Our country has some monumental challenges facing it. Millions of our citizens are concerned about their and their families futures as we work out when and how to reduce the budget deficit. Those who have suffered most economically are especially worried about their own immediate circumstances with unemployment rising and incomes falling. Notwithstanding any of this, our hearts should go out to the people of Haiti whose country has been destroyed by the movement of two tectonic plates that no army, government or media baron could have stopped.
Whatever political differences that exist in our country over how we are going to get out of the economic, military, climatic and social messes we are in, I do hope none will say we cannot offer financial, technical and other support to the Haitian people at this time. Charity may begin at home, but it doesn’t end there.
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The fall in the value of the pound against the euro has led to the UK experiencing a rise in the number of prescription drugs being exported to Europe under a process known as ‘parallel trading’ – buying medicines in countries like Greece and Spain where prices are cheaper and then reselling them for a higher price in countries like Denmark and the UK.
This has caused drug shortages in the NHS, sometimes preventing patients from accessing vital prescriptions for epilepsy, pain relief and many other conditions.
I have been raising this issue with Ministers over a period of time now and have uncovered that clear figures on the number of patients and drugs being affected by shortages are not available.
This is an unfair and potentially dangerous situation for us to find ourselves in and the Government is not doing enough to stop it. It is the Department of Health’s responsibility to ensure the supply line of lifesaving drugs and they are falling short.
So far my communications with the Health Secretary about the impact of parallel trading and the drug shortages have only resulted in the same answer. The Department of Health state they have no plan to study this problem in depth, but insist they are ‘monitoring’ the situation closely.
It really is a scandal that the Government is keeping vital information secret about the extent of this practice.
In fact the Government has actually exempted the body that collates reports from pharmacists on what drugs are not available from the Freedom of Information Act, preventing the full picture from emerging.
My perseverance with this issue is beginning to interest some national newspapers and if they can help expose this secrecy then all to the good.
I’m supporting the Live Music Bill that aims to make it easier for musicians to perform live by proposing a Licensing Act exemption for venues putting on music for 200 or less people. The Bill would reinstate the two-in-the-bar rule, that would allow live entertainment without a licence. This idea has the backing of the Musicians’ Union, Equity, the National Campaign for the Arts and UK Music.
Pubs don’t need a licence to show a live sporting event on TV, but under the Licensing Act need one for just about any other form of live entertainment. Surely the Government doesn’t think people who listen to live music are more of a threat to public order than sports fans?
Small venues are vitally important to Britain’s creative culture. Many of our most successful musicians got their first break playing live in pubs, cafes or student unions. Sadly, the Government is denying this opportunity to young musicians today by making it costly and time-consuming for small venues to apply for a licence. We risk suffocating our live music scene in red tape.
On December 31 2009, the Government announced a 3-month consultation on its own proposals to exempt venues with audiences of less than 100. But no specific exemption for schools, hospitals and colleges is proposed, nor would the ‘two-in-the-bar’ rule be re-instated.
The Government have moved slowly on this issue which suggests they are not serious about changing anything. The timing of the consultation means it will finish just before the election, with no opportunity to actually do anything. The only real chance to change the law is by supporting the Live Music Bill and I hope the Peers who are pushing it through the House of Lords will succeed, and the Commons will then rubber stamp it into law.
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I really don’t understand the opposition to making a charge on the bonuses paid to bankers, unless of course you work in the City and are looking forward to one. These bonuses are a result of almost fail proof investments made with taxpayers’ money, or backed by a cannot lose Government guarantee.
When we borrow money from the banks they impose a charge on us in addition to the interest rate. Isn’t it only right that we impose such a charge on the banks for the funds they have borrowed from our future taxes before they pay it out in bonus pay cheques to some of the already highest paid people in the country.
President Obama is taking on Wall Street and imposing such a charge in the US, so why can’t we do the same in the UK?
Never in the history of City banking have so few been rewarded with so much by so many for doing so little.
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I overheard that the Government is so concerned about the heavy snowfalls recently that they are considering setting up a national regulatory body to oversee the gritting of all roads and pavements. Rumours that such an agency would go under the name ‘Offpiste’, have not be denied.
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