From the Beeb

All very fluffy and NewLabourspeak. I am fairly confident however that I am not the only one who is disgusted by this development. I am also fairly certain that I will not be alone in refusing to make any future donations to Help for Heroes as a result of them taking money from fascists.

Nothing heroic about that.  Please reconsider.

Whilst the likes of Iain Dale are banging on about the Mandleson interview for the Today programme, The Reddest Tory has been busy consuming the real big story of the day. Provided by the BBC, it seems Peter Griffin is standing for election in Northern Island!

Yep; Family Guy’s favourite son is attempting to secure a position as a Cllr in County Tyrone for the Ulster Unionist Party. The man himself, who seems to be going by the name of Ross Hussey, has produced a poster emblazed with the image of Griffin which he hopes his party will approve. The context, rather predictably, is improving yoof engagement with politics.

A slow news day at Auntie then? I hope Paxman is made to cover this one on Newsnight. That would make The Reddest Tory’s day

The Reddest Tory would therefore invite all his former academic colleagues to listen to this short radio broadcast over at a blog authored by Donal Blaney. Its a horrendously left wing tirade against the forces of conservatism that I am sure all those of you who wait in anticipation for the proletarian revolution to come will draw considerable enjoyment from.

For the record, The Reddest Tory finds the whole thing amusing and he has still not stopped chuckling at the fact so many mainstream media outlets and lefty bloggers fell for such an obvious hoax.

The Reddest Tory notes that voice of the UKIP grassroots, ConservativeHome, has published another contribution to the NHS debate that appears to be gripping politicians during the silly season. The Reddest Tory cannot help but feel our healthcare system would be in a better position if this intensity of focus was accorded years ago, but then one supposes that we should be grateful for the fact our politicians are finally taking an interest. Anyways, this time it is Shane Frith, the Kiwi bloke at Progressive Vision, who has chipped in with a well written article pleading with us all to get over our apparent misguided belief that the NHS is the envy of the world. It follows hot on the heals of the comments made on the NHS by that bald Tory MEP who keeps sticking his nose into our domestic affairs (snigger) and the more thoughtful, interesting and worthwhile contribution from of qualified medical professional Dr Charles Tannock.

Now, The Reddest Tory would be the first to coincide that the NHS is far from perfect and therefore politicians of all creeds are doing us all a disservice when they flannel around and attempt to shut down discussion on this most important of policy areas. To this extent, The Reddest Tory, a fully paid up member of the I Love Dave fan club, believes Mr Cameron and his Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley have not taken the best course of action by trying to slam the door to stop the debating horse from bolting. Poor show lads.

The Reddest Tory does however believe an equally poor show is the kind of grand abstract idealogical nonsense we have seen from that interfering Tory MEP. The simple fact of the matter, whether the libertarian faction likes it or not, is that the public at large (gawd bless em) are emotionally attached to a healthcare system they see, rightly or wrongly, as the envy of the world. Therefore, Mr Frith can produce all the glossy statistical information he wishes to prove the NHS is a failing socialist leviathan, but the inconvenient truth for the libertarian devotees of Rand is that, just like the traditional pint glass, the good old fashioned inch and the pound in our pocket, we believe the NHS is the best of British. We love our doctors, our nurses and the fact we can trip arse over head and get treated for free. There might be good reason to move to a Singapore, French, Scandinavian or even American system of healthcare, just as there might be good reason to move to pints in plastic, metric measurements and the Euro or Dollar. But we wont. Because the inch, the pint, the furlong, the yard, the ounce, the BBC and the red phone box are all idiosyncratically British and we love them. I believe its called conservatism……………….and I hope the Conservative Party recognises that its pragmatism rather then revolution that we must adopt when it comes to healthcare policy.

That said, and as previously mentioned, we should not be so conservative, so Young England if you will (one for the historians there), that we should oppose good change. Necessary change. Change to Win if you will (one for the Cameronites there). We must debate the NHS and The Reddest Tory believes there is plenty for those who should do so to get their teeth into.

