Not what the doctor ordered?

Hooray! At last some seriously enlightened thinking by the Department of Health in the shape of LibDem Care Services Minister Paul Burstow. Burstow's basically giving patients the go-ahead to spend their care money however they like, allowing individuals to decide how, where and from whom they receive their healthcare, in partnership with the local NHS.

So you could choose to spend your 'care budget' on your osteopath, accupuncturist, hydrotherapist, herbalist - whatever you think works for you - how good is that?

Well, it sounds like brilliant doctoring to me but wait, what's this? Just down the road at the British Medical Association there's an almighty clamour! Doctors are revolting and have just voted overwhelmingly in favour of removing homeopathic treatments from the NHS.

According to Nursing in Practice and a number of other esteemed journals, the British Medical Association (BMA) conference have just voted against the continuation of homeopathy on the health service and called for the financial support of four UK homeopathic hospitals to be removed.

Are the two by any chance related? I think we should be told! But in the meantime...you decide.

Nick & Dave in Conference Land?

I despair trying to explain to people how coalitions work and today I came pretty close to throwing in the towel altogether. According to the Liberal Democrat blogging site LibDemVoice, someone has apparently put forward the suggestion that Nick & Dave should address each other's party conferences.

Eh?!

Partners in a coalition coalesce – “coalesce, v., to mix together different elements”, note: DIFFERENT elements. I might marry some dubious dude but that doesn’t instantly morph me into a man. Parties that coalesce don’t become each other. So why on earth one political party would want to invite someone from a different political party to an internal political conference is beyond me. The fact that it’s even contemplated in the first place indicates that the contemplaters just don’t get it.

As a good card-carrying Social Liberal Democrat it’s enough of a test of strength to find myself in the same bedroom as Dave, and only just bearable due to the twin bed arrangement.

On a more serious note, there’s too much of a general whiff of the Tories being the ‘superior’ partners in this deal. They are no such thing. The Liberal Democrats can leave the playground anytime they like.

And no ‘yes buts…’ please. They can, end of.

When will the Brits get the hang of this and how can they best be educated in modern parliamentary practice?

Answers on a postcard please.

Helloooo Frank Dobson ... can you hear me?

So, in this brave new world of honest politics, MPs can finally be held to account by the voter - that's me! Why, if I'm really unhappy with their work, my MP can even be "recalled", that's 'getting the sack' in Westminster speak.

Let's see how we're is doing so far in my neck of the woods. During the election campaign my Labour MP Frank Dobson's party piece consisted of trumpeting how he was one of the good guys - he voted against the Iraq war. That's an issue very close to my heart, as I left the Labour party over the Iraq War. Now, it just so happens that I've discovered that Frank did not vote against the Iraq war at all so he's got some cheek to be perpetuating the lie a full seven years after the event. In the new spirit of openness I wrote Frank and asked for an explanation. I got a standard acknowledgment but no reply, so I repeated the exercise - only this time I received a big fat zero. That's not good Frank. I don't think that's how this new system of openness is supposed to work.

I guess it's the old story isn't it? You lie about something long enough and you start to believe your own propaganda. Frank's main propaganda item for the last seven years has been that he voted against the Iraq war. But he didn't. In fact, he didn't vote at all. Frank Dobson chose to leave the building just before the crucial vote, the declaration of war. Was this the sly action of a seasoned politician using the system for his own gain or merely an act of sheer cowardice? You decide. Frank seems quite a nice man, so why is he lying? More to the point, if that's his style, what else might he be less than honest about? I did put the question to Frank during the election campaign but he claimed that he couldn't remember how he voted. Do you buy that? No, neither do I.

But let's be kind. Frank's no youngster and he probably has his share of 'senior moments'. However, luckily he can now get help to remember by looking at the relevant documentation readily available to us all:

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2003-03-18&number=118&display=allpossible

This is what he will find:

Iraq — Declaration of War — 18 Mar 2003 at 22:00
Mr Frank Dobson - Holborn & St Pancras - Absent

So I'm waiting for Frank. Honest and open politics - remember? Now let's see if this House of Commons Santa look-alike can hack it. Frank's my MP, he represents my interests, I want to know that I'm dealing with an honest man.

I've put Frank's 2nd July surgery at Camden Town Hall in the diary. I'll be there and I hope Frank is too. I shall report back in due course.

Labour's Financial IEDs

The £2b cuts announced by Danny Alexander last week were cuts in relation to what can best be described as budget-improvised-explosive-devices strategically placed at the roadside in the final months of an outgoing Labour government realising that they couldn't (and didn't want to anyway) win the election. The idea, which incidentally has Alastair Campbell's unmistakable fingerprints all over it, was that these spending pledges would obviously be abandoned by the incoming government, giving David Miliband the opportunity to jump up and down squealing "Gratuitous Economic Vandalism!"

Let's examine the nature of the pledges in question and you'll see what I mean;

1. £25 million visitor centre at Stonehenge - cutting this is designed to outrage the whole of middle England, the natural LibDem heartland, academia and anyone with a soft spot for 'The Nation's Heritage'.

2. Jobs guarantee for young people - a cut here would guarantee that no one could come up smelling of roses - cue the outraged D Miliband. The fact that this scheme was as yet unfunded? A mere inconvenience.

3. Improvements to a hospital in Teesside - not a hospital!? I hear you cry. Don't touch our hospitals!! I hear the entire electorate snarl. Guaranteed to whip up deep emotions.

4. Walking routes promised by the Health Department - Eh? Ok, I guess it might upset the Ramblers Association but, I have to admit that the significance of this one is lost on me. Over to you Alastair...

