The NHS will also get its share of money cascading in as the unemployed go back to

The NHS will also get its share of money cascading in as the unemployed go back to work, financed by the windfall tax. It can be done."There is not a shred of ideology in either man's view of the NHS; no flags to wave or battle cries. Both men are deeply absorbed by the NHS' vexing intellectual conundrums. Both quote new research on effectiveness - the treatments and drugs that really work - as the key to wiser spending. Smith is right in saying that the contracting system could be streamlined, but this is not really the stuff of election politics.Out there on the doorstep, every candidate says the NHS is the Big Issue.

The irony is that in the real world, it is probably now the least political issue All that matters is who will fund it best. The best guess is that both men would fight valiantly for more money and both governments would strain every muscle to bung in enough money to keep it creaking and groaning along as it always has done.The figures are nonsense, and what they accuse one another of is half- hearted nonsense too And everyone knows it. The one unshakeable electoral fact is that the whole nation supports the NHS passionately and will not tolerate its demise. The party that seriously damages it will be a dead party - and the Tories have always known that.What of the future? In power, Chris Smith may have the hot breath of Rodney Bickerstaffe's low-paid Unison members upon his neck. In opposition, Dorrell may be plagued by some fruitcake ideologue such as Redwood for a leader full of clever ideas for selling off the NHS Each has his nightmare scenario.

Dorrell says perceptively that what he really fears is an NHS that stops changing - by which I take him to warn that Labour may simply offer stasis; new health developments gallop apace and need constant revolution, challenge and response. But Chris Smith is not short of radical ideas: NHS staff can expect jolting new reforms from him, too.As for this election campaign, an honest and decent man like Chris Smith may choke on promises that Labour would save the NHS while the wicked Tories would privatise it. Every time he tries to make political capital out of scandalous cuts and lengthening waiting lists the other side will bellow back at him: "What would you do, then?" If Labour wants to play the NHS card effectively then Gordon Brown will have to come up with a better story for Chris Smith to tell - and that means more money up front before the election. (It will certainly be there after it.) The NHS is a winner for Labour - but not without visible, credible cash on the table to expose the Tories' killer Red Book plans.. The British don't like children very much. And we particularly don't like children in care who, after long-term abuse and neglect, tend to be awkward and difficult.

But they remain our responsibility whether they are sweet little Miss Pears types or not. The Social Services White Paper published yesterday has been hailed as proposing the most radical shake-up in social services for 25 years. But in one respect it is several steps back when it comes to dealing with children. It is nearly eight years since the Children Act of 1989, brought in as a result of the Cleveland inquiry, made clear that the interests of the child should be paramount. Yesterday's announcement challenges that, reviving the idea that adults do know best in the end, and a bit of hard discipline never hurt anyone.

Especially if they are young tearaways to start off with.This part of the White Paper, said to be rewritten by Mr Dorrell himself, emphasises the fear that over-enthusiastic social workers are falling victim to weedy political correctness. Now that "child abuse" is a phrase that can be uttered in public, it is feared they see it everywhere Social workers themselves tell a different story. One comments: "Breaking up families? Chance'd be a fine thing. A lot of our work is parents standing in our office demanding that their children be taken away because they can't cope."The White Paper reiterates that the interests and wishes of the child should be taken into account But it adds: "The Government ... does not believe however that emphasising the interests of the individual child should be allowed to become an excuse for distorting the proper relationship between children and adults." The paper continues: "When decisions about the care of children are being made it is important to listen to their views according to their age and capacity but it is equally important not to ascribe to children the capacity to make mature judgements about their interests which are the proper responsibility of adults. To do so is not to protect their interests but to prejudice them." According to the Department of Health, this is designed to redress the balance in residential homes.