Mandy return beggars belief

Oct 8 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

IN THE film, The Madness of King George, George declares: “I am the King of England”. “No, sir,” his physician replies, “You are the patient”.

This clip sums up Gordon Brown’s latest wheeze in resurrecting Peter Mandelson to help in rescuing capitalism from its current crisis. The sound of jaws dropping resonated around the media and the political establishment.

The recall of Mandelson – the man who was forced to leave the cabinet twice – the arch deregulator, the uber-Blairite, the bosom buddy of the wealthy, is a clear signal that Brown will resist to the death any meaningful attempt to curb the freedom of the financial world to rack up super profits and bonuses.

Mandelson joins a war cabinet allegedly designed to oversee the recovery. Who’s in it? The usual suspects: hedge fund director and ace short seller Paul Myners, as city minister; bosses’ rep Campbell Adamson; and ex-merchant banker, Shriti Vadera.

Mandelson was a key architect of the policy of deregulation, who surrounds himself with millionaires. He celebrates the rich while supporting anti-trade union laws and keeping already low-paid workers’ wages firmly in their place.

It beggars belief that some trade union leaders can still donate their members’ hard-earned cash to support this charade.

The current turmoil cries out for working people to be armed with genuine political representation.

Tony Mulhearn, L16

Vultures return

SO, ALL the old gang are back around Gordon Brown like vultures ready to feast off the best bits of the carcass.

A disgraced former minister, who despite his behaviour was rewarded with a remunerative sinecure at the EU, is to be elevated to the Lords – a lifetime ambition – as business secretary.

Former spin doctors are falling over themselves to declare their unwavering support for the beleaguered Brown, and even old foe Alistair Campbell is rushing to his aid, as is Margaret Beckett, who is returning from extended caravanning leave, and even Geoff Hoon.

It is really quite nauseating to see this lot jostling for attention and trying to raise their profiles to prop up an ailing government which virtually bankrupted the country with excessive borrowing, neglected the elderly, mentally ill and carers, sold off school playing fields, closed thousands of post offices and exposed the poorest and most vulnerable people in society to financial ruin, by creating the market conditions for a boom and bust economy.

M Phillips, address supplied

No religious matter

MIKE CHAPPLE’S piece in the Daily Post (Saturday, September 27), contained the statement: “Without any hint of crass disrespect, the second annual beer festival was held in the crypt of St Anthony’s Church, on Scotland Road”. But surely this revelation highlights the many double-standards of our local RC archdiocese?

For example, most people do not consider it to be cachet to host a “beer festival” in a church crypt among the remains of innumerable poor, dead Catholics. To put this into its proper context, would the same archdiocese be permitted by the licensing authorities to organise a similar al fresco event in Ford Cemetery, and be allowed to leave scores of casually discarded half-eaten pork pies among those graves?

Moreover, Sunday, September 28 was promoted by “Churches Together” as “Bring a friend back to church Sunday”.

What a joke.

The few remaining Liverpool Catholic faithful are themselves already hard-pressed to find an open Catholic church, which hasn’t been transformed into either an indoor climbing centre (St Alban’s), or a job training centre (St Swithin’s), or a municipal car park (St Mary’s Highfield Street) or an empty waste ground (St Alphonsus).

Our archdiocese should not be about boozy gimmicks, but 100% geared-up to promoting the greatest miracle ever – Christ.

Kay Kelly, via email

Lost confidence

IT IS no surprise that Sefton’s urgent and emergency healthcare was only rated as “fair” in the National Health Care Commissions report.

Since losing our children’s A & E to Ormskirk, Sefton has been left without any urgent children’s services at all.

In addition to this, many people have lost confidence in our health services due to mismanagement of the NHS by our national government.

At one time, if you required your GP out of hours, it was relatively simple to obtain a visit from your own doctor, or another who was local and probably attached to your surgery.

Not now. The complex system now in place is designed to make you feel that you are seeking a service to which you are not entitled.