5. An £80 million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters - the piece de resistance, coup de gras, whatever French handle you care to embellish it with, this one's nothing short of a stroke of genius. Flash Bang Wallop right in the heart of Cleggland! Cue general sniggering at Nick's hand wringing, oh and the outraged D Miliband again: "Gratuitous Economic Vandalism!"

It has been positively embarrassing (but nonetheless gratifying) to see every single Labour pundit wheeled out during the week, quoting from the same script, almost verbatim, when pronouncing on these cuts, invariably majoring on Sheffield Forgemasters.

The most insulting thing of all is just how clumsily predictable all these devices are, or perhaps we are just getting better at detecting the Labour Spin Machine.

Open letter to David Cameron: EU leaders must insist on an end to the Gaza blockade

38 years ago 14 young people were tragically shot dead in Northern Ireland during a civil disturbance. Yesterday you stood in the House of Commons and said, "What happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong...what happened should never, ever have happened."
You went on to say, " Some members of our armed forces acted wrongly. The government is ultimately responsible for the conduct of the armed forces and for that, on behalf of the government, indeed, on behalf of our country, I am deeply sorry."
It is eerie to think that just two weeks ago, an exact replica of Bloody Sunday occurred, this time in International waters off the coast of Gaza.
Learn from Bloody Sunday. Learn from the Saville Report. We must not let another 38 years burn before we learn the truth this time.
In the words of Lord Saville, "what happened on Bloody Sunday strengthened the Provisional IRA, increased hostility towards the Army and exacerbated the violent conflict of the years that followed". The EU said on Monday that the blockade ' is unacceptable and politically counterproductive'. This terrible attack could lead to further extremism or it could be a turning point in the spiral of violence and injustice.

Europe must take the lead to end the siege of Gaza, but if Mr Blair has his way Europe will fall back on a softly softly approach, losing this historic opportunity.

More than any of the other EU leaders, you have just felt the effects of Bloody Sunday on your skin, but you have also experienced the cleansing power of Lord Saville's report. You must therefore now take the lead and bring truth, transparency and impartiality to the investigation of the Gaza flotilla raid.

I urge you to prove to us all that you have the political clout and integrity to succeed where Tony Blair has so miserably failed.

I look forward to learning that you have succeeded in this mission.

Yesterday I p*ssed off the London traffic majorly ... or did I?

Yesterday I decided to be awkward and join the Gaza Flotilla protest march through London, from Downing Street to the Israeli Embassy.

In an attempt to keep the traffic flowing, the police had provided neatly placed traffic cones connected with white tape all along the route. Unfortunately, so popular was the march that cones and tapes were soon trampled underfoot by sheer weight of numbers, and double deckers, taxis and cars were unceremoniously stopped in their tracks. The motorists' reaction was unexpected. Those who weren't enthusiastically giving the march the thumbs up or victory signs, just sat quietly in their cars - clearly with no stomach to actually show any annoyance with those who had given up their Saturday to carry the message.

'Trouble maker' is my 2nd name, especially since I came to live in England where 'could be worse' and 'mustn't grumble' are the default mindset. No wonder those in power have had it so easy for so long.

So I'll keep shouting whenever I come across stuff that is just wrong. And there are such things. No viewpoints, vested interests or objectivity can change a basic wrong - and the bully tactics employed by Israel in the form of the Gaza blockade is one of those wrongs.

An interesting byproduct of a bully being exposed is how it serves to bring everyone else's disagreements into perspective. Yesterday I found myself mixing convivially with groups from strict muslims, who stopped to pray every now and then, to ruddy-cheeked Countryside Alliance members in sports jackets. For a confirmed marxist-atheist-fox-loving city chick that's pretty weird, but somehow liberating.

'Jews for Justice for Palestine' and 'Jews against Zionism' were similarly rubbing shoulders with the 'Palestine Solidarity Campaign' and although I noticed one of two sporadic flare-ups where groups of jewish youths attempted to goad protesters from the sidelines, these were soon diffused by the stewards.

I think the huge turnout speaks for itself and I also think that we'll now see an endless stream of all manner of ocean going craft heading for Gaza over the summer. It reminds me of that Arlo Guthrie lyric from Alice's Restaurant about how to make an individual's objection gradually grow into an organisation and then into a movement.

Now where did I put those seasick tablets?

Why The Gaza Flotilla is Apartheit Israel's Soweto

Isn't it extraordinary how short term our discussions have become? Scanning through assorted blogs and bulletin boards I wonder if the defenders of Israel's recent actions ever think of the bigger, longer term picture?

We're talking here about a country who's been engaged in wholesale bullying for half a century - I am, of course, talking about the USofA and specifically their 51st state - Israel. And, like father like son, Israel is just as accomplished at bullying.

The carving up of the Palestinian territory in the first place was hardly 'consensual' - I doubt that many Palestinians thought it a great idea. Then came the ever expanding occupied territories, hundreds of illegal settlements, land grabs, routine intimidation and discrimination, grotesque wall building, wholesale bombing, killing and destruction. And when the Gazans democratically elected the 'wrong' party, Israel put a noose around their collective necks by blockading the miserable strip of land they had left - and then, for good measure, dished out some more of all of the above...

And still the Palestinians stay put. They just don't get it. All Israel is trying to do is to help the Palestinians understand that they'd be much better off packing up their [by now] meagre belongings and moving off to some other country, leaving the entire place to the Israelis so everyone can live happily ever after.

Snap back to the real world and to the first sentence in this little tale "The carving up of the Palestinian territory in the first place was hardly 'consensual' "...

That kind of puts the reason for the aid flotilla and the very big mistake of storming the ships into some sort of context.

Bullying always ends in tears - the bully's tears. One day the worm turns and, in the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that just happened.