Keith Pincher: Politics

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 12:43:52 GMT

Speech not critical of US - Brown. Gordon Brown's spokesman denies claims that a speech by a UK Cabinet minister was critical of the US. [BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition]

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 14:14:08 GMT

Super-Casino plan to be reviewed. Gordon Brown tells MPs that the UK's plans for regional casinos and super-casinos are to be reviewed. [BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition]

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:26:56 GMT

Campbell evokes an agitated Blair. Spin doctor's diaries reveal the edgy relationship at the heart of New Labour. By Michael White. [Guardian Unlimited]

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:26:36 GMT

Tories mull marriage tax break. Married couples could receive a £20-a-week tax break under plans to halt family breakdown. By Matthew Tempest and agencies. [Guardian Unlimited]

Tue, 29 May 2007 09:42:21 GMT

NHS cutbacks leave £500m unspent by trusts. Unions say patient care has suffered as a result of aggressive cuts imposed by Hewitt. By John Carvel, social affairs editor. [Guardian Unlimited]

Wed, 23 May 2007 13:57:30 GMT

STOP & ACCOUNT, THEN SCAN, PHOTOCOPY & EMAIL. I wonder if the following is true (sent in by a reader):

On my way out I had a last look in my job email inbox and discovered that there is a brand new boom industry from a previously unheard of 'support dept' who collate STOPS forms. I had 12 emails from them. Six said that my team had not completed STOPS forms correctly and as such I had not supervised them properly.

The common faults were that the team had not put a beat code in one of the boxes, their writing was too big for the boxes or they had not got the customer to sign the 'customer experience - "I had a great / crap time when I was stopped by the Police" section. Six emails were follow ups saying that I had not acknowledged the initial email within 48 hours and that the matter was being referred to the CI. Honestly I give up. Have they not heard of rest days or annual leave?

Have you seen the new forms ****?? What a hoot. The STOPS book is like a foot long Rubik's Cube with guide notes and completion codes on every available surface. When I saw the new forms I sent an email to commend the Sgt in charge of the team for the fact that they looked far more professional than the old forms. I also mentioned that personally and for sound, logical operational reasons I would like to see the next print run with the colour scheme changed because at night under sodium street lighting, many of the amber / orange / green boxes disappear and they are tiny enough as it is.

The reply was that I was being unhelpful.

This from the department that want me to supervise each form before the end of each shift, fold them all lengthways so that I can then scan them both sides. Once scanned I send them on an email as an attachment but no more than 6 on each email - so that's only 3 forms per email.....oh, that is after I have gone to another office to get the scanner receipt so I can send proof that I have done it - then I can take all the forms to the mail tray in the front office with the envelopes marked up as 'STOPS Forms' enclosing no other paperwork but remembering to retain the receipt. Good job I have no real police work to do. Did I mention that we have to photocopy them too - both sides - although the forms are bigger than A4 so we have to use A3 and cut them down.

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghh hhhhhhh!!! By PC COPPERFIELD. [The Policeman's Blog]

Wed, 23 May 2007 13:54:08 GMT

Oops, look what's happened.... Like most things in life, England's smoking ban on 1 July will have unintended consequences. [BBC News | UK | UK Edition]

Wed, 23 May 2007 13:51:15 GMT

Blair 'hanging Hewitt out to dry'. David Cameron accuses Tony Blair of abandoning Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt over junior doctors. [BBC News | UK | UK Edition]

Wed, 23 May 2007 09:23:44 GMT

Doctor training court ruling due. Junior doctors are awaiting a court decision on their challenge to the system of allocating training places. [BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition]

Fri, 18 May 2007 11:00:37 GMT

Ending Battle, Wolfowitz Resigns From World Bank . World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz resigned yesterday, effective June 30, yielding to demands from governments around the world that he leave to end the ethics controversy that has consumed the institution. By Peter S. Goodman. [washingtonpost.com - Business News From The Washington Post]

Wed, 16 May 2007 06:45:02 GMT

Unborn babies targeted in crackdown on criminality. Blair launches policy to intervene during pregnancy to head off antisocial behaviour. By Lucy Ward, social affairs correspondent. [Guardian Unlimited]

Thu, 10 May 2007 15:03:05 GMT

THIN ON THE GROUND. Whenever an officer is killed in the line of duty in anything other than a car accident, the question is often asked whether we should give up an important tradition and carry guns. There's two questions that, while appearing similar, often get quite different answers.

