Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Glasgow station. Photo: Jane Barlow / PA Wire/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.The corporate heist of the NHS by private health providers, made possible by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, is a national scandal. Not just because it involves dismantling services, selling off public assets and demoralising frontline staff, but because it has largely gone unreported in the media. Jeremy Corbyn’s pledge to renationalise the NHS yesterday served as a much needed lifeline to those fighting A&E closures and NHS cuts.
I went online to hear Corbyn’s press conference. The Mirror’s website beckoned readers to “view” Corbyn “unveil” his NHS plans, but clicking on the link led me to old footage featuring Owen Smith. Then I clicked on Sky’s link to Corbyn’s speech but instead of showing his renationalisation pledges, it showcased their reporter badgering Corbyn to respond to tax exile Richard Branson’s release of dodgy CCTV footage (for which he’s being investigated for breach of data protection laws), which purpoted to show him having lied about the lack of availability on Virgin trains. The ensuing media storm, which dubbed the whole scandalous affair 'traingate', backfired when Virgin passengers waded in to support Corbyn’s version of events, but it didn’t stop the media sabotaging his message. Some journalists missed the memo that it was an NHS news conference and made the story Corbyn’s refusal to be diverted from that.
As a last resort, I clicked on the BBC link to Corbyn’s press conference. Despite it being the British Broadcasting Corporation, there was no footage of Corbyn speaking. The leader of the opposition, voiceless and silenced on one of the public’s biggest concerns. The systematic dismantling of the NHS. Apart from a few random quotes, the segment was mostly given over to facile “analysis” by the BBC’s health correspondent.
