The NHS staff who rallied to my son’s aid show there is hope, even in bleak times | Jonathan Freedland

Brexit and Trump dominate the news. But amid the gloom we should not forget that a vital part of our nation continues its inspiring work

There has been so much bad news this year that I thought I’d offer a little sparkle of something more heartening. Perhaps it might serve as a reminder that even those clouds that have darkened our skies most – the menacing dominance of technology, the strained state of our public services – are, every now and again, lined with a trace of gleaming silver.

The story begins with an accident. Cycling home from school, my 16-year-old son, Jacob, was knocked off his bike by a van that had veered into the cycle lane. I rushed to pick him up and took him to our nearest hospital, the Homerton, in east London. By the time we got there, the pain in his left leg was so bad he couldn’t get himself out of the car. It took a nurse and an orderly to prise him from the front seat and into a wheelchair.

'It's cheering to hear of a small effort to create something that helps people rather than hurts them'

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Continue reading... December 22, 2017 at 09:04PM