The Question Unasked

I'm afraid I spent most of yesterday feasting on Christmas dinners, so this post comes to you somewhat belatedly. Yes, I know, I could have used the Blackberry, but then, so could Gordon have missed his appearance before the Commons select committee.

Anyway, the question that I have been puzzling over and that I haven't seen asked anywhere else is why a million people can turn out on the streets of London over the poll tax or, more recently, over foxes, but there has been no mass rally protesting the Government's constitutional surrender to Europe (treason, I think Cranmer calls it) and failure to give us our promised democratic referendum on such a historic issue.

Neighbouring Continents — Worlds Apart

Gordon Brown, his proxy Baroness Amos, and the leaders of Africa may be too weak to stand up to Robert Mugabe, but at least the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken out against Zimbabwe's dictator, who has been in Europe this weekend for the EU-Africa summit, despite having been banned from entering the EU since 2002:

"The current state of Zimbabwe damages the image of the new Africa. Because this is so, we must take the chance here, in this framework, to put all our efforts together into strengthening democracy.

"We don't have the right to look away when human rights are trampled on. Intimidation of those with different opinions and breaches of the independence of the press cannot be justified."

Not that such words will make any more of a difference than our own Prime Minister's boycott of the meeting. Especially considering how South African President Thabo Mbeki is reported to have accused Merkel of being out of touch with the political situation in Zimbabwe. Quite what situation he was thinking of is anybody's guess — perhaps that of Zimbabwe as a world leader, with the world's highest inflation rate (what is variously reported as 8,000-15,000%), highest death rate (21.76 deaths/1,000 population — more than that for Sudan (14.39) and Iraq (5.26) combined!), highest number of AIDS orphans (1.6 million, almost one in four children, have now lost at least one parent to HIV), highest unemployment (at least 80%), and fastest-shrinking economy?

Unsurprisingly, the summit in Lisbon has now ended without any agreement being reached on the key issue of trade. The EU wants to replace expiring trade accords with temporary Economic Partnership Agreements by the end of the year, when a waiver by the World Trade Organisation on preferential trade arrangements for developing countries expires. However, anti-poverty groups have criticised the EPAs for failing to provide protection for Africa's poor farmers and its fragile industry.

From Annapolis To Islamabad

What a week we're having! Kevin Rudd sweeps to power as prime minister with a landslide victory over John Howard in Australia. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agree to resume long-stalled peace talks. President Pervez Musharraf steps down as Pakistan's chief of army staff and Turkish President Abdullah Gul accepts his invitation to hold talks next month in Pakistan. All these geo-political developments taking place against the domestic backdrop of Labour's latest funding scandal and the transfiguration of Brown from "a safe pair of hands" to slippery fingers, from "great clunking fist" to over-rated flunking fiddler — or, as the LibDem's acting leader Vince Cable so memorably put it in today's PMQs, from Stalin to Mr Bean, "creating chaos out of order rather than order out of chaos."

Whatever next? Keep your eyes on Russia, China and Iran...

Brown's LCD Vision

On the day that Gordon Brown announced yet another seven quangos in his "déjà vu" Queen's speech, a local news story seems to encapsulate much of what this Government has come to represent:

Pupils from a successful girls' secondary school in Kent today staged a protest over a proposal to create a new academy by merging it with Temple School, a nearby boys' school that, according to tables published in January, achieved England's worst GCSE results.

The head teacher at Strood's Chapter School is reported as acknowledging that an academy for Strood "could be really exciting" but insists, "I'm against the plan where Chapter School has to close, we lose the family image and ethos we have, and then we reopen in 2009 and who knows what staff would still be here."

Such is the failing of Brown's "vision": seeking to reduce Britain to its lowest common denominator, when we should be building on the nation's highest common factor.

NHS Independence

Criticising Conservative proposals to make the NHS independent, Health Minister Ben Bradshaw says, "It is simply wrong to suggest that taxpayers should invest £90bn in the NHS but there should be no political accountability for how that money is spent."

