The Language of Fear

It was alarming today to see people queueing with their children at special immunisation clinics in South Wales. The latest measles outbreak is a legacy of the now discredited claims of Andrew Wakefield first published in the Lancet in1998. His claim of a link between the vaccine and subsequent cases of autism have since been put firmly in their place. That said, the Lancet chose to publish a paper whose evidence base was conspicuous by its absence. It goes to show that even revered journals such as this can get it wrong sometimes. It is alarming though to see people queueing for a vaccine in 2013. This should serve as a wake up call for the medical authorities. In the aftermath of the controversy, I feel that too little was done in terms of national campaigns to win back the trust of the public. I hope that no fatalities ensue from this episode and that journals pay more attention to the potential after effects of their publications. Trust is a priceless commodity and seldom moreso than in the context of human healthcare. It is easily lost and regained at great cost.

It is sometimes better to just stand there and look stupid rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt. So said Mark Twain in the nineteenth century. I wonder if Ed Balls is aware of this dictum? His latest tirade against government welfare changes will do great damage to his party. At the last election, Labour garnered a record low 29% of the national vote. If they are to make serious amends for that showing, they need to be more considered and be a little more clear about what they intend to do that is different to what is already being done. As their erstwhile supremo Peter Mandelsohn recently said, it is not enough to keep promising to spend your way out of trouble when that policy landed us where we are now. They need to tell us something new which will set them apart from the coalition. For now we will have to wait. It was to the surprise of many when the newly appointed Ed Milliband turned to Balls for the role of Shadow Chancellor. I was astonished because the only episode with which Mr. Balls is immediately synonymous is his decade long association with Gordon Brown at the treasury during the Viv Nicholson years of New Labour. On reflection though, the apppointment of Balls actually made sense. In the film The Godfather, Don Corleone offers the sage advice, "Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer". On this basis. it is easier to understand why Ed Milliband chose to appoint Balls to his most senior position. Amid the news story of the Milliband brothers competing for the Labour leadership, many forget that Ed Balls was a prominent runner in that race. He clearly harbours greater ambitions and seems reluctant to sit quietly in opposition. The only other person Ed Milliband needed to keep closer was his own brother but that particular problem was recently resolved with the departure of David to North America.

I was also surprised to hear George Osborne making an error of judgement this week. His comments in the immediate aftermath of the sentencing of the Mick Philpott were knee-jerk to say the least. If he sought a debate on welfare reform, he certainly has one now. Although his words were clever enough, they were cannon fodder for the tabloid press. The inference was clear enough. How many more Mick Philpotts are out there and should we be financing them? It is very dangerous ground for the Conservatives. Thankfully, Mick Philpott was newsworthy due to the rarity of his deeds and lifestyle. As with anything in life, there will always be a minority who seek to take advantage with the risk of ruining things for everyone else. If there are so many people seeking work in our country today, we need to address the reasons why. Are they suitably qualified for the jobs on offer? Do the available jobs pay sufficiently well to be able to make a living? Is the government doing enough to help them? I don't think a debate is needed regarding the Philpotts of this world because they are mercifully small in number.

I was pleased and surprised to read about a job centre in Colchester whose approach to those out of work is being rolled out nationally and being held up as a shing example of how job centres should operate. Their achievement could have been suggested by anybody with an ounce os sense. They have ensured that if you are seeking work, you will see the same advisor every time you go to the job centre. How simple is that? Unsurprisingly, it is working very well with the jobless feeling more valued and confident and the advisors feeling they are making a real difference. It makes you wonder how and why job centres have been allowed to operate so badly for so long. It is often the way that an alliance of basic human contact allied to a modicum of common sense reaps rewards and I look forward to seeing the effects of this approach nationally. To be out of work is a soul-destroying experience which erodes self confidence and self worth.It is not that people don't want to work. A decent society would seek to help them and rightly so. A society is judged not by how it handles the good times but rather by how it responds during the bad. This recession has affected a lot of people and few can consider themselves immune from its tremors. 

The language of fear is oft used by the political classes and another wave is expected from North of the Border as the battle for Scottish Independence looms closer. Should Alex Salmond pull off an unlikely win for the nationalists, it will become one of the greatest political victories of modern times. Its legacy would be rather less great because like their Celtic cousins in Wales, they need to be more aware of the dynamics of their relationship with Westminster. With their fat public sectors, Scotland and Wales will inevitably need the Union far more than the Union needs them. This dynamic will only be altered when private sector industry and jobs begin to predominate in the Celtic economies. Thus far, this challenge has remained elusive for both so Scotland needs to demonstrate its credentials beyond the predictable reliance on North Sea Oil. Alex Salmond is a very persuasive orator with an enviable reputation and CV to match. The Scots would do well to balance the realities with the charm and romance. Historically, the language of fear has been beloved of the extreme right and left and has been the touch paper for many a revolution. I saw this week that Unison intend to apply for a one day General Strike. This is the organisation who, more than any other, elected Ed Milliband as Labour leader. It is not surprising that Mr. Milliband has yet to condemn the folly of such an action. Should they be legally permitted to put the strike into action, it will consign Labour to a far longer period of opposition. Set against the track record of Labour under Ed Milliband, New Labour is now beginning to look like a long lost friend. On a serious note though, if Labour is to regain power, it is wavering voters such as myself that it needs to attract. They need to come up with something far better than this. Strikes, like bob-a-job week, are the actions of yesteryear and, at best, would look a little dated. With the advent of the internet age with its social media, I'm surprised social media isn't being better utilised. Still, there's time yet. 

I recently visited Wrexham with my family and was already aware of its struggling high street shops in the town centre. I was shocked and appalled to see that yet another supermarket had been built on its outskirts. At the time of the last census, the wider urban area of Wrexham amounted to just over 63,000 people. They now have on the outskirts of their town one supermarket from each of the "big four". The Tesco and newly built Morrisons are so big, they all but constitute new towns in their own right. To redress this imbalance, the local council has put forward the idea of abolishing car park charges for the town centre to try and save the shops which remain. Stable door and horse spring to mind. I'm glad I'm not a shopkeeper in Wrexham town centre and wonder what justification was used to permit this fourth member of the retail elite. My gripe with supermarkets is that they drive people into their own homes. They do not promote community and they do not bring people together. They make obscene profits and their profit margins are truly eye-watering. They use every gimmick in the book to get you through the door safe in the knowledge that what they lose on the swings, they gain on the roundabouts. Their buying power has permitted alcohol to be used as a loss-leader resulting in the closure of hundreds of community pubs. The only people they need to keep happy are their shareholders and with no discernable competition, this is not exactly challenging. The problem is that permitting supermarkets is easy. Removing them will be the devils own job.