Song dedications to David Cameron and those who voted Conservative on the news that he David Cameron says "ministers must back any EU deal" *

*as quoted by BBC news 8th June 2015

Well I woke up this morning [Blues aficionados will recognise that line!] to the news that David Cameron has, again quoting BBC news as above, been

Speaking at the G7 summit in Germany, he said he was confident he could secure sufficient reforms but indicated that ministers who did not support him would have to resign.

Nice one Dave, especially knowing that there are more than 50 Conservative MPs, including the Foreign Secretary,  threatening to 

vote to leave the EU unless David Cameron secures far-reaching changes to the UK's relationship with Europe bbc news

So my song dedication to Dave in the light of this and other statements since the General Election is that lovely Cyndi Lauper voiced song, 'True Colours':


And for all those general electorate who voted for the Conservatives on May 7th, I dedicate the lyric from Pete Seeger's Where have all the Flowers gone? When will they ever learn?

Hurtling back to the Bad Old Days

                                            Blackfriars free breakfast, c. 1933, Daily Herald © 
                                            National Media Museum, Bradford / SSPL. Creative 
                                            Commons BY-NC-SA  *

I suppose many of us are already fed up with the 'yah boo-ing' of so many politicians on so many media programmes. Never mind, I can hear you say, four weeks today and we can put on the news programmes again, read the comments columns in the newspapers knowing that we are safe for another five years from electioneering.

Of course that may not be true. There may be - very probably will be - that interregnum where political deals are being made, coalitions are being forged and best political friends fall out whilst new, unlikely alliances look increasingly likely.

After what happened in the days following the last General Election, we should be ready for anything both ante and post May 7th. Increasingly shrill 'discussions' on TV programmes must make many voters despair. Shouts of 'not true' from political opponents only serve to confuse not enlighten. Last night's 'Question Time' was a prime example. The 'token journalist' was obviously not impartial and if not exactly toeing a party line seemed to be following a line laid down by editorial policy. The two lady politicians were complete contrasts one so shrill and incapable of answering a question that she made her very reasonable opponent appear even more reasonable, especially when she answered a question! The two male politicians also contrasted each other, one patronising especially when talking about the less fortunate sections of society, the other so capable and inclusive that at times I wanted to cheer. Notice I name no names or parties/newspaper because sadly this sort of make up happens each week and only the faces change.

So what are we to think and how do we decide to vote? Well I have taught history and I also have a family history of, shall we say, membership of the 'awkward squad'. I look at where we are now in society and who/which party is responsible for it. Sadly, so many of our current social conditions remind me of the 'Bad Old Days'

The zero hours contracts remind me of how my English greatgrandfathers used to wait at the docks to be picked for a day's work. Zero hour contracts have grown massively under the Coalition government and Ed Miliband has pledged to end this 'epidemic'. And don't forget Dirty Dave Cameron admitted he couldn't live on a zero hours contract.

Food banks remind me of soup kitchens. Many times in the past unfortunately the disadvantaged and dispossessed have had to resort to soup kitchens, free breakfast clubs etc when there has not been enough money coming into the family home to feed the individuals. In recent history, most scandalously, during the miners strike in the 1980s when the Conservative Government sequestered the Miner's Union funds and for some the only meal of the day was that provided by the soup kitchens or food given by the relief committees. In the depression era of the 1930s when so many were unemployed, soup kitchens etc fed many, the photograph* above is from an archive at the National Media Museum . But most of these previous incarnations were necessary in times before the Welfare state and in today's affluent society there should be no need for such 'charity'. If our society cannot support those who are sick, unemployed and disadvantaged it is a very harsh society. Especially when it rewards the very rich with income tax breaks. Ian Duncan Smith is very vocal about benefit cuts..... Do we trust his party as government again?

