Paul Flynn - Read My Day

Shame Dore Deceivers

Sackcloth punishment

In this bleak grey  winter of political tidings, it is bracing to read a great news story.

Last week I railed against the gullibility of the media in accepting dodgy claims for miracle drugs and treatments. In the cause of cranking up profits, insanely optimistic claims are made for treatments. The technique is to get hold of a beautiful articulate victim of a disease, then parade them through the radio and televison studios.

It’s always the same story. Great cure but the mean Government will not cough the cash. Rarely, if ever, is the story true. The £2,000 Dore "miracle cure" for dyslexia, invented by paint entrepreneur Wynford Dore was personally endorsed by Kenny Logan, who, it turned out, was paid for at least some of his promotional work.

This week the UK arm of Dore went into administration, and US branches are closing too. Parents are out of pocket, and employees are out of work. Will Richard and Judy, You and Yours and dozens of other programme broadcast rebuttal and apologies for acting as snake oil salesmen’s little helpers?

Hope has been falsely raised. A lot of money has been extracted on the basis of very bad science. Guardian journalist Ben Goldacre gives credit to bloggers for undermining the company.

Gimpyblog broke the news internationally of Dore going bust, following up a comment from a Dore employee. Back in January, he published a detailed analysis of the Dore accounts, flagging up serious concerns about their viability even then.

Podblack covered the news of Dore going bust in Australia first and was offering practical rights advice to ex-employees and parents from the start.

Brainduck has been covering Dore's research for a year now, and explaining the methodological flaws.  The Daily Mail, Manchester Evening News, Guardian, Times and Telegraph have all been asked to retract the extravagant claims they made for Dore. None appears to have done so yet.

Dore has gone but a hundred other deceptions linger on. The PR lobbyists are still at it and the lazy third class journalist are eager to swallow self-serving junk science. Broadcasters have apologized and paid fines for fixing their audience votes.

The media collaborators in deceit should be paraded in public clad in sackcloth and ashes. Conning families of the sick out of £2,000 is more serious than fiddling the name of the Blue Peter cat.

Credit due

It was credit unions that offered a safe alternative to the victims of the Farepak scandal. They are the best defence against the loan sharks who mercilessly con people on tiny disposal incomes. Those who have little end up paying the most for credit.

Frequently I get requests from would be volunteers. I know of no better cause that Newport Credit Union.  Perhaps I should declare a financial interest because I deposited  a modest sum with them a few years ago. It was a thank you for the good value credit they are providing for 1,000 of my constituents.

I again applaud their work. Anyone who can spare a few hours to help in this interesting rewarding work should contact the Secretary Val Delahaye on 01633 214913 or drop in at 5 Market Arcade, High Street Newport.

Masculating MPs

Curbing PM Power

176 British soldiers killed in an avoidable war based on a Prime Minister’s mistake or worse. Ten of thousands of Britons died prematurely because a British Prime Minister suppressed the truth on tobacco’s dangers in 1957.

Why should Prime Ministers have the final word on inquiries into their own conduct? Everyone agrees that we should have an inquiry into the Iraq War. We are unlikely to have one for several years when that last soldier leaves. That the Government’s delaying gag. In the meantime memories fade, witnesses die, grief and anger subsides.

The Public Administration Select Committee (chair Tony Wright MP) called today for parliament to have the power to set up our own major enquiries. The Iraq war is our main target. PASC says that Parliament should not have to wait for the Government to set up an inquiry-particularly where Ministers are reluctant to do so. We suggest instead a mechanism for Parliament to establish its own ‘Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry’.

Andrew Pierce of the Times said this morning that Cameron would smother this proposal. As a likely future Prime Minister, Cameron will resist any curb on the PM’s elective dictatorship. He may be right. The best time to clip the power of the executive is when oppositions are not anticipating victory.

In the United States Congress and Senate have full powers to initiate inquiries. Already there it is acknowledged that the ‘weapons of mass destruction myth’ was a lie invented to lubricate war mongering. More than 4,000 American troops have lost their lives.

This parliament has the most rebellious backbench MPs ever. They forced compromises on the compensation on the 10p tax, the 42 days detention and on the new planning laws. If the opposition had the balls to stand up for parliament against the executive, PASC’s proposal could be passed with 40 labour MPs in support.

