Filed under: Politics | Tags: Baroness Catherine Ashton, Democracy, EU, European President, European Union, Herman van Rompuy, Lisbon Treaty, Politics
People of Europe bow down to Herman van Rompuy, the first European Council President, a position created by the somewhat infamous Lisbon Treaty. O, not to forget the other new position – Baroness Catherine Ashton is now our foreign affairs supremo. Unlike Rompuy’s victory, Ashton’s appointment comes as a surprise, although I fail to see why – this is someone who the British people have never had the chance to elect and is thus continuing in this vein.
I should add that I’m not exactly a fully fledged euro-sceptic, I think free trade is a great idea – but as many good ideas the EU has come up with it seems to have equalled them with terrible ones. Take a look at Common Agricultural Policy; we subsidise our farming to the point that it quells competition anywhere outside of the European Union hitting developing nations the hardest. After ensuring that our products are much cheaper, we dump our excess of food produced on Africa thus undermining local farmers.
Anyhow, back on topic; I see this election of a European President and the Lisbon treaty as a whole as truly undemocratic, we are now subject to the governance of a Belgian President presiding over a parliament in Brussels. I think the British electorate have made it clear on what they think of the European Union, we have 13 MEPs from the UK Independence Party – who practically just say NO to everything proposed.
One bit of good news however is that we haven’t got Tony Blair as an EU president, after Brown’s backing it was always likely Blair’s chances would take a dip though. Rompuy has managed to unite Belgium (a very divided country) and is probably the best person for the job (despite the fact the job shouldn’t exist) to unite Europe and work through different issues between member states. However, Rompuy might be great to sort out problems within the EU, but what about outside of it – surely the United States, Asia and the Middle East will be wondering right about now – who exactly is this guy? Which has to be the reaction of many EU citizens, but alas The BBC, Telegraph and Guardian can answer that. While I acknowledge it would of been difficult to acquire someone with the star quality of say Barack Obama, surely someone who was a tad more experienced when it comes to foreign policy might have helped – o but I do forget, Baroness Ashton can help us out there…
While I’m not for withdrawing from the European Union it is worrying how the Lisbon treaty was ratified in such a hurry with little say i.e. letting the Irish vote until they say yes. Hey, at least the Tories will give us a referendum though right?
Now we’re lumped with two people in powerful positions who haven’t actually been elected, and one who has made out a career of exactly that; not being elected. The presidency and treaty ultimately ensures this is a dark day for democracy.
Filed under: Journalism, Politics | Tags: Afghanistan, Gordon Brown, Jacqui Janes, Letter, Politics, The Sun
Gordon Brown is a prime minister who has received a plethora of media criticism, a figure who is easily satirised in cartoons, berated in numerous newspaper columns and is a complete juxtaposition of his predecessor; the media savvy Tony Blair. Much of the criticism Brown has received may well be justified when based on policy and whether we like it or not the majority of newspapers have a political agenda. However The Sun newspaper has taken it a step too far with their recent reporting of a letter sent by Brown to Jacqui Janes, the mother of a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan.
Brown’s letter was sent to the bereaved mother after he learnt of the death of her son, hand written it is purported to have numerous spelling mistakes (25 according to The Sun) including the surname of Jacqui Janes – misspelt as James. It is not entirely clear whether the number of mistakes were indeed spelling errors or just the result of poor hand writing (the Prime Minister is blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other). I’m of the opinion that Brown has been unfairly criticised as the result of this letter which he could of easily had wrote for him or typed up on a template, replacing only the names of families. Instead, he took the time out of what I’m sure is a unbearably busy job to hand write a personal letter (like he has for every other affected family, none of which have complained until now).
While I know that The Sun (biased in a swing-voter fashion) have now officially got behind the Tories, merging their pro military stance (yet never demanding an end to absurd conflicts as their too busy wrapping themselves in the Union Jack) with a biased anti-Labour tone has taken it too far. While the press, should of course have freedom and with that often comes political allegiance (I should mention, I can’t even find a mention of the letter in the pro-Labour Mirror) exploiting a grieving mother for political points is beyond reprehension. However, as far as I could tell Sky News and other media outlets who offered the public a chance to have a say on the issue people got behind Gordon Brown and this could be one of his better PR moments, although some believe that The Sun are just reporting with political bias much like other papers do and they didn’t overstep the mark.