Demonization of immigrants reminds me of the ghettoization of Jews, Irish and Welsh and other Ethnic minorities in times gone by. So much racism is of economic basis as so many individuals have come to this country in search of work to enable them to send money home to their often starving families back in their home countries. My father came to England from Wales on one of the hunger marches in the 1930s and when looking for work and digs was often met by notices stating 'No Dogs, No Irish, No Welsh'. Nigel Farage does not seem to understand why others wish to live in our country and uses our facilities even thought his ancestors did just that albeit many, many years ago. He does not seem to recognize that when British citizens live in a EU country they are also entitled to use their facilities, despite being a MEP. When we lived in an EU country we used their health services extensively. So do we want such an ill informed man one of our MPs?

What looks like the prospective dismantling of the NHS reminds me of the stories of pre-1948 medical care in the UK. How one of my aunts died on the day the National Health came into being and the family story that they all wondered if she would have lived if it had come into being a year before. How it cost his mother 2/6d [13p] to have a bead removed from my father-in-law's nose in the 1920s when that amount of money would have provided the family's tea. How it was cheaper to have all their teeth removed rather than have a few fillings attended to. How individuals went blind due to cataracts or undiagnosed or untreated glaucoma. How women who needed hysterectomies bled and bled each month, suffered from anemia and often died too young as their immune systems weakened. I remember David Cameron's boast pre 2010 General Election 'We are the Party of the NHS'. What - the destruction of it? Do I want his government in power to destroy what is left?

The hiking of the pension age reminds me of way my English grandfather worked until he was nearly 70, in poor health [see above] and died, worn out and an old man aged 72. How my Welsh grandfather never even reached pension age and died aged 64 of 'the coal dust' [pneumoconiosis] on his lungs. No compensation then either. Leaving my Grandmother to be supported by her children. Do I want a government who will keep us all working beyond our capability whilst giving tax breaks to the very rich via tax havens and non-dom status?

So listen to the politicians, read the elections addresses. But listen also to the subtexts, read between the lines, look back to what their parties said last time and what they actually did. Go to meetings if you can, ask questions whether face to face or by letter or email. 

Do vote - many died, especially women, to get that privilege - don't waste it! 

Kitchen Sink electioneering

So it seems that the main thrust of electioneering for 2015 is turning into a kitchen sink drama. First of all the Milibands have their pictures taken in what turns out to be their second, smaller, more basic kitchen:

                                                                                    and this gives plenty of other politicians something to attack including Sara Vine, Michael Gove's wife, has a 'go' at the Milibands and unable to resist a further taunt mentions the old age and poor status of her own kitchen in her Daily Mail column. As in any school playground fight, friends gather to take sides [Quoting Harry Hill: Fiiiiiiiiiggggghhhhhhtttttt]  and the Gruniad has the whole story of what happened next when the chef Jay Rayner [beloved of the One Show] decided to point out that the Goves had had two homes refurbished at taxpayers expense:

and the resulting twitter row is quite entertaining. Especially as poverty campaigner and austerity cook Jack Monroe got involved too. [I have a soft spot for her as she hails from my neck of the woods]

Then Dave the Cameron makes a salad:

So I am wondering about getting Kitchen Sink Blogs trending on twitter and devoting a blog to cooking and kitchens. But then I would have to admit that actually - despite all previous claims to the contrary - I can cook quite well. And actually like a nice tidy kitchen and the odd gadget or two. But the thing is this, I can too often find something else to do. And if I tell people I can cook [so just keep this between you and I for now] they might expect a meal when they come here. And then I would have to shake off my airy-fairy, hippy-dippy attitude and stop serving digestive biscuits and a bottle of elderflower water. This would mean time in the kitchen before serving and time clearing up after a meal. Time when others are talking about interesting things like politics, or organising demonstrations or just talking etc. Or I could be reading a book or something...... anything!

And then I would have to shop and put stuff away. And worry about running out of things. And get organised about menus [had to look up how to spell that]

So can you see where I am going with this? Who really cares about politicians kitchens?  I need to know about their party policies and work-in-progress and record if they are serving politicians and their beliefs. I want to know that they find the state of the country and its citizens more important than their opponents. I want to receive election addresses which will tell me all about how all our fellow citizens will have enough to eat and somewhere to live - I don't want pictures of prospective parliamentary candidates shaking hands with other politicians or stroking dogs or kissing babies.

