A late spring outbreak of righteous indignation is affecting Britain. It’s yet another variant of Palantir Derangement Syndrome. Virologists tracked this smug neurosis as it jumped across the Atlantic from the American left to British Labour. Symptoms include selective blindness, performative anguish, a hilarious inability to grasp the facts and Tourette’s-level outbursts of repetitive left-wing clichés.

Earlier this month, a committee dominated by Labour MPs who are infected by PDS called for Palantir to be stripped of its £330 million deal to help hospitals save the lives of patients. The House of Commons science, innovation and technology committee accused the American tech giant of having a ‘clear mismatch’ with British values. It seems the ghost of fascism can be found in simple efficiency gains.

British values apparently mean letting patients die while waiting for care and making sure crime pays

British values apparently mean letting patients die while waiting for care and making sure crime pays

Sadiq Khan showed chronic symptoms of PDS just a few weeks earlier. He blocked a £50 million Metropolitan Police contract with Palantir that would have helped its investigators solve crimes. Khan has said he only wants to see public money going to companies which ‘share the values of our city.’

British values apparently mean letting patients die while waiting for care and making sure that crime pays. The Guardian has accused Palantir of turning America into a dictatorship, of being a ‘supervillain’ and ‘the Big Tobacco of the tech world.’ Other British commentators, meanwhile, denounce the ‘Palantirisation’ of the British state, warning of ‘technofascism’ and cronyism.

If only it were just hysterical journalists. Zack Polanski recently snarked about the sartorial choices of Louis Mosley, Palantir’s CEO in Europe: ‘He insists on wearing a black shirt every time he is on TV.’ Mosley’s grandfather was indeed the fascist fool who led his blackshirts through the streets of London. Louis, however, has consistently championed freedom, open democratic debate and universal tolerance. But in the left’s theory of hereditary politics, the Mosley genome carries all the fascism markers. 

What alarms Polanski et al. is the thought of a private American company fiddling with their precious socialised health system. But the NHS has been grappling with its most severe crisis in decades, characterised by record waiting lists and chronic operational gridlock. An antiquated system for keeping track of patient information has pushed the health system to the brink, forcing millions to wait months for routine care. Basic data – beds, notes, surgery schedules, tests, prescriptions – had been scattered about like dandelion seeds no human could gather. Many patients had undergone tests, then never told the........

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