Liberal Vision

Public Health Success?

If, as some campaigners would have us believe, obesity is more of a health risk than smoking, the data suggest that 50 years of massive investment in the public health industry have yielded very little in the way of overall risk reduction.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – USA

I do not believe that the relationship between smoking and obesity rates is simple but this graph suggests that as a society we should at least consider taking a more holistic look at health issues.

For far too long now, health policy has been dictated by a dangerous combination of single issue campaigning and statistics based “evidence”.

People are not numbers, they do not conform to the rigid norms dictated by the public health industry and many will choose to accept certain health risks in pursuit of what they consider a more enjoyable if potentially shorter life.

I have no idea how much of the rise in obesity in the USA was fuelled by ex-smokers displacing one potentially harmful activity with another.  Similarly, campaigners have no idea whether trying to reduce young people’s access to tobacco and alcohol might lead to increased uptake of other substances that are potentially more acutely threatening to their health.

One thing that we do know, or should if we bothered to learn the lessons of history is that many public health interventions have had unintended negative consequences and the more illiberal and draconian the intervention then the greater the risk and impact of such consequences.

Chris Snowdon deals with this subject in some depth in his book The Art of Suppression. It is an informative well researched read for anyone interested in the reality behind the rhetoric.  Until I read it, amongst other things I was unaware that Heroin was originally promoted by the pharmaceutical industry as a non-addictive alternative to morphine.  Snowdon covers a range of issues including the disaster of alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, the EUs illogical ban on oral tobacco and the growth in designer drugs as a consequence of Ecstasy prohibition.

He questions why prohibitionist policies remain attractive to many in the light of their historic failure and concludes that “in the end, fear is more intoxicating than hope.”

By Chris Oakley. Chris has previously posted on Liberal Vision:  Smokers-State Aprroved hate and Intolerance is UK policy,   Alcohol is Old News – Minimum Pricing for Digestives is the “Next Logical Step” , Soviet Style Alcohol Suppression Campaign Called for By Public Health Activists , Alcohol Taxation: The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth , A Liberal Tolerant nation? and  What hope is there for liberty if truth becomes the plaything of political lobbyists.

Tags: Christopher Snowdon, health, obesity, smoking, The Art Of Suppression

When is Nick Clegg going to grow up, decide what he wants to be, and just lead?

The internal politics of Nick Clegg’s decision to co-author a letter to activists with Baroness Shirley Williams are not hard to understand. Left-wing activists and the professional NHS staff interests amongst the membership would and could still deliver a stinging rebuke to his Leadership through a wrecking motion at Gateshead next week.

Judging defeat certain, and no doubt encouraged by threats of resignations, defections and ritual suicide by members of his ‘peer-group’, he has bravely decided to give in to their demands to present a united front.

Charitably we judge he may have been poorly advised. Nick’s preference for conflict-avoidance and invertebrates in his inner circle, is far more consistent than his public statements. His Leadership bid was so anaemic that a substantial opening lead was eroded to the point that Chris Huhne’s ‘triumph of the will’ campaign was only thwarted by a postal strike.

Rather than reform the party prior to the last election in the manner of Blair or Cameron, Clegg chose instead to genuflect to the self-regarding piffle of the party’s sense of it’s own exceptionalism – most often articulated through the notion that a few hundred activists meeting twice a year in an empty hall have opinions more valid than the 60,000 (or so) party members who can’t afford a holiday in Newcastle, or indeed the wider electorate.

So should we then be surprised that having upset all the left liberals over tuition fees, in turn a result of not preparing the party for change, he has now had a crack at upsetting all the market liberals over the NHS, for exactly the same reason?

Not really.

Does it matter?

In the short-term, not a great deal, the Heath and Social Care Bill was already a fairly weak reform programme, entirely mishandled by Lansley and Cameron, and there is no guarantee Clegg’s “tantrum” or Williams amendments will change much. Much of this row is about perception and positioning.

In the long-run, Clegg has two problems. First he has allowed his name to be a attached to a string of quotes the left can beat him and allies with until the end of his career. A selection and the issue:

“people not profits”

- an empty slogan, usually to be found on protest marches organised by the hard-left. It broadly means all private enterprise is evil. Try reforming anything now, banks, employment law, tax… “people not profits” will come the cry.

“competition only on quality not price”

- another empty slogan that if it did mean anything would surely be applicable outside health. Does Clegg now wish to ban price competition in all markets?

