[John Whitworth]

Roger, you don't know how our tax system works and you don't know how our NHS works. Doesn't stop you pontificating though.

This is our Income |Tax system It is fairly simple.

If you earn less than £11,500 (poor) then you pay nothing.
If you earn up to £45,000, then you pay 20% on yor income over £11,500.
If you earn more than that then you pay an additional 5%.

So the system of income tax is not punitive (as it would be under Jeremy Corbyn; as it was in 1947 under the first Labour government).

I am quite poor so I don't pay much tax. My wife is richer so she pays more.

As for the NHS, of course it is paid for out of taxation. How else would it be paid? Everybody gets the same doctors and the same basic care, which is very good. I got the best man there was to operate on my heart. If you are rich you can buy things like a private ward, and you can queue-jump, but you can't buy better doctors.

Our drugs are much cheaper than yours. I pay nothing at all because I am old. Children pay nothing at all because they are young. People in between pay £8.50 per prescription and grumble about it a lot.

Our drugs are much cheaper because the NHS is very big and therefore has considerable bargaining power with the rapacious drug companies.

Is our system better than yours? Yes, much better. Is it better then the French system? Debatable.

Do you want to know about Value Addd Tax? No.I thought you might not