For example, is Cameron being financially prudent to guarantee that current NHS spending levels will be retained under a Conservative government? The Reddest Tory, despite being a dripping wet conservative who loves the NHS to bits, is not convinced by this approach and believes any spending commitments should include a cut to the administrative budget to remove unnecessary waste (44 grand for a laundry manager………..). How do we address the Tannock problem of dealing with those who persistently miss appointments? The Reddest Tory agrees with a comment PPC for Tooting Mark Clarke left on ConHome on behalf of people he has spoken to on the campaign trail when he suggests a deposit for an appointment should be made and returned only if the patient shows up. How do we persuade more doctors to leave behind popular places to work such as London and East of England and instead head for Wales, Wessex and other under subscribed areas? This is a question that could be addressed alongside a comprehensive review of the junior doctor recruitment system, which has been a total farce for years now. How do we address the fact that doctors salaries have got completely out of hand thanks to the incompetence of those who negotiated contracts which allow some just out of medschool F1′s to earn around 30 grand when you chuck in the banding supplement? One suspects this would be one of the biggest challenges a Secretary of State Lansley would have to face and one does wonder if the housewives favourite has the stomach for such a fight. How are we going to stop the culture of litigation from taking hold in the NHS that causes doctors to think twice about what they are doing rather then acting on sound knowledge and instinct, something which occasionally leads to fatal delays occurring just because they are fearful of being sued? How do we ensure hospital wards remain as clean as possible so when you enter a hospital you can be sure you’re not going to get worse rather then better. And how do we deal with those who believe it is acceptable to hit or verbally abuse NHS staff? Do we continue to give such individuals a slap on the wrist, or do we actually punish them in a way that demonstrates such behaviour is totally unacceptable.

The Reddest Tory believes the NHS is one of the things that is great about being British. Its not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and there are many issues we could and should debate within healthcare policy. One thing the Reddest Tory does not doubt however is that the NHS should remain, as far as possible, free at the point of need for anybody requiring it. The day insurance companies get a hold of our healthcare system is the day we might as well pack up our belongings and head elsewhere. We should defend the NHS with pride whilst accepting it has flaws that need addressing. But let us take polish to the NHS glassware, not a massive sledgehammer. And to Mr Frith, a man with experience of working with NZ National politicians, The Reddest Tory suggests he would perhaps be better off advising Tony Ryall rather then Andy Burnham or Andrew Lansley. For over in New Zealand, they have a ridiculous ACC system which covers up acts of gross medical negligence and costs the taxpayer millions. They have a huge recruitment problem that means they have to get scores of doctors from abroad just to run to stand still. They have a 50NZD or so fee to see a GP, leading to follow up appointment rates, particularly amongst poorer Maori patients, being less then impressive. And they have just built a super new hospital in Wellington with less bed capacity then the old one it has replaced, that is expected to incorporate the downgrading of nearby Kenepuru despite having less beds and which could be cut off from the rest of the city in the event of a large scale earthquake…………….

So, lets debate the NHS….but please dear god let us not go down the New Zealand route!

The Reddest Tory was not surprised to see the the King and Queen of blogging, alongside the boys over at ConHome once again dominating the list. He was however pleased to see the fantastic Harry Cole/Tory Bear, the wonderful Tim Roll-Pickering and the idiosyncratic Damon Lord all finishing well inside the list. As far as the Reddest Tory is concerned, these websites are what blogging is all about and its good to see the likes of Damon in particular, one of The Reddest Tory’s closest muckers, can attract enough votes to be placed on the same list as media giants Dale and Staines.

Congratulations to all who made the list…And here’s hoping The Reddest Tory (whose blog was set up too late for consideration this year) can join you on there in 2010.

It has been brought to The Reddest Tory’s attention, thanks to his daily unsound perusal of the BBC website, that The Times ran a story this week highlighting that the average pint glass has a life span of only 3 months. The Reddest Tory assumes this average has been lowered significantly in the wake of the disturbances around Upton Park this week………More amusingly however, it seems some bod has collected statistics suggesting 87,000 people get injured by glassware. Now The Reddest Tory makes the assumption most of these injuries are relatively minor and that very few people end up being glassed or suffering anything serious. However, it would seem some people with far too much time to kill (The Home Office) have launched an investigation to see if a safer replacement for the traditional pint glass can be found. In a classic example of political nonsense speak (where do they get these bloody researchers from)., some junior Home Office Minister I have never heard of called Alan Campbell informs us……

“Innovative design has played an important role in driving down overall crime. This project will see those same skills applied to the dangerous and costly issue of alcohol-related crime and I am confident it will lead to similar success.

