Rights and Wrongs

Cameron might not value workers’ views, but the public does

by Frances O Grady - 21st February 2012, 8.00 GMT

Research by YouGov, commissioned by Unite, has shown the damage that David Cameron and Andrew Lansley have done to their reputation over the NHS reforms.

The British people love the NHS, patient satisfaction is at an all-time high and it is becoming very clear that the government threatens this beloved institution at its peril.

Prior to the election David Cameron pledged no top down organisation to the NHS and on his billboards stated that he’d “cut the deficit, not the NHS”.

Instead, borrowing is up, services are being cut and top-down reforms are being imposed on the NHS against the will of the general public and health professionals.

This has not gone unnoticed by voters, those that think David Cameron hasn’t delivered on his pre-election assurances over the NHS outnumber those that believe he has by three to one.

So, as with many things in politics, it all boils down to a matter of trust.

Cameron promised one thing on our National Health Service and then seems to do the complete opposite, so why would the general public believe his reassurances about his health reforms?

The YouGov polling shows that the even Conservative Party supporters trust health professionals more than the prime minster and his health secretary.

A whopping six times as many people trust health professionals than the Prime Minister and Lansley over the health reforms.

But so far the government’s response has been to rubbish the views of the people working in the NHS, caring for the British public.

Healthcare professionals have been accused of being self-serving, of seeking revenge over pensions and of not understanding the reforms.
Ministers have traded on anti-union rhetoric to the debate when reacting to the decision of the BMA to call for the withdrawal of the Bill.

When in reality this is a centuries old professional body making a brave stand against a Bill that they believe will be detrimental to patient care.

The Prime Minster and the Health Secretary might not value their views, but the general public do and so do voters too.

The list of medical and royal colleges, unions, other health bodies, patient groups and charities which oppose the bill is growing daily, the latest being 150 members of the Royal College of Paediatricians concerned about the damage these reforms will do to health of children.

It absolutely stands to reason that the people who work day in day out in the NHS are being listened to taken very seriously by the public.

This week MPs will have an opportunity to vote for the publication of the Department of Health’s Risk Register.

This document will show an assessment of the potential risks of the Government’s plans.

So far not even MPs or Peers have seen it, despite a ruling in November from the Information Commissioner that it should be published and shared.

Imagine the uproar if patients were given a new medical drug where the possible side effects were unpublished.

It would be incredible if MPs voted to remain in ignorance before the Bill became law.

So far 75 MPs including 13 Lib Dem MPs, have signed an Early Day Motion 2659 to call for its immediate publication.

Please lobby your MP today and tomorrow do add their name too.

If the government is confident about its reforms then it should publish the Department of Health Risk Register and this week.

The poll shows the British public have full confidence in health professionals when it comes to the future of the NHS. The Prime Minister should too and drop his unworkable and unloved Bill before it’s too late.

* To see whether your MP has signed EDM 2659, click here.
Frances O’Grady is Deputy General Secretary of the TUC.

This article first appeared on the Touchstone blog

Whoops! £46m Apache helicopter

from Prince Harry's unit

crash lands after hitting power lines

By Eddie Wrenn

Last updated at 4:50 PM on 22nd February 2012

Two Army pilots from Prince Harry’s military base had a lucky escape last night when they crashed a £46m Apache helicopter into a 132,000-volt power line.

The attack helicopter clipped the overhead line while the pair flew a night-flying exercise, around 15 miles from their airfield base at Wattisham, Suffolk.

The two-man crew were able to make an emergency landing in a field between the villages of Wherstead and Tattingstone, near Ipswich, and were able to escape injury.

Prince Harry, 27, is not believed to have been in the seven-ton helicopter, which crashed at about 10.30pm.

 Lucky escape: Both crewmen were uninjured after the Apache struck power-lines and was forced into an emergency landing. Prince Harry is not believed to have been involved in the incident
 

The MoD are now investigating the crash, which also knocked out power to around 375 homes
 Clipped: The Apache hit these power-lines, which are located close to railway lines near the villages of Wherstead and Tattingstone. MoD engineers are now investigating the incident

The crash site, which was close to a railway line, was identified by the Suffolk Police helicopter crew from Wattisham who flew overhead and directed officers on the ground to the scene.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: 'We can confirm an incident has occurred involving an Army helicopter from Wattisham and there was no injury to those on board.

'We would not confirm the names of the people who were on board the helicopter.'
 

The crew were able to land in a field between the villages of Wherstead and Tattingstone, near Ipswich

The incident damaged the overhead line and led to a loss of power to 373 homes. Most homes had their power re-connected within hours, but around 40 were still without power at 7am today.
A police cordon was surrounding the Apache helicopter in the field today, while MoD engineers began an investigation to find the cause of the crash.

 A spokesman for UK Power Networks said: 'We received a report from police at 11.02pm that a helicopter had come into contact with overhead power lines.

'Our engineers are currently on site and have established that a 132,000 overhead power line has been damaged.

'This interrupted power supplies to 373 customers, and others across a wider area would have had a flickering supply for a few seconds which then returned to normal.

 Prince Harry is not believed to have been involved in the Apache crash
'We will be liaising with the authorities on site, arranging repairs to the electricity network and restoring power supplies as quickly as is safely possible.'

Earlier this month it was announced that Prince Harry who is known as Captain Wales in the Army Air Corps had successfully qualified as Apache co-pilot and gunner after 18 months training.

Prince Harry was also given award as best co-pilot gunner in his 20-strong training group.

He has been assigned to 662 Squadron, 3 Regiment Army Air Corps, and is now hoping for a return to active service in Afghanistan after a further eight months training.

