June 2011 Archives

Don't mention the war, cried Basil Fawlty. Don't mention the strike, one can almost imagine Ed Miliband exhorting his shadow cabinet. "I mentioned it once (to condemn it) but I think I got away with it." You didn't, by the way.

I have already blogged about Ed Miliband's disappointing reaction to today's public sector stoppage and this morning the Labour leader was again expressing his disapproval on Twitter. 

On the same medium, his deputy, Harriet Harman, was silent. But two days ago, she tweeted that she was en route to a conference in Athens where the Greeks were having a "tough time". Public sector workers there are concerned about their pensions, and so too is she.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls seems also to have lost his tweeting stick and there is no trace of shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper on Twitter.

Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander says he is feeling "very middle-aged" today, which is the closest anyone among the senior Labour ranks has got to mentioning the dreaded pension word.

Perhaps employment and pensions spokesperson Liam Byrne has some views. He does! He was looking forward to some chocolates, although this was his last post, five days ago. The pressures of high office, eh?

And local government spokesperson Caroline Flint seems also to have fallen out of the Twittersphere.

But don't believe all Labour is against the strikers: the trusty MP for Hayes and Harlington in west London, John McDonnell, tweeted that he was on his way to a picket line.

A modern-day last of the few. 

I fear Labour leader Ed Miliband has been caught between the tabloids and the deep blue sea in the dispute over public sector pensions. 

He uses his own blog to denounce the government's stance and expresses some sympathy (but that's all) with those whom the coalition is shafting - members of the very movement, the trade unions, whose votes secured him the party's leadership.

Despite this, he shows little appetite for the right of workers to withdraw their labour.

It is plain that Miliband is showing ominous signs of that Labour leadership mindset that distances the incumbent from workplace strife, lest the right-wing press disapproves of any empathy with the employees. He should be reminded that Neil Kinnock, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had only mixed electoral fortunes using this tactic.

Mind you, the warning signs are there at the start of Miliband's blog, which reads: "Strikes are a sign of failure."

Hmmm. Not if you win them, Ed.

Picture: Rex Features

The opinion poll in The Independent on Thursday's proposed public sector strike makes for gloomy reading. In short, don't expect a cacophony of honks as motorists drive past your picket lines.

We may be living in a strike-lite era, but sympathy remains scant when workers do withdraw their labour. The opinion poll by ComRes suggests a mood among the populace for a legal ban on action should a strike ballot attract a low turnout - sadly, often it is.

The importance of voting, a quick, simple action that appears to be beyond the capability of many British people, cannot be understated. Oh to live in a country that dispenses with the bother of democracy, the refuseniks seem to be saying.

Yet the one issue at the heart of the dispute - pensions - does strike a chord with the public.

The poll showed by 49% to 35% that the reform of public sector pensions was a legitimate reason to strike.

With so much misleading hyperbole about the scale of public sector pensions in the wider domain, it is surprising, but welcome, that this issue should garner such support.

Moreover, it is a timely fillip for the union negotiators and the strikers.

Honk!

Funny how alcohol has the capacity to turn some people into ranting anti-semites.

It does seem an odd side-effect of imbibing a few too many bevvies - and not one that is recognised in any medical textbooks that I can access - but at least the Hollywood actor Mel Gibson and now the fashion designer John Galliano (pictured) can attest to the power of the product. 

The latter was also caught on camera exclaiming his praise of Hitler, in itself an unusual stance for a gay man.

Galliano could remember little of the incident in Paris, he told a French court, because of a cocktail of alcohol, sleeping pills and valium which had induced this descent into racism.

In 2006, Gibson, a devout Christian, also blamed alcohol when he could no longer control his own inner anti-semite.

Whatever substance misuse problems this pair have or had, there is an awful lot of issues to be angry about other than the presence of Jews. Unless of course the abuser has a problem with particular groups of people that he or she has hitherto repressed.

Sorry, don't remember, says Galliano; a "despicable" outburst, said Gibson.

In vino veritas, say I.

Perhaps it is time to add a few words to the labels of alcohol bottles along the lines of "warning, this product may cause Nazi tendencies".

Or would that just give them an excuse?

Picture: Rex Features

That semi-dormant organisation the Care Quality Commission is about to stir from its slumber in order to investigate why learning disabled service users at Winterbourne View hospital in Bristol were subjected to such appalling abuse. 

The care regulator will be reviewing all of provider Castlebeck's services and has been ordered by the Department of Health to carry out unannounced inspections of a sample of learning disability hospitals.

Moreover, it will be attempting to find out why it ignored information passed to it by Winterbourne whistleblower Terry Bryant. Not once, not twice, but three times.

From a distance, this multiple oversight looks like incompetence. So why should we have any faith in the CQC's ability to investigate its own role in the case? Or will the regulator's powers-that-be disregard their own request three times as they did the charge nurse's disclosures?

Unlikely, but they probably should.

Then they should offer up their organisation to an independent, external party to examine whether it is fit for purpose.

Picture: BBC/Panorama

Two councils are now being taken to court over cuts to children's services. 

A group of parents are taking Hammersmith and Fulham - about which I have a catalogue of gripes - to the High Court to seek to reverse the closure of 10 Sure Start centres. 

Last week Hampshire confirmed funding cuts to its Sure Start programme, but at least none of the centres will shut. However, parents are pressing on with legal action through solicitors Leigh Day & Co.

Similarly, in the west London borough - said to be David Cameron's favourite - H&F Parents Unite, which is on Facebook, has instructed the same law firm to file legal papers.

Hammersmith and Fulham and Hampshire are accused of breaking the Children's Act 2006, which requires local authorities to consult before they close any children's centre.

If the parents are successful, stand by for the fabled domino effect. 

 Guide to using the law to challenge social care service cuts

Picture: Rex Features