Drum out diabetes

FRESH evidence (if it were needed) of the truly terrifying scale of Britain’s diabetes epidemic, during which the number of sufferers has almost hit four million.

Exhibit A: A staggering one in four beds at some hospitals are now occupied by patients afflicted by the illness.

Exhibit B: Prescriptions for diabetes drugs have rocketed 70 per cent in a decade – with 55 million written last year.

To put the crisis in context, NHS spending is set to grow to £20 billion a year. Yet diabetes costs £14 billion annually.

Then there is the unspeakable misery of the patients, who suffer heart disease, amputations and myriad other problems.

Sadly, most of these cases are avoidable – linked to poor diet and lack of exercise.

No one wants a nanny state. But perhaps it’s time ministers addressed the problem as a health emergency, drumming home the pernicious consequences of the disease.

IN the Square Mile’s hour of need, taxpayers made enormous sacrifices to shovel billions of pounds into bailouts. And how do the banks thank us?

First they close countless branches. Now, thousands of free cash machines are to vanish as big high street lenders try to boost their gargantuan profits by cutting costs.

To the privileged elite in the City, brandishing credit cards in swanky wine bars, banknotes may have had their day.

But in remote communities, cash is indispensable. Scrapping free ATMs will drain the commercial life, forcing people to travel miles to access their own money.

The banks’ naked avarice gives capitalism a bad name.

FOR all its virtues, the NHS remains a wasteful behemoth. But it’s shocking to learn a single doctor was paid £6,000 to be on call from home one weekend.

This is the shambles of out-of-hours care in modern Britain – the ludicrous legacy of Labour’s disastrous consultants’ contracts.

Medics can charge a king’s ransom for covering unsociable hours – swallowing up money that could be spent on patients.

Ministers must rewrite the rules to create an efficient 24-hour, seven-day service. Until they do, taxpayers will rightly feel sick.