In a two-way radio with Andrew Pierce this morning, I agreed that there will be horse-trading and the self-interest of the next PM will be a factor. But giving immunity to Prime Ministers is not what the public wants.  Nor do they understand why their elected representatives have been emasculated by the tyranny of the party whips.

This is not just an historic laying of blame. We must understand how we were sucked into Bush’s war in Iraq to avoid the real peril of being conned into an invasion of Iran.

This is no way to run a democracy.

Harm reduction?

Good news on drugs policy. For many years I have slaved away to persuade the Council of Europe (COE) to back a drugs policy based on evidence not political opportunism and cowardice.

In September last, the COE backed my report. The next progress was a meeting of the Council of Minister this week. The news is encouraging. Although their view is couched in obscure Euro-ese, they have welcomed my policy of shifting the emphasis of drug policy. Now, in most of the 48 COE countries cash is wasted on criminal justice solutions of arrest and jails. Far better value is gained from the health solutions of needle exchanges, substitution treatment and injecting rooms.

The Senlis Council and the World Red Cross/ Red Crescent movement have been the initiators and tireless supporters of the policy. It has been a long haul and I will allow myself some mild elation. Also encouraging is that injecting rooms were promoted today in WAG conference at Swansea.

Dare we believe that the tide is turning in the direction of harm reduction?

Plane poison probe

Cabined, confined,  contaminated

It’s progress on recognising that there is a problem. But it’s no solution. As my posting of April 20th 2008 said my efforts over the past three years to expose the poisoned air on planes have been politely acknowledged but no remedial action has been taken.

Many of the professionals are extremely worried. Some hold back because they do not want to damage their own industry.  80 MPs signed up to EDM 1316 Contaminated Air on Commercial Aircraft that I tabled in January 2006. The last I want to do is to add unnecessarily to the anxieties that plane passengers suffer. But the evidence of a hidden problem here was overwhelming.

The Global Cabin Air Quality Executive (GCAQE) is the leading organisation globally representing aircrew on regard to cabin air quality. They are pleased that the UK Government recognises there is an issue with aircraft air quality but believes action to protect the public is needed rather than further research.

They are not happy with the quality of the research. They question the independence of the researchers and the value of their methods. For the first time this worry has had serious national publicity.

That may be the spur that encourages the airlines into remedial action rather than perpetual research.

 Newport Boom

Good to be invited to talk on the Welsh language news this morning on a positive good news story.

Post Cyntaf highlighted the announcement of 1,800 jobs to Newport’s Celtic Springs site. This is the place where miracles happen. Already the Prison Service run their admin for all UK prison from here. EADS has the grand opening of their massive new building next month. Across the road Quinn radiators are flourishing with wonderful products deftly manufactured. Half of the jobs announced today are imports from Cardiff. The rest will be home grown here. Newport is the place to expand and grow tall.

The new Ryder Cup Golf Course at the Celtic Manor had its baptism of fog, rain and, even, some play today. It’s a brilliant asset for the city.

If more proof is required of Newport’s burgeoning self-confidence, St Woolos cathedral is now Newport Cathedral.  What more could any ardent Newportonian desire?

Collusion shame

The body that regulates our drugs (MHRA) met the Seroxat Users Group.

The lack of scrutiny of Seroxat by the regulator has been a slow burning scandal. Panorama did two wonderful exposes that exposed the MHRA as timid collaborators with the pharmaceutical industry that pays their wages.

A doctor, who I greatly respect, has commented on the transcript of the meeting.

“The MHRA has effectively colluded with scientific misconduct (and failed even to comment in any meaningful way on the most
serious misconduct) involving GlaxoSmithKline and others. They failed even to collect evidence relating to individual culpability before making their predictable pronouncements.

Scientific fraud affecting the welfare of our patients and the understanding (of us doctors) of the drugs we prescribe is, according to the MHRA just fine.

The MHRA and its employees should be ashamed, not bridling about angry patients. Don't trouble yourselves and waste time producing defensive rebuttals. Simply do your jobs honestly.

