Criticizing God

No, not the guy with the robes and the big bushy beard who sounds like Charlton Heston, the secular substitute we use here in the U.K.

Evidently Rudy Gulliani has been less than complementary about our wonderful envy-of-the-world NHS. Says the former Mayor of New York:

"My chance of surviving prostate cancer — and, thank God, I was cured of it — in the United States? Eighty-two percent. My chance of surviving prostate cancer in England? Only 44 percent under socialized medicine."

"No fair" cry the defenders of one of the industrialized world's worst healthcare systems. I heard some pompous prat on the BBC say earlier this evening:

"It is unfair to compare prostate cancer statistics in Britain with those in the US because there the cancer is more likely to be diagnosed in its early stages"

Admittedly I'm a layman but I would have thought that diagnoses and prevention was part of the healthcare process, no?

"It's unfair to compare plane crash rates in Britain with those in the US because there they try and prevent the planes from crashing by performing regular maintenance."

"It's unfair to compare exam pass rates in Britain with those in the US because there they give lessons to pupils before the exams ... sometimes for years"