Hi
I wasn't going to send you an email today but last night I caught the 10 o'clock news and heard a downright lie from a government minister.
To say it made me cross given how much we owe to NHS workers is an understatement.
So let's be absolutely clear: the State can afford to pay nurses - and all NHS workers - fairly for the sacrifices they have made (in some cases the ultimate sacrifice) during the past 12 months. There is no shortage of money.
If the government can 'create' £37bn to waste on a test and trace system that still doesn't work, it can find another billion (that's all it would take) to give nurses a fair reward.
What is more much of the money that has been spend on pandemic related measures has ended up in the coffers of already wealthy businesses that have just used it to bolster their balance sheets.
What will most NHS workers do with a pay increase? Exactly - spend it. On average over 90% of the wages of the lowest paid is re-cycled back into the economy (some of it back to the government in the form of tax and VAT). In reality the 'cost' is minimal.
So exactly what is the political agenda that makes government ministers such convincing liars?
Noel Guilford