The prince has been granted ‘Limited Combat Ready’ status, which means he has proven himself in advanced mountain flying and desert training to prepare him for Afghanistan’s terrain.

Part of his course included two months of advanced weapons training in California and Arizona, where the desert conditions replicate those found in Afghanistan.

The Apache gunship, nicknamed the ‘flying tank’ is known to be very difficult to fly - and only the very best pilots ever complete the training course.

With a top speed of 161mph the Apache is relatively slow - but the onboard systems are so sophisticated it can classify and prioritise up to 256 potential targets in seconds.

The Army owns 67 Apaches and has 55 crews of two pilots. They have become the aircraft of choice for fighting the Taliban.
 

Most of the information from the sensors and radars appears in front of the pilot’s right eye on the ‘Helmet Display Unit’.

The main weapons on the gunship are a 30mm cannon firing 625 rounds a minute, CRV-7 ‘point-and-fire’ rockets and four air-to-air missiles.

Night-flying is particularly challenging as rather than using night-vision goggles, pilots rely on forward looking infra-red which creates a video-screen picture of what lies ahead.

Prince Harry is keen to return to Afghanistan after his first tour of duty was cut short in 2008.

He was secretly deployed to Helmand Province with the Household Cavalry and worked as a forward air controller directing bombing strikes against the Taliban for ten weeks.

But his time there was cut short when news of his presence leaked out and he was brought back to Britain.
As a result, he decided to retrain as an Army Air Corp helicopter pilot in the hope that it would increase his chances of being re-deployed.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2104745/Apache-chopper-Prince-Harrys-helicopter-unit-crash-lands-hitting-power-lines.html#ixzz1n9ysFGIS

Hands Off Our Land:

Property developers gave £500,000 to Tories over past six months

Property developers who stand to gain from the Government’s planning reforms have donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Conservatives since the proposals were first published last summer.

 By Christopher Hope, Senior Political Correspondent
10:00PM GMT 22 Feb 2012

Figures published by the electoral watchdog last night show that construction and property firms gave £510,000 to the party between July and December last year - more than £2,700 a day.

In the final quarter of 2011, developers gave more than £267,000 to the Tories – 9p in every pound - outstripping the £243,000 for the previous three months, according to the Electoral Commission’s figures.

Last night Labour criticised the figures and said they were evidence of the Tory party’s “unhealthy relationship” with developers.

Roberta Blackman-Woods MP, Shadow Minister for Planning told The Daily Telegraph: “These revelations clearly suggest that there may have been an unhealthy relationship between property developers and the Tory Government.

“The Government must come clean about these allegations and any undue influence these donors may have had in the drafting of the Coalition’s controversial National Planning Policy Framework.”

The increasing amounts being given to the Conservatives coincided with the publication of the controversial National Planning Policy Framework, which campaigners say will make it easier to build on parts of rural England.

The NPPF, which was published on July 25 last year has been heavily criticised for making it easier for developers to build on rural parts of England, and is being fought by campaigners.

The Daily Telegraph is also urging ministers to rethink the reforms.

Groups including the National Trust and the Campaign to Protect Rural England are worried that the draft NPPF includes a new “presumption in favour of sustainable development”, and puts communities at risk of large scale development.

Last October Sir Simon Jenkins, the Trust’s chairman, claimed that developers had mounted a “huge” lobbying campaign backed by the rich and powerful to alter radically planning laws in favour of development.

Sir Simon told MPs on a Commons committee that the "fingerprints" of rich builders were all over the reforms, which campaigners say will give developers carte blanche to build on large parts of rural England.

In September it emerged that an elite forum of property developers charged “key players in the industry” £2,500 a year to set up breakfasts, dinners and drinks with senior Conservatives.

The club raises about £150,000 a year for the party.

Records show that ministers in charge of the new planning regulations met 28 times with figures from the property industry since coming to power and have only seen environmental groups 11 times.

The Daily Telegraph also disclosed that planning minister Greg Clark had privately urged property developers to lobby Prime Minister David Cameron amid concerns that his planning reforms would be blocked.

A leaked email showed that property developers privately admitted that the minister's objectives "align with ours" and said they had "earned more brownie points than we could ever imagine" by helping him.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “There is no question of individuals either influencing policy or gaining an unfair advantage by virtue of their financial contributions to the Conservative Party.

"Donors are motivated by a genuine desire to support the Conservative party and help it to win elections.”

Overall the Conservatives attracted almost £1 million more in donations than Labour.

The Tories declared £3.2 million between October and December with the Opposition bringing in £2.3 million.

The Liberal Democrat total stood at just over £1 million, the Electoral Commission said.

No other party received more than £150,000.

In total, political parties received £34.6 million from donors and £9.1 million in state funding during the course of 2011. They also owe £14.7 million in loans.

Electoral Commission analysis showed that £1.75million of the Labour income came from trade unions in the last quarter - with £649,092 from the GMB the biggest single donation.

Among cash flowing into Labour's coffers was £121,440 from property entrepreneur Andrew Rosenfeld - appointed as a senior Labour adviser by leader Ed Miliband last year - who has promised the party £1 million.

His role has come under fire because of his previous status as a tax exile and connection to the failure of the Allders department store business.

Conservative Party co-chairman Lady Warsi said accepting the money was at odds with Mr Miliband's fight against “predatory” capitalism.

She added: “Unless he rejects Andrew Rosenfeld’s cash, Ed Miliband’s tough talk will simply be hypocritical posturing from a weak leader.”