condition) from my Swedish doctor and nurses. Not free, admittedly (200 kronor a visit, up to a certain amount each year); but worth it.
But it’s obviously unfair to compare Stockholm with Hull in this regard. One is a national metropolis, with world-leading hospitals; the other a neglected backwater, with not much to recommend it for ambitious medics. And Sweden, of course, is still in the EU.
Porter’s Pensées 
In my only recent experience the care afforded to my late mother in Bradford W Yorks was both outstanding and irreproachable. 🙂
The nursing / social worker / carer and other staff were to a large extent local ‘Anglos’ as were 2 of the doctors. Another was Indian and as a specialist he was the most informed and involved in the case. He stood for the scanning and tests which were instantly transmitted to and from India by internet for diagnoses. While the surrounding buildings comprised an Islamic End of Life Centre. It’s a former hospital located in a primarily Islamic population of Bradford.
I was on call (at Mum and Dad’s) and spoke to all the doctors involved regularly over my smartphone over several months. They called several times a week at some points although I visited daily with only a couple of exceptions. I also made the end-of-life arrangements with them directly as a team, as they seemed quite surprised they could communicate with me about treatments and medications. The EOL team appointed to my mother comprised 3 nurses, 3 doctors, 2 social workers, secondary carers (waitresses for food and fluids etc.), plus an Asian background recorder (in a headscarf). They were all very friendly and sociable too.
My mother was happy for their group meetings as she thought she was at a NALGO meeting in the 1970s and happily enquired who was coming from various branches. Mum had been branch secretary for Bradford University through the 70s.
After decades of translating medical Swedish and Danish into English including GlaxoSmithKline Malmo, Novo Nordisk Bagsvaerd etc., I pretty well knew my way around most medical subjects though. I even taught translation workshops comprising doctors, health care workers, administrators, lawyers fighting (US) Eli Lilly in Novopen copyright cases etc. 🙂
This is my mother’s final care home. I have very happy memories of my mother’s passing there. 🙂
Cheers Peter
https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/help/hospice-care/bradford
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The NHS is certainly not working, and the “model” was probably flawed from inception, hence no other country having adopted it.
The UK should obviously adopt the Swedish model.
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I’d like to know in what ways it was ‘flawed’. You don’t say.
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My view is based on the organisation never having been properly costed by Bevan prior to his actual proposal, and the fact that it required much more than his “guesstimate”. Didn’t he base his proposal on a scheme operating in his constituency, where different conditions existed?
Also, I think Morrison, not the worst organiser, opposed the Bevan structure but I would have to research the exact criticism.
I recall reading a comment piece (can’t remember where it was now) to the effect that some in the Labour party knew the proposal was flawed but as Michael Foot apparently commented “Nye was so vehement…
It must have been possible for there to be charges for those who could afford them, and none for those who couldn’t, or an insurance for those who could afford it.
Certainly the NHS is failing now but there is no political will to sort it out. The Swedish scheme sounds like a good place to start.
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Moving on to a more important matter, Bernard: the Lords controversy.
You must have a view. I think the Australians should have recalled Bairstow; it was unsporting to dismiss him that way. However, the reaction of the England team, the tabloid press and the fans at the ground has also been hugely unsporting. The reaction was not proportionate to the provocation.
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I googled: Lithuania has been an EU member since 1 May 2004.
I deduce, Bernard, that you are now either a patient in a hospital in Stockholm or a frequent visitor as an outpatient. I continue to wish you well and hope for a speedy recovery.
And, in the wake of Brexit, there is an Asian heritage PM.
Perhaps if Remain had run on the platform, ‘If you vote Brexit, you’ll get a South Asian PM,’ the racists would have swung the result in the other direction.
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Thanks! Of course I should have checked. She was a Lithuanian national, but recruited, she told me, from South America, where she had been working before.
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