What is the price of betrayal these days? It used to be 30 pieces of silver when the religious took to persecuting a man they didn’t like.
The Church Of England seems to have forgotten its origins, its history and its own religious principles when it makes completely spurious allegations about someone it wants to turn into a hate figure because of his politics.
Simon Heffer defends his friend Enoch Powell from a completely unfounded allegation by a Bishop of the Church of England who should know better.
What is also of interest is that Heffer tells of a previous false allegation made against Powell, this time by the BBC…how times change…or not.
For decades, Enoch Powell has long been a bug-bear of the liberal Establishment.
He has been demonised not least because to attack his memory is a quick and effective way for them to score points by setting out their own political correctness.
What better way for some mischievous Leftist priest to damage Enoch further than by linking him with the current rash of stories about child abuse?
In 1998, just after Enoch died, the BBC broadcast a programme in which they railed at Enoch for his hypocrisy. They said this scourge of mass immigration had visited the West Indies in 1953 to recruit black labour for the NHS. I was told of the story before the programme was broadcast and informed its researcher that Enoch had never been to the West Indies in his life. I was told, effectively, that I was lying, and it was broadcast.
A black clergywoman, then resident in London, talked at length of Enoch having recruited her as a nurse. The story was rubbish.
Detailed investigation by the BBC complaints department found that the woman had been recruited after a visit to her island by Jack Profumo, not Enoch Powell at all, and the Corporation was forced to make a grovelling on-air apology in peak time.
I have long dreamt of the day when ignorant politicians and Establishment figures would stop manipulating Enoch’s memory for their own advantage. But I never thought I would hear of bishops of the Church of England doing it.
The allegations are a monstrous lie. That the lie appears to have been retailed by a priest is beyond contempt.
There must be an investigation and, for all the distress this outrage has caused, there must be a reckoning.
And had to laugh at this from another source…
On becoming Minister of Health in 1960, Enoch Powell agreed that there were risks of rigidity in a great, but centralised, service. He saw three trends running side by side: the growth of community care and after-care of the sick, relieving the hospital; the development of preventive and remedial measures; and the more intensive and efficient use of hospital accommodation. He wanted fewer beds in newer hospitals. The three separate financial systems for hospitals, local health authorities and general practice were a great weakness. The BMJ wished his stay in the Ministry long enough for the provision of effective remedies. When in due course he moved from the Ministry, he was one of the few ministers whose departure was a source of ‘deep regret’ to the profession.
Isn’t what Powell wanted for the health service exactly what is being enacted now with great opposition from the very same ‘profession’?
Also of interest is that in 1959 there were 191,000 nurses in England and Wales for a population of around 48 million (251 patients per nurse) whilst today, in England alone, there are over 350,000 for a population of 54 million (154 patients per nurse)….Wales has 84,000 nurses. The budget for the NHS in 1948 was £9 billion in todays money….the NHS now costs over £100 bn. Seems we forget just how good times have become.
30 pieces of silver surely.
That was before #eviltorycutz.
Thanks!
The BBC has totally ignored this story. So why draw attention to it? Or are you going to condemn them for not running it so you can get steamed up?
Seems utter tripe to anyone with half a noggin.
Er well because the BBC and the ‘all new labour church’ have again been shown up for the total liars they are ,their ignoring it is just reinforcing the reason many of us come here !
If what the Church says about Enoch Powell is proved to be untrue, it surely then puts the whole of their teaching on Christianity into question.
and the fact they bugger little kids doesnt help.
But as a general point so what. The inferences about Powell and the church or come to that the NHS may be of slight interest from a historical point of view but have no relevance to the scale of the problem we face now. As to the current management of the NHS you are advised to read the Kings report which details to complete collapse of the management system following Lansley’s botched reorganisation which is more concerned with the legal niceties of procurrment than health. You might have also been able to have read the Rose report ,which according to the Tory head of the Health select committee is unremittingly damning of the Conservatives attempt to needlessly reorganise the NHS and in doing so waste billions which would otherwise have gone into clinical practice. Sadly however you wont be able to read the Rose report because the Tories have blocked publication until after the election.
See more here
http://www.healthinvestor.co.uk/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=3942
Kings? You think that an “independent” organisation? The problem with the NHS is the NHS and because everybody has to try to make this essentially dysfunctional entity work, the state will always fail.
The NHS is a top-down entity and has all the feudal features of a supply side controlling authority. We are serfs hoping for care and even interest from this massive gravy train. Paying for the NHS gives you no preferences or even simple consideration. Asking for consideration regarding one’s work requirements gets short shrift. Giving medical services that have been built up over decades to anyone regardless of their contribution is unethical. And a system that in no way challenges the knights of the medical profession -that we must doff our caps to – as we plaintively present ourselves. And don’t get on the wrong side of them as they have in their gift the choice of giving or withholding and require humility and gratitude. The BBC and NHS are the last redoubts of that great socialist delusion of a command economy.
Powell knew more about the Gospels and their sources than any Bishop of Durham, past or present.
He was also a prophet-and correct in so much of what he said.
No wonder the BBC and their David Jenkins tribute act hated him and fear him-even now.
From Enoch to Claire Balding for “religious BBC input”-within twenty years as well?
Boy, we`re stuffed,
Why have any religious input? Its usually the creator of enmity despite the pious protestations of the followers.
You are referring to Muslims ?
Manon ought to realise that religions are races, and he is therefore a racist