“no government will be able to once again favour the private sector”

- even if the public sector is rubbish. Is that the Tube drivers threatening strike action unless bribed to do their well paid unskilled jobs during the Olympics… thank goodness we don’t favour the private sector.

“private providers can only offer their services where patients say they want them”

- which is a curious double standard for those of us who are forced to use the public sector whether we want it or not due to the absence of competition.

“the NHS is never treated like a private industry.”

- other than in respect of employment law, tax law, health and safety, the supplies and services they buy on the open market, the agency staff that work there, the work they outsource and so on. This is both pandering to the complete fiction that the NHS is an entirely public sector operation, and opening all the parts that are not to attack. Thanks Nick!

“(no) threat of takeover from US -style healthcare providers”

- boo US health… boo… what about all those nice EU healthcare providers who produce good outcomes in more mixed systems than the UK? Again pandering to a destructive myth.

“insulating the NHS from the full force of competition law.”

- because as liberals we believe protectionism, mercantilism, and monopoly is a superior way of delivering services than for example allowing innovation or choice… you what?

“Foundation Trusts cannot focus on private profits before patients.”

- killing and maiming people is not profitable. Making them better faster in comfort on the other hand tends to attract other customers and repeat business, but horror oh horror that’s both the profit motive and desire to do good all mixed up… can you imagine trying to explain that on a focus leaflet?… well can you?… will no one think of the children who devise our campaigns?…

Second, no one, from Baroness Williams, to the Miliband Tendency in the Liberal Left, to his coalition partners thinks Clegg actually believes any of this crap. Rather than looking like a magisterial negotiator shrewdly steering the path of the possible through his allies and foes, he just looks weak and vacillating. Clegg’s image problem has never been proximity to David Cameron’s world-view, it’s his utter inconsistency. Once again he has flipped his floppy quiff rather than follow his instincts.

For the left, they now know the Orange roadblock in the Leadership can be rammed out of the way with placards. Screaming and shrieking nonsense works. Today people not profits, tomorrow the US government caused 9-11 and covered it up. This is unlikely to enhance party unity, only leave Clegg’s allies dejected and his foes hungry for more. Starting no doubt with a wrecking motion at conference. So what was the point.

When is Nick Clegg going to grow up, decide what he wants to be, and just lead?

Tags: Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, Shirley Williams, Spring Conference

Liberal Vision votes in LDV’s “Liberal Voice of the Year poll”

 

Much has been said on the subject of  LDV’s “Liberal Voice of Year Poll”. Having read a good number of thoughts, on a range of blogs and posts, about who people think should (or shouldn’t) get the vote… we thought we might lob our two-penneth in.

It probably won’t surprise you to discover that we think it should be Mark Littlewood, founder of and former contributor to this very blog.

Why? Curiously NOT because he has easily been the most effective “free market freedom fighter” of the past year. That should perhaps count… but we think there are other reasons…

First off, as many of you know (and some may have forgotten) Mark is a true liberal. Not only has he done his turn working for Liberty, Mark co-founded, and was chief spokesman for, NO2ID for quite a stint. It is easy to forget that without the simply brilliant and relentless work of NO2ID (hats off here to Phil Booth and Guy Herbert as well) we would almost certainly have seen ID cards being rolled out by now. That alone should earn him some form of recognition.

And whilst on the subject of noble causes let us not forget his stint as chief spin doctor for the party. Not many people will know the extent to which he totally modernised the Lib Dem press office – recruiting and promoting some of the brightest and the best in the business (several of whom are still doing their bit for the party in government today), changing structures and practices that made party’s press operation one the best in the business.

But perhaps the real reason why we here at Liberal Vision think that he deserves to win is that he has, almost single-handedly, championed the cause of personal freedom. He has taken on ministers over regressive plans to introduce minimum pricing on alcohol; tackled lobbyists over the crippling smoking ban; called for the legalisation of drugs. He has demanded time and time again that adults should be treated as adults and not patronised; not spoken down to; not dismissed by those in power. He has been THE VOICE for all those people out there who believe that Government meddling, nannying or nudging is insane, frequently counter-productive and too often unfair – but have no opportunity to say so. He speaks for millions.

