Monday, March 28, 2005

Howard Flight (too) earnest?

So Howard (Flight) is punished, by Michael (Howard), for telling the truth?
Regards
Nicholas Newman
Your Labour Party Candidate for Sonning Common for more see http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/new_page_25.htm

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Odd behaviour

Odd behaviour

When Blair does something unexpected, I tend to think that it's because he knows, or believes, something we don't, and which can't be stated publicly.
The famous 'six points on the back of an envelope' which explain his decision to join the US action against Iran (and not to accept Rumsfeld's offer to send extra Americans instead) say nothing whatever about 'weapons of mass destruction' or a danger to Britain. They do include the judgment that it would be impossible to stop the Americans going in, and that it would be better for everyone if they did not go in alone. Not because it was obvious that the occupation would be badly handled - but on the contrary because it might have been handled well - and it would take a vigorous effort to prevent them going on to invade Iraq.

In the present row over imprisonment of terrorist suspects, the intelligence which Blair has been given (and perhaps has shared with opposition leaders though not with the press) is unlikely to relate to those few who have been arrestee and held, but to the much larger number of unarrested and perhaps unidentified 'sleepers' up and down the country waiting for a call to action. And the easiest question to answer about them is not where they will attack, but when. Both theoretically and from experience (in Spain) the answer must be 'a few days before a general election'. It is very important that Blair should do what he can to make it difficult for opposition parties to exploit such an atrocity, and discourage the attempt to produce it.

Posted by Nicholas Newman on behalf of Henry Blyth

Monday, March 07, 2005

Hospital-acquired infections; and smear-tests.

Hospital-acquired infections; and smear-tests.

It's sad, how bitter the Tories become when Labour is too slow to clear up the mess they leave. They had of course expected that Kinnock would win in 1992, and catch the blame for Black Wednesday, and the inefficiency of the compulsorily contracted-out cleaners and dinner-ladies. But Major was too brave, and insisted on going out with his soap box. So today his party has tosmear all the harder.
However, dishonesty can have positive results. Just as thieves provide work for locksmiths, so smears about 'hospital acquired MRSA' will make it worth improving diagnosis.
It would anyway be hopeless to bring a case for damages over 'hospital induced MRSA' because of the difficulty of proving that the patient did not take the infection (which is endemic, but usually quiescent) into the hospital in the first place. Might as well sue over a 'hospital-induced cold'! Granted that outbreaks occur in hospitals, just as colds get worse in winter, that will very often be because immune-systems get weaker when the body gets cold or stressed. We should therefore welcome most warmly the news of a rapid diagnostic technique which aims to detect the presence of the bacteria at the time of admission. If it succeeds, it will both help to rid the hospitals of a nasty disease, and our political life of a nasty smear.
Henry

Posted on behalf of Henry by Nicholas

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Time to rename Henley Constituency?

Is the East Oxfordshire Parliamentary seat known as Henley, a British example of gerrymandering of the drawing of constituency boundaries? Well it does seem that way; it takes fewer votes to elect Boris Johnson MP in Henley as compared to electing Andrew Smith MP in Oxford East or Evan Harris MP in Oxford West and Abingdon. At present Oxfordshire has just six constituencies BANBURY COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (78,817), HENLEY COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (72,331), OXFORD EAST BOROUGH CONSTITUENCY (78,679), OXFORD WEST AND ABINGDON COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (75,153) and WANTAGE COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (74,774). To make it fairer the County needs an extra constituency or the existing six should be redrawn. The end result of either option would mean there would be fewer safe Tory seats in the county.Also naming this East Oxfordshire Parliamentary seat after the Reading dormitory town of Henley, rankles many living in the constituencies other towns and villages such as Thame or Benson, as it does not reflect the true character of the constituency, perhaps a more accurate name for the area is after the TV show which is filmed in the area ‘Midsommer’ or after the range of hills that are such a beautiful feature of the constituency ‘the Chilterns’.