Eating cake as the fiddle plays

This immigration stuff is costly, convoluted business. It looks like my health check alone is going to cost over $250. Coming from Australia, where going to the doctor can be free and rarely costs over $30, it can be quite a shock to the system to be told that blood tests cost a minimum of $75. A couple of days ago I spoke to a nurse in Australia and she was astounded, as I am.

What does it say about a society when things like health and education are so expensive, so prohibitive? To me, it demonstrates a good deal of disrespect for the people within it. Surely, if you are running a nation with the good of the people foremost in your mind, then physical and mental health would be a priority.

And this nation does have some of the greatest health and education facilities in the world, of this there is little question. But when such a large proportion of the population has no access to them, how does the nation as a whole benefit? The nation is the sum of its parts, and many of its parts are suffering the effects of neglect.

It seems to me the powers that be have decided they are more important than their growing horde of minions. Nothing unusual or unexpected there, just as there wasn’t in France before the revolution or in Rome in Nero’s day. I think I shall eat cake as the fiddle plays.