Blogs

Patricia Hewitt, interviewed on News 24 on Saturday morning, explained that she should not take responsibility for the MTAS fiasco because the new system had been widely consulted and widely supported prior to deployment. In other words, doctors liked the look of the system, and if they didn't tell her she'd got it wrong, whose fault was that?

Fascinating briefing by Peter Riddell in today's Times on the ideas of Oliver Letwin. Of course, Riddell is limited by the space constraints of newspaper reporting. On the one hand, he could have got by with a lot less space, if he had accurately and succinctly represented the essential vacuity of Letwin's "big idea". On the other, he could have filled the whole paper several times over if he had given a full exposition of the many layers of glossy pseudo-philosophising in which Letwin has wrapped the empty box of his intellectual bankruptcy.

Letwin's "big idea", Riddell reports, is that he wants to "shift the debate from an econo-centric paradigm to a socio-centric paradigm". In other words, we should forget about economics because capitalism has won the battle with socialism, and focus instead on "how we live".

So long as we live within the law, it is none of the government's business how we live. Perhaps he thinks the government is entitled to intervene in our lives because the way of life of a minority (the "underclass") affects everyone else's lives. But that is for two reasons - law and order, which the government should uphold without any need to venture more deeply into our lives, and costs of welfare provision. If it's the latter, we are back to economics.

If this is the "big idea", it is no more than a restatement of the old-fashioned Tory position in the classic divide - both sides want to interfere in our lives, but the Tories want to interfere in our personal lives, whereas Labour and the LibDems want to interfere in our economic lives. What about an option for government to interfere as little as possible in all aspects of our lives? 

Big brother really is watching you. From a discrete plane fitted with military spy equipment. Unlike the Big Brother from Orwell's 1984 though, the version of Big Brother the local councils are producing is more of an intrusive, nagging, holier than thou mother in law. Incredibly, spy cameras are being used to monitor the energy efficiency of our homes. This information is then being put on a website, presumably so mobs of green nutters can come and throw stones at your window and sing songs about flowers and the sun gods.

A friend of mine wrote me an email yesterday saying that every time he reads a story on Picking Losers about the NHS it puts him in a bad mood. I promised him I would try and post a positive one as soon as I can. Well, here goes...