The truth is that the NHS is more than adequately funded, but so much of this money is spent on bureaucracy, inappropriate schemes (such as under-utilised health centres), and chasing unnecessary targets, at the expense of other more deserving projects.

A good start would be to scrap the Strategic Health Authority and the Health Care Commission and invest the money saved into worthwhile patient care.

It is also a total disgrace that our hospitals should have to advertise their services in order to compete for business. All hospitals should be first class and serve their local area. Advertising their services should not be necessary.

Terry Durrance, UKIP

Out of sight . . .

WITH the demise of the Paramount/Odeon cinema on London Road, the heritage of Merseyside cinema and movie-going is almost gone forever. This ornate downtown cinema was the last link with the golden age of Hollywood, although the building had been broken up to turn it into a 10-screen multiplex.

As the last projectionist still working at the Odeon when it was a single screen, the memories of the genuine long-running “blockbusters” and stage shows will stay with me. The new generations of moviegoers will never experience the style and class of these great cinemas.

Odeon founder Oscar Deutsche and later controller J Arthur Rank would no doubt turn in their graves if they could see what has happened to their beloved industry. The pathetic coverage given, by radio and television, to the London Road closure said it all. Out of sight, out of mind.

Mike Taylor, Projected Picture Trust (North West)

Get your facts right

WHAT a dreadful piece of exaggerated writing the letter “Disgusted” was on September 30. It was absolute fiction.

There is not an enormous dog loo on either the Hoylake or the West Kirby proms, there is little dog dirt on the beaches, as people are now clearing up after their dogs and the council cleans the beach regularly.

I have not smelled a “stench” either. Mr W must be in another world. People should not use their imagination to get at dog owners, we are mostly responsible folk and it is not fair to exaggerate the situation. I was delighted that dogs are not to be banned from the beaches, just let’s have some responsible behaviour from dogs, their owners and people with children, and then all will be well.

E Hockenhall (Miss), Birkenhead

Gurkha good news

AMID all the bad news we have been hearing over the last few weeks, it was good to see a ray of light when the Gurkhas won their High Court battle to be given full British Citizenship. I am sure it gladdens the hearts of all old soldiers to hear this news, and it is hoped that these veterans will have many years to enjoy it.

This award has never been more deserved, and it is shameful that it has taken so long for it to come to fruition. These brave and liberally decorated soldiers, who fought alongside Britain in all major campaigns, have proved their loyalty to our nation over and over again. I feel it is deplorable that our country should have made these battle-scarred heroes fight our legal system to be given the right to remain here.

Three cheers for the men of the Gurkha regiment.

Raymond Lloyd Davies, veteran

Talk is cheapening

AS MUCH as I enjoyed (as I am sure many other readers did) checking out whether or not my house was plunging in price in your special on house prices on Monday, I am not convinced that all this talk abut the state of the housing market is doing us any good.

It is talk that got us all into this mess in the first place. Now I am reading articles in certain newspapers about the potential collapse of our entire banking system. It should only take half a dozen more of those to ensure that happens as well.

J Klaw, via email

Taking a stand

WITH regard to Liam Murphy’s article, about CCTV cameras installed in school toilet blocks (Daily Post, October 2), the parents of the pupil who was punished for exercising his right to privacy, need to be commended for their stance in support of their child.

They have had the decency to stand up and complain about this kind of intrusion of privacy.

Shame on the headteachers, who have become implicit in this type of surveillance.

Richie Krueger, Lydiate

Recruitment drives

I READ with interest Jim Hancock’s column regarding the Conservatives at Liverpool’s universities.

It is true that LJMU Conservative Future recruited “record numbers” of members at this year’s Freshers’ Fair. But, until this year, of course, Conservative intake at LJMU was precisely nil – an easy record to break. Labour Students, on the other hand, have recruited more members at LJMU in the last two years than the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats put together.

Nick Wallace, Chairman, LJMU Labour Students