I want to think that after May 7th we will not have the need for food banks because everyone - working or not - will be able to afford to buy food. Think benefits will not be taken away from anyone even if there is a doubt over entitlement, it will be realised that it is far better to overpay than to leave someone to starve.

I don't want sick people to have to worry that the necessary, expensive drugs will not be availble for the poorer people in our communities, or that the best treatment will only be available for those able to afford private healthcare. I want all our schools to be places of excellence with well paid teachers, all the equipment and accomadation they need and no worries about future funding.

The social services should be praised rather than constantly blamed and again be provided with sufficient funds. Public sector workers should be valued and not pilloried. Nurses who haven't seen a pay rise for years should be valued and rewarded with money and not just empty words.

Where would these funds coming from. Easy. If we can find monies for wars and defence we can find monies for peace. No point in defending a sick and ailing society after all...... and that's just the start. Rather than read about the kitchen sinks dramas, can we read about the real dramas that constitute living in this decade and what the politicians want to do about it instead of scoring cookery points off each other?

Takeaway anyone?

Don't worry, it WILL happen ........

I didn't make a mistake in this blog title. I meant to say that - because I am convinced that too often when activists/politicians/union leaders put out a warning about something that can and will happen the general public/silent majority appears to take no notice. These members of the electorate need to wake up and protest/vote against all those 'somethings' . However, too often instead of protests, choruses of "Don't worry, 'that' will never happen" can be heard around the country, followed in a few months time by additional choruses of "Well I never thought 'they' really meant to do it". The so called silent majority have struck again. Silent because whilst they may be complaining at home/in the pub/in the bus queue they are not complaining where it matters: in the ballot box/the MPs inboxes/on the streets in peaceful demos and rallies.

And whatever it was 'they' weren't really going to do, we can be assured that it will probably never be reversed by the next Government because key infastructure/assets/knowledge bases will have been sold off/lost/destroyed. And the 'silent majority' will be blaming everyone but themselves, of course.

What is firing my bad tempered rant of today? Listening to the news bulletins today talking about the teachers' strike called for tomorrow. You know, those lazy people who work like stink so that the upcoming generations will be educated to a level that will provide adequate knowledge and prosperity to support us all in our old age. Those lazy people whose pay and pension prospects are so awful and whose retirement age is being hiked so that they will be on their feet controlling ungrateful pupils at an age when they - the teachers - should be at home resting. Those lazy people who work far more hours than the general public realise: running after school clubs and activities, marking homework, setting up lesson plans, school trips and more. Who are looked upon too often as baby sitters and pillioried if they take a day off in industrial action ["I have to get someone to look after my children so that I can go to work. This is so unfair."] Yet if the school does not allow a parent to take a child away on a foreign holiday during term time, these same parents are often heard to complain about parents rights and how much more expensive holidays are in school holiday weeks. When teachers' have to take their holidays, right?

Oh and of course today's couple of rants from Dastardly Dave used tomorrow's strike action and an opportunity to announce 

Tough new laws to restrict strikes in essential services will be promised in next year’s Conservative general election manifesto

these essential services will include council workers, health workers, firefighters and civil servants who - coincidentally - will be joining the teachers in their industrial action tomorrow.

And as Dave so kindly pointed out:

I think the time has come for looking at setting thresholds in strike ballots... The [NUT] strike ballot took place in 2012, based on a 27 per cent turnout

hmm, some local, EU and General elections haven't achieved a turn out of much more than that. A comment on that please Dave?

Trade unions look after their members in so many ways. One true blue friend attacked my union loyalty with the comment 'Unions have never achieved anything'. Without going into the full lecture [and I could!] I muttered about the 10 hour day, 40 hour week, paid holidays, sick pay and all the parliamentary causes they have supported..... I was still muttering as she slammed the door on her way out.

