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The doctors’ trade union, the British Medical Association, fought fiercely against the introduction of the National ÎçÒ¹¸£Àû1000¼¯ºÏ Service. But once the NHS became inescapable, they emerged from the last ditch to make it work. Jeremy Lee-Potter’s A Damn Bad Business (Gollancz, £16.99, ISBN 0 575 06310 6), with its significant subtitle, “The NHS deformed”, is a slashing attack on the contemporary service, with its management-heavy and accountancy-led structure. Not denying that a rejuvenated NHS would need far more money, Lee-Potter suggests practical improvements as well as attacking the present set-up. This is a passionately argued case by a former BMA chairman.