Search

The article discusses public opinion concerning the public opinion and desire for Great Britain's National Health Service (NHS) prior to 1948. It examines political pressure and discussion concerning a nationalized hospital system for Great Britain, particularly among what the author identifies as British political elites in the British political party the Labour Party, medical experts, and special interest groups, including the Socialist Medical Association (SMA). The article discusses the history of public health in Great Britain, including access to public hospitals and medical care of the poor. It also discusses the British Ministry of Health, the formation of the British Emergency Hospital Service (EHS) and volunteer involvement concerning medical care.

The article discusses the role of voluntary organizations in British political and civic life in the early- and mid-twentieth century. It examines various types of organizations, including voluntary agencies and women's groups, particularly those campaigning for women's suffrage. The author comments on the book "Politics in Industrial Society: The Experience of the British System Since 1911," by Keith Middlemas, particularly considering Middlemas' writings about trade unions and employers’ associations.

British foreign policy in the 1930s is often considered utilizing the paradigm of appeasement. This, however, is an inadequate and retrospective tool, as it narrows the range of issues that can be dealt with and analyses them only as they can be considered to be pro- or anti-appeasement. Looking at the career of Sir Orme Sargent, one of the most important men in the Foreign Office during this period, it becomes clear that many of the major decisions of the period were taken in the light of whether they were consistent with the principles of the new international order established in 1919 rather than whether they contributed to the ‘appeasement’ of such countries as Germany, Italy and Japan. It also reveals that there were sharply different opinions in the Foreign Office about such matters, particular with regard to how to square France’s desire for security with Germany’s insistence on being treated as an equal, whether France’s network of alliances (particularly with Soviet Russia) damaged or enhanced Britain’s own security and whether the latter could be achieved by means of collective action within the precepts of the League of Nations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]