Archive for December, 2008
Could Hain have withstood a Grand Jury investigation?
Posted by James Gubb in Politics on 11/12/2008
As previous experience could have predicted, the Crown Prosecution Service has dropped its 11-month investigation into donations to Peter Hain’s deputy leadership campaign. Thus Hain joins a growing list of politicians who acknowledge having failed to follow ‘the rules’ (or what ordinary folk call ‘the law’) but have yet to see the inside of a courtroom. These investigations in the past have ended on various grounds, sometimes due to lack of evidence, other times on the grounds that prosecution is not ‘in the public interest’.
State of reflection
Posted by James Gubb in Health on 11/12/2008
It’s not often that you read a document produced by a regulator that actually has genuine feel behind it, but The State of Healthcare published by the Healthcare Commission today does. The dynamic of the text is a lesson, almost, in making a subtle political point. The tone is reflective and conciliatory (though, inevitably it’s managed to ruffle the BMA’s feathers) but powerful: why are you getting rid of us when there’s so much left to do?
In Defence of a Rose in the No Longer Secret Garden
Posted by Nick Cowen in Education on 09/12/2008
It is not often, in fact I cannot think of any previous occasion, when I have found myself agreeing more with the opinions of David Aaronovitch than those of Michael Gove and Melanie Phillips. However, in relation to the merits of the Rose report on primary schooling, published yesterday, I find much to my surprise that I do.
Czech Mate
Posted by Pete Quentin in European Union on 08/12/2008
The Czech Republic will assume the rotating EU Presidency from France on 1st January 2009. President Klaus, a pronounced EU-sceptic, will be at the member states’ helm as the EU continues to negotiate on the Lisbon Treaty and the climate change package, and significantly also for the EP elections in June 2009. It is certainly going to be an interesting six months for the EU. For example, an enlightening exchange took place at Prague Castle last Friday 5 December 2008 between the Czech President, Václav Klaus, and EU representatives at the Conference of the Presidents of the European Parliament. The exchange resembled a ‘four knights game’ of chess, which is accordingly “fairly popular with beginners”; player were squaring up, devising their strategies and trying to stay one step ahead of the game…
Damian Green scandal – what the police inquiry should investigate
Posted by James Gubb in Politics on 03/12/2008
Not many people were aware of the offence “misconduct in public office” and fewer still were aware that the maximum penalty is life imprisonment. But the details are readily available on the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) website and were updated only in November last year.
Although the maximum penalty is life imprisonment, the CPS makes it clear that a statutory offence should always be used instead, if there is one. The CPS advice does not go into detail, but in the case of Damian Green, the Official Secrets Act was the relevant statute.
Continued at the Daily Telegraph blog
Clinical leadership: a new dawn?
Posted by James Gubb in Health on 02/12/2008
‘Quality’, wrote Lord Darzi in his recent Next Stage Review of the NHS, ‘is improved by empowered patients and empowered professionals. There must be a stronger role for clinical leadership and management throughout the NHS’. A raft of measures to encourage its development has been proposed, but will they be effective? Is this a new dawn, or merely a false beginning? Last Wednesday, around 100 delegates debated this topic at a debate organised by Civitas.