The Huge Payments

The above chart shows our current estimated "contributions" to the European Union (less rebates), up until 2013 - courtesy of Lord Stoddart of Swindon, who asked the question in the Lords.

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At just over £10 billion, this year's payment is nearly a third of the defence budget. It is also enough to bulid and staff ten new hospitals each year and with the money left over run them for ever.

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Comments in the section below as to why the UK remains a member of the EU?

From the Editor's Files

I came across this swashbuckling attack on greenery and thought of my readers. This man can write. Very much recomended.

Freedom of Movement Extends to Criminals

Known as gearing, this is the mechanism by which the EU racks up its laws, of which there are vast numbers.

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First of all, it prevents member states implementing their own controls in a vital policy area (such as immigration), and then starts to regulate in these areas itself. The regulation is invariably incomplete and functions poorly, requiring more legislation. It is then not long before there are demands for additional laws, whence the EU commission happily obliges with proposals – grandly declaring that the member states are calling for "more Europe".

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Without fully realising it, that is what The Daily Mail is complaining about today, with a long lament about how police across the European Union are to be given free access to the DNA of four million Britons, millions of fingerprints, and to vehicle and driver registrations. This is the so-called "Prum Convention " on cross-border police co-operation, which has now come into force throughout the EU, allowing for the mutual sharing of personal data held by police forces within the Community.

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The Tories are also calling the convention a "sell-out", not least because this deal would have been part of the EU constitution, but has now been agreed separately as an intergovernmental agreement. London MEP Syed Kamall, for instance, says: "We are sleepwalking into a Big Brother Europe while our government stands idly by."

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The problem is, though, that within the framework of our membership of the EU, the arrangement is both consistent and necessary.

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The Treaties oblige us to allow free movement of the citizens of EU member states across our borders; we are required to allow them to take up residence and they are allowed to bring their vehicles and drive on the licenses issued by their home countries.
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Furthermore, we are not allowed to carry out any border checks and we cannot impose any conditions on entry – such as requiring evidence that individuals do not have criminal records.The problem is, of course, that freedom of movement extends to criminals and as well as honest citizens, leaving the police in an impossible position of having to check out potential criminals – to say nothing of drivers and vehicle of EU citizens resident here - when their records are in another country.

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Thus, with EU law having created the situation in the first place, and prevented member states from implementing their own controls, we are more or less forced to accept further EU-wide agreements to deal with the consequences – in this case the Prum Convention. That is engrenage in practice.

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It is all very well for the Mail and indeed the Tories to moan. However the answer to dealing with incoming criminals – without resorting to EU-wide agreements – is re-instate border controls and develop enhanced co-operation through Interpol. Neither of those options are available, however, as long as we are members of the European Union.

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Thus there is only one answer – but, needless to say – it is one that not many are prepared to countenance. To regain control of the problem the only answer is to leave the EU. Instead, we get empty rhetoric from the media and our political leaders, while engrenage continues to drive the process of European integration. Such is how we are governed.

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'' A Complete Right to Speak''

"A free media is a vital part of a free society," says Tony Blair. "You only need to look at where such a free media is absent to know this truth."

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In case anyone thought the media had a monopoly on comment, however, Blair quickly followed up by saying: "But it is also part of freedom to be able to comment on the media. It has a complete right to be free. I, like anyone else, have a complete right to speak."

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Indeed our PM was exercising that right, giving a lecture (linked in full) on the nature of public life and the changing relationship between politics and the media in the 21st Century, to an audience of journalists at the Reuters building in London. "This was not a whinge," said Blair. "This speech is not a complaint. It is an argument."

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The relationship between politics, public life and the media was changing as a result of the changing context of communication in which we all operate. No-one was at fault - it was a fact. But it was the prime minister's view that the effect of this change "is seriously adverse to the way public life is conducted".

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Thus, he said, "we need, at the least, a proper and considered debate about how we manage the future, in which it is in all our interests that the public is properly and accurately informed. They are the priority and they are not well served by the current state of affairs."Doubtless by then, the hacks were dipping their pens in vitriol, ready for the off and Blair saved his prediction to the very last, saying of his speech, "I know it will be rubbished in certain quarters." adding, with a touch of defiance, "But I also know this has needed to be said.''

