Good news: as one of our local newspapers reports, some in Haringey Labour are starting to get cold feet over their plans to remove free leisure passes for the over 65s.
The campaign pressure is clearly starting to pay off … and you can help keep up the pressure and make their feet colder (as it were!) by signing the petition at ourcampaign.org.uk/leisure
The risk with keeping a public diary (as I do with my blog) is that it means your words are out there, in full public view – and (thanks to search engines, caching and all that malarkey) even still there to be found if I hit delete on my own site.
So – when Brian Paddick, a former Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, put his name forward to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor, I went through two immediate emotions. Firstly – pleasure, because my experiences of dealing with him whilst he was serving in the police and I was serving on the Metropolitan Policy Authority were very positive. But secondly – anxiety, because I did wonder whether I’d ever written something critical about him – and if so whether therefore my words would get quoted back at me or Brian for evermore – or at least, until polling day.
Thankfully – searching the blog revealed that my views had indeed all been positive, not just in retrospect but also at the time. Hurrah!
But what was it about him that impressed me? Well – it was the combination of a successful record of actually tacking crime whilst also being open and willing to address those issues about the police which can cause the public, particular members of ethnic minority communities, concern.
Take stop and search – it has a valuable role in fighting crime, but when misapplied by over-enthusiastic police, it results in innocent people being harassed, police time wasted by stopping the wrong people and worsening community relations – bad in themselves and also bad for the cooperation needed to tackle crime.
Some police do get very defensive about any questioning of this tactic – and some even feel that if you don’t 100% support unlimited stop and searching of anyone, anytime in any circumstances then you are not really on their side.
Brian Paddick though was one of the police officers smarter than that – he understood that abusing a technique loses public support and actually hinders the fight against crime – and was always willing to engage in debate over how the policy should best be shaped.
I really can’t therefore think of someone better suited to become London Mayor and to head up the drive against crime in London. Thank goodness then Brian Paddick turns out to be a Liberal Democrat – I must admit I would probably have had some real conscience pangs if he’d stood as an independent against a Liberal Democrat candidate!
It’s not just in the area of policing that I think Brian would be the serious, effective choice – rather than cheeky chappy Ken or talk show celebrity without a previous track record of interest in LondonBoris Johnson.
Look at the serious allegations hanging around over money and the London Development Agency. Six grants under scrutiny by the police. Lack of proper financial controls over grants totalling £18.5 million (including millions given to the Bernie Grant centre here in Haringey) criticised by financial inspectors. One of the top GLA aides forced to resign after lying about receiving a freebie trip overseas. And a host of other allegations too.
Ken’s response to all this? Either to crack jokes or to shout “racism”. Well no Ken – it’s not racism to want money to be looked after properly. After all – it is the very members of ethnic minority communities who suffer most if funding designed to tackle poverty in those communities has ended up being wasted, diverted or stolen.
So sending in a former top policeman to sort out City Hall could be rather advantageous in other ways too!
Having spent five years myself as an Assembly member and seen how tough it is to deliver in London – this is no job for an amiable entertainer. It is a grown up job for someone who knows how to deliver. And both crime and fear of crime is still a key issue for Londoners. Having a top cop at the helm – and one with a record of delivering crime reduction is clearly an advantage. Brian has already pledged to cut crime by 20% in his first term or he won’t stand again – and he has the track-record of having delivered the best crime reductions in London on his commands.
I think you can therefore guess who I will be voting for!
(c) Lynne Featherstone, 2008
A bomb is about to go off, blowing up hundreds of innocent people. One terrorist knows the location. You’ve got them in custody. Do you torture them to find out where it is?
Thus runs the common moral dilemma beloved of Hollywood movies and TV shows, frequently these days it seems staring Kiefer Sutherland. Are you a mealy mouthed liberal or are you willing to take the tough action necessary to fight terrorism?
Real life isn’t that straightforward – it doesn’t present such clear-cut scenarios, and anyway evidence from torture isn’t reliable: could you really be sure the terrorist told you the truth rather than a fib to waste your time? And the tough-guy macho act in real life all too often results in the innocent being harassed, tortured or killed as you charge off in the wrong direction based on incomplete or misleading information (remember Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction that were supposedly just waiting to be found by US and UK troops?).