The first question is, 'Do you think the police should be armed?' To which the reply is mostly, 'No'. Most officers don't want to be armed, because most officers don't do a dangerous job. Only a relatively small number of officers are given the task of leaving the police station in order to deal with the public. What's more, those officers are often young (in both age and service) and can easily be ignored by those in charge. Most importantly, of all the things that the police do, leaving the station and dealing with the public are at the bottom of the list (accurate record keeping, meetings and keeping the station clean are all more important). A recent report on Police Assaults by Grant Shapps MP shows one officer assaulted every 20 minutes, but when you think about how many of your colleagues last left the station, you begin to realise how the total number of those assaults isn't remotely evenly distributed.

The second question is, 'Would you like to carry a gun'?. This gets far more positive responses, mainly because the question doesn't address the practical issue of how all the police officers could be trained. Nevertheless, it's interesting to note how many officers place such little faith in their current training and equipment.

As for me, carrying a gun wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I'm not sure it would really address the issue though. A reader tells me that at the time of the shooting (6am Sunday 6th May) there were a grand total of seven officers with no air cover and no dog cover on duty in the whole of the Shropshire division, which has a population of 289,000 people, most of whom I admit, probably weren't about to shoot a police officer. Naturally, I can't vouch for any of this, but from my own experience, (and I admit that West Mercia might be totally different) it doesn't seem too wide of the mark.

The solution to officer safety doesn't lie in giving officers guns. It depends on both the government and senior officers accepting that policing is about more than file building, detections and graphs that go in the required direction. By PC COPPERFIELD. [The Policeman's Blog]

Fri, 04 May 2007 17:19:56 GMT

The Blair legacy.

He seemed so plausible

In the 1960's Harold Wilson's Labour government set about demolishing the grammar schools, destroying the best secondary education system in the world and, at a stroke, depriving bright children from under-privileged backgrounds of their best chance of self improvement. Not to say that it is impossible to rise through the comprehensive system but it is more difficult and next to impossible if you are in the catchment area of a sink school.
The middle class voted with their feet. Those who could afford it used the private education system. Those who could not endeavoured to move house to the catchment area of one of the few decent comprehensives.
Canting 'socialist' hypocrites like Diane Abbot and Ruth Kelly paid up for private education. Canting 'socialist'hypocrites like Tony and Cherie Blair wangled their progeny into out of catchment area direct-grant grammar schools.
The poor folk made do with the comprehensives.
Blair talked of âo[ogonek]education, education, educationâo? and poured money into the state system. The money was wasted on league tables, targets, bureaucracy and, a New Labour favourite, unqualified teaching assistants, the 'health care professionals' of the education system.
Today, The Times reports:

Nearly 40,000 more children are now being educated privately than when Tony Blair came to power, new figures reveal today. Despite increasing government spending by two thirds, in real terms, since 1997, record numbers of parents are turning their backs on state education and paying up to £25,000 a year for private education.
...low teacher turnover provides stability and smaller class sizes mean pupils receive more attention and are better disciplined,

And The Times leader goes on to say:

Some 25 years ago, public school headmasters lived in fear of a Labour election victory because the party had pledged to abolish independent education. After ten years of Tony Blair, their successors must be praying that this Government is endlessly re-elected. As we report today, the private education sector is living through its own 'never had it so good'? era.'

It is a searing indictment of Blair's ten years in power that his weasel words about educational egalitarianism have come to nothing. All who can are deserting the state system.
'Wilson's Labour government started the destruction of our secondary education. Blair's government has continued it and is now also destroying British University education. Despite promises to the contrary, fees and top-up fees have been introduced. We are moving back to the situation we had before University grants when only the middle class could afford a University education. For the poor, university fees are daunting. For the wealthier middle class they are a positive relief in comparison to the spiralling costs of private secondary education.
'It would need a brave and radical politician to save the secondary education system by returning to grammar schools.
'But the politicians need not be quite so radical to save the NHS, which is heading exactly the same way as state education. The NHS may be, like the comprehensive school, 'free at the point of entry' but sadly, like most comprehensive schools, it provides a second rate service.
'There is now two tier healthcare. The poor folk are offered a restricted service provided, not my doctors, but by the ubiquitous 'health care professionals'?, the 'teaching assistant'? of the NHS. It is already near impossible to find an NHS dentist. It is close to impossible to find an NHS psychiatrist; or an NHS plastic surgeon; or an NHS fertility expert; or an NHS vascular surgeon who will operate on varicose veins. After an acute illness, the NHS patient is turfed out of hospital with inadequate follow up provided by well-meaning but incompetent nurse-specialists whose time would be better spend back on the wards doing the job for which they trained.
NHS physiotherapy is unavailable with a realistic time frame. Similarly, NHS MRI scans and CT scans are difficult to obtain. Front line cancer drugs are unavailable in many parts of the country.
Each day, the list of healthcare that is no longer available on the NHS gets longer.
Do you really think that Tony Blair was followed up by a cardiac nurse-specialist after his heart surgery? Do you really think that Tony Blair's children went to a sink comprehensive? Do you really expect Ruth Kelly to use the service for which she was responsible for her own son?
Top tier patients, Elizabeth and Philip, Tony and Cherie, continue to see dentists and doctors. The wealthy, who can afford Denplan and BUPA, continue to get a good dental service and a good medical service provided by fully qualified doctors.
It is not too late to turn this around. It is still possible to return to the days when there really was a reasonable standard of healthcare available for all. By Dr John Crippen. [NHS Blog Doctor]

