Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Electoral Reform

Gordon Brown has come up with a Bill for Electoral Reform. It had been speculated for some time that this was on the cards. There is no doubt that changes to the way we vote for a new Parliament have to be brought about. The present system dates from when there were only two parties and cannot pass the test for a modern pluralist democracy where voting is meaningful and effective. Which type of arrangement you prefer is a matter of debate but anything is better than the present first past the post which guarantees that many, sometimes most, M.Ps get elected with a minority of the votes and the government of the day does not have a proper mandate.

There will always be die hards who murmer about strong government (the correct words are bad government), but the majority of right thinking people see that this is the way to go. Which makes the opposition of the Conservative Party all the more unfortunate. The reasons why not to vote Conservative are beginning to pile up.

Iraq Inquiry

I know lawyers grumble daily at their exclusion from this tribunal and lament the many millions in fees from which their greedy fingers are excluded, but it really is doing a stirling  job. David Cameron, when asked for an opinion on events so far, deferred and said he would rather wait for the Inquiry’s conclusions. I must say our David is beginning to look less and less like a reliable Prime Minister, very unsure of what to say, even about his own policies these days. Rather disappointing.

I will be bold. The advantage of this format with all the evidence coming out in public, with relatively relaxed witnesses saying what they think and much more effective questioning than it is given credit for, we are able to form our own conclusions. On the evidence so far it is becoming clear that Blair thought he was not Prime Minister but King, he had made up his mind and would brook no dissent. His style of government would be unconstitutional if we had one, the preparation for war was inadequate hazarding our troops, the war was in any event illegal and the lack of planning for what to do afterwards, wicked.  Blair’s vision of history is muddled and his arguments deeply flawed. He surrouded himself with a government in which he would shine as the only light. All of them were spineless except the late Robin Cook, and Clare Short who was described as difficult to handle, always a good sign.

There was of course Gordon. Big clunking fist, brooding and isolated. Or was he a player? His evidence will be very interesting. Very interesting indeed.

After Hours Visits

There really is no excuse for the continuing problem of getting a doctor to visit after hours. Before the Government began to cave in to unreasonable demands from medical negotiators, family doctors provided twent four hour care. That was the natureof the job.

That is the point. Being a family doctor is more than a job. It is a calling. It is not like being a solicitor or an accountant or even a hospital doctor. What it is, is being responsible for the health and wellbeing of their own patients, who are parmanent and exclusive to them. It cannot stop at six in the evening or remain on hold until eight thirty in the morning. Family doctors must go back to providing their own cover after hours. In the past members of a group practice took it in turns to deal with emergencies, whether at night or the weekend. Small practices combined to share the load. 

How we ever got into the muddle of out of hours contractors is not important. What is important is to put a stop to this ridiculous concept now.