We all know our NHS is under attack. Please don't let that become something about which the silent majority says 'Well of course I never thought they meant to dismantle it.' Join any protest you can around your locality. Likewise protest against the so-called Bedroom Tax and any other Austerity measures which always seem to hit the poorer members of society disproportionately.

If you can't physically support the strikers tomorrow, please think about them. Tweet or facebook your support. Ask your MP to support public sector workers. Think how you would feel if your retirement age and pension was attacked. If you are one of those public sector workers, my solidarity goes with you in your struggles. I can't be with you tomorrow as we have a funeral of an elderly family member to attend. A socialist all her life who defended all like those on strike and rejoiced to see the birth of the NHS. I hope her family don't witness its demise. My great grandparents, grandparents and parents were all trade unionists. Our children and grandchildren have joined Other Half and I on protest marches. We will keep on marching - join us all!


Photograph above shows Anti-austerity protest marches on Parliament in London

4 May 2013 by Pete Riches

Is the Government writing Comedy Scripts?

Other Half and I like a bit of comedy. Life can be gloomy enough without watching on TV/listening on the radio to dark dramas, especially the type where someone ends up tied up with blood streaming from various bits of the body whilst others are screaming and running about with guns. Yes give us a good comedy show, the more silly, satirical or anarchic the better.

So last night promised to be a good night, the Now Show [satirical] on Radio 4 followed by later on ITV Benidorm [silly] and on BBC2 Twenty Twelve [satirical and slightly anarchic?]

Of course I laughed at the Now Show, always do - as 'Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis dissect the week's news with comical precision' [as the website puts it] But last night it was obvious that the script had almost written itself. Or rather the Government had written a lot of the best lines. From the budget induced 'pasty crisis' to the more serious petrol 'shortages' situation.

Benidorm was reassuringly silly and Twenty Twelve had us laughing until we cried. But the worrying point about the latter programme - which is a spoof documentary about the 'organisers' [and that in itself is a loose term] of the forthcoming Olympics] was how easily statements to the press and others by both these 'Officials' and 'Government advisers' sounded impressive but actually said nothing. Have you listened to real news bulletins and interviews lately and thought the same thing?

Which brings me back to the fiasco which has been the result of Government statements this week. We have a women in hospital with 40% burns through decanting petrol in her kitchen which then exploded. Whether she did this as a result of David Cameron & Francis Maude's advice is obviously unknown. And although the poor woman was obviously unwise to have done what she did, she is paying for it in the most dreadful way. The Government were more than unwise, they deliberately unleashed a wave of panic buying to demonise the union and the tanker drivers. And what Francis Maude suggested was - if not actually illegal [when we lived in Germany this would have been illegal btw] it was really foolhardy to put it lightly.

And as for the pasty and sausage roll farrago, no leading politician looks good on that one. I don't care whether any of them eats cooked pies or not - but I do care that once again the poorer sections of society are being disproportionately affected whilst the better off sections have probably never been into a Greggs..... David Cameron's recollections of when he last had a pasty and advertising which make it was were as cringe making as watching Ed Milliband and Ed Balls stopping off at Greggs for a quick snack.

Then came an important story in the Daily Telegraph which suggested that David Cameron's pasty story may in fact be untrue. What other secrets are we about to discover? Well the same article reveals:

Nick Clegg has also eaten a pasty “in the last few months at Paddington station”, according to his spokesman. Sources close to Baroness Warsi said she “loves pasties” and often eats them when on trips round the country.

This is enough to make me strike pasties from my shopping lists, although I do really like them and Other Half particularly enjoys the veggie ones we buy in Glastonbury. But as we are not politicians I don't suppose you want to know that.

Quick where's the TV listings guide magazine. Are there any comedy programmes on tonight?



The photograph is from the Twenty Twelve website

Solidarity to the Workers and all those on Picket Lines on the 30th of June

Dear David Cameron

Yes, we are in this together, but not with you - against you!

