Typical

Excuse me for my cynicism, but I can’t help but notice a timely press release sent out by the Department for Health this morning which reads:

NHS inpatient and outpatient waiting times figures, 31 December 2009

The key points from the latest release are:

Inpatient Waiting times

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over the 26 weeks standard for inpatient admission at the end of December 2009 was 18 (compared to the total of 625,100).

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over 13 weeks at the end of December 2009 was 57,600, an increase of 12,300 (27.3%) from November 2009, and a rise of 18,000 (45.3%) from December 2008.

Outpatient Waiting times

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over the 13 weeks standard for a first outpatient appointment following GP referral at the end of December 2009 was 93 (compared to the total of 926,800).

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over 8 weeks at the end of December 2009 was 74,100, an increase of 11,700 (18.8%) from November 2009, but a rise of 26,900 (57.0%) from December 2008.

It’s not rocket science to see that Labour’s claim to have reduced waiting lists and drastically improved the NHS are now completely flawed. Just under a 30% increase last month alone and a 45% increase during 2009. That is a massive jump, a jumpt that cannot be underestimated, yet because of other events going on today, it will receive nil coverage.

Now then, I wonder what other news there is today, perhaps a little inquiry and a certain witness who may have been around at the time of Iraq war. Yes, you’ve got it, the Labour government have done it again, in their usual typical style they’ve pushed out bad news on a day when the media’s attentions are focussed elsewhere. It’s the style we’ve come to expect, so it’s not really that surprising. Iain Dale picked up on the story first and rightly pointed