The Critical Commentator

  La falaise, Fecamp, France Claude Monet (1840-1926) Photo Credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums [CC BY-NC] To ease the burden on its hospitals, France, which has markedly higher levels of taxation to fund its public services than the UK, has invested heavily over the past decade in both outpatient clinics and what is known as "home hospitalisation": more than 7% of all patients formally admitted to hospital are now cared for at home, against 2% in 2006... In general, however, France's healthcare problems are less severe than those facing the NHS. According to OECD figures, France has 5.7 beds per 1,000 people compared to the UK's 2.4 and an OECD average of five... In France the waiting time for a hip replacement averages three to four months, while in England about 400,000 people are waiting more than 52 weeks for treatments such as hip or knee replacements. Patients with heart conditions are seen by a specialist within 28 days in Paris, with 70 the longest wait...

  The bosses of Britain's biggest companies will have made more money this year by 2pm today [Jan 5] than the average UK worker will earn in the entire year, according to analysis of pay gaps at a time of widespread strike action and a cost of living crisis. The High Pay Centre, a think tank that campaigns for fairer pay for workers, says that by early this afternoon - the third working day of the year - a FTSE 100 chief executive will have been paid more than a UK worker's annual salary, based on median average remuneration figures for both groups. FTSE 100 chief executives are paid £3.4m on average, which works out at 103 times the £33,000 average salary for full-time UK workers, according to Office for National Statistic figures. For He Had Great Possessions Amy Julia Drucker (1873-1951) Photo Credit: Ben Uri Collection [CC BY -NC-ND] The figures highlight how executive pay has increased dramatically following a dip during the pandemic, while ordinary workers are struggling ...