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Now given the author and the way he had manipulated that media, cries of hypocrisy and worse were not long in coming, well what a suprise!

''Your Target: Sell to Sick People''

Readers who have been following the Patientline debacle may wish to note that the troubled company will be announcing its Preliminary Results for the financial year ended 30 March 2007, on Monday 25 June 2007. It will be interesting to note whether or not Patientline shows any understanding that its falling sales on hospital wards is directly a result of badly misunderstanding the needs of its customers.

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Patientline's share price remains on the low plateaux of 3-4 pence, yet the response from the petition protesting at the high price (and poor service) of the company is pouring into the office of the Editor, see image above.

Meanwhile Patientline plan to introduce new higher targets for their ward sales staff next week. Well that we suspect will generate a less than welcoming response from health support workers Union Unison. Apparently the high targets for Patientline's hard pressed staff are focused on daily figures pre-pay card sales, signing up Patients to use bedside TV units and obtaining as many 'phone numbers as possible of patients friends and family (a ''bit of fun'' known as '123s' -see notes below). Staff that fail to meet these targets i.e. sell to sick people will be the subject of ''retraining''.

One member of Patientline Staff who works in the Midlands and understandably does not wish to be named, commented this evening: ''I really do not want to work for Patientline anymore - their sales targets are unreasonable the hassle on the wards is upsetting. The Senior management of the company have no idea how unreasonable it is to ask us to do this work, by imposing unachievable targets they are creating stress - but I can't just leave I am a single Mother with young children I would find it difficult to get a new job.'' The Editor will be seeking a comment from Patientline's Commercial Director Charlotte Brown on Monday Morning.

In the meantime comments (but please not from partly literate Patientline junior management trying to impress their Directors) are most welcome.

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Note:

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This time last year Patientline majored on obtaining the telephone numbers of Patient's friends and family by giving a clear directive and working sales script to it's ward sales staff. That campaign continues in earnest despite condemnation of the Practice on BBC News two weeks ago. Patientline staff are ordered to type into a 'phone key pad the telephone numbers which generates an automatic message on the relatives home 'phone. When the relative calls the Patient back on the Patientline Bedside unit they are compelled to listen to a non-deletable robotic message before they can chat. All of the call costs 49/39 pence per minuite. The 'targeted' patients are mostly unaware of this high cost to their friends and family.

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Patientline management are so keen on this money earning ploy that they adopted a technique devised by Lynn Peters last July, at the time a rising star in the ranks of Patientline's junior managers. The incentive involved the staff competing with the site management in local competitons for who can obtain the most numbers of patients friends and family. Charlotte Brown, Commercial Director discribed this practice as a ''little bit of fun'' to BBC News Journalist Graham Satchell last month. Peter Troy when working for Patientline discribed it as ''a Great bit of Deception''. Which is, no doubt, how NHS Trust Managers will also describe it once the practice it is revealed to them.

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Memo to Patientline Staff:

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When your manager next asks you about how you are doing with your sales targets remind them what a spokeswoman for Patientline (Charlott Brown) said to the BBC : "Patientline does not encourage hard-selling and our advisors are merely there to provide information and support to patients."

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The Silly Season Cometh

Nicholas Sarkozy and Tony Blair

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If you want to take a sounding of the public temper, one way might be to turn to Google News, where you will find, at last count, 4,834 entries on the latest twist in the saga of Paris Hilton's jail sentence – or, if you want something closer to home, you can try the 347 entries on "Big Brother".

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That compares with 70 on the forthcoming EU treaty – most of which are derivative reports on a story in this morning's Sunday Telegraph.

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In The Sunday Telegraph Patrick Hennessy and Melissa Kite tells us that, "Labour has been plunged into a bruising referendum row after Tony Blair secretly agreed the blueprint for a new European treaty - presenting Gordon Brown, the prime minister-in-waiting, with his first big dilemma."