However, a case a constituent raised with me recently got me thinking about the placebo effect – and the genuine dilemma it presents, particular for those – like myself – of a liberal mindset who believe in giving people as much information and power over their own lives as possible.
The placebo effect is seen when people are given treatment, such as pills, where the psychological impact of thinking that the treatment will make you better actually does – even if the pills are inert, containing no health-giving recipe at all. Give people a “medicine” that is really nothing such, but tell them it will make them better – and, lo, it can do.
It’s a weird display of the power of the mind when given a suggestion; a happy flip side perhaps of the power of the mind over the body you so often see when one of a couple who have been happily married for decades passes away – and then the other slips away shortly afterwards as if their mind simply no longer has any desire to keep their body going.
Of course it doesn’t work for all people in all circumstances (that would make the NHS’s job easy if it did!), but it’s a real, solid, verifiable effect – and one that medical scientists have to take into account when testing new medicine because, without allowing for it, their tests may otherwise fool them into thinking that some possible new medicine really does have health-giving properties when in fact it is only the placebo effect at work.
This to me seems as close as we get to modern magic in the sciences. It sounds a mad idea really in many ways isn’t it – the idea that if you think something will make you better, it really does? And yet – that’s just what modern science has found time and time again.
There are all sorts of wonderful details around the placebo effect – such as the colour of the pills impacts on how strong the effect is, because some colours are implicitly more strongly associated with making you better than others – and of course the colours that work best vary from culture to culture!
Which brings me to the dilemma. If a GP telling me that a treatment is extremely likely to work makes it actually more likely to work (because of the placebo effect) then shouldn’t they perhaps lie to me and tell me that even if it isn’t really that likely to work?
Ben Goldacre (I think) made the point well in The Guardian a little while back that this perhaps helps explain some of the popularity of alternative medicines compared with traditional medicine. For traditional medicine, GPs have shifted hugely in their outlook – being told to tell patients the full range of information about possible treatments, their chances of success and possible side-effects – and thereby sowing doubt into patients’ minds. But alternative medicine is often presented by its practitioners with absolute confidence – and so (regardless of any other benefits) scoring an immediate win on the placebo front.
Now – there are all sorts of benefits about keeping patients properly informed, including keeping a checking on conventional wisdom or vested interests getting out of control.
Yet here is the riddle: if doing that means they are actually less likely to get well in that immediate here and now case, who wouldn’t be tempted to shade the information? Would you be tempted to tell you child or partner a small fib about how sure you are the treatment is to work even if you know otherwise? And would that really be wrong?
For that personal circumstance – I am happy to let others make their own judgement in their own circumstances. But overall – there doesn’t seem to be a way to square the circle. Interesting dilemma…!
This article first appeared on Liberal Democrat Voice.
(c) Lynne Featherstone, 2008
Impressed to see in the news today that Steven Spielberg has pulled out from his role in the Beijing Olympics because of the Chinese Government’s failure to do enough to influence the Sudanese Government, which is continuing to oversee horrific atrocities in Darfur.
His willingness to speak out stands in stark contrast with Gordon Brown – who, as on so many other issues, seems afraid of taking a clear stance and leading the way – and hence the failure to put serious extra pressure on China in his recent visit there. As it’s dear old Gordon, perhaps the best we can hope for is for him to set up yet another of his reviews to go away, ponder for a long time and then come back to tell him what to do!
Congratulations to Adam Jogee (whose campaign I blogged about before) on winning the election to be member of the Youth Parliament for Haringey.
Adam tells me that his two deputies are Farjina Begum from Tottenham and Sam Newton-Fenner from Muswell Hill – which makes for a nice cross-borough balance: one from the west, one from the middle and one from the east.
Adam’s stickers clearly worked!
In case you’ve not seen any reports of this so far – at least one local person has been conned by a group of people pretending to be Haringey Council waste collection staff.
The scam seems to be that they spot properties with rubbish in the front, offer to remove it, charge a small fee and then just dump the rubbish round the corner. Needless to say – they aren’t genuine Haringey staff.
If you spot anyone trying out this scam, or are suspicious about someone passing themselves off as a council worker, you can ring Haringey Customer Services on 020 8489 1000.
