Steve Baker MP
Is mankind's highest ideal to live without
Is mankind's highest ideal to live without
incident or adventure? And if so,
when did this begin?
Simon Jenkins: Swine flu? A panic stoked in order to posture and spend | Comment is free | The Guardian
Interesting comment at the Guardian, but people are taking this very seriously:
We appear to have lost all ability to judge risk. The cause may lie in the national curriculum, the decline of “news” or the rise of blogs and concomitant, unmediated hysteria, but people seem helpless in navigating the gulf that separates public information from their daily round. They cannot set a statistic in context. They cannot relate bad news from Mexico to the risk that inevitably surrounds their lives. The risk of catching swine flu must be millions to one.
…
Meanwhile a real pestilence, MRSA and C difficile, was taking hold in hospitals. It was suppressed by the medical profession because it appeared that they themselves might be to blame. These diseases have played a role in thousands of deaths in British hospitals – the former a reported 1,652 and the latter 8,324 in 2007 alone. Like deaths from alcoholism, we have come to regard hospital-induced infection as an accident of life, a hazard to which we have subconsciously adjusted.
MRSA and C difficile are not like swine flu, an opportunity for public figures to scare and posture and spend money. They are diseases for which the government is to blame. They claim no headlines and no Cobra priority. Their sufferers must crawl away and die in silence.
BBC NEWS | Health | Why we need more nannying
The term ‘nanny state’ is not normally used as a compliment.
But public health expert Dr Alan Maryon Davis says we need more nannying, not less.
Gordon Brown dealt fresh blow as Bishop of London criticises ‘false financial hopes’
The Church of England sustains its stand for morality:
They were joined by the bishops of Winchester and Carlisle, who claimed ministers had squandered their opportunity to transform society and run out of steam, sacrificing principled politics and long-term solutions for policies designed to win votes.
Right now, I am part way through James Bartholomew’s “The Welfare State We’re In”. It is a devastating critique of the state’s failure to centrally-plan cradle to grave education and care: for example, the author claims that the avoidable deaths in the NHS amount to a daily train wreck. We can do better but we must be bold if we are to restore humanity to social provision.
See also: http://www.stevebaker.info/2008/12/recommended-reading-freedom-for-public-services/
40,000 die every year after hospital blunders, MPs are told
From the Telegraph:
Hospital blunders are involved in the deaths of up to 40,000 patients a year, MPs have been told.
I wonder whether the professions will be allowed to take responsibility for improving this desperate state of affairs.
Presumed consent ‘not ruled out’
From the BBC:
Gordon Brown is not ruling out a change in the law on organ donation even though a panel of experts has rejected the idea of “presumed consent”. The UK Organ Donation Taskforce said assuming organs could be used unless people opted out was unlikely to boost donation rates.
From the Daily Mail:
Joyce Robins, co-director of Patient Concern, said: ‘This should be welcomed by anyone who cares about patient choice. It is ridiculous to talk about “donation” and “presumed consent” in the same breath. A donation is something willingly gifted. Presumed consent means requisition.’
read more at the BBC | digg story | read more at the Daily Mail
Compelling roadside cafes to offer a healthy choice
From the Telegraph:
Roadside ‘greasy spoon’ vans will be forced to close unless they offer healthy alternatives like salads and low fat yogurts.
The snack vans, often found in busy lay-bys, must also limit the amount of mayonnaise served – because it has been branded a “very high fat product”.
Environmental health officers in Guildford, Surrey, will inspect menus during routine hygiene checks.
And traders who fail to meet the strict new standards, will be refused a street trader’s licence when it comes up for renewal each year.
Has our country come to this, that we approach compelling people to make the “right” choices on what they eat, as determined by authority?
Of course we all want to help our fellows. Of course we are all impatient with suffering and want to see less obesity and disease. But we must all be free to make these choices for ourselves if we are to claim we live in a free society.
The source of this well-intentioned authoritarianism is, of course, a QANGO: the Food Standards Authority. They have, for example, “a new vision for enforcement”: “The aim is to provide [local authorities] with flexible interventions for improving business compliance, enabling them to focus resources more effectively.” Whatever these moral busybodies may think, people are not victims: they are, and they must be, responsible for themselves.
To be fair to the particular council, their spokesman stated on the Vine show that they have no intention to close businesses over this, despite the Telegraph’s claims. But imagine the scene when the inspector turns up at the roadside van with a range of “flexible interventions” at his disposal.
A free society, an open society, a democracy, relies on persuasion. People who want to encourage healthy eating might consider persuasion before they resort to coercion. Perhaps they might separate persuasion and coercion. They might consider forming an educational charity, establishing a network of healthy eating vans and getting out there to make their case in the market, without forcing money out of everyone’s pockets to do it.
World Bank warns on ‘human crisis’ of high food prices
World Bank president Robert Zoellick urged governments to act to contain a mounting “human crisis” today, as he warned that 44 million of the world’s poorest people would be driven into malnutrition this year, as a result of high food prices.
The magic of Jamie’s Ministry of Food
Jamie sets out to transform British eating:
Can’t cook? Start with the basics. Pick a recipe. Pass it on.
Just watching the show: the look on people’s faces is fantastic when they find they can cook a good meal.
The funny thing is, we used to do this at school. What went wrong?
Long hours and stress drive lawyers to drink and drugs
The survey, by the magazine Legal Business, also says that there is evidence of “cocaine clubs” in law firms’ basements and of partner-led games of poker and taking cocaine with clients. But it also finds that law firms are ignorant or indifferent to the problem. One lawyer is quoted: “I spanked £100,000 on cocaine in one year and no one noticed.”
What they are not talking about though, is the endemic misery the drugs trade causes among the least privileged. I heard just last week, how middle-class drugs money distorts behaviour on the most run-down estates.
Time for a change of heart?
Enjoy freedom responsibly
Steve Baker is MP for Wycombe. He is an engineer, manager, businessman and skydiver. Find out more...
Steve holds regular surgeries in High Wycombe. If you would like an appointment, please call 01494 448408.
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