Three little ministers, all in disgrace April 28, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Politics , trackbackOh dear. What a week for sensational, point-missing stories.
So, life's not too rosy for old three shags, but really, the extramarital doings of Puncher Prescott don't bear thinking about at the best of times. It does make for fascinating gossip though, and is no doubt keeping the wonks of Westminster entertained (or those of us who aren't 'in the know' and to whom its all a startling revelation).
Then, much to the nation's shocked surprise, some released criminals have reoffended. Yes, of course foreign criminals should be deported, but isn't the real scandal here the number of people in our prisons, and the lack of facilities for the sad cases who would be better placed in a mental health institution or drug rehab unit? Surely that causes more misery, and more recidivism, than any number of foreign baddies. That makes me want to call for the Home Secretary's resignation.
And finally, the booing of the Health Minister. She was rather brave to turn up in front of the nurses conference after all the redundancies in 'the best year the NHS has ever had'. Yes, there is clearly something terribly wrong in the NHS which seems to be haemorhaging cash and unable to regain public respect. I do wonder at the wisdom of paying people more, and at the same time removing their autonomy and binding them up in a thicket of targets. It rather sounds like unconfident management to me, when you hire trained professionals and then micro-manage. But I've no experience of the NHS – being fortunately healthy and living in an area where it's almost impossible to see a GP if you work full time, I've had little choice but to opt out. Perhaps that is more of a scandal than the booing of Patricia Hewitt.
And in the meantime, people die in Iraq and the world keeps getting warmer.
Comments»
no comments yet - be the first?