Some New Year resolutions last. But a resolution to remain cool and collected, to keep smiling through, to refuse to rise to the bait that the world constantly dangles in front of those whose natural tendency is to fume at the follies of humanity (and particularly the follies of those who set themselves up as leaders of humanity). . . Well it was doomed from the start, wasn't it?

That resolution tumbled on January 2, in fact - the day that the smug Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt appeared on television to tell us how wonderfully well the NHS was doing in response to the concerns of the scores of people who had just been told that they can't have the treatment they'd been promised for a heart problem and nor can a lot of other people who might need it in the future, so there!

The cost-cutting decision by the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford condemns these people to be left breathless, listless and hopeless. Unless, of course, they can pay privately for treatment for the cardiac arrhythmia that Hewitt's boss Blair had last year to restore his fitness.

It's yet another sign of the parlous state that the NHS has got itself into despite the billions of public money poured into it. And news of it came only the day after the Government announced yet another of its meaningless initiatives: to allow patients a choice of at least four hospitals for any treatment they need.

Well if it's cardiac arrhythmia they're suffering from, they'd better hope the John Radcliffe Hospital isn't one of their four phone-a-friends. Or any of the other hospitals which are likely to follow its lead.

If this seriously debilitating health problem is to be considered not sufficiently serious to merit a cash outlay by the NHS, what will be next? It's anybody's guess.

Just pray that you're not stricken down with it. Or with anything.

As for the "choice" initiative. . .Well who would care to wager serious money that it won't backfire badly? That's what's happened to the Government's "targets" policy for the time people must wait before getting the treatment they need. And the John Radcliffe decision to give the boot to 65 cardiac arrhythmia sufferers seems to be a classic example.

By axeing people from its waiting list it not only saves money. It also meets the six-month target for those who are lucky enough to be left on the list.

Problem solved then - except for the poor devils who are left to cope with their blackouts and breathlessness, their palpitations and lack of energy, because some of the bureaucrats who are bleeding the NHS dry have decided they're only "low priority" cases.

When love conquers all

How heartening to read about the silver-wedding celebrations of Robert and Beverley Fozzard (above), who were married when he was 20 and she was just 16 and pregnant (she went into labour on their wedding day).

Not the best of starts but they've overcome it, made a success of their lives, think the world of each other and were today renewing their marriage vows in the Queensbury church in which they were married.

In these days of single teenage motherhood, marriages which collapse at the first hurdle and husbands (usually) and wives (less likely) abandoning the family and going off to "find themselves", it's good to be reminded that there are relationships which respect those old-fashioned qualities of loyalty, commitment, staying power and, of course, love.

Congratulations Robert and Beverley. Here's to the next 25 years.

Words fail me

What a confused country we live in! Now, it seems, we're not allowed to advertise for someone who speaks English to fill a post which requires them to converse with English people.

That was what builder Dean Osmon wanted to do, apparently. He needed a carpenter who was to be more than just a skilled whittler of wood.

The person appointed (he told his local JobCentre when he submitted his advert) would need to be able to talk directly with clients and follow complicated job briefings.

That brought him a letter from the sinisterlynamed JobCentre Plus Diversity and Race Equality Team warning him that he might be in breach of the Race Relations Act.

What? For stipulating that the person who he wants to employ and pay should be able to communicate with him and his customers in what is still this country's dominant language?

The various equality laws were drawn up with the best of intentions. What a pity, then, that so many of the people who are given the task of enforcing them seem to be such dimwitted jobsworths.

Wake-up call

The European panic over Russia's decision to temporarily stop sending gas through its massive pipeline as part of its campaign against the Ukraine should send a chill through all of us.

OK, so Britain doesn't yet buy gas from Putin's Russia . But it seems almost inevitable that before long we will do so, or will suffer the knock-on effect of other European partners' reliance on supplies from a country run by a man who is looking increasingly like a despot prepared to use every means at his disposal to undermine those he perceives to be enemies.

It's a big mistake to let your energy supplies be in the hands of others. It leaves your country wide open to economic and political blackmail.

But that's what the EU has allowed to happen.

The Russian threat is further proof that Britain 's best bet now is to invest heavily in the once-despised (and, to be honest, still deeply worrying) nuclear power and renewable-energy resources while pursuing a major campaign to cut down on consumption at every level.

It might mean a lot of belt-tightening now in other areas to finance the programme, but it's surely better than being frozen to death in the future.