Tue, 01 May 2007 15:55:10 GMT

Hewitt attacked over jobs website. Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt is criticised over "deplorable" security lapses on a junior doctors' job website. [BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition]

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 08:18:05 GMT

A Lean Perspective on Employee Shortages. I heard a great comment on Monday from a hospital President.

He said, quite passionately, I might be paraphrasing slightly:

"We don't have a shortage of nurses and other workers. What we have is a shortage of good management systems, like Lean."

His point was that if hospitals, nationwide, could reduce wasted motion and wasted effort, that we'd have enough nurses. Nurses spend a very high percentage of their time on things not directly related to patient care. Imagine your assembly line shutting down because operators are leaving the line to go get their own parts and supplies. That happens all the time in hospitals, taking nurses away from patients and value added care because we don't properly support them with Lean processes.

I was reading Bob Emiliani's book "Real Lean" last night on the plane and there was a great related comment in there (again, might be paraphrasing):

If employees truly are our most important asset, why do we allow so much of their time to be consumed by wasteful activities?

By Mark Graban. [Lean Blog]

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 06:45:16 GMT

NHS 'summer of discontent' fear. Hundreds of thousands of health workers could strike after Unison delegates reject a pay offer and called a ballot. [BBC News | UK | UK Edition]

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 06:44:37 GMT

Blair to chair terror committee. Prime Minister Tony Blair will later chair the first meeting of the ministerial committee on security and terrorism. - You can be certain he thought up some wonderful new initiatives in the shower this morning.[BBC News | UK | UK Edition]

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 06:43:27 GMT

Trainee doctors 'will go abroad'. Over half of doctors are ready to leave the UK if they fail to get a training post, a survey suggests.. [BBC News | UK | UK Edition]

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 06:42:21 GMT

UK tries to sabotage BAE inquiry. Attempt to oust legal expert heading European corruption investigation. [Guardian Unlimited]

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 13:21:44 GMT

Brown faces biggest NHS strike in 20 years. Threat of strike weeks after Brown expected to become PM. [Guardian Unlimited]

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 11:16:58 GMT

Power to the Sheeple

The New York Times had a fascinating article about a study of herd instinct. It turns out that people prefer whatever they think other people like.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/magazine/15wwlnidealab.t.html?pagewanted=2&;ei=5124&en=79be2f770fc76c6d&ex=1334203200

Meanwhile, another study showed that the U.S. program of telling kids to stop having sex has been a dismal failure so far.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070416/us_nm/sex_abstinence_dc

Apparently the following message is not effective: "Everyone LOVES sex. I love, it. All the other teachers love it. Your older friends love it. We all do it whenever we can because it's frickin' GREAT. But you should ignore the burning in your loins."

In defense of the U.S. abstinence education policy, a government official explained that the study only looked at the older methods. He says the newer abstinence education programs might not be such a steaming mound of money-vaporizing bullshit. The official was vague about what the new programs include. Here are my best guesses:

1. Classes are now taught by less hot teachers.

2. Each boy gets a rubber band and instructions to snap the tent in his pants.

3. Each girl gets a rubber band in case the boy forgets his.

4. Unpopular kids are encouraged to have sex to make it less cool.

5. Catchy slogan: Masturbators are Winners!

I'd write more, but I have to go earn money for the government to flush down the toilet.

- Scott_Adams [The Dilbert Blog]

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 09:55:56 GMT

NHS care 'left to student nurses'. Lives are being put at risk because student nurses are being left on their own with patients, a survey shows. [BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition]

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:32:18 GMT

Guantanamo conditions 'worsening'. Inmates at Guantanamo Bay face "inhumane" conditions, with most held in solitary confinement, Amnesty says. [BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition]

Patricia Hewitt. God, who will rid me of this tiresome woman.

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:26:24 GMT

It is reported today that Patricia Hewitt is to "challenge the assumption that the safest place to give birth is in hospital and that home births can be dangerous." It goes on: "...doctors will be told to offer all pregnant women the chance to deliver their baby at home with the help of a midwife and their own choice of pain relief." Told, note. Dr Crippen will not be "told" to make this offer.

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 14:20:29 GMT

Iran to release British sailors. 15 captured sailors and marines pardoned and 'going back home today', Iranian president says. [Guardian Unlimited]