"One thing that hasn't been raised is what makes nurses such a special case?"
How about the vital job they do, the reluctance our indigenous people have in working in such conditions for such pay and the acute shortage, which is quite likely to undermine the health system - with the resulting (sometimes fatal) results.
I'm sure it isn't necessary to put up the statistics (again) of how things stand at the present time and how many life-saving workers will be lost if this squalid bunch of Little Englanders have thier way!
As far as the appallingly fortress- Britain policy towards all immigrants (from a country which roamed the planet looking for people to exploited for many centuries) - that speaks for itself.
Jim Carroll