David Ottewell's Politics

A baby dies, his parents are jailed for child cruelty, and the authorities are hauled over the coals in a scathing report.
You can read the full tragic story of baby Jack here. He was taken to hospital; there were signs of neglect; but information wasn’t shared properly. He was released, there were no follow-up meetings, and a month later he was dead.
What I find particularly depressing are these two examples of ‘good practice’ found by the independent auditor:

Both of these say far more about what went wrong than what, if anything, went right.

Prime minister’s questions? A complete non-event. My view was that it was about 50-50 until Gordon Brown’s last barb at David Cameron went unchallenged. But really, Nick Clegg was the only one who didn’t mail in his performance.
From a local point of view the highlight was Paul Rowen, Lib Dem MP for Rochdale, asking about the Christie Hospital’s ‘lost’ millions.
“Christie Hospital, which is a world leader in the treatment of cancer, has recently lost £6.5m due to the Icelandic banking crisis – money earmarked for new radiography centres in Oldham and Salford,” he said. “Given the government’s support for financial institutions, what is the Prime Minister doing to help Christie recover this money?”
Gordon Brown replied: “I’ve met nurses from the Christie Hospital. They do a wonderful job in treating people with Cancer, they’re a world class hospital and I praise what they do. I have said that I will meet their officials to look at the issues that they raise. This is essentially an issue in relation to an Icelandic bank that was regulated not in Britain but was regulated outside Britain. All banks that are regulated in Britain we have guaranteed the deposits of savers, we will look and see what we can do, but I have to tell him that that is the central issue but this is not a charity with funds in banks that are regulated in Britain but we will look at what we can do and I do once again praise the Christie Hospital for what they achieve.”
Worrying. Mr Brown seems to be saying: we are looking at what we can do, but what we can do is probably nothing, since this is ultimately a matter for the Icelandic authorities and the courts.
To my mind, this is completely the wrong note to strike about a hospital that is known, respected and loved across the north west. If the prime minister can’t do anything about this, people will ask, how is he going to re-order the world’s economy? The sum involved is trifling by government standards; and it’s not like direct intervention would set an expensive precident. The Christie is pretty much unique in Britain, and I don’t think many other hospital trusts had money invested in Iceland, anyway.
At the very least, is no one in the government putting pressure on the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to review its decision (which could well, in any case, be overturned in the courts)?
Over on Twitter, even Labour supporters weren’t impressed:

Can anyone doubt Boris Johnson writes his own Twitter updates? I swear you can actually hear his voice in your head…

From the BBC’s live coverage of the G20 protests:

And from the Press Association:
“Hundreds of protesters gathered at London Bridge station for the march against financial crimes. Andy, 54, from Chelmsford, did not want to give his surname, fearing he “might end up in Guantanamo Bay”…”

All together: the Browns and Obamas, pre-G20
Barack Obama was asked at this morning’s press conference whether America should shoulder the blame for the current economic crisis. His reply was a typically deft yes-and-no:
“If you look at the sources of this crisis, the US certainly has some accounting to do with respect of a regulatory system that was inadequate to the massive changes that had taken place in the global financial system.
“What is also true is that here in Great Britain, and continental Europe, around the world, we are seeing the same mismatch between the regulatory regimes that were in place and the highly integrated global capital markets that had emerged.
“I had a professor at law school who said ‘Some are to blame but all are responsible’ and I think that is the best way for us to approach the problem we have right now.”