Should we defund the National Health Service? I know, right. TFN has turned into The Spectator.

The esteem with which we hold our NHS is as commendable as it is understandable.

It is widely held as the crown jewel of public life in the UK, and for good reason. We have all – every single one of us – benefitted and continue to benefit from what it provides; leaving aside ongoing debates about occasional failures, mostly down to funding, the very idea of it can be seen as a paradigmatic encapsulation of the way we want our society to be run: one based on equality, planning and collective organisation.

It is so enshrined that it has withstood the assaults of even the most ardent privateers and dribbling right-wing ideologues, even as they have operated at the heart of government.

But here it is – its very essence being attacked by voices in the voluntary sector?

And this is where I urge you to read beyond the headline. I’ll admit that when I read the article from Carr Gomm’s Andrew Thomson, large parts of it stuck in my craw. They still do.

But the arguments are much more nuanced than the deliberately provocative headline. And this is where we want you to come in. We have always wanted TFN to be a forum for this sort of debate – and these sort of issues, in essence how the voluntary sector relates to the public sector, are crucial and not that often aired.

So in some ways Carr Gomm is (dread phrase, used by the ‘edgy’ and downright wrong) saying the unsayable. And in fairness, as you read on, even Andrew Thomson admits that asking whether we should defund the NHS is the wrong question.

For what it’s worth I think Carr Gomm’s approach reeks of a race to the bottom and could easily confirm the suspicions of those who are wary of voluntary sector empire building in the sphere of public services as an attempt at undercutting and supplanting.

This is a rich country. Spending is ultimately down to political choices. We should be arguing for more funding for the NHS, for social care and for all public services.

I also don’t like the language used – defund the NHS and talk of ‘state captivity’ around bed blocking sound suspiciously like the language of the small state libertarian right, and there is a strain of this in the voluntary sector, even if we often do not like to confront it.

But there are excellent arguments too – on baked in low pay for social care workers; on the NHS’s failings at the overlap between clinical services and social care; on the excellent work charities do in this field; on the need for reform and co-design with the voluntary sector.

These are just my thoughts. You will have your own. Carr Gomm’s article has got me thinking, and I trust it will have the same effect on you.

We might disagree, but let’s talk. And that’s what TFN is for. Get in touch and tell us what you think.