Saving
I read yesterday that the U.K has become a country of net savers, by the biggest margin in history. In fact most of this is going to debt reduction, but it is nevertheless the best news for the future of our economy that we have had this year. It represents real structural change of the kind needed to build a more secure future. Once the household debt is reduced, we need to go on saving more and borrowing less. More on this in the New Year.
U.S Healthcare
The Senate vote makes this dream of proper universal healthcare in the U.S very nearly real. It will transform the lives of millions. There are yet hurdles to overcome, deals to be done and compromise with the House Bill, before the President can sign it into law. Yet now it is much more certain that he will sign.
For over a century liberal Americans have campaigned for this. It is a mark of civilisation to care for the sick and almost all countries with which the U.S has friendships do so. Like the ending of slavery where the U.S was last and then only after untold bloodshed, so it is last with Healthcare. If Obama delivers it will affect the lives of the poorest quartile of that country with the greatest social impact since the ending of bondage. Obama will have his place in history, not just for what he was, but also for what he did.
Yet I am personally much troubled by the thought that if my daughter, who was a joint US/UK citizen had been born and brought up in America, she would be at our midst this Christmas, bringing, as always joy to our hearts. Instead at dusk tonight I shall go and set a candle to burn upon her grave in the quiet churchyard beneath her beloved Downs. Because although we have in the UK the best universal healthcare system in the world, it lacks the flexibility to cope with the challenge of a unique case. In the US a far inferior system has one significant advantage. It is willing to listen.