We don't all adore the Daily Mail

I've rather lost track of who said what, did what, supported what, opposed what and all the rest in the National Council for Civil Liberties. But one thing has become rather clear - with some exceptions nearly everyone on the right is siding with the Daily Mail and nearly everyone on the left is siding with Harriet Harman. That's not exactly the best circumstances to determine the truth of the matter.

But not everybody on the right is actually a great fan of the Daily Mail - that's no secret but it's not so well known. Often the paper's editorial line leaves many of us annoyed and frustrated. Frequently its fire is unhelpful and sometimes it's turned on the right. But worse still many of its columnists spread vile unnecessarily. I've heard many things said about the paper by my friends of the left (and those who think they're on the left) but I've heard worse things from fellow righties.

As the issue itself, it needs to be considered dispassionately and not through an automatic filter of one's pre-existing view about the Daily Mail, Harriet Harman, Jack Dromey, Patricia Hewitt or Liberty.

The redundancy the NHS still needs

Since my post nearly a year ago (The redundancy the NHS needs) Patricia Hewitt has continued to fail to understand the NHS and morale is still low. It has reached the point that doctors are in despair.

*BBC News: Senior DoH staff 'dissatisfied'
*ITV News: Junior doctors in jobs protests
*Yorkshire Post: Hewitt defends doctor recruitment system
*BBC News: 'I'm leaving the NHS for New Zealand'

And just look at the reaction to her name at this protest about the mess that is the Medical Training and Application System:



So it comes as no surprise that doctors have started a petition for the redundancy of this redundant minister:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Remove Patricia Hewitt from the office of Health Secretary.

The number of health workers signing so far is very telling.

The redundancy the NHS needs

Patricia Hewitt must be thanking her lucky stars. Any other day and her reception at the Royal College of Nursing would have been the main political story, putting all pressure on her. Instead other events have made it partially buried bad news, a mere part of the wider story of the government's troubles, being upstaged by Charles Clarke.

This Health Secretary is convinced that the NHS has just had its best year ever despite having only visited thirteen hospitals during the last year. Yesterday she was confronted by one of the least militant trade unions of all, a union that has never gone on strike. These are not people who will jeer the government for the sake of it. Nurses know from first hand experience just what state the NHS is in.

A Health Secretary who denies reality about the state of the NHS, who has no clear grasp of the deficits in healthcare trusts and who fails to reassure the medical professions about potential job cuts does nothing to boost crucial morale. There is one redundancy that would give the NHS a morale boost and that is Hewitt's. But it would only be effective if her replacement will get a firm understanding and grip on the job, not live in some other reality.