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It takes the Sunday Times, with its much bigger circulation – to bring the groupescules back down to earth, with a downbeat story telling us that the prime minister soon-to-be, Gordon Brown, "is insisting he will not be bound by any new European Union constitution and that Britain must have opt-outs from key elements if any treaty is agreed at a summit of EU leaders at the end of this month."Even then, we get the possibility that a treaty will be signed – which we know it will not – but the tenor of the story makes it clear that there is everything to play for, in a situation which is about as clear as mud.

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In two short weeks, however, we will know the worst, in that the discussion documents, which will form the basis of the IGC negotiations, will at least be on the table. The bulk of the contents will be highly technical and obscure, but there will be a few high-profile issues that we Eurosceptics can get their teeth stuck into.

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Then, after a brief rush of media interest, we will be in to the long hot summer of Tennis (with Strawberries) and Cricket (with Cucubber Sandwiches). It will be well into the autumn political season before the tempo begins to pick up and we begin to see how the parties are shaping up for the final dénouement of the EU IGC summit. That will be time enough to raise the temperature of the debate, when we are working with known issues and can make intelligent guesses as to the outcome, but not untill.

The Sunday Quote

"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me-- and there was no one left to speak out for me."

Martin Niemoller (14 January 1892 - 6 March 1984)

Martin Niemoller was a decorated German u-boat captain in the First World War but subsequently became a minister of religion and a relatively high profile opponent of the Nazis as they increasingly gained firm hold of the reins to power in his native Germany.

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Niemoeller was active as a leader in a so-called Pastors' Emergency League and in a Synod that denounced the abuses of the dictatorship in the famous "Six Articles of Barmen." Such activities finally led to his arrest on 1 July 1937.

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When the subsequent court appearance was followed by his release with only a modest 'slap on the wrist' Hitler personally ordered his incarceration with the result that Niemoeller remained in concentration camp, including long periods of solitary confinement, until the end of the war. Amazingly he survived.

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Niemoller occasionally traveled internationally after the war and delivered many speeches and sermons in which he confessed of his own blindness and inaction in earlier years when the Nazi regime rounded up the communists, socialists, trade unionists, and, finally, the Jews. In this regard he framed a now famous quotation that is often presented in a corrupted form (though of course not on this Blog). Niemoller himself however lived through the events associated with the Nazi seizure of absolute power and knew which groups had been persecuted by the Nazis and also knew the order in which those groups had come particularly under persecution.

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The quote is often quoted by the Author of this Blog to the 'risk adverse' (don't disturb the horses) fraternity when asked why bother to protest at the actions of bullies and biggots.

MPs Have Power from the People

By Dr Richard North

At an otherwise pleasurable dinner last week, I had an ill-tempered exchange with my neighbour, an entirely inoffensive lady and doyen of the local Conservative Association.

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She made the mistake of venturing the opinion that the test of a good MP was how well he (or she) looked after their constituents, and responded to their needs.In my own lofty way (some say arrogant, but I can't imagine why), I dismissed this out of hand, declaring that the constitutional role of MPs was to hold the government to account. It was because, I said, that the MPs spent so much time running around after their constituents – and so little challenging ministers – that we are so badly governed.

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There is, of course, a half-way house, in that some of the constituents' concerns point up failings of government, which the MP can then follow through. But by far the bulk of issues referred to MPs concern not central government but local councils, the failings of the local National Health Service, or other matters that are in the gift of local agencies to resolve.

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Needing to get re-elected, MP nonetheless diligently address these issues, thus becoming a cross between referral services and a highly paid social workers. As a result, they spend very little of their time actually dealing with the business of government.

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It was interesting, therefore, to read Charles Moore's Saturday column in The Telegraph today, where he advances the thesis that "MPs [are] ignored because they have lost power".Needless to say – the lofty response again – Moore is utterly wrong. MPs have not lost power. They have given it away.

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Parliament, as any constitutional lawyer will tell you is supreme: anything MPs, collectively, decided to do by way of legislation, they have the power to do.