Elizannie and comrades all over the UK, on pickets lines, in homes and in despair.

Billy Bragg lyrics to The Internationale

Stand up, all victims of oppression,
For the tyrants fear your might!
Don't cling so hard to your possessions,
For you have nothing if you have no rights!
Let racist ignorance be ended,
For respect makes the empires fall!
Freedom is privilege extended,
Unless enjoyed by one and all.
So come brothers and sisters,
For the struggle carries on.
The Internationale,
Unites the world in song.
So comrades, come rally,
For this is the time and place!
The international ideal,
Unites the human race.

Let no one build walls to divide us,
Walls of hatred nor walls of stone.
Come greet the dawn and stand beside us,
We'll live together or we'll die alone.
In our world poisoned by exploitation,
Those who have taken, now they must give!
And end the vanity of nations,
We've but one Earth on which to live.
So come brothers and sisters,
For the struggle carries on.
The Internationale,
Unites the world in song.
So comrades, come rally,
For this is the time and place!
The international ideal,
Unites the human race.

And so begins the final drama,
In the streets and in the fields.
We stand unbowed before their armour,
We defy their guns and shields!
When we fight, provoked by their aggression,
Let us be inspired by life and love.
For though they offer us concessions,
Change will not come from above!
So come brothers and sisters,
For the struggle carries on.
The Internationale,
Unites the world in song.
So comrades, come rally,
For this is the time and place!
The Internationale,
Unites the human race.

For more information of the history of the song see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Internationale#English_lyrics

Thanks for the invite, Mr Cameron

In a news article David Cameron urged the general public to celebrate the Royal Wedding on the 29th April:

"My message to everyone who wants to have a street party is: I'm having one and I want you to go ahead and have one too.
"The truth is that this is a great chance for communities to come together and celebrate.
"So go on - bring out the bunting and let's make this a day to remember. For everyone."

Really good of him to spend the money of the population in advance like this. Quite a few angry voices on facebook and twitter already commenting on this. I especially liked Essex Boy's tweet:

All invited to No 10 street party great idea

and one reply:

Why not all drive [to] Downing St [and] clog city pi** Cameron off!

This kind of pronouncement from Cameron confirms my prejudice that the Royal Wedding is providing a wonderful smoke screen for all the ills of the country and turning the 'lower orders' thoughts away from the terrible cuts that the Coalition Government are inflicting on them. Surely we are not going to be taken in by this?

Supermarkets - without an eye on profits and simply out of the kindness of their hearts - are selling all sorts of tat to make sure the street parties go with a swing so if you fancy eating your spam sandwiches off a Union Jack plate rush on down to your nearest sales point before they sell out.

In a facebook discussion, it was pointed out that 28th April, the day before the Royal Wedding, is Workers Memorial Day which, to quote the website:

The purpose behind Workers' Memorial Day has always been to "remember the dead: fight for the living" and unions are asked to focus on both areas, by considering events or memorial to remember all those killed through work but at the same time ensuring that such tragedies are not repeated. That can best be done by building trade union organisation, and campaigning for stricter enforcement with higher penalties for breaches of health & safety laws.

Workers Memorial Day is commemorated throughout the world and is officially recognised by the UK Government.

This year the Union movement will also be reflecting on the effect the cuts 'in HSE and local authority resources, and the lack of inspection and enforcement activity will have on working people.'

Please click on the website link and find out if your union will have any events near to you. And if not please light a candle at 5.30pm in memory too.

And yes do lets have another great big street party in London to celebrate US. Actually we had a rather good one on 26th March when 500,000 of us marched to Hyde Park. I took our own sandwiches which Other Half and I sat and ate with a couple of Unite union members from Norfolk with whom we had palled up. We all had a good time and it was all very friendly and happy, lots of our friends were there but the crowds were so big and peaceful that we couldn't find one and another.