You can feel safe in the knowladge the best lads for the job are on the case.  The Reddest Tory understand the Home Office’s Design and Technology Alliance Against Crime team have got the matter in hand………

All The Reddest Tory wants to know is does innovative design mean plastic and paper cups are being actively considered as replacements for the traditional pint glass? For there is nothing worse then being forced to drink out of a bright orange plastic pint glass just somebody has deemed glassware unsafe for visiting Millwall or U2 fans (about comparable I reckon). The Reddest Tory thinks this nonsense idea should be scrapped before another penny is wasted on researchers even considering it. The public will never see the traditional pint glass go to the wall, so there is no point in even thinking about it……

Those of you who have been around the bloggerspere a while may recall Mr Hilton got himself in a spot of bother by declaring on Recess Monkey, incorrectly, that Thatcher had snuffed it. Mr Hilton was well and truly done up like a kipper. In addition to being hoaxed himself, Mr Hilton is no stranger to hoaxing others and, if The Reddest Tory remembers correctly, he claimed a small part (it was a Tory who did the deed mind) in the Carla Jones episode that had the bloggersphere all in a spin a little while back.

It would seem Mr Hilton has been up to his old tricks again. A few days ago, Chris Grayling made the outrageous assertion that somebody as dull as himself would ever watch anything like The Wire. He claimed, having spent a night with the plod down in Moss Side (you want to try living there mate as The Reddest Tory had to for 9 months) that parts of this country now resemble the scenes of Baltimore portrayed in the aforementioned American drama. Seizing his moment, Mr Hilton seems to have created a spoof Mayor of Baltimore website and issued a statement on it expressing dismay that a senior British politician could ever make such comments. Despite the obvious clues suggesting this was a not particularly well hidden hoax (the copyright was in the name of Mr R. Monkee Esq), the left wing bloggersphere and socialist mainstream media did not let this get in their way of kicking the Tories for apparently dropping a PR clanger.

Mr Hilton has since claimed responsibility on LabourHome, leaving many in the left wing media with faces redder then their politics. Naturally, Guido and Iain Dale have lapped up the story, leading to the kind of predictable backlash from the likes of Liberal Conspiracy that smacks of annoyance at failing to spot the hoax in the first place.

Of of which goes to show that hoaxes in politics are horrendously funny…unless you fall victim to them and therefore inevitably have a sense of humour failure. This particular one also serves to demonstrate just how widespread churnalism is in some of our major national news outlets. Its not however the funniest political hoax The Reddest Tory is aware of. That honour falls to a bunch of CF activists, who decided one day to create a fictional facebook profile for an imaginary member of parliament to see if the politically ambitious would join anything……..Regrettably, but somewhat predictably, the profile soon had a decent network of friends, many of whom took the trouble to wish the fictional candidate all the best……………….

The Reddest Tory has been established in order to provide its author with a platform from which to spout his inarticulate, idiotic and idiosyncratic political views. As the title of this blog would suggest, the author would identify himself as being on the progressive end of the Conservative Party and the blog will occasionally highlight the absurdity of those who continue to undermine the great strides we have made in recent years by refusing to accept that Thatcherism and unrestricted capitalism are spent forces. 

The Reddest Tory is a proud defender of the National Health Service, the comprehensive education system and the BBC. He believes the European Union is not quite the evil force many conservatives make it out to be, although he has no desire to see the single currency adopted by the UK. The Reddest Tory is a passionate defender of the Third Sector and believes the public and private sectors should work closely with experts in that field to ensure all in our communities have the opportunity to genuinely prosper. He believes all conservatives should recognise that Thatcherism is no more desirable to socialism and that localism is the real third way.

This blog seeks to discuss a number of subjects. Alongside offering a very personal and subjective view on the salient political issues of the day, The Reddest Tory will also cast the occasional eye at the activities of CF (he is a member), the important art of football, music, film and anything else that tickles the authors tastebuds.

Enjoy,

The Reddest Tory