Indeed! In truth, what is wrong is that the Government should throw so much of taxpayers' money at the NHS but without giving the medical professionals the freedom they need to look after their patients properly. Since we learnt about the death of ninety patients from C.difficile at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, I have heard two first-hand stories revealing a life-threatening lack of care and attention to detail.

The first went in to have a kidney out. When asked to sign the paperwork authorising the operation, my lawyer friend decided to read the details of what he was about to authorise. Noticing that it stated the left kidney was to be removed, he queried surely it was his right kidney that was the problem. His question was dismissed but when he persisted, a check was made. Sure enough, they had been about to operate on the wrong kidney ... a minor detail.

The second, just a couple of days ago, was to undergo a minor procedure but was turned away because he has MRSA — something that was detected and recorded in his medical records while he was in for a hernia operation earlier in the year but was left untreated with the patient, unaware of being a carrier, discharged into the community. Again ... a minor detail.

This is what the government healthcare watchdog means when it criticised the trust for "focusing too much on balancing the books and meeting waiting-time targets, at the expense of patient care and infection control." This is the consequence of Government targets, unprecedented cuts in the number of acute hospital beds, and a shortage of nursing staff.

It is time the NHS was freed from political tinkering. Let us hope that Gordon Brown is still happy to adopt Conservative proposals as he formulates his "vision" and that the Conservatives' draft NHS (Autonomy and Accountability) Bill becomes Government policy.

What Brown Really Thinks

Just back from a very relaxing weekend in Hampshire's sun. Three thoughts briefly tempted me to blog but, as you'll have noticed, I resisted. The first and third, taken together, seem to reveal much about what our Scottish Premier thinks about this nation:

1. Yesterday's leader in the Telegraph, MPs must be held to their word on EU treaty:

The Prime Minister is just one man. There are another 645 Members of Parliament, and 637 of them were, like Mr Brown, elected on the basis of a promise that they would give voters the final say.

Those 637 MPs must now decide whether they are true parliamentarians. Are they simply a block vote, agents of one man’s will? Or are they independent legislators, acting in accordance with what they judge to be their constituents’ interests and wishes?

2. Simon Heffer's piece also in yesterday's Telegraph, We should listen to what Watson says, on the controversial comments from Nobel-winning geneticist Professor James Watson on intelligence and race:

But how boot-faced, wicked and totalitarian of the Science Museum to cancel a lecture Prof Watson was due to give there because of the "offensive" nature of this subject.

How, for pity's sake, will we know Prof Watson is wrong if he is banned from airing his claims and having them held up to scrutiny?

Doesn't the museum understand that it is in its way as ignorant as the academic authorities were 200 years ago, when they forbade the teaching of geology because it might provoke the "offensive" idea that the Creation had not been as scripted?

What if that ban had been maintained?

Why does the Left only believe in academic freedom when it suits their own bigotries?

3. The lack of enthusiasm or apparent inability of the Prime Minister to sing the national anthem at last night's Rugby World Cup final. So much for all that talk of Britishness, national pride, and patriotism. Yes, even I, sports unenthusiast that I am, watched the game!

Making British Poverty History

Citing evidence from former leader Iain Duncan Smith's landmark reports Breakdown Britain and Breakthrough Britain, David Cameron has pledged that the next Conservative Government will "make British poverty history." However, he warns that "we need to make twentieth century welfare dependency history first."

He suggests that, despite good intentions, Gordon Brown has failed the country by focusing on top-down, mechanical state interventions instead of developing policies that focus on people — a flawed, one-dimensional approach that has resulted in almost five million people out of work and on benefits, almost four million people in problem debt, and over eight million people with alcohol and drug disorders.

He described a Conservative, holistic approach as one that would take into account the importance of families, communities and incentives to work:

"In place of Gordon Brown's misguided couple penalty, we will increase the Working Tax Credit that couples receive - bringing tax credits fully into line with the rest of the benefits system."