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Should MPs decide that the UK should leave the European Union, therefore, they could make it happen. Should they refuse to accept any diktat from the government, quashing a government law or refusing to pass a bill, they could do so. If they desired the government to spend money on a particular programme, they could force the issue, just as they could starve any pet scheme of the government of funds. That they do not is because, collectively, they choose not to do so.

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Why that should be the case is, of course, the subject of much questioning and discussion. Most people are genuinely puzzled as to why MPs, who expend such great energies in gaining their place in the halls of power, seem be so unconcerned at giving away so much of their power to the European Union.There is no single explanation for this though – the reasons are many and varied, and the surrender has taken place incrementally over a long period, diluting its impact.

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One of the important reasons, however, I tried to explain in an earlier piece on my Blog, but perhaps its very simplicity prevents its wider recognition and acceptance.

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At its most basic, the thesis was (and is) that so much of the business of government – the exercise of power – is so utterly tedious that MPs are quite happy to leave it to others. Power it is to make 37 million motorists drive cars with rear-view mirrors of rigidly defined dimensions – power on a level that Hitler could only have dreamed about. But it is not the sort of power which most MPs are interested in exercising or worried about losing. Such matters can be left to the technocrats, and it is of little concern whether they are national or transnational – or any combination.The essential issue here is that most MPs are not natural legislators, much less bureaucrats. They tend to be – by the very nature of their calling – political animals and, in particular, party political. Their driving force is the party political joust – getting "one over" on the other side.

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As importantly, their power (and status) is not measured by the number of technical legislative instruments they have shepherded through the system (or blocked) – but by their standing in the party hierarchy, their closeness to the leader and their prowess at the never-ending party political duels.

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Then, above all, they must be elected and remain elected. Thus, while the lofty purists (such as myself) see MPs in their role of holding the government to account, in truth, keeping the constituents (and the local party) on-side are far more important to the careers of most politicians.

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Furthermore, what applies to the European Union also applies to other issues. Regular readers on my Blog - eureferendum will have seen this blog's attempts to promote a debate about FRES – the Army's biggest procurement programme in living memory. Anyone even dipping their toe in the issue, however, will immediately appreciate the complexity and the range of knowledge required to understand the issues.

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Those facets, range and depth, immediately exclude the issue from the ken of most politicians and again they are happy to leave the decisions to others ... the "experts". Above all, they are superficial creatures, masters of "the big picture", but uninterested in the detail. "Give me the bottom line", "one side of one sheet of paper" and "bullet points" are the currency of MPs when they seek information. The "sound bite" existed long before it acquired its name.

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Where that leaves us is difficult to estimate but those who have troubled to read Charles Moore's piece will be none the wiser. His clever little suggestions to improve the situation are just that - clever little suggestions, of no lasting merit.

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Perhaps the real problem is us: that we expect MPs to act as nannies, sorting out our tiny little problems – hence my irritation with my fellow dinner guest. Or, more importantly, we fail to understand how powerful MPs really are, and thereby do not insist that they use their powers. But then, if the likes of Charles Moore, king of the clever-dicks, does not understand this, what hope is there for lesser mortals?

I'm Back

I'm Back

As the other Editor has been a little indisposed I thought I would let you see my latest picture.

I shall check media and see if I can find anything of interest and bring my paws back to the keyboard.

Patientline's Bedside Robbery

A phone, TV and radio by every hospital bed seemed a perfect lifeline to the outside world but a special investigation by Barney Calman in The Daily Mail has revealed, it's cynical exercise in fleecing patients at their most vunerable.

Click below to read the full article and comments.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=459917&in_page_

The Sunday Quote

'' He knows nothing and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.''

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Major Barbara -1907.

Appreciation Please

By Dr. Richard North

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Troops are frustrated that we - the British public - are not more appreciative of the constructive work being undertaken by our soldiers. Philip "Taff" Bartlett, one of the Welsh Guards' pallbearers for Diana, Princess of Wales, said: "Our families say we are not receiving much recognition, when guys are working their backsides off in dangerous conditions."

