Donald Rooum: Wildcat Rides Again!

The sparkle as bright, the drawing as powerful, limitations of space and time again exploded, each cartoon making its point as sharply as ever. Yet: Does the book carry the same rapid-fire penetration as the earlier collections? This time, pursuit of a theme brings predictability; turning a page does not always produce the unexpected insight that gives the best cartoons much of their punch.

“This book is dedicated to the daft doctrine that people trained in making profits can provide a better health service than people trained in caring for the sick.” Has anybody proposed that doctrine? In their most outrageous moments the authorities have not suggested that managers (without doctors, nurses or lay workers) could or should provide a health service. The argument, right or wrong, has been that having money-people in charge of the finances while the medicine-people attend to the patients will result in a better health service. (It uses a definition of ‘better’ that takes into account the effects of devoting to the NHS resources that could have been used elsewhere).

from Ideological Commentary 64, June 1994.