Today The Sun also published a story regarding Mr Brown’s phone call to Jacqui Janes on Sunday night – on the website you can listen to the recording, may I add that Brown didn’t know the phone call was being recorded. Much like when The Sun didn’t inform Max Mosley of the story they ran on him (and who is currently fighting his case in the European Court of Human Rights, after winning compensation in the UK courts) the publishing of this phone call smacks of bad journalism. While I’m sure many will defend it as it falls within the public interest, I’d argue that it does not constitute anything of the sort, this is a personal phone call made about a personal letter, whether it was from the Prime Minister or not.
While I disagree with many Labour policies, the letter whether it had errors or not showed the sincerity of the Prime Minister who despite bad eye sight was willing to hand write letters to many families affected by the wars the UK are currently fighting. Jacqui Janes, who I don’t blame personally as her actions may be excused at such a hard time, being used as a political pawn is an indictment of The Sun - then again, who really respected the comic paper in the first place?
Filed under: Politics | Tags: Alan Johnson, Cannabis, Drug classification, Drug Legislation, Drugs, Ecstasy, Home Office, Jacqui Smith, Politics, Professor David Nutt, The Lancet
Last week the UK’s chief drugs adviser, Professor David Nutt, was sacked by the Home Secretary Alan Johnson. One of the country’s leading experts on drugs Professor Nutt first joined the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) over ten years ago, yet it was over the past 12 months that his relationship with the government had become strained.
It began with an article that Professor Nutt wrote in a scientific journal headlined “Equasy, an over-looked addiction with implications for the current debate on drug harms.” It was this paper that caused a storm, whereby sensational coverage blasted the Professor for suggesting that ecstasy and other illegal drug use could actually be safer than riding a horse. Nutt explaining his article said: “This attitude raises the critical question of why society tolerates – indeed encourages – certain forms of potentially harmful behaviour but not others, such as drug use.”
After his comments, Jacqui Smith asked him to apologise. However the Professor continued his defiance in the summer producing a chart of the harm of illegal drugs, placing legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco above LSD, ecstasy and cannabis and suggesting that a barrier was forming between legal and illegal substances with regards to classification. Nutt also suggested that the government’s policy of erring on the side of caution could cause more harm which was the final straw, and when the Professor was relieved of his duties.
Following the Professor’s sacking, one of his colleagues resigned in protest, Dr. Les King; a drugs adviser with another adviser apparently soon to follow. With two charts, one from the Lancet and David Nutt’s own showing that classification is out of touch with harm caused by particular substances supporters of a tougher stance on drugs say that it is dependent on society, and things aren’t as simple as classifying according to harm and that Nutt overstepped his duty. However, we have to realise that not everyone who do drugs are bad people, or even not well off – smoking Marijuana certainly didn’t stop David Cameron successfully graduating from Oxford and being the favourite to be the next Prime Minister and it certainly didn’t stop Barack Obama becoming President; however, what would be of these people if they were affected by draconian government policy of 5 years in prison (with an unlimited fine) for possession?
Furthermore, the government showed how ridiculous their drug policy is when they rushed through the ban of Psilocybin mushrooms at the end of the 2001-beginning of the 2005 government. Psilocybin mushrooms date back to a predicted million years and grow globally, and even before 2005 were legal in the United Kingdom and were sold in hundreds of shops and online and suddenly became a Class A drug in the same league as Heroin and Crystal Meth. It should be noted that nobody has ever died from the toxicity or physical effects of mushroom use, unlike the millions of people who do as a result of smoking tobacco or drinking alcohol. As well as this, the benefits of Psilocybin mushrooms are actually being investigated to help with a numerous amount of mental health conditions such as OCD and cluster headaches.
The government should start listening to scientists and experts instead of pandering to tabloid editors.
Drug harm chart from the Lancet medical journal, ordered in terms of harm and colour coded to how they're classified (Before Cannabis was Class B).
