Clearly Hayek was wrong, grossly misled

That Road to Serfdom idea was clearly wrong, eh? The idea that if the state directly provided health care - rather than just aided in financing it for those who required such - that this would be the first step on that inevitable slippery slope to fascism. Wholly proven wrong by experience, obviously:

Health chiefs are battling to stop a new takeaway opening in an area where almost 80 per cent of people are overweight or obese.

The people who are trying to open the new place clearly think that the local people are potential consumers of their output. They might even be right too. The “health chiefs” clearly think so too. For if they thought no one would buy the stuff then they’d not attempt to stop it opening. The only people not getting a voice in this are the potential consumers themselves.

People cannot open up to serve potential consumer desires, consumers cannot reveal that desire given the non-existence of the outlet, all at the say so of “health chiefs”.

No, no, Hayek was quite and wholly wrong, obviously.

Denouncing the refusal of planning permission for a chippie as “fascism” could be considered to be a little overwrought. Possibly. But it is very definitely an unwonted expansion of state power to do so in order to “Save Our NHS” which is the very problem first predicted, wasn’t it?

Tim Worstall