What he doesn’t mention, however, is money. Well, he does a bit: he says profit-chasing is bad, and that people should be judged on more than their “monetary” value. Which is fair enough. It’s just that, as a rule, it isn’t vision or principle that buys MRI scanners or pays the salaries of surgeons. Britain today is home to 14 million more people than in 1948, the year the NHS was founded; life expectancy is over 10 years longer. We have equipment and medicines unknown in Bevan’s day, and they’re costly. Belief won’t buy us another hospital bed.