Archive for September, 2004
Make Laws not Legislators
Posted by David Green in European Union on 30/09/2004
The majority of new laws are initiated by the European Union. Many are not even rubber-stamped by Parliament. When John Locke wrote his Second Treatise of Government in the 1680s to defend the emerging democratisation of this country, he laid down the four main characteristics of a free society. The fourth was that the legislature “cannot transfer the power of making laws to any other hands: for it being but a delegated power from the people, they who have it cannot pass it over to others.”
The people, he said, had given Parliament the power “only to make laws, and not to make legislators”. The government had no power to transfer their authority to make laws and place it in other hands. (From John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 1689, s. 141.)
Perhaps a few of our Parliamentarians should read Locke before they give away any more of our freedom to govern ourselves.
Why ‘Sure Start’ is a Sure-Fire Way Not to Start Caring for Our Young
Posted by David Conway in Education on 29/09/2004
In his speech at the Labour Party Conference yesterday, Prime Minister Tony Blair listed ten policy objectives whose accomplishment he intends to make the central task of any Labour administration that might be returned for a third term at the next general election.
One of these ten objectives is the provision of child-care facilities for as many children between the ages of 3 and 16 whose parents wish to avail themselves of it between the hours of 8am and 6pm. The manifest purpose of the objective is to enable all parents, especially mothers, to undertake full-time paid work.
Prison is a Bargain
Posted by David Green in Crime on 27/09/2004
According to the Populus poll for The Times, cutting crime and anti-social behaviour is the issue most likely to make Labour voters turn out to vote for the Blair Government.
Crime has been falling since the mid-1990s, but the Government is reluctant to do the one thing that unambiguously works best. It is putting enormous resources into funding alternatives to prison, such as ‘thinking skills’ programmes and the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme, but so far they have been nowhere near as effective as prison.
For a fuller discussion of the cost-effectiveness of prison take a look at Prison is a Bargain.
Party Political Interference Prevents Hospital Improvement – Privatise the Lot
Posted by David Green in Health on 24/09/2004
The Guardian reports how several local hospitals have been prevented by Whitehall from improving their services. Why? Because the changes would look bad in the run-up to a general election. Hospital improvements often involve closing an old building and starting again in a new and better one, but defenders of the old service are often able to kick up sufficient fuss to make politicians back away.
As a result, hospital managers throughout the country have been told that it is the ‘wrong time’ for change. The interference is affecting maternity services in North London, and emergency services in Hartlepool and Edinburgh, among others. Nigel Edwards, policy director of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS managers and trusts, is quoted as saying that political pressure now means that managers are only ‘able to change anything during an 18-month window between elections, or in safe seats’.
The remedy, not recommended by the Guardian, is de-politicisation. All NHS hospitals should be removed from political control to the management of wholly independent local trusts, able to serve the interests of patients without interference borne of electoral calculation.
Police Performance
Posted by David Green in Crime on 23/09/2004
The police performance figures show that only 18.8% of offences were detected and sanctioned in 2003-04, slightly fewer than last year. Consequently, public confidence in the police remains below the half-way mark, with only 47.7% believing that the police do a good or excellent job. And yet many chief constables are complacent, regularly complaining that the real problem they face is exaggerated public fear of crime.
We can make some rudimentary comparisons with other countries. In England and Wales we have 241 police officers for every 100,000 population. In America, there are only 230 police officers for every 100,000. How do crime rates compare? In 2001 the USA suffered from 4,157 crimes per 100,000 population. The figure in England and Wales was more than double, at 10,608 crimes per 100,000. Perhaps the American police are getting something right.
Immigration and false accusations of racism
Posted by David Green in Immigration on 22/09/2004
Tory proposals to reform immigration policy will, no doubt, lead to talk of racism. Making false accusations of racism has become the weapon of first resort of the cosmopolitan intelligentsia who refuse to accept that there are any valid reasons for limiting the influx of newcomers.
Most developed countries have an immigration policy, usually because of two main concerns. First, there is the sheer weight of numbers. The more crowded the country, the more necessary is an immigration policy. The UK is already one of the most densely populated parts of the world, with double the population density of France and eight times that of America. England, on its own, is more densely populated than India. The consequences for house prices, traffic jams, school places and hospital waiting lists are there for all to see.