I’m quoted in The Times today, talking about the Government proposals to cut off the phone lines used in newspaper or phone booth adverts for prostitutes:
Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat equalities spokeswoman, said: “It is a very good thing that the government is looking at this, but there is a danger that it could drive prostitution underground. Any moves to try to eradicate the client side would have to be incredibly carefully handled. In an ideal world prostitution shouldn’t exist, but we don’t live in an ideal world.”
You can read the full story here.
Liberal Democrats have demanded that Haringey Council rethinks its plans to scrap free leisure facilities for residents over 65.
In a letter to the Leader of the Council, local Lib Dem councillor David Winskill criticises Haringey for failing to consult local residents and for a lack of consideration of the effects the changes will have on the health and well-being of residents.
Lib Dems announced on 4th February 2008, in their alternative budget, that they would reinstate free facilities and have set up an online petition against the plans: http://ourcampaign.org.uk/leisure
Cllr David Winskill, Lib Dem Leisure, Culture and Lifelong Learning Spokesperson, comments:
“This decision was taken right at the last minute and with absolutely no consultation. We decided to go straight to the top to get it reversed so that older residents can be confident that they won’t have to go through the indignity of a means test to go for a swim.
“The change in pricing structure is something that should involve the community, not just imposed. Again the Labour-controlled council does not want to listen.
“The cost of the free leisure passes to Haringey Council is minute, especially compared to the massive communications budget the council has each year.”
Hornsey and Wood Green MP Lynne Featherstone adds:
“Haringey is supposed to have health and well-being at the top of its agenda – but this initiative would have the effect of deterring older people from using Haringey’s Leisure Centres and have a very negative effect on their health. It must be withdrawn now.”
The Lib Dem candidate in the Highgate by-election has today taken direct action in a bid to clear up Highgate.
Rachel Allison, along with Highgate councillor Bob Hare, has removed a dumped bicycle chained to the railings in Wood Lane, which was causing a long-standing eyesore for Highgate residents.
Using an angle-grinder, Rachel Allison and Bob Hare removed three locks, as well as the remains of two bikes, including one case where just a single wheel remained.
Cllr Hare says that the bikes were gradually disappearing, piece by piece over a long period. The pair were praised by local residents for their stand.
Liberal Democrat Highgate ward candidate, Rachel Allison, comments:
“I am pleased that this eyesore has been removed, and delighted to lend a hand, though it’s shame that Haringey Council didn’t take action themselves.
“If elected on 6th March, I will be making it my top priority to clear up this sort of mess.”
Back in November I wrote about the importance of allowing protests around the Olympics:
Glad to see that Chris Huhne has made it quite clear in a news release that when the show comes to town in the form of the Olympics, the right to peaceful protest must be upheld:
The Olympics are a chance to put our values in the global showcase which is why the organisers should plan for and allow the right of peaceful protest, which is such an important part of our political tradition. It will not be on display at the Beijing Olympics.
Diversity and freedom of expression is what has always made our society strong, and we should not be afraid to show it.
And I suspect given the number of countries competing whose human rights record may not be quite what we would wish – there will be quite a number of protesters wishing to protest. A good thing too. As a country – we should be proud that peaceful protest is one of our guarantees of freedom of expression.
So – it was good to read that Nick Clegg’s taking this line too:
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has accused British Olympic chiefs of a “real abdication of our moral responsibility” over moves to restrict athletes from speaking out about China’s human rights record.
A new clause in the contract Olympians must sign before competing in Beijing this year forbids them from making political comments about the host country.
Clegg told BBC1’s Politics Show: “It’s extremely disappointing. It’s part of a pattern of us kow-towing to the Chinese communist authorities.
“We have to be very clear with the Chinese: They now play a significant role in the world economy and international affairs.
“That brings certain domestic responsibilities with it and I think for us to sort of gag ourselves is a real abdication of our moral responsibility to push for human rights wherever they are being abused.”
Referring to the prime minister’s recent visit to China, Clegg said: “Unlike Tony Blair and certainly unlike President Sarkozy from France, Chancellor Merkel from Germany and even President Bush from the United States, he said nothing publicly on China’s appalling human rights record.”
Lynne Featherstone 