I am certainly ashamed for my profession. I sometimes wonder how some people sleep at night. “

In past parliamentary debates I have drawn attention to the powerful links between the MHRA and Big Pharma. Thier Chief Executive Brekenrridge is a former employee of Seroxat's manufacturer Glaxo Smith Kline. It’s time we had wholly independent regulation of our drugs so we can be protected against their lethal side effects

Nuclear insanity

Costing the earth

Gordon Brown calls for a major expansion of nuclear power today.  Not the best day to do it as we heard a fresh estimate of the cost of clearing up the mess from our last nuclear power disaster.

The first estimate in January was that it would cost £12 billion. Then the estimate leapt to the unbelievable sum of  £73bn. Today a senior official at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said the bill would rise by even more billions of pounds.

That’s £4,000 per family.  In the sixties the promise was that nuclear electricity would be too cheap to meter. It’s proved to be the most expensive energy ever.

Nineteen sites across the country, some dating from the 1950s, are due to be dismantled in the coming decades. A spokesman for the Department for Business said it was ready for an adjustment in the clean-up costs.

Finland's new nuclear station is already two years late and £1billion over budget. Then there’s the safety issue.

Nuclear power could cost us the earth.

Bullsh*t? .....You Bet!

I worry for the future of education. Teachers need a lesson in elementary comprehension.

NUT Cymru sent out a Press Release today headed a tad provocativley “Hypocrisy? You Bet!” It was sent to all Welsh MPs,” They claim “ Members of Parliament are demanding an increase in their annual pay from £62000 to just under £100,000"

I e-mailed them back and asked which MPs?  When did they ask?  and Who told you? Their laugh-out-loud reply is that they read it in today’s Daily Mail. This must be a first. NUT Cymru (NUTS), an apparently  intelligent organisation believe what they read in the Daily Mail? Astonishing.

In the responsible media there are truthful reports. The BBC say  "MPs could seek to avoid future expenses criticism by awarding themselves an automatic lump sum of £23,000 a year for second homes A Commons Committee review of MPs' is looking at the plan. A spokesman for the committee said it was too early to specify its findings."

Sit up straight, NUT and PAY ATTENTION.  Fold your arms and LISTEN.

COULD does not mean WILL
LOOKING does not mean DEMANDING

Now  write that down 100 times before you issue any more press releases.

Tidal sanity.

There was hidden good news on renewable power today. Not that you would have noticed from the nuclear fixation.

Tidal power has been harnessed to generate electricity for Britain’s National Grid for the first time off Orkney. The European Marine Energy Centre’s turbine will power 150 homes

The move has been hailed, as a milestone in the development of marine energy, which could provide up to a fifth of Britain’s electricity needs.

It came when a single turbine on the Atlantic seabed off Orkney was connected to the National Grid on Monday morning. The area off the north of Scotland is regarded as potentially one of the best in the world for tidal power and has been described as the "Saudi Arabia of marine energy".
This is a great leap forward with clean carbon free energy. There are huge areas where the tides can be exploited from the Alderney Race to the Severn estuary.

Scotland are leading the way with pioneering tidal and wave units. Many devices can harness the immense power of the tides that are Britain’s equivalent of Arabian oil.

Dr Mark Williamson, director of innovations for the Carbon Trust, said: "In the UK, marine energy has the potential to deliver up to 20 per cent of our electricity needs. “

Compared with, the new nuclear project is a puny expensive pipe dream

Vintage blood

Prime of life

A constituent asked me why blood donations are not accepted from donors after their 70th birthday?

One day the blood is welcomed. The next it’s rejected. Only one in ten of those who can donate blood in the UK do so. There have been shortages in the past.

This rule has been in place for many years. But 70-year-olds are much healthier than they were in the past. Why has the age limit not been changed? If there is doubt, surely a simple test could evaluate the quality of the blood.

The over 70s are now in the prime of life. Many are public-spirited and wish to continue to contribute to society. Why stop them?  I’ll keep you posted on this.

Jargon blind

I had an invitation to discuss “the success of the Whole Farm Approach transformational Government… including the citizens experience and optimising efficiencies of Transformational Maturity Creating an Adaptive Personal Experience… to deliver integrated citizen services.”
 
