Austerity: a failed experiment on the people of Europe

Editor – McKee and his colleagues should be commended for the excellent article of the effects on European citizens of current economic policies in Europe (Clin Med August 2012 pp 346–50). Conditions common in the 18th and 19th centuries, such as poor housing, inadequate sanitation, child labour and unsafe work practices, are now far less common and life expectancy has increased enormously in all European countries. Beveridge's ‘Five Giants’ of want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness¹ persist, albeit in ways less immediately obvious. The medical profession has always been concerned with improvements in levels of health and reduction of illness and disability.

The profession must not shy away from advocating political messages. We must continue to criticise and comment on policies that have been shown to do harm as, for example, Virchow in Silesia² and Sir John Simon in England³ have done in the past.