"Instead of the revolving door of people flitting in and out of benefits and work, we will draw on successful examples of welfare reform from all over the world to overhaul our welfare system. These are tailored to the individual, and they harness the private and voluntary sectors, rather than government bureaucracies, to help people get back into work."

Unfortunately, we really cannot afford to put off the radical welfare reform and the social changes that everyone knows we need for yet another two or three years until Mr Cameron becomes Prime Minister. So, let's hope that this new agenda will be the latest idea to be "stolen" by Gordon Brown...

Pick'n'mix Politics

Having forced the Conservatives to reveal some of their trump cards last week (in readiness for the election that never was), the Government is being accused after today's pre-budget report and comprehensive spending review statement of "stealing" Conservative and LibDem policies — notably, on raising the inheritance tax threshold for married couples and those in civil partnerships, on reforming aviation duty so it is paid per plane rather than per passenger, and on reviewing loopholes for non-domiciled tax payers. However, if all our elected representatives have our best interests in mind, then surely we want the Government of the day to draw upon the best ideas from across the political spectrum and it doesn't matter who gets to implement them?

Except that "pick'n'mix" politics is unlikely to result in a stable economy and strong society. In order to achieve that, one needs a coherent vision and clear objectives. Only once core values have been identified and principles and beliefs clearly defined, is anyone in a position to evaluate how effectively any given policy fits into the overall scheme for the nation and what contribution any particular set of policies might make towards stated goals.

So, if your vision recognises marriage and the family as a means of fostering strong local communities and family-based support networks, it makes sense to introduce transferable tax allowances between spouses — on income tax, not just inheritance tax. However, it would also make sense to exempt the main family home from inheritance tax — and makes no sense to have a conflicting tax credit system that penalises couples who want to get together or who are struggling financially and want to stay together!

The reason I supported David Cameron in the leadership contest two years ago is that, whenever he spoke, he appeared to be presenting an overall vision for the country rather than piecemeal policies. He has spent the last two years first defining the aims and values of his party (in "Built to Last") and then conducting wide-ranging policy reviews. Now that each of the policy groups has reported, the Conservative leader is in a position to evaluate their many proposals against his broader vision for society.

In contrast, Gordon Brown repeatedly tells us that he has a vision but has so far failed to tell us what that vision is, which begs the question as to whether he really has one — or even understands the need for one. Ultimately, it is this that means Labour's "plagiarism politics" will fail to transform the breakdown in society and the slowdown in the economy — and why, to coin a phrase, it is time for change. Sadly, it seems we're going to have to wait two or three years more until we are given the opportunity to effect that change.

Brown's Economic Wizardry

Gordon Brown repeatedly boasts that he was the first chancellor to preside over almost a decade of economic growth. Today, uSwitch.com gives us the figures: a 42% rise in the cost of essential household goods means that disposable income now stands at its lowest level as a proportion of overall income since 1997. Despite a rise in average household incomes, the amount of "disposable" income has dropped 2% and net household income as a proportion of gross household income is down 5% compared with when Gordon Brown took control of British domestic policy.

The closer we look at the Prime Minister's economic record, the less competent he appears as a leader.

NHS Needs Competition

"Healthcare right now in America - and I think it has been true of your experience of socialised medicine in England - is not only very expensive, it's increasingly less effective. I had prostate cancer seven years. My chance of survival in the US is 82%; my chance of survival if I was here in England is below 50%. Breast cancer is very similar. I think there's something to the idea that there are many more private options driving the system that create altogether better results."

Nothing quite like a reality check from the Republican presidential front-runner Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York ... Wonder what Gordon Brown made of that?

African Interventionism

"Blair's 'ethical foreign policy' is a long-forgotten memory, sacrificed upon an invasion undertaken without UN sanction."