Of course we should not overlook his credentials as the “free market freedom fighter” – a term that truly reflects both the passion he has for the subject and the sheer amount of work he does (when is he NOT on the media somewhere or other?). He was without any shadow of any doubt THE free market Voice of 2011. We understand that not everyone shares his views. But what people can not deny is his willingness to engage in the intellectual argument surrounding economic liberalism.

Whilst here at LV, Mark was always insistent that whenever we ran into people who disagreed with our views, the only way to tackle it was to engage and discuss. Those of you that follow him on twitter today will know that he pursues that philosophy to this day. Liberal Democrats have always valued discussion and debate more than any other party. It is one of the things that distinguishes us from the other parties. And Mark must be one of the exemplary figures in doing just that. Yet another damn fine reason why he deserves the title of Liberal Voice of the Year.

Tags: Guy Herbert, Lib Dem Voice, Liberal Democrats, Liberal voice of the Year, Liberty, Mark Littlewood, No2ID, Phil Booth

Health Secretary shows dash of common sense shock!

Common sense from Lib Dem Members… now common sense from the Health Secretary… What is the world coming to? A beady-eyed reader of the Independent On Sunday brings us word that the Health Secretary has come out loud and proud stating that minimum pricing on alcohol  is not the answer. Some of you will have noticed last week that a group of leading doctors and academics were publicly calling  for the Government to bring in a minimum price on our drinks. But this has apparently failed to impress Mr Lansley!

Talking about the impact of minimum pricing, Lansley said whilst higher prices for drink can reduce consumption “It is more likely to have a bigger proportionate impact on responsible drinkers who happen to be low-income households“. Yes sir. Exactly right. Why penalise the responsible hard-up drinkers for the actions of the irresponsible minority. But wait.. there’s more……He also is quoted as saying….

“Are we really saying that because a bottle of vodka isn’t £8 but £12.50 they are not going to preload with a bottle of vodka for a night out when they are in clubs where they pay £5 for a drink? That is absurd. They are still going to do this binge drinking because that is a behaviour issue. We have got to do much more to focus on what this means.“

Of course this does not per se mean that the Coalition has finally embraced it’s much-flaunted “liberal-self”. We do still await next years “alcohol strategy” – though quite what any Government thinks it is doing having an “alcohol strategy” is beyond us.

And who knows what the academics will come up with next to justify their tax-funded jobs.. I guess we can depend on them not to give up that easily.

After all, it was way back in 2003 that the British Medical Association first proposed levying a 17.5 per cent fat tax on high-fat foods. It was rejected back then on the grounds that the population would reject a ‘nanny state’. (Those were the days) . And whilst Public Health Minister Melanie Johnson has gone on the record recently saying that a fat tax is “not likely”  – the sheer pressure being applied by health lobby groups means that there remains the distinct possibility that tighter restrictions on advertising and promotion of food and drink will be introduced.

But that is for another day. Today we applaud the Health Secretary for NOT automatically reaching for the legislative route just because the academics demand it – recognising the complexity of the issues involved and, perhaps, the danger of unintended consequences of Government intervention.

Tags: alcohol minimum pricing, Andrew Lansley, health secretary

Government confirms time travel has been cracked!

In a written statement issued issued yesterday the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, announced that he will “publish a consultation on tobacco products in Spring 2012″. He also says that the Government has commissioned an “independent academic review of the existing evidence relevant to the effects of tobacco packaging” that will be made available at the same time.

We can’t help but scratch our heads over here and wonder if the government has not only discovered time travel – but has a Time Lord doing this evidence review. FANTASTIC!

After all, the UK review of the evidence will be completed by Spring 2012…. and the first country in the world to experiment nationally with plain packaging, Australia, is not set to see plain packaged tobacco products reach the shelves until ….December 2012. What “evidence” can there be right now to review? If they have not mastered time travel it must mean…….oh…..  they are looking at lots of focus groups and lab tests, modelling and hypothecations that various organisations  have made up. Yes we can hear one huge collective groan out there at the very thought.

How very odd really, given that genuine evidence will start coming on stream from Australia  just six months or so after this Government review on plain packs is done – why do a trawl of all the made up stuff now?  What a monumental waste of money and – given the wider problems facing the NHS right now, what a waste of time and effort.We thought they were trying to save money ????

Still, it is nearly Christmas – and with the Dr Who Christmas special just round the corner- we’re hanging on to the hope that it’s the time travel explanation after all.

Tags: Time Lord, Time Travel, Tobacco control