Government

• Reviews of big government IT projects that track progress and problems could be made available to the public following a ruling by the High Court yesterday. Projects ranging from ID cards to the £12.4bn National Health Service electronic patient record are reviewed regularly and given traffic light status: red, amber or green coding. But the Office of Government Commerce has refused to release the findings of the so-called gateway reviews, arguing that to do so would discourage openness about problems and the involvement of IT companies as assessors. That would "fundamentally undermine" the process and defeat its objective, the OGC argues. The information tribunal has upheld a ruling by Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, that the first- stage review of the ID cards project and its coding be published. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/65b302a0-f9db-11db-9b6b-000b5df10621.html
• Britain is being promoted as a "tax haven" on a government website, highlighting the unusually generous tax treatment of foreign residents. "It is also perhaps the only tax haven which has the high degree of respectability sought by the international business community," says the article by Mike Curran, of PwC, the professional services firm, on the UK Trade and Investment website. The message aims to attract wealth creators. But it is likely to stoke the un-ease about the perceived unfairness of the rules, already fuelled by the non-domiciled status of some political donors and the prominence of wealthy foreigners in league tables of the UK's richest people. In most countries, residents are taxed on their worldwide income and gains. But UK residents who are not domiciled in the UK - usually because their fathers were not British - are liable for tax on their overseas income and gains only if they are brought in to Britain. By bringing capital rather than income into the country, very wealthy people can pay little tax. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0cf4a2d0-f9dc-11db-9b6b-000b5df10621.html
• Spy-in-the-sky cameras are being used to identify householders who are wasting the most energy and to shame them into turning the central heating down. Thermal images of homes have been taken by a light aircraft fitted with military spy technology to record the heat escaping from people's houses. Maps identifying individual homes have now been placed on the internet to encourage occupiers to reduce their wastage and carbon emissions by fitting insulation and turning the thermostat down. Haringey Council, in London, has become the first authority in England to place house-by-house thermal maps on the web, after the example of Aberdeen in Scotland. Making the information available to the public is intended to raise awareness of how much energy is being used needlessly, putting up bills and contributing to global warming. It is hoped that homeowners with high wastage levels will be shamed into improving the property's insulation. http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/article1744293.ece
• More children are attending independent schools than ever before despite steep increases in fees and six years of education being the Government's "number one priority", the Independent Schools Council (ISC) said yesterday. Smaller classes, more individual attention, a wide range of extra-curricular activities and increasingly elaborate facilities were the main reasons heads cited for their success in attracting a record 620,000 pupils. Among the 80 per cent who attend the 1,300 schools represented by the ISC, numbers rose last year by more than 5,000, the eighth successive annual increase and the 16th in the past 21 years. Contributing to the increase was a small rise in boarding numbers for only the second time in living memory. The ISC attributed this to schools' huge investment in improving their boarding accommodation, amounting to nearly £70 million in the last year alone. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?xml=/education/2003/05/05/tenindy01.xml
• Tony Blair will seek an "executive role" after he stands down as prime minister this summer, which could include a new post of president of the European Union. Mr Blair, who is expected to leave office at the beginning of July, is unlikely simply to take to the international lecture circuit, according to Downing Street insiders. He has not ruled out the possibility of a heavyweight job representing his former fellow heads of government as the president of the European Council in two years' time, assuming such a position is created under an overhaul of the EU treaty later this year. Mr Blair will formally announce his resignation as prime minister next week. His spokesman yesterday denied reports that he intended to stand down as an MP at the same time, which would trigger a potentially awkward by-election for his successor, almost certain to be Gordon Brown. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4918db06-f9db-11db-9b6b-000b5df10621.html
• However, according to the Daily Telegraph, Tony Blair is to become a roving ambassador in Africa and the Middle East in an attempt to rebuild his tarnished reputation. The paper discloses that the Prime Minister is to spurn the chance to earn up to £10 million a year on the international lecture circuit by concentrating on raising money for his new Blair Foundation, which will fund humanitarian work in Africa. Mr Blair has also agreed to a request from President George W Bush that he will fly in to the Middle East when requested as a special envoy to try to revive the stalled peace process. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/04/nblair04.xml

EU

Conservatives  

• Animal rights supporters reacted angrily to plans by Tory leader David Cameron to give MPs a free vote to repeal the fox hunting ban. The Witney MP told GMTV: "I have always believed that country sports are something that have taken place for years and they do not need the approach of the criminal law. "In a new Parliament, it should have a new vote, on a free vote basis, on the issue of hunting." The MP's spokesman confirmed that Mr Cameron, who voted against Labour's 2005 ban, would also vote to scrap it if he became Pr

From one IT system to another. The MTAS chaos rumbles on and the full reprocussions are going to be felt by the mugs that paid for it in the place - the users and funders of the NHS, you and me. Patricia "only a few weeks left and I'm out of the job" Hewitt has insisted that the system will not be put back up until the DoH is satisfied that all the problems with it have been resolved. And quite rightly, though it doesn't mean that the knock on effects aren't going to create even more trouble. This has led to warnings from consultants that operations could postponed this summer due to a shortage of junior doctors.

"Chaos as Government IT system grinds to a halt". Guess which IT system I'm talking about. MTAS? The Child Support Agency's IT phone system? The NHS's £12bn upgrade system? The criminal records bureau? The answer, of course, could be all of them. However today I'm referring to the latest incredible waste of public money and seemingly unending incompetence of the government when it comes to IT projects that is occurring in our registry offices.