Do not miss the Ugandan-born Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, in today's Observer, calling for "the sanctions and campaigns that brought an end to apartheid in South Africa to be applied to the Mugabe regime":

Zimbabwe cannot any more be seen as an African problem needing an African solution - it is a humanitarian disaster...

The time has come for Mr Brown, who has already shown himself to be an African interventionist through his work at the UN in favour of the people of Darfur, finally to slay the ghosts of Britain's colonialist past by thoroughly revising foreign policy towards Zimbabwe and to lead the way in co-ordinating an international response...

Like Idi Amin before him in Uganda, Mugabe has rallied a country against its former colonial master only to destroy it through a dictatorial fervour. Enemies are tortured, the press is censored, the people are starving and meanwhile the world waits for South Africa to intervene. That time is now over.

Let us know what you think — and, if you're going to the Conservative Party conference, watch out for our stand, where we'll have a copy of our Zimbabwe petition.

Brown's Lurch to the Right

Nick Robinson and Matthew d'Ancona, among others, have commented on Gordon Brown's TUC pledge to deliver "British jobs for British workers," speculating on how such a phrase would have been portrayed by the media had David Cameron delivered it.

Looking beyond such "harsh realities of political life," the truth is that our European masters would never permit such employment protection rights. Moreover, given that employers are usually going to take on the best person for the job, then presumably the immigrants accused of "stealing our jobs" are better qualified and/or better experienced than the natives whom they are supplanting — which would seem to imply that there is something wrong with British education and training, requiring a more direct and substantial remedy than any diversionary "British jobs for British workers" sticking plaster.

The New Politics 2

"I believe that Britain needs a new type of politics which embraces everyone in this nation, not just a few. A politics built on consensus, not division. A politics that draws on the widest range of talents and expertise, not the narrow circles of power."

With all this talk of citizens' juries and a nationwide citizens' summit, does this mean GB is about to give us a referendum on the European Con(stitution) Treaty?

See also: The New Politics

The New Politics

"If he could persuade middle Britain that schools were improving, hospitals were working efficiently inside the public sector, more houses were being built, and that this was being done without more tax rises, then it doesn't matter whether Cameron heads further right or back to sunny-land. Brown would win anyway. But it would be a historic beating, not just an autumn ambush."

So suggests The Guardian on "the new politics" of Gordon Brown, on the day that the prime minister has announced that Conservative MPs Patrick Mercer, former Conservative homeland security spokesman, and John Bercow, former Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, and Lib Dem MP Matthew Taylor are to advise Gordon Brown's government in their areas of expertise.

Now, while I may be in favour of consensual politics, "concentrating on long-term problems" rather than "indulging in tactical games" and relating issues to their "effect on the economy rather than on party position," with education standards falling, hospitals being closed, and repossessions on the rise, all against a backdrop of the highest tax burden in decades, I find it hard to imagine how things can get any better for Brown once his honeymoon begins to wear off, as today's opinion polls appear to indicate may already be happening.

Sarkozy & Brown's Darfur Push

"It is the combination of a ceasefire, a peacekeeping force, economic reconstruction and the threat of sanctions that can bring a political solution to the region –– and we will spare no efforts in making this happen."

At first glance, the call in today's Times (and Le Monde) by Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for intense action to secure a ceasefire in Darfur appears a welcome step towards stopping the genocide in Sudan. They acknowledge that the ceasefire "cannot on its own resolve such a complex conflict" and that "we need a political settlement that addresses the root causes of the violence." They also go further than last month's UN Resolution 1769 in that they threaten "further sanctions against those who fail to fulfil their commitments, obstruct the political process or continue to violate the ceasefire." They are also right to "look beyond Darfur, to the issues affecting Sudan and the region," including the need for better security and greater humanitarian assistance among the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the conflict across the border into Chad.

