If you want to know why the British value their National Health Service (NHS) just watch this video.
Harry Leslie Smith recalls the time before Britain had a National Health Service. At a time when we very much need reminding, Smith points out that 'government of the people, by the people, for the people,' and not just the privileged few, are not just words from the history books, but ideas what men and women of his generation fought and died for.
Source: Irish Times
Harry Leslie Smith, the political commentator and second World War veteran who survived the Great Depression, has died in Canada aged 95, his family said.
Smith became an outspoken activist for the poor in his latter years, fighting for the preservation of social democracy.
He who rose to fame in 2014 after giving a powerful speech at the UK Labour Party’s convention and documented his fight for social justice in a podcast called Harry’s Last Stand. He had been hospitalised in Belleville, Ontario, after a fall last week.
He was the author of several books about Britain during the depression, the war and postwar austerity, including Harry’s Last Stand, Love Among the Ruins and Don’t Let My Past Be Your Future.
He was prolific on Twitter, using the handle @harryslaststand to get his message out via his 221,000 followers.
Plaudits came in for this ordinary man who did extraordinary things even in his advanced years.
Here is a video of the entirety of his remarks in 2014.