Of course you may not have heard about this because the newspapers and media didn't report an awful lot about this, concentrating instead on some yobs who did damage in Regent Street who oddly enough didn't get arrested whilst 145 peaceful protestors from UKuncut in Fortnum and Mason did. To offer support to those peaceful protestors please follow the link.

The photograph? Well it shows celebrations in the early 1930s of some of my family [including the original Elizannie] at the wedding of one of them. It is in the part of Essex now included in a London borough and although no-one had a lot of money, all clubbed together to make the dresses, 'do' the flowers and catering and the street provided part of the arena for the celebrations. Working people have always known how to have fun!

Dedicated to Lyn Costello and all her friends and all who do the excellent work at MAMAA

Not in My Name

Updated 22nd March after the vote in the House of Commons with voting details on Libyan Action

see bottom of page

Along with over a million others, I marched in late 2002 and early 2003 on the peace marches against our collaboration with the US in the Iraq 'situation' in order to wipe out "weapons of mass destruction". So obviously this week's news about the UN Resolution 1973 instituting a No Fly Zone over Libya has made me feel very miserable - and to put it very mildly - uncomfortable.

The Prime Minister has announced his intention of providing military support. He has been backed in this by the leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband, who also happens to be the leader of the political party to which I belong. So perhaps others would expect me to support my leader, but here I am repeating the marching cry from 2002/3 to say to Cameron and Milliband that their statements are definitely "Not in My Name".

There is of course a difference this time. In 2003 Britain - along with the US - took their military powers into Iraq without the sanction of a UN resolution. Arguments as to whether or not it was a legal invasion are still continuing - in my view and that of other pacifists and marchers is it certainly was not a moral action.

People tend to think that for me, being a Pacifist, it is an easy option. Perhaps they think I just hear the word 'military action' and kind of 'opt out'. It actually doesn't work like that. I have written a bit about the kind of soul searching involved here: http://rephidimstreet.blogspot.com/2010/11/remembrance-and-pacifism.html
And when something like the events of Thursday and Friday of this week happen, soul searching of a different type take place. In all honesty I can imagine a defensive position where I would agree to some sort of direct action - but it would have to be an absolutely last resort - and this does not apply here, especally as I still have reservations as to the motives of those countries who are offering military 'support' now.

If, as they say, the leaders of these countries are so concerned about Gaddafi - whom I agree is a tyrant and despot - and the wider Middle East I do have a few questions for them:

1.Why now?
2.Why Libya and not, say, Bahrain, Yemen etc?
3.Does the word OIL have anything to do with your decision?
4.If - as you claim - you have thought for a long time Gaddafi is so dangerous, why did so many UN countries [including the UK] continued to sell arms to his regime?
5.A question to David Cameron - if we cannot afford to finance the Disability Living Allowance, the NHS as it is, Police force ditto, Social Services ditto, School buildings ditto, need to raise University tuition fees and all the other 'cuts' - how can we afford to offer military assistance?

Regarding point number 5 above there is a marvellous song by Robb Johnson: More Than Enough. I have been trying to find the lyrics to it or a Youtube link, to no avail so I will try to transcribe it when I have a spare moment. It can be heard on the CD Sit Down & Sing by Roy Bailey with Martin Simpson & John Kirkpatrick. It does contain the lines:

There's always the money for missiles and tanks
There's always the money for generals and banks
There's always the money for new ways to kill
But limited budgets for you if you're ill
Yes there's always enough for a war
But never enough for the poor

I heard Tony Benn on the radio yesterday [Friday 18th] speaking against UK intervention. He speaks such good sense. I wish I had his eloquence!


Great links, much better written than mine, on this subject. If anyone has any to add please 'comment' and I will add them:
http://www.stopwar.org.uk
http://www.cnduk.org/
http://warelane.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/not-another-war-please/
http://jonrogers1963.blogspot.com/2011/03/no-to-military-intervention.html
http://owenjones.org/2011/03/20/the-case-against-bombing-libya/
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/03/13/libya-and-its-oil-reason-enough-not-to-interfere/
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/03/libya-where-next/
http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/a_humanitarian_intervention
A kind of 'Man on the Clapham Omnibus' point of view: http://tinyurl.com/6yhucph
John Baron MP press release: http://pressreleases.johnbaron.co.uk/archives/529

Voting details taken from BBC news webpage: errors and ommissions are therefore theirs!

