Hello, my name is David Ronceman and this is Talking Politics. Today's extra episode is

with James Meek and we're talking about the history, the purpose and the misperception

of the WHO and we're also going to talk about the history, the purpose and the misperception

of the NHS. Talking Politics is brought to you in partnership with the London Reviewer

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We talked to James a couple of days ago. We also recorded a conversation with him a couple

of years ago about the long and fascinating article he wrote in the London Reviewer Books

on the NHS and we wanted in this conversation to try and link the two, the WHO, what's

going on in the current crisis, but also what that has revealed about the role of the NHS

in British health and British politics. So we're going to get to that at the end. But

we started with the World Health Organization. You've just written this brilliant piece in

the LRB about its history and also about the different ways in which people probably

misunderstand what it can do and what it should do. It's hard to define its purpose. That's

part of the challenge. But just give us a sense when you are researching this and writing

about this. How should the World Health Organization be understood? If someone had to

sum up what its job was, what is it? It's not an easy question.

Yes. I think they have difficulty themselves sometimes defining their job. They are based

...