Thursday 3 September 2009

Benedict Brogan opines on the invisible Mr Brown.

In today's Daily Telegraph Benedict Brogran opines on the invisibility of UK Premier
Mr Gordon Brown in the fall-out of the Lockerbie affair.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/benedict-brogan/6128163/David-Camerons-lesson-in-leadership-for-a-Prime-Minister-in-retreat.html
Other Labour ministers have gone missing with the exception of Lord Peter Mandelson.
Apparently, the British Prime Minister is cautious and cannot reply to a straight question with a direct answer. Quite a few people in the Labour Party harboured suspicions about the capability of Mr Brown (was'nt he a landscape specialist?) but did not bother to share them with the UK electorate. This was when he was elected by his party in a Stalinist style vote. Even the North Koreans would have been proud of the vote recieved by Mr Brown in the Labour leadership election, although it was called a "coronation". I bet some Labour MPs in English marginals are regretting the coronation now.
Changing tbe subject today has seen the publication of a McKinsey management consultants report advising the elimination of one in ten jobs in the National Health Service (NHS), which has been much maligned in the United States recently with the Republican attacks on the Obama health reforms. I think something is going to give. However, if you do have job cuts the NHS bureaucrats will protect themselves while the number of doctors and nurses will be reduced.
However, normal rules do not seem to apply to the NHS with its high sickie rates, although it is a relatively cheap way in terms of percentage of GDP to provide health care for a country. I suppose both the UK and US health systems need reforming
and it will be interesting to see what will happen. Eliminating jobs and positions would be a quick way of saving money for the NHS but it would be very disruptive in the long term.

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