Over Quarter Of A Million View Protest Video Against Privatisation Of NHS
A Unison supported video of a protest song has taken off massively with over 250,000 viewings on You Tube and, at the time of writing, reaching number 12 on the I-Tunes mp3 charts. The rap song and video about the changes to the NHS is proving a massive hit on the internet – and now there's a campaign to get the track to No1 in the UK charts.
The track entitled, Andrew Lansley Rap, was penned by Sean Donnelly a Loughborough binman, a young rapper going by the name of NxtGen in response to the government's planned changes to the NHS.
The recording, which was funded by UNISON, has so far had 258,505 hits and includes the lyrics: "The NHS is not for sale!"
Mr Donnelly told the BBC: "I've never been political at all, I don't know much about politics, but I just went on the internet and researched it. I didn't want it to be about me, I just thought I'd do something to help."
General secretary Dave Prentis said:
"When Sean came to UNISON with his idea for a rap against the Health and Social Care Bill, we jumped at the chance.
"We want to use every means available to let people know about the damage it will cause to the NHS, and social media is how young people communicate today. Never in our wildest dreams did we think it would take off so hugely."
With very strong and explicit lyrics such as in the chorus:
"Andrew Lansley, greedy,
Andrew Lansley, tosser,
the NHS is not for sale you grey haired manky codger"
The catchy song goes on to relate some of the truths behind the Government's plans for the privatisation of the NHS:
"Lansley's white paper: "Liberating the NHS"
sets out a plan where we'll become more like the U.S.
and care will be farmed out to private companies,
who will sell their service to the NHS via the GPs,
who will have more to do with service purchase arrangements
than anything to do with seeing their patients."
You can watch the video by clicking the pic to the right. You can also download the lyrics and sing along here
To find out more about the campaign to get the Andrew Lansley Rap to No1, click here
You can buy the track at iTunes Buy now
Mr Prentis added:
"There is a huge amount of doubt creeping in from all political parties about whether this Bill should go ahead. Lansley, however, seems determined to ignore widespread criticism.
"If the Bill goes through it will be a prescription for privatisation and the destruction of the NHS."
Source: Unison
See also: NW BTU Co-ord Chair Says Urgent Action Required To Save NHS