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"It's a bit close for comfort sometimes," says Pte Tom Holt, 1Bn the Royal Anglians, drenched in sweat from the remorseless heat of battle and the baking sun. "A lot of friends back home don't understand what's going on here or what we are doing."But they should, writes Thomas Harding in today's Daily Telegraph.

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For this offensive could determine the success or failure of the West's forgotten war against the Taliban. "Whisper it for now," he adds, "but this is a war, a necessary war, that the West might just win. It would be an outcome that would change geo-politics. But the war's most shocking feature is that back on the Anglian plains and indeed across Albion, few seem to care. Listen."Credit where it is due.

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After my highly critical piece on Wednesday, this long, well-written account of UK-led Operation Lastay Kulang, which has been continuing in northern Helmand Province, goes some way to make up for this paper's own shortcomings in its reporting of the Afghan campaign.

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Two pieces on the MoD website (with some superb photography) - here and here - also help to redress the balance of the sustained negative reporting that we have seen.

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There are interesting issues which emerge from the reports which we will address in a longer report on my blog, tomorrow. For the moment though, suffice to say "well done" to those who have conducted the operations, those who support them and to Harding, who put himself at some personal risk to make his report.

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Dr. Richard North is co-editor of the award winning blog -

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com

Man of Hope and Glory

Today is the 150th anniversary of Sir Edward Elgar the very British composer. More on the Great man later.

The End of Week Quote

This weeks quote comes from a newly published book on management and leadership; it is a book with a different line than most other works on management issues:

''Hierarchy stifles originality and creates an organisation with egomaniacs at the top and slovenly, dehumanised automatons at the bottom.'' by Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith.

Authors: Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith

They Both Can't Be Correct !

Two of today's tabloid newspapers the Daily Express and the Daily Mail share the same photograph of the Pope meeting the distraught (and much publicised) parents of a missing four year old girl. However in respect of the issue of House Prices in England and Wales each newspaper amazingly takes an opposite view.

What is truly amazing in fact is that both newpapers quote from the same official figures from HM Land Registry. The Daily Express tells us on its front page:

''The average home in England and Wales went up by more than £1,200 every month in the past year despite Bank of England attempts to dampen the market with hikes to the base rate. And in welcome news for home owners, experts claim that the possibility of a housing crash is becoming more and more remote.''

The Daily Mail explains on its front page that prices rises in London are seriously distorting the picture and that nationally:

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''It is the first time in seven years that prices have fallen in so many areas in a single month.''

Confused? Well that is understandable! One thing is very clear the British national tabloid dead tree industry can on the same day (not for the first time) come to two apparently opposite conclusions from the same set of official figures; they both can not be correct.

With so many apparently complex mortgages now on the market as well as the Government introducing and then may be possibly withdrawing (apart from the parts that the EU insists we have to have like it or not) House Information Packs (HIPs) buying a house (and/or selling one) is now a tad confusing. Three cheers for Mortgage Brokers I say, ''Hip hip ..........''!

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Patientline, What Price Freedom?

From the Editor's digital camera, clearly cheap freedom is out of stock.

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Double click to enlarge

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Readers that are following our campaign on Patientline (if the number of comments are anything to go by, a lot are) will recall one of the points of concerns is the deceptive nature of Patienline's new pricing policy. The prepay cards that are sold by Patientline staff on the wards and also from vending machines outside wards do not reflect the daily charge rate. The effect of this is that Patientline's customers have to pay more than they need to watch TV in their sick beds.

The photographs on this posting are but one sad illustration of the depth of Patientlines poor service. The picture above was taken at the start of evening visiting time in a large North East Hospital and the image below is of the next nearest vending machine, taken a few moments later. There are no £3.50 cards available in either machine, though £10 cards are easily available at the peak time of sales - the term 'rip off' comes to mind. (Patientline's hard pressed staff are not on duty during evening visiting time!) What a price for ''freedom''!