Government

• Hundreds of register offices across the country have been ordered to abandon a new online system for recording births, deaths and marriages in the latest IT fiasco to hit the government. The huge £6 million IT project has met with "complete system failure" and online registration has been suspended in half the 3,000 offices. Registrars have been told that a long-term solution will take "many months" and in the meantime those affected should revert to the old computer system, even though that means none of the hundreds of births, deaths and marriages that occur each day will be centrally recorded. Registrars have complained bitterly about the problems caused by the new system, which at times has forced them them to ask grieving family members to give details of their loved ones twice because the data has been lost. In many areas, multiple death certificates cannot be issued because of the problems. Multiple certificates are vital for transferring assets and pensions as companies do not accept photocopies as proof of death. The hardware and software, developed by Siemens and US group ManTech respectively, was tested extensively before being introduced at register offices late last year. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1739313.ece
• Patients could see operations postponed this summer as hospitals struggle to cope with the junior doctor recruitment fiasco, doctors' leaders said last night. Concern was voiced a week after two serious security breaches forced the Department of Health to suspend the new website junior doctors are meant to use to apply for jobs. Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, told MPs this week that the website would only return to action once ministers were satisfied confidential information provided by junior doctors was secure. However, consultants leaders warned the Government last night that the confusion had left hospitals in limbo, with no idea which junior doctors - if any - were going to start working for them this summer. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/03/nhealth303.xml
• Charles Clarke yesterday gave a strong hint he would not be stand for the Labour leadership by lavishing praise on Gordon Brown and describing him as one of the best chancellors for 200 years. The former home secretary had persistently argued that it would not be in the party's best interests to simply anoint Mr Brown as prime minister without a debate on Labour's future. He had even raised questions over his judgment, last year giving a remarkable interview to the Daily Telegraph in which he claimed Mr Brown had profound "psychological" issues to address; Mr Clarke variously accused him of lacking courage and vision, and being both uncollegiate and a control freak. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2071043,00.html
• All schoolchildren should have "happiness" lessons up to the age of 18 to combat growing levels of depression, according to a senior Government adviser. Pupils should study subjects such as how to manage feelings, attitudes to work and money, channelling negative emotions and even how to take a critical view of the media, said Lord Richard Layard, a Labour peer and professor of economics at the London School of Economics. In a speech last night, he said that Tony Blair's Respect programme - the crackdown on young offenders and problem families - was "far more repressive than preventative" and may be fuelling levels of depression. He said all state school pupils should receive tuition in "how to be happy" up to the age of 18 and their progress in the subject should feature in university applications. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/03/nhappy03.xml
• The Ministry of Defence plans to open its "X-Files" on UFO sightings to the public for the first time. Officials have not yet decided on a date for the release of the reports, which date back to 1967, but it is hoped to be within weeks. The move follows the decision by the French national space agency to release its UFO files in March, the first official body in the world to do so. http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,2071030,00.html  

World  

Government  

• Tony Blair has firmly rejected Conservative calls for an independent inquiry into the July 7 bombings. David Cameron told MPs on Wednesday that revelations in the wake of the fertiliser bomb plot trial had raised "important questions". The Tory leader said this week's convictions "reminds us about the risks that we face", and said public wanted a full inquiry "to get to the truth". He said there was now a need for "a proper independent inquiry". But the prime minister insisted: "I have ruled out having another proper and independent inquiry." He added that the intelligence and security committee, which is made up of MPs and peers, had gone into "all of these details in immense detail".

With only days to go before Tony Blair steps down as our leader after 10 years, the debate over democracy is likely to hot up. Watching Hazel Blears bumble her way through five minutes of complete illogical nonsense whilst being grilled be the ever rude and slightly (unintentionally) amusing Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight last night made me begin to think about the issue slightly more than I had previosuly. There were two clear issues raised in this interview that summed up new Labour (and probably the Tories as well).

