Sunday news catchup

1. Two articles in The Mail on "the envy of the world" the NHS. The first records how:

"Sick children at a leading hospital were forced to wash in buckets for almost a month after bosses failed to fix the hot water supply.

More than 100 youngsters, some of them seriously ill, were left without hot running water.

Parents were forced to carry hot water in buckets from a single working tap in a sluice room so their children could wash. Youngsters suffering from brain tumours and cystic fibrosis were among those affected."

The second reports how a journalist spent a year undercover in the NHS and what they discovered, here's one:

"In the year I spent visiting hospitals, I met only one person who was doing what a good manager in the NHS should be doing - questioning activity and redesigning processes to get the best care and the most efficient use of taxpayers' money.

Even finance directors didn't see that as their role. I asked one what he was doing to save money and increase efficiency. He looked at me as if I were mad. He had no time for that. His time was spent reacting to the 'hell of a lot of indicators' pouring out of Whitehall.

He told me he was working out the implications 'of a whole new agenda about the way funds flow around the system'. This meant he had little time to look at the finances of his own hospital, let alone work out how to save money.

In fact, what went on in his own hospital was a bit of a mystery to him. He admitted this meant he spent most of his time fire-fighting - rushing from one crisis to another. He was ten minutes late for our interview because his budget deficit had shot up that month. Was it a one-off or a trend? He had no idea."

2. The BBC manage to report the imminent closure of the Corus Teesside Cast Products factory, putting 1,700 people out of work, without mentioning carbon offsetting or Tata moving production to a plant in India. Instead the Labour party supporting broadcaster reports the twice disgraced Peter Mandelson's claim that "The steel industry overall has suffered an unprecedented fall in demand in the global recession."


3. The Times report on the ongoing scandal that is the Labour ruined English education system. Here are some extracts:

"A report out on Friday points out that a fifth of firms and a quarter of employers in the state sector are still hiring — despite the recession. Except they are taking on migrant workers — not our home-grown “discouraged” variety.

...

The managing director of a medium-sized IT company explained why. High-flyers — Oxford and Cambridge graduates — are still as good as any in the world. His problems come when he tries to recruit middle management. Last year he interviewed 52 graduates — all educated in state schools. On paper they looked “brilliant students”. Each had three As at A-level and a 2:1 degree. He shook his head. “There’s a big difference between people passing exams and being ready for work.”

This was obvious even before the interview began. Of the 52 applicants, half arrived late. Only three of the 52 walked up to the managing director, looked him in the eye, shook his hand and said, “Good morning.” The rest “just ambled in”. When he asked them to solve a problem, only 12 had come equipped with a notebook and pencil.

The three who had greeted him proved the strongest candidates and he hired them. Within a year they were out because of their “lackadaisical” attitude. They did not turn up on time; for the first six months a manager had to check all their emails for spelling and grammar; they did not know how to learn. It was the first time they had ever been asked to learn on their own. Their ability to “engage in business” was “incredibly” disappointing and “at 5.30 on the dot they left the office”.

This year the managing director has joined the 20% of companies recruiting overseas. “We are an English company but we have no English staff. It’s just too much trouble,” he said."

I've experienced this myself, candidates with excellent GCSE results but no real ability in English or Mathematics.


4. Burning Our Money on some more similarities between Gordon Brown and Stalin.


5. The Mail reports the good news that: "Scientists create low-fat water-based chocolate that tastes as good as a normal bar".

Carbon offsetting, Australian style

Read this report and wonder at the minds that decide that:

"paying people millions of dollars to do a sensible thing that they have always done, and then say its a carbon credit, because if they didn't do what they had always done then there would be more fire, so by making fire, they are reducing it."

Sunday morning catchup

A few pieces from the news that need covering but I have not got the time to do full justice to:

1. The Times reports that:

"Public sector workers earn 7% more on average than their peers in the private sector — a pay gulf that has more than doubled since the recession began.

Official figures show that staff employed by the state are enjoying bigger pay rises, working fewer hours and receiving pensions worth up to three times as much as those in the private sector.

Civil servants, National Health Service staff, council officials and other public sector workers have enjoyed a “golden age” under Labour, according to an investigation by The Sunday Times.

The analysis was validated by Straight Statistics, a group that campaigns for the accurate reporting of official data.

Since Labour came to power in 1997, the number of public sector workers has increased by 914,000 to more than 6m, just over a fifth of the workforce.

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that average annual earnings of public sector workers rose to £22,405 last year — compared with £20,988 paid to the average private sector worker. "

Still think the Conservatives can the general election with the size of Labour party vote that the Labour government have created?


2. The Mail reports that:

"Harriet Harman will become the public face of Labour's general election campaign as the party looks to shore up its core support.

The deputy leader will host daily televised media briefings and tour television studios.

Senior strategists believe that Miss Harman will strengthen Labour's appeal to women and middle England voters who are turned off by Gordon Brown."

Who are these senior strategists? DO they really believe that Harriet Harman appeals to middle England voters? Repels more like.


3. The Telegraph reports that:

"hundreds of UK companies selling anything from hair loss treatments to electronics have mysteriously registered to buy and sell carbon permits in the Scandinavian nation (Denmark) – mostly in the last 18 months.

...

While many are bound to be genuine individual private traders playing the carbon markets, investigators are examining the possibility that some of these unknown UK-based companies have used the system to commit "carousel" fraud linked to VAT. "

Anyone surprised?


4. THe Telegraph reports that:

"Relatives of those who died in the Lockerbie bombing are launching a new legal bid to force the Government to hold a public inquiry.

UK Families Flight 103, the relatives' campaign group, will use human rights laws in a bid to uncover the truth about the terrorist attack, which claimed 270 lives in December 1988.

The group has hired Gareth Peirce, the prominent human rights solicitor better known for her work representing terror suspects, to devise a legal strategy to secure the inquiry for which families have long campaigned.

...

The development comes after Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, rejected the group's latest demands for an independent review of the bombing. He informed them of his decision in a letter, dated Christmas Eve, which was received by the relatives last week.

In the letter, Mr Brown said: "All of the matters which you have raised in support of the case for an inquiry are points which were raised at the original trial or the appeal in Scotland, and I do not see that it would be in the public interest to air them again at an inquiry.""

Gordon Brown will not allow a public enquiry because he has probably been informed who the real perpetrators were - Syria and why the blame was laid on a Libyan. Hopefully an incoming Conservative would be more willing to let the truth emerge.


5. The Telegraph report that:

"A Somali axeman who tried to murder the Danish cartoon artist responsible for controversial drawings of the Prophet Mohammed had links to al-Qaeda, police said. "

I am so surprised...


6. Times of India reports that:

"In a serious security lapse that revived concerns about counter-terrorism security measures, a stowaway on an Air India flight hid in the plane's toilet to fly to India. The lapse occurred on a special Haj flight operated by AI on the Medina-Jaipur sector on Friday, with 273 passengers on board"

I can't say that I am surprised, I have flown on internal Indian airlines and they are not hugely organised flights.


7. The Tap is running a series of worrying articles on the true level of the UK's debt. I challenge you to read these articles and not become profoundly depressed for the economic future of the UK.

Carbon credits, yes, yes, oh my god yes...

Tuesday morning and the BBC obsession with introducing "carbon credits" reaches new heights on the Toady programme. You can almost hear the programme have a collective orgasm as they contemplate the absolute level of control that their friends in "the Party" will have over "the proles".