Archive for November, 2008
Government targets distorting GP/patient relationship?
Posted by James Gubb in Health on 20/11/2008
The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) has lofty aims. In linking up to a third of general practice income to achievement against a series of quality indicators, it hoped to deliver significant increases in quality to patients. Has it succeeded?
Justice Likes a Woman?
Posted by Nick Cowen in Family, Marriage and the Culture on 18/11/2008
A French appeal court has just overruled the decision by a lower French court taken in April of this year to annul a two-year old marriage on the grounds the bride had lied beforehand to her husband as to being a virgin.
Apparently, the bride confessed to her lie on their wedding night after blood failed to appear on the sheets of the bed in which they had consummated their marriage following the ceremony. In seeking an annulment, the husband claimed that he would not have married his wife had he known beforehand that she was not a virgin.
Liberating Brussels’ Sprouts
Posted by Pete Quentin in European Union on 17/11/2008
Last week the European Union voted to scrap its much ridiculed regulations controlling the size and shape of fruit and vegetables sold within the EU.
Spot the difference….
Posted by James Gubb in Health on 14/11/2008
It’s illuminating reading the DH’s two most powerful policy documents under New Labour, The NHS Plan (2000) and Lord Darzi’s recent review of the NHS, High Quality Care for All (2008). The latter is certainly more refined and less concerned with quantity, not making attempts to dictate the need for x more staff, equipment, buildings etc. Instead, it sets quality of care as the ‘irrevocable’ first. But are they actually that different?
The Need for Moral Climate Change and What is Stopping it
Posted by Nick Cowen in Family, Marriage and the Culture on 11/11/2008
Does anyone know, really know, how best the relentless rise of gang culture might be reversed that has come to afflict so many of Britain’s cities? Many of their run-down neighbourhoods bear today greater resemblance to the most depraved sections of south central Los Angeles than they do to the comparatively peaceful leafy suburbs that are often just streets away from them.
Anyone in need of insight into the scale of the problem and the urgency of the need for its resolution should read a truly frightening piece that appeared in last Friday’s Times. It was about the gun-bearing drug-running gangs of youths that afflict certain parts of Sheffield where, until recently, many in authority refused to admit publicly that there was such a problem.
Europe gets its choice for the White House
Posted by David Conway in European Union on 10/11/2008
At the forefront of global affairs last week was the election of the next US President, Barack Obama. As the leader of the ‘free world’ the US President wields such significant power that it undoubtedly impacts on Europe, acknowledged in a Gallup poll which found that two-thirds of Europeans believe that any action an American president makes will also affect their country. Clearly Europe has no say in the selection of this powerful position, although some may say it has been granted the preferred candidate. According to EUObserver, had Europeans had the chance to vote in this election they would have voted for Mr Obama by an overwhelming majority of four to one. However, is Europe prepared for any demands that may come from closer EU-US relations? Asks Claire Mullarkey.