West of Centre

I wrote one of my earliest blogs five years ago. It explored a theme to which I have returned periodically ever since. It was a strange experience in the Michaelmas term of 2008 to be the only 40 year old medical student in a sea of school leavers. In truth, the divide between myself and my fellow medical students was always plain to see as one might reasonably expect. I recall with clarity an incident in the first fortnight of medical school which will stay with me to the grave. A large group of us had been undertaking our first session in basic life support. The session passed without major event and at the end, our tutor asked those present to divulge why they had chosen to pursue a career in medicine. Nobody was coerced and all present chose to respond in due course. With few exceptions, the majority cited money as their prinicipal motivation. Even in spite of my advanced years, I was shocked to the core. I still am. I had spent my early career in the private sector in a variet...

As Jeremy Corbyn begins to return the Labour Party to it's proud roots, the Murdoch-dominated right wing press is hissing it's predictable vitriol and scorning the chances of a man who espouses fairness and equality. The problem is not so much with Corbyn as his predecessors who occupied the helm of the Labour Party. In the fortnight leading up to the recent General Election, the Labour hierarchy admitted publicly that it intended to execute the same cuts as the Tories if it were elected. That is rather like going in to a fish and chip shop to be told that they have sold out of cod but can offer you haddock instead. The point being that there is not a great deal to choose between the two. That was the big problem with Brown and Miliband. You have to offer something different to the incumbent party but not just different for the sake of being different. Even without the benefit of hindsight, Corbyn was a certainty for Leader from the moment he achieved the requisite number o...

When Yvette Cooper today called for UK councils to each take a quota of Syrian refugees, it illustrated the pitfalls of political ambition. As is the custom for the modern breed of politician, she first went to Oxford to study politics, philosophy and economics in which she gained a first class honours degree. The daughter of the former leader of the Prospect union, she left Oxford to gain further qualifications at Harvard and the London School of Economics respectively. Then it was time to gain employment in the real world. Her first job in 1990 was as a policy researcher for the then Labour leader John Smith. By 1992, she had left these shores to help Bill Clinton with his presidential campaign. Any chances of real experience of the real world were dashed when she came back to become a policy advisor to Harriet Harman. This was followed by a role working as a research associate at the Centre for Economic Performance. By 1995, she had progressed to become Chief Economic Correspond...