And yet, underneath, they seem to be accepting a number of false presuppositions:

• They describe the weak UNAMID operation as the deployment of a "robust force," though it has no authority to disarm the militias or to pursue and arrest suspected war criminals indicted by the International Criminal Court.
• They make reference to the meeting of Darfur's rebel groups in Tanzania earlier this month, but neglect to mention that the Sudanese Government's subsequent escalation of violence is already causing the rebels to reconsider attending full negotiations.
• They also make no mention of breaches in existing sanctions, notably by China and Russia, including photographs (such as the one above) published by Amnesty International just last Friday showing military equipment being supplied by Russia at West Darfur's Geneina airport.
• Perhaps most fundamentally, they appear to believe that a political solution will be the inevitable outcome of the supposed ceasefire and the recently agreed peacekeeping force, whereas in reality a political solution must be found first if any ceasefire is to hold.

To quote both Rodolphe Adada, the new UN-AU mission head, and Mark Kroeker, the retiring UN police chief, once again, although UNAMID is sure to be one of the main tools for forwarding peace in Darfur, "it's only a peace operation — you need to have peace to keep," and "The countries that have been talking about Darfur need to now do something about Darfur with their deployment of police in probably the most desperate place in the world."

Brown's Pension Revolution

"Ignoring council tax, pensioners' net incomes have been rising faster than average earnings."

... Which would be fine, if only pensioners didn't have to pay council tax, which has doubled since Labour came to power in 1997. The reality is, together with energy prices soaring and food prices set to rise even further as a result of the recent flooding, Chris Grayling, the shadow work and pensions secretary, is right when he notes Britain's poorest pensioners are seeing their incomes falling by up to four per cent a year — costing them on average more than £250 — and that the gap between better-off and poorer pensioners is getting wider.

So much for Government claims that more than one million pensioners have been lifted out of relative poverty under Gordon Brown's economic management.

Brown's "Historic" Sudan Resolution

(Send in the Smurfs)

One year ago, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1706, authorising up to 22,500 UN troops and police officers for a United Nations peacekeeping force with the power to use all necessary means to protect humanitarian aid workers and civilian populations, as well as to seize and dispose of illegal weapons.

The new resolution agreed in New York, hailed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as "historic and unprecedented," makes no reference to this earlier resolution or to the Sudanese Government's refusal to comply with its provisions. It omits any condemnation of Sudan for failing to ensure humanitarian aid reaches those in need, deletes reference to evidence of violations of the UNSC-mandated arms embargo, removes a threat of UN sanctions in the event of continued non-compliance, and drops a request that the Secretary General immediately report any breach of this or previous resolutions and agreements.

Neither does the UN appear to have learned any lessons from last year's failed attempt to deploy UN peacekeepers in Darfur. The new "UNAMID" mission excludes adequate monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, is referred to as an "operation" rather than a "force," and will only be able to protect civilians deemed to be under threat.

Just last week, in its first overall review of Sudan's record for more than a decade, the UN Human Rights Committee reported that "widespread and systematic serious human rights violations, including murder, rape, forced displacement and attacks against the civil population, have been and continue to be committed with total impunity throughout Sudan and particularly in Darfur." Without a political solution, UNAMID is destined to go the same way as Resolution 1706. As the new UN-AU mission head has commented, "I'm sure it will be one of the main tools for forwarding peace in Darfur, but it's only a peace operation — you need to have peace to keep."

One thing I find perplexing in recent media coverage is the assertion that this has been a four-year conflict. No mention appears to be made any longer of the previous two decades' violence by the Sudanese regime against its own people — as described by Baroness Cox in A Voice for the Voiceless. The present genocide and obstruction of humanitarian efforts in Darfur differs very little from the bloody civil war that tore the country apart from 1983 to 2005, which resulted in the death of 1,900,000 civilians in southern Sudan, and forced more than 4,000,000 others to flee their homes.

Brown's Coalition For Justice

Speaking to the United Nations in New York, Gordon Brown says he wants to "summon into existence the greatest coalition of conscience in pursuit of the greatest of causes" — that the world should "forge a coalition for justice" to combat what he called the "emergency" of global poverty.