Baffled, I asked, tongue in cheek, for an invitation that was in English.

They replied, “I can only apologise for that, I will ensure your comments are actioned.”

‘Actioned?’ My sarcasm was obviously wasted.

New snake oil

Big Pharma is at it again in collaboration with their love child the Depression Alliance.

We will have another ‘Depression Week’ this year. It was invented, promoted and entirely funded by the Big Pharmas who make big bucks out of popularising depression as an illness.
As no one believes a word Big Pharma says, they speak through their front organisations. They seek to medicalise every twinge of boredom, sadness or melancholia into a life threatening illness for which we are encouraged to take their useless dangerous drugs.

They have a relatively new wheeze. They claim that their drugs will cure ‘aches and pains’ and ‘sleep disturbance’. Minor problems that everyone has occasionally.

So in 2005 we had Depression Alliance research and report boosting, Packer Forbes, Eli Lilly & Boehringer Ingelheim, new drug Cymbalta & “general aches and pains”.

In 2008 we have Depression Alliance research and report boosting, Athena Medical PR, Servier Laboratories, new drug Valdoxan and “sleep disturbance”.

For 200 years a string of remedies have been foisted on society for mild depression, including cocaine, bromide, benzos, tricyclics and SSRIs. All have been addictive and of little or no value.

Why should new snake oil be better than old snake oil ?

BNP threats

Featured on the BBC News tonight was fuel protester Andrew Spence. He is not just a simple  trucker. The Beeb neglected to mention that he joined the BNP and stood as one of their candidates.

Other sinister elements are involved. The pro-cruelty Countryside Alliance is suspected of having a hand in previous anti-Government machinations.

Of course the Government must listen to those who are in difficulties because of rising costs. But no British Government should ape the cowardly weakness of the French governments that have surrendered to threats and blackmail. If changes are to made, they will be on the merits on the case not on threats of disruption.

There lies the path to anarchy.

Freedom to die

Political advantage from tragedies

On the day when UK total of soldiers’ deaths in Afghanistan reached 97, a loony right wing campaigning group sends an e-mail. The message  from the Freedom Association is guaranteed to incite the wrath of at least 139 MPs. It starts in crimson letters:-

“As a Member of Parliament who sent our Forces to Areas of Conflict to fight and maybe give the ultimate sacrifice you should consider the following and ask whether you have met your obligation under the 'Military Covenant.”

As one of the many who voted against our sacrifice of soldiers’ lives in Bush’s Iraq war and spoke against the Helmand incursion, I object to the hectoring patronising tone of this message.

They are demanding an increase in Defence Spending. Ours is already the second highest in the world at £30 billion. Of course there are no hints as to which budget will be cut to afford the extra £5 billion they want to grab.

Is this a political stunt? The e-mail favorably mentions a Tory spokesman and kicks the Government. Where was this group when decisions to send UK troops to Iraq and to the Helmand Province were made? Almost certainly cheering from the sidelines as the Tories were.

The writer calls for renewal of the covenant between Government and the forces. Surely the first duty of the covenant should be to avoid sending troops to die in vain. Perhaps the second should be to resist the temptation to make political capital out of these tragedies. I have met my obligations under the covenant.

Has the Freedom Association?

Journey to nowhere

Friends of the Earth have cranked up their 'Big Ask' campaign for a strong climate change bill. The Green Agenda has slipped from the forefront of public attention recently. New figures confirm that Wales has a global footprint that would require three planets is shared worldwide.

The global increase in fuel prices is causing a headache to all road users. Planned protests tomorrow included convoys of lorries on circular   trips dropping in to the Parliament and the Senedd. There will no MPs or AMs at home and the Senedd has no powers on fuel prices. Perhaps one of the reporters covering the protest will ask the pertinent questions.

How will the waste of a whole day in a journey that ends at its starting point convince the public that the industry is in financial trouble? Will adding to the daily misery of congestion increase sympathy for the cause from other road users. Are you indifferent to the threat of global warming?

There is a case that is already being made powerfully by other direct approaches to Government.