As predicted, the Home Improvement Packs (HIPs) debate is rolling on and intensifying by the day. The Lords merits committee, chaired by Lord Filkin, published a report on the committee's findings, which concluded "We cannot but conclude that the government has not been able to convince the principal stakeholders in the housing market that their proposals as they now stand are worthwhile or sensible, or are likely to be effective for their declared purposes." In other words they are a complete waste of time and money.

Government  

• The government's home information packs came under renewed fire yesterday when a Lords committee said the packs had been stripped of their original purpose and were opposed by the property industry. The committee urged the government to take the criticism of the packs, also known as Hips, seriously before they are introduced on June 1. Estate agents and legal bodies have told the government that they have not had enough time to prepare for the packs. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2070232,00.html  
• Tony Blair effectively disowned his own Government's drive towards fortnightly rubbish collections yesterday when he came out in support of the weekly bin round.
  

Government

• Small business owners and the UK's main business representative organisations will meet today for the first of a new series of round table meetings to discuss key issues facing the UK's 4.3 million small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The new Small Business Forum will provide an informal way for the Government to engage with the small business community and an opportunity to seek the views of individuals and representative groups, on a range of policy issues. Members have been chosen to reflect the diversity of the small business community and the wide range of issues that affect this sector.

Surprise of the day: Labour party peers were 10 times more likely to get cushty jobs with government quangos than opposition counterparts. Twenty Labour peers to only two Tory and three Lib Dem peers have been handed top public sector posts - some earning up to £200k; though I guess they need the high earning salaries more than the Tories or Lib Dems to pay for their peerage in the first place.

I haven't watched it, but apparently on GMTV this morning Tony Blair said that there must be better ways to boost recycling rates than fortnightly bin collections. He described himself as a bit of a traditionalist on the idea according to the BBC. This comes just one day after the Dustmen's Union declared that weekly rubbish collections could be saved if town halls recycled more efficiently. Who actually backs this scheme apart from the jobsworths in the local councils and Whitehall? The Right Honourable Anthony Blair doesn't. Who would have thought, first the NHS and now local councils? The man is on a roll.

Well now we know how Tony Blair would vote in the poll. Yesterday he shot down Brown's hints that the NHS should be taken away from political control. He described it as "a great idea in theory", but warned it would disrupt the reforms and become a device for avoiding tough decisions. Blair also admitted that his programme of reform was slow to start off with and is unpopular with voters and professionals in the NHS.

Government  

• Tony Blair poured scorn yesterday on a proposal advanced by Gordon Brown's close political allies for putting the NHS under the control of an independent board free from day-to-day ministerial interference. The prime minister said the idea of taking the NHS out of the hands of politicians might sound good. But handing power to an independent board, representing the service's vested interests, could become a device for avoiding tough decisions. The proposal for NHS independence was advanced by Mr Brown's supporters in the run-up to the Labour party conference as a key change in health policy that the chancellor wanted to make if he took over as prime minister. It paralleled his well received decision in 1997 to give control of interest rates to the Bank of England's independent monetary committee. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2069363,00.html  
• The gap between what voters in the south-east of England pay in tax and get back in public services has widened sharply since Tony Blair won power a decade ago today. The calculations by the Financial Times set an ominous backdrop for Labour ahead of Thursday's local elections. While the prosperity of the south-east has long meant its residents pay more into the exchequer than they get out, the region's net contribution to the national Budget has increased sharply since 1997. This perceived inequity could help to explain why Labour is likely to do badly this week in southern England, where thousands of crucial swing voters have seen their standard of living rise more slowly than the economy has grown. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/a2bd6eb4-f77f-11db-86b0-000b5df10621.html

EU

Government

It is rumoured that Gordon Brown will give the NHS independence from political control in his first 100 days in power. No doubt he is hoping that this will be right up there with his decision to give the Bank of England independence in 1997. Would this be a good move for the NHS or another smoke screen? Please leave your comments below and/or vote in the poll.