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This article examines the 70th anniversary of the British National Health Service (NHS) through the lens of Parliamentary Debates in the House of Commons, focusing on the closest broad debate on the NHS to each anniversary. It draws on interpretive content analyses, exploring the following themes: creation, principles, stewardship, achievements, and problems. Although there is some continuity over time, it suggests more nuanced conclusions in that while most debates have discussed most of the themes, their salience has varied over time. Issues such as who created the NHS, funding the NHS, breaking principles appear to be hardy perennials, and are likely to be debated but not resolved, generating more heat than light, on the 80th Anniversary of the NHS.