Quote

Comment heard on Radio Four about Misery Memoirs
"To become a somebody, you must first find your inner nobody"

Cool Makeover for Senior

Trendy Gel

My seven-year-old grandson believes I need a makeover in time for the next election.

He recommends a cool hairstyle to counteract the effect of my deteriorating limp. As an experienced gel artist, he tried three styles on me, then photographed his work.

 When I entered the Commons in 1987, I became teetotal in the House.  My unsteady gait meant I knocked over furniture occasionally and ricocheted from one side of corridors to the other. It’s only the boring arthritis that I have had since I was a child.

When I was a candidate in 1986, my family dubbed me the PPC. Usually that means Prospective Parliamentary Candidate. In my case it meant Poor Pathetic Cripple. The sensible voters of Newport West have remained stoically un-alarmed by my meandering gait.

 Now I’ve forsaken marathons and Morris dancing, I need something else to rejuvenate my Peter Pan image. Another climb to the top of the Transporter Bridge is one idea but a trendy gel assisted hairstyle may do the trick.

Impressed, eh? I welcome comments on which style is the most statesmanlike.

Targets targeted

They were a plausible good idea but Government targets have more often been a measure of failure rather than success.

John Seddon publishes a devastating account of damage caused by targets in a new book. He gave evidence to my Select Committee recently.

He recalls that minister Nick Raynsford was puzzled that while all targets were being met the measures of public satisfaction with services were dropping. Nick thought it might be that clients’ expectations were rising.

Almost certainly it was because meeting the targets made the services worse. In “Systems Thinking in the Public Sector’, Seddon says that politicians have often complained the ‘four star ‘ services in their areas did not reduce the queues of complainants. The truth is that chasing targets often creates poor quality services and increases costs.

The targets are usually measuring the wrong outcomes. They are often a substitute to efficiency and customer satisfaction. Seddon makes a disturbing and convincing case.

A-Dored

The magnificent journalist Ben Goldacre delivers a weekly dose of Science Sense weekly in the Guardian.

His column ‘Bad Science’ exposes those who deploy PR as a substitute for scientific evidence.  There is a growing trend to hype ‘miracle cures’ on leisure broadcasts when the promoters can get away with half-truths and no-truths  without any rigorous challenges. Ben writes: -

You might have noticed the Dore "miracle cure" for dyslexia, invented by millionaire paint entrepreneur Wynford Dore. It's hard to ignore. In fact just recently you may have seen "Strictly Come Dancing" star Kenny Logan - a rugby superhero, with 70 caps in 13 years - promoting the Dore Dyslexia Program with his own personal testimonials on the Jeremy Vine Show, Channel Five News, Radio Five Live, BBC London, ITV Central, ITV Yorkshire, in the Daily Mail, the Daily Record, Scotland on Sunday, and many, many more.

One earlier round of "miracle cure" publicity was so bizarre that Nasa, which is quite busy making spacecraft, was forced to issue a press release refuting claims in the Independent and New Scientist that Dore used special Nasa space technology and exercises in the treatment (Dore denies involvement in these claims). And we should remember that the published scientific evidence for Dore consists of an infamous research study on the "miracle cure", filled with fascinating methodological holes so serious that there were five resignations from the editorial board of the journal Dyslexia in protest at its publication, and an unprecedented nine critical commentaries from academics.

Quote

Men go crazy in congregations But they only get better one by one . ... The Sting

Bridging the divide

Changing debate

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor says the Commons vote on abortion has left many people ‘deeply uneasy and perplexed, profoundly worried about the direction we are now taking'. He regrets the outcome but welcomes the ‘sincerity and thoughtfulness of the discussion.’ He calls for the establishment of a statutory National Bioethics Commission ‘to discover the deeper truths that enable us to secure the common good with justice for all, especially the disadvantaged and disabled, the elderly and, yes, the unborn too.’

The Cardinal's approach is a conciliatory attempt at bridging the concerns of both science and religion. The scientific argument of the abortion limit was on viability and the availability of resources. The religious conviction is based on respect for life in the womb from the moment of conception.

Few now support the Cardinal’s line of no abortion from the point of conception. The Commons bid to cut the limit to 12 weeks was opposed by 393 votes to 71. There is no realistic chance of the Commons accepting the Cardinal’s argument and returning to the misery of days when abortion was illegal.