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If the Director of Patientline who is specifically responsible for customer service has sufficient interest in the actual quality of Patientline's customer service and wishes to reduce stress on the wards as well as increase their sales without applying inappropriate targets to their staff; I would be pleased to supply other examples of how their operational failure's are adding to the misery of many sick people. My email is ptroy@fsbdial.co.uk. I wonder if pigs might fly past my PC at the time I receive an email from Patientline on this important issue?

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Hitting the Nail on the Head

A superb article by Chris Dillow in The Times this morning hits the nail on the head and asks, not entirely rhetorically: "We put up with terrible, inept government. Why?

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"Subtitled, "How Whitehall can learn from Tesco and John Lewis", he rails against general government incompetence and the simplistic solution – putting different backsides on Cabinet chairs. Well every littele would help!

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"Policy failures," Dillow writes, "aren't due to having the wrong personnel in charge. Nor are they exceptions to the rule of general competence. They are the inevitable result of bad organisational structure."Dillow then goes on to tell us that one reason why big organisations become inefficient is communication failure:

Subordinates have lots of reasons not to tell bosses the truth. They don't want to burden "busy" people with detail, or rock the boat, or be victim of "shoot the messenger" syndrome. The upshot of this was famously described by the late Kenneth Boulding: "The larger and more authoritarian the organisation, the better the chance that its top decision-makers will be operating in purely imaginary worlds."

Indeed so. The full article is well worth the read.

Conservative Thought, History of.

Here is a longish discussion of the subject of the history of conservative thought in Britain. The excellent piece by Dr Helen Szamuely is a quality read for serious followers of British Politics.

The Bank Holiday Quote

A spokesperson from the Patients Association commenting on the Patienline issue: "These people (NHS patients) are ill, sometimes recovering from operations, they're a captive audience. And many are elderly and may not understand what they're getting themselves into. We think this is an inappropriate way to behave in hospitals.

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"Link to A2 media group >

http://www.a2mediagroup.com/?c=140&a=15398

Disharmony in Dawlish

Dawlish the oh so English seaside town in South Devon is not the type of place that one would expect to hear about a church revolt.

As a historically aware retired resident commented last week: '' Other than the development of the railway major historical events have by-passed Dawlish. Invasions, the reformation, the civil war and the two world wars have by-passed the town it really is quite sleepy.''

It was with much surprise that the a large section of the congregation, the entire 20 strong choir and organist stormed out of St Gregory the Great Church in Dawlish minutes before the 9.30am Sung Eucharist last Sunday. So serious was the protest that the matter made the headlines in both The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph.

The issue that shook (well gently rocked) middle England's readers was the introduction of ''happy-clappy services'' by the Vicar of St Gregory's The Reverend Jerry Bird who discovered the hard way that churchgoers, like all British folk, can be a traditional and militant lot when they are pushed that bit too far.

As The Daily Mail reported:

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''He (The Vicar) may have been trying to attract a more modern flock. Or maybe it was an attempt to bring some variety to his church services. However, Parishioners at St Gregory the Great Church in Dawlish, Devon, claim their usual Sunday worship has been pushed aside in favour of a "family" service, involving guitars and tambourines.

''Now the Bishop of Exeter, the Right Reverend Michael Langrish, has appealed for calm and reconciliation after moves were made by some sections of the congregation to have the vicar removed.

''The walkout is thought to be a reaction to Mr Bird's decisions to move the church altar and shift worship times to make room for the modern family service.

''However, it is understood that irreverent resentment over the vicar's alleged "bullying" personality had in fact been simmering ever since he was appointed six years ago. In that time, a Parochial Church Council secretary and churchwarden have resigned. When Mr Bird's appointment became permanent, a protest petition signed by 100 parishioners was presented to church officials."

So as is fashionable these days, what is the 'way forward' for the troubled Devonian parishioners. As always in our great nation a very British compromise will be sought. The Bishop of Exeter has asked a bishop from outside the diocese to investigate, yes it is that serious.

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One regular churchgoer from Dawlish who asked not to be named, claimed in The Daily Mail that the Rev. Bird had ''created disharmony in the pews''. In Dawlish of all places, whatever next?