Fifteen MPs (13 voted against plus two "tellers") against:Conservative: John Baron (Basildon & Billericay).

Labour: Graham Allen (Nottingham North), Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley), Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North), Barry Gardiner (Brent North), Roger Godsiff (Birmingham Hall Green), John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington), Linda Riordan (Halifax), Dennis Skinner (Bolsover), Mike Wood (Batley and Spen), Katy Clark (North Ayrshire and Arran), Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South-East)

Green Party: Caroline Lucas (Brighton Pavilion)

SDLP: Mark Durkan (Foyle), Margaret Ritchie (Down South)

The MPs who did not vote - either abstaining deliberately or because they were unable to be present - were:
Conservative: Greg Barker (Bexhill & Battle), Henry Bellingham (Norfolk North West), Peter Bone (Wellingborough), Conor Burns (Bournemouth West), Douglas Carswell (Clacton), Oliver Colville (Plymouth Sutton & Devonport), Nick de Bois (Enfield North), Alan Duncan (Rutland & Melton), Gerald Howarth (Aldershot), Edward Leigh (Gainsborough), Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West), David Lidington (Aylesbury), Peter Lilley (Hitchin & Harpenden), Jack Lopresti (Filton & Bradley Stoke), Stephen McPartland (Stevenage), Jesse Norman (Hereford & Herefordshire South), Owen Paterson (Shropshire North), Mark Reckless (Rochester & Strood), John Redwood (Wokingham), Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury), Mel Stride (Devon Central), Hugo Swire (Devon East), Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes), Gavin Williamson (Staffordshire South), Tim Yeo (Suffolk South)

Labour: Joe Benton (Bootle), Hazel Blears (Salford and Eccles), Chris Bryant (Rhondda), David Cairns (Inverclyde), Michael Connarty (Linlithgow & Falkirk East), Rosie Cooper (Lancashire West), Frank Doran (Aberdeen North), Angela Eagle (Wallasey), Caroline Flint (Don Valley), Paul Flynn (Newport West), Fabian Hamilton (Leeds North East), Tom Harris (Glasgow South), Stephen Hepburn (Jarrow), Jim Hood (Lanark & Hamilton East), George Howarth (Knowsley), Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central), Glenda Jackson (Hampstead & Kilburn), Sian James (Swansea East), Alan Keen (Feltham & Heston), Denis MacShane (Rotherham), Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham & Morden), Alison McGovern (Wirral South), Alan Meale (Mansfield), Austin Mitchell (Great Grimsby), George Mudie (Leeds East), Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian), Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central), Marsha Singh (Bradford West), Sir Peter Soulsby (Leicester South), Graham Stringer (Blackley & Broughton), Tom Watson (West Bromwich East), Dave Watts (St Helens North), David Winnick (Walsall North)

Liberal Democrat: Andrew George (St Ives), Mike Hancock (Portsmouth South)

Democratic Unionist Party: Gregory Campbell (Londonderry East), Nigel Dodds (Belfast North), Jim Shannon (Strangford), David Simpson (Upper Bann), Sammy Wilson (Antrim East).

SDLP: Dr Alasdair McDonnell (Belfast South)

Independent MPs: Lady Sylvia Hermon (Down North)



Photograph of the 2003 peace marches courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Not-in-my-name_banner,_Stop_The_War_demo.JPG

Dear Mr Cameron: In Defence of the NHS

Most of this blog was originally the basis of a comment I made on a really interesting piece: Why Cameron’s funding for the NHS will be worse than Thatcher’son the excellent Liberal Conspiracy blog: http://liberalconspiracy.org

Before the groans go up ‘well she would say that wouldn’t she’, please read on:

Dear Mr Cameron

I really cannot let you keep pronouncing about the need for cuts right, left and centre [bit of a pun there but never mind] especially when the NHS is getting dragged into the equation, with added fears of 'back door privatisation'. So as a consumer, customer, taxpayer, voter - really whatever 'label' you want to hang around my neck please spare a few minutes for my thoughts.