A National Bioethics Commission might be useful but it should not usurp parliament’s decision-making role. Imperfect as it is the parliamentary process is the most accurate expression of the views of the nation.

Certainly no body should be established that would elevate the role of the Church to the power it enjoys in Ireland and Malta. In the 18 years since the Alton Bill, the opinion of the churchgoers has changed.  In 1990 ten per cent of my constituents contacted me.  The debate was bitter, inflamed by the tactics of SPUC. This time, about 50 constituents contacted me. Their arguments were couched in heartfelt but reasonable terms.

The Cardinal emphasises that religion should be an element in the continuing debate but should not be given ‘special privilege.’ There is common ground on ‘a vision of humanity in which every human life has infinite value and dignity’.

At a recent funeral in Newport the memory of a Bettws priest the late Father Sean Sedden was recalled. He brought a group of sixth formers to see me in the Commons in 1990. They eloquently and movingly made their case against abortion. I told them of a close friend who had a child whose sixth month life was one of constant pain. A second child was expected. Only tests late in the pregnancy could detect if the child and parents were to suffer a repeat of the same torments. To deny the possibility of a legal abortion in these circumstances would be cruel and oppressive.

Happily the child was healthy as the amniocentesis test proved. I valued the friendship and support of Father Sean Sedden who was a passionate advocate of developing world problems and other idealistic causes. Tragically there was no happy ending to his story.

Not much of plot.

The plot-seeking press army turned up only some mild and ambiguous comments from Margaret Beckett and Lord Desai. Unreported were the hundreds of Labour MPs who told the reporters to shove off because here was no seething insurrection.

Will the Sunday Papers find a real backbencher that is playing into the Tory’s hands and demanding Gordon’s scalp?

MPs will not meet until a week Monday. Harriet Harman is due to address the meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party. The wound of Crewe will be healing and a rational debate will take place.

I’m not expecting any great excitement on Labour’s leadership stakes for a long time.

Welsh NHS for the world?

Noble aim

It’s England versus Wales.

England seeks to restrict free medical help to failed asylum seekers. Welsh Minister Edwina Hart says that ‘people judge a civilized society by the way it cares for its people especially the weak and those who face death’. The Archbishop of Wales says that it's a moral stand to give failed asylum seekers free health treatment.

These are noble worthy ambitions. All were moved by the plight of a terminally ill Ghanaian women who was deported in the middle of her treatment. The heart says Wales is right. The head says England is being practical.

Half the workload of my office is taken up with asylum seekers – most are ‘failed’. Going through the process usually takes three or four years while appeal after appeal is allowed. The legal processes and eventual deportations are very costly. The system is generally thorough and fair.

If two systems of health care exist in future, Wales will become the magnet for the seriously ill. Who can blame anyone with a life-threatening illness for coming here from a poor country for treatment that is denied to them in their home country?  The flimsiest case for asylum status will admit them to treatment. 

The numbers are small at the moment, but if they multiply the system will collapse. I have seen no estimate of additional resources for the NHS. Nor any understanding of the resentment if failed asylum seekers are judged to be jumping the already long queues for expensive surgery.

The Welsh Assembly should proceed cautiously. The most elevated moral gestures will be undermined by this simple truth.

Wales cannot provide a free health service to the world.

Fake surprise

Tamsin Dunwoody did a little better than Labour’s 24% rating in the opinion polls promised. She got 31%. In these dire circumstances, even a tiny crumb of comfort is worth savoring. The papers seemed to have swallowed the Tories carefully planned ‘astonishment’ at the result.

I had nearly 30 phone calls from the press today. They are determined to find Labour panic and plot. I have not seen any. The party is coolly accepting confirmation of the bad news that the opinion polls have been giving us for months. Changing leaders would as pointless and self-defeating as the Tories’ musical chairs with Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard.

There is a winning agenda for Labour. Let’s dump the ephemeral games and return to the core values on our movement

^Muckspreader

Elfyn Llwyd MP is mouthing words supplied to him again – probably by a farming union who pulls his strings. He attacks my comment of the Assembly’s farming minister’s refusal to back the UK’s bid to reform the Common Agricultural Policy. The alternative is that France and Germany can carry on picking the pockets of British taxpayers.