The problem is, while he talks a good talk, his record just doesn't give any confidence that he will deliver on his promises of empowerment and free trade:

We need a compact - the rich accepting their responsibilities to invest, to support, to end protectionism and to deliver our promises; the developing countries accepting their responsibilities to reform, to open up to trade, and to be transparent and free of corruption. But our objectives cannot be achieved by governments alone, however well intentioned; or private sector alone, however generous; or NGOs or faith groups alone, however well meaning or determined - it can only be achieved in a genuine partnership together.

So it is time to call into action the eighth of the Millennium Goals so we can meet the first seven. Let us remember Millennium Development Goal eight - to call into being, beyond governments alone, a global partnership for development, and together harness the energy, the ideas and the talents of the private sector, consumers, NGOs and faith groups, and citizens everywhere. The sum of all the individual actions working together to achieve real change. Some people call it the mobilisation of soft power...I call it people power. People power in support of the leadership of developing countries.

After all, he has spent the last ten years taking power away from the people under his influence, so what makes anybody think he will begin giving it back to us all now? Consider what he says on protectionism:

Perhaps for too long we have talked the language of development without defining its starting point in wealth creation - the dignity of individuals empowered to trade and be economically self sufficient.

No country has moved to development without opening up to trade.

So I accept an immediate obligation on world leaders to address protectionism and work to make what we promised - the development trade round - happen this year.

If he really means what he says, presumably we will see Britain adopting a new tough stance in Europe as we withdraw from the Common Agricultural Policy and Common Fisheries Policy? I, for one, won't be holding my breath...

Brown Embraces Cameronism

Just last November, Home Office minister Liam Byrne declared of the Conservatives, "All that they offer in place of ID cards is the chaos of a damaging, distracting and disruptive reorganisation of three agencies on the front line into a single border force. That idea is outdated and is rooted in a concept of a frontier that is long past. It is simplistic and dangerous in the disruption that it poses."

Today his new leader, Gordon Brown, announced, "To strengthen the powers and surveillance capability of our border guards and security officers, we will now integrate the vital work of the Border and Immigration Agency, Customs and UK Visas overseas and at the main points of entry to the UK and establish a unified border force."

Now all we need is for the new "Conservative" Prime Minister to ditch his misguided obsession with ID cards...

...Oh yes, and to give us the referendum we were promised on the Constitutional Treaty that Open Europe's analysis shows is 96% of the original European Constitution, already rejected by the French and the Dutch...

Sources: Hansard and BBC

Your Policy Ideas Results

Gordon Brown has been Prime Minister for a full week. After an initially impressive start, he performed poorly at his first PMQs today, needing to be rescued by John Reid over the Government's position concerning Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

The question now is how David Cameron will respond. Concluding the policy survey that we have been conducting since the Conservative leader announced that he would be launching a Blizzard of Ideas against the new Prime Minister, below are the top ten policies suggested and voted on by The Difference readers that you would most like to see rolled out in the coming weeks, listed under the six headings being used in the Party's official policy review process. Interestingly, the most popular suggestion was made by Alex, the recent winner in our ongoing comment competition!

Making our economy more competitive
1. Increase the income tax personal allowance to about £10,000
9= Leave the EU
Public service improvement
2. A universal school voucher system
6. Provision for public petitions to trigger Parliamentary debates
Improving our quality of life
3. Reduce immigration
7= Allocate funds to sexual health programmes advocating abstinence as a positive life-style choice
Protecting our security
4= Re-install border controls
7= Invest in our armed forces
Social justice
4= Reduce the legal time-frame in which abortion is allowed
9= Enforce strict guidelines on allowing state-funded abortions
Globalisation & global poverty
9= Champion a Global Free Trade Association

A total of 567 votes were cast — so thank you to everybody who took part in this campaign. You can find the full results at last week's Poll of Polls.