‘If MPs actually care in regards to the aged, they need to again hospices, not assisted dying’

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has a lot on his plate. He also has something on his conscience.

His family benefited from support for the terminally ill, but his government has dumped a huge tax burden on charity care providers.

“I cannot praise the hospice movement enough,” he declares. “I want to see more of that end-of-life care available.”

Yet last month’s Budget has thrown the movement into even greater turmoil. The big hike in employer’s National Insurance contributions is the last straw.

Hospices employ about 40,000 people, and the bill for Robbin’ Rachel’s tax raid will be £30million a year if staff are not exempted.

Vital care providers were already in serious financial difficulties, facing a £60million deficit next year, and relying on charity shop receipts to keep going.

Belatedly, and under pressure from the media, Santa Streeting two days ago promised to change the Government’s grant – with an announcement before Christmas, it cannot come soon enough.

With no funding guarantee in place for 2025, some of the 200-plus hospices are closing services and making staff redundant.

The Government’s perilous shilly-shallying comes just as MPs debate the Assisted Dying Bill which, if implemented, will throw an even greater burden on the charity.

Like many others, I oppose this radical measure on moral grounds. The first duty of doctors is “do no harm” and I take that literally.

Wise young Wes also opposes the Bill, because he knows that palliative care for the terminally-ill is woefully inadequate.

If they truly care about those whose lives are drawing to a close, MPs must address the crisis in our hospices.

Immediate aid is needed for the coming year, with exemption from the NI hit, followed by a long-term formula for funding in the spring spending review.

Help for hospices, not a help into an early grave.

When they promise something is smart, you can be sure it’s dumb, and doesn’t work.

Smart motorways. Smart phones. Smart watches. Smart TVs. Smart money. Smart working.

If that’s the sales pitch, it’s probably a smart-Alec or a smart-arse flogging it.

Smart meters are the latest disaster. North of the River Trent, they often fail because they use unreliable radio signals, not wi-fi as darn sarf.

Frustrated consumers complain, but nobody admits responsibility because energy companies outsource the work to contractors, and they blame the system.

There’s only one way to outsmart them: refuse to have one in your house.

Pin-up presenter Gary Lineker is leaving his £1.3million-plus job with the BBC. But not before he trousers even more fronting coverage of the 2026 World Cup. His grotesque salary insults millions of over-75s deprived of their free TV licences by Beeb bosses. And his departure demands a radical rethink of the corporation’s lavish indulgence of so-called “talent” at the expense of hard-pressed licence payers.