This is not about figures, charts and projections. There is always money to be found quickly for a war [witness Iraq invasion] so forget the aching ‘need’ to cut NHS spending to plug the deficit. Just look at some of the facts.

No-one would say that the present system is perfect – but dismantling it is not the answer. We are still the envy of most of the rest of the world – and I say this having lived in a different country and experienced the sheer bureaucracy and inequality of the system there – where the richest got the best drugs and the poorest, well basically suffered… and that was in a country where health care insurance was compulsory but {a} one could ‘decide’ [tongue in cheek there] how much cover one wanted dependent on how much one could afford [that is why my tongue was in my cheek, obviously] and {b} once on that cover the insurance company could not refuse to renew your cover/raise the premiums extortionately once you became too old or ill to be profitable. Nor could it refuse to cover a new arrival into the family if the new baby had an expensive medical problem. Both these things happen with most private medical insurances in the UK.

Sure, there are reforms that should be made in the present system and some of those reforms may save money and some may cost money – swings and roundabouts. Every public and private institution or business needs ongoing checks and balances to ensure efficiency and that modern skills/methodology are maintained. Common sense.

Some hospitals/doctors/nurses/physiotherapists/outpatients departments/etc etc may be better than others – but then some bus services/department stores/hotels/builders/car mechanics/etc etc may be better than others. What we should all be doing is not knocking the NHS but supporting it and discussing ways to improve it. If a hospital is deemed to be 'failing' in one area the reasons why should be thoroughly investigated and then the lessons learnt used across the board in all other hospitals. Perfection, whilst difficult to achieve, should be something strived for but may take a few 'attempts' on the way.

Yesterday we heard that two major London hospitals - one of them a teaching hospital and centre of excellence - are to cut jobs in the government spending cuts. All the government false pre-election promises etc can be read about by clicking on the blog title above or cutting and pasting the following link: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health-news/2011/02/18/governments-false-nhs-promises-laid-bare-as-1-000-job-losses-announced-115875-22930883/
I really cannot think of a valid reason for this action other than spite on the part of the government.

There is a whole area upon which the government does not seem keen to get too involved - drugs bought by the NHS. Yes we hear that such-and-such a drug is too expensive etc etc. We do not hear so often about the massive profits made by drug companies, many of whom pay their taxes abroad and not in this country where those profits were made. If these profits were examined/and or fairer taxes paid would drugs become cheaper and therfore more available to more patients? Just a thought.
Alternative medicine such as homeopathy, which is a much cheaper alternative, is constantly derided by lobbyists from drug companies - one has to ask why this? The NHS Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine, formerly the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital, [photograph above - http://www.uclh.nhs.uk/OurServices/OurHospitals/RLHIM/Pages/Home.aspx] has been in existence since 1849. Homeopathy may not suit everyone - but then neither does
all allopathic medicine.

There is also an area which a lot of GPs would like to spend more money but are prevented -[oh dear the puns are coming thick and fast] - that of preventative medicine. Another cheaper alternative but maybe one that would take longer for its results to show - and one which therefore a government would not want to undertake for its 'statistics' sake?

I made a comment in another place that Aneurin Bevan must be weeping in Heaven at what you are trying to do to the NHS, Mr Cameron. I am not sure if he believed in Heaven but he is certainly in my Heaven and we have a duty to see that he is happy there. OK a bit sentimental, so if you like it better, Nye loved a drink so lets drink to the NHS! You said the NHS was safe with you, Mr C - but please remember the words of Nye when he started the NHS: "We now have the moral leadership of the world".

Yours Dispairingly, Elizannie