Jonathan Spencer's Tales of Ordinary Wisdom

The last week has seen the UK government under increased attack from it opponents and it has tended to look rather shabby and corrupt in the press, but more and more I am wondering how much is true and are these matters for which  Ministers should resign?

Lets take the seeming crisis in the health service, partly this appears to have come about because Doctors, but especially nurses are finally being paid their true worth, this has led to some dreadful accounting and miscalculations, leading to budget cuts, which often mean staff cuts in anyone’s language…two points here: foundation hospitals, who have been encouraged to work to a surplus, for expansion, seem to have faired better because the surplus has cushioned them. Secondly the health service appears to be doing a darn site better under the New labour agenda than under recent governments, however, I wonder whether the money spent on armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Cheney/Bush/Rumsfeldt agenda wouldn’t have been better spent at home. The health secretary did well and had to go to the Nurses conference as well, it was prebooked but perhaps she might have offered some open sessions to listen to real difficulties created by recent policy instead of telling everyone how well they were doing.  Interestingly last night in a drink with friends one working at a local hospital much in the news for its problems, said things were not really that bad, so its obviously worse for some than others.

“The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” (Naomi Klein)

Now to the Home secretary, Charles Clark.  He is it is said known to be a man of integrity, so why not let him sort this whole mess out, he has begun to manage it and is seeking to put right some awful mistakes.  The trouble is this whole thing plays into the whole agenda of Immigration and xenophobia with law and order and being soft on criminals.  The mealy mouthed politicians from the opposing parties that now want Mr Clarke to resign, seem to want to do this as a punishment or humiliation to the ruling party, it certainly could not be a path to helping in putting this matter right, and putting it right, so released prisoners who have committed crimes (and are also illegal immigrants) are if necessary deported is paramount.  There is another matter to take into account and it needs a seperate debate, but these are people who have done their time, paid the price for their crime.  Horribly too late we find some have reoffended, what we need to know is that it can’t happen again, because of course only english people should be allowed to reoffend…ah another debate on whjetehr prison should be a punishment or be directed toward ensuring prisoners do not reoffend.

There is plenty of scope here to debate some serious matters of law and order and ensure that in the future this horrible mess does not occur again, instead they are calling for the head of Charles Clarke.

For those of you who are and have been Labour supporters, and I have been and am, i remember the dark days of the SDP when everyone who didn’t totally agree with Michael Foot left the party to go their own way, they have all come back now under the guise of new labour, but those on the left should not make the mistake of leaving labour because they are not making the agenda now.  Stay and keep up the struggle for a more socially based agenda.  No I don’t support the war and numbers of other things Labour have done, but I  do support rises in pay for health workers, better funding for schools, a better standard of living, a strong economy that brings low mortgage rates, a reintroduction of social rights, a minimum wage and so on, things neither the liberals or the tories would really have ever done.  There is a society renewed, there is a public spirit again and we must struggle to keep it, not destroy it as the tories have offered to do in the past.
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