‘I heard that a lot of doctors have left the country.’

‘Not all that many. To start with, of course, it’s illegal under present regulations. You’d have to smuggle yourself, and if you have a family it’s that much the harder. There are also some – quite a lot probably – who feel a loyalty to their patients. The good old medical ethos. I doubt if that applies in my own case. The public connived at getting itself into this mess, and those of us who go on maintaining essential services are conniving at its continuance. A genuine breakdown would shake things up, and we might get somewhere.’

‘You have children?’ Rod asked.

‘Boy and a girl. Boy’s taking A-levels in summer. He’s down for my old place – Thomas’s – and I suppose he may go there, if he doesn’t decide there’s more prestige in becoming a Knight of the Road. Funny how standards change. I was one of those who took a strong line about the over-prescribing of drugs … would have had the chaps struck off, and perhaps prosecuted in the courts as well. We’ve got a gang round the corner that’s on heroin. They come in here for their supplies. I have no option about complying, of course, but I suppose I need not enjoy handing it out as much as I do. Several of them are on more than twenty grains a day, and the dosage is increasing steadily. It’s a joy to watch them going downhill.