YP Comment: Let's not trump America's gutter politics over Brexit

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump waits behind his podium as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton makes her way off the stage following the third presidential debate at UNLV in Las Vegas.

His refusal to confirm whether he will accept the November 8 result, as his conspiracy theories become even more outlandish and tarnish America’s reputation as a beacon of global democracy, means his sanctimonious opponent Hillary Clinton – a candidate with many unanswered questions of her own on national security – will almost certainly prevail simply because she’s the ‘least worst’ option. It’s hardly a ringing endorsement for such an important and illustrious job.

A tawdry campaign which has exposed the deep fractures in American society as well as a distinct lack of political leadership and statesmanship, some will contend that the debates should not be replicated on this side of the Atlantic during future elections because they have amounted to little more than a low-grade reality TV show.

This view is wrong. Those standing for high office should submit themselves to questions from the public and it is to Britain’s credit, at a time when voters hold politicians in a low regard, that this country did not sink to such a low during the 2010 election or, more recently, the EU referendum when the worst was an unnecessary slur that Amber Rudd – now the Home Secretary – made about Boris Johnson’s late-night driving.

What the UK does not want to import from America is the type of debate that has dragged US politics into the gutter. At a time when Brexit is proving to be so contentious and divisive, now is the time for calm heads to prevail and rival politicians to work together in the national interest rather than attempting to trump the appalling example  that has been set in the United States this fall.

Wrong remedy

HEALTH SECRETARY Jeremy Hunt’s deputy, David Mowat, appears to have a very short memory. A week ago, he was advising patients to bypass their GP surgery and seek medical guidance from their local pharmacist as he hailed this sector of the NHS.

Yet it was the very same Mr Mowat who faced ridicule in the House of Commons when he confirmed that the budget for community pharmacists will be cut by seven per cent over the next two years.

He claimed that patients will receive a better service but his argument lacked conviction and many fear that hundreds of branches will now close – the prediction that Barnsley MP Michael Dugher made when he first highlighted the threat earlier this year.

Like post offices and other essential services, it would be disingenuous of the Department of Health to pass the buck. Though there will be some areas which are fortunate to have more than one chemist, this is not always the case and Ministers need to agree strict criteria on the maximum distance that patients – particularly the elderly – should be expected to travel to collect prescriptions and receive the type of advice that Mr Mowat advocated last week.

If not, Mr Mowat will find himself accused of endangering the health  of those OAPs who are already being made to feel guilty of over-burdening the NHS because of the failure  of successive governments  to provide joined-up care.

Aberfan’s anguish

EVEN with the passage of time, it is impossible to comprehend the full horror of the Aberfan disaster 50 years ago when 116 children and 28 adults were killed after the village school was buried by an avalanche of coal waste. Those who rushed to the scene with spades, and in hope of digging out the submerged victims drowning in liquefied slurry, found themselves overwhelmed by the devastation which greeted them.

A tragedy which robbed a community of an entire generation of innocent youngsters, only now are some of the fortunate survivors able to speak in heartbreaking detail about the disaster, their lifelong guilt that close friends sitting next to them in class perished – life and death has rarely been so random – and the burning injustice when an emergency fund set up for victims had to be raided in order to make the village safe. What is remarkable, as the nation pays its respects, is the quiet dignity and humanity shown by the people of Aberfan over the past five decades while the rest of the country was so slow to acknowledge their plight. Their fortitude has been the one shining light  in a tragedy like no other.