Elfyn says

"Whilst a move away from the production subsidy is understandable in the long run, removing all subsidies overnight would be devastating.”

Neither the UK, me nor anyone else is asking for the immediate removal of all subsidies. But the process of cutting subsidies must begin. In 2004, the farm Tax cost the average British family £540 for the privilege of buying the dearest food in the world. One single pampered industry still gobbles up 40% of the total EU budget.

"Indeed, even the removal of the production subsidy can only happen when market conditions allow Welsh and UK farmers to compete on the world market."

After decades of vast subsidies, British farming cannot compete on equal terms with third world countries. What an admission of the debilitating effects of living in a culture of dependency.

"Its removal now would leave tens of thousands of farmers in Wales unemployed and homeless. "

Cobblers! The farming economy is booming. Farmland and farmhouse values are soaring.  The majority of farmers are now asset rich and income rich. Farmers do not the leave the industry penniless if they have farms to sell.

For two years I battled to get a report on the CAP through the Council of Europe. It was eventually sabotaged by the farming lobbies from France, Germany and Switzerland. The campaign against the waste, corruption and environmental damage of the CAP is being waged by the UK against France and Germany. Wales should be backing the UK Government.

The poverty argument of Welsh farmers is a bit threadbare. I challenged the Farmers Union of Wales to show me a poor farmer. I spent some days in his company examining his farm and his account.

At the end I said to him, ‘For one of my constituents to live your lifestyle, he would have to win the lottery.’ He was and still is living a good life. There are no paupers in Welsh farming in spite of the hysterical hype. 

Lord Tom Burlison

Working class Hero

The death of Lord Tom Burlison was completely unexpected.

He appeared fitter than any of the other 70 years olds in the Lords and Commons. He had spent 20 years as a professional footballer and he was still trim and lean.

In the eighties he was a familiar face on TV as the moderate voice of trade unionism. Although I was politically distant from his brand of Labour party, I formed a good friendship with him in recent years. He did a great deal to secure the parliamentary seat for Peter Mandelson. His elevation to the Lords was a reward for services to Blairism.

When running for the GMBU's top job in 1985, he said: "I've got a grass roots background. My father, a miner, died from a disease of the chest. If I get the job, one thing I could not forget and would not forget is my roots in the North-East. I would use any opportunity which became available to project and assist the North."

In 1993, The Northern Echo wrote: "It is hard, impossible, to imagine a nicer chap." I have attended many meetings of the Western European Union’s Defence Committee with Tom.  He was a delightful companion and an engaging raconteur. Although he had a deal of unhappiness to bear in recent years, he remained dedicated to the job of representing working people and serving his region.

Misleading By-election results

To avoid over-excitement at tonight’s inevitable dreadful election result at Crewe, it’s instructive to recall the hysteria unleashed by other by-elections in 1987-1992. That was before Labour lost the general election. We were deluded over and over again by by-election false hopes. It was a time when papers asked, ‘would a Government ever win a by-election in future.”

Useful figures to keep in mind as the Tories tonight ramp up their anticipatory excitement.

    * Eight seats changed hands in the 1987 Parliament at by-elections. The Conservatives lost four seats to Labour and three to the Liberal Democrats. Labour lost Glasgow, Govan to the SNP.
    * Labour gained the highest share of the vote in by-elections during the 1987 Parliament with 38.8% (Con: 23.7%, LD: 19.1%)

Lab gain from Con

          o Vale of Glamorgan (4 May 1989) - 14.2% swing towards Labour
          o Mid Staffordshire (22 March 1990) – 24.3% swing towards Labour
          o Monmouth (4 April 1991) – 11.6% swing towards Labour
          o Langbaurgh (7 Nov 1991) – 4.6% swing towards Labour.

Lib Dem gain from Con

          o Eastbourne (27 Sept 1990) – 21.1% swing towards Lib Dems
          o Ribble Valley (29 Nov 1990) – 27.1% swing towards Lib Dems
          o Kincardine and Deeside (7 Nov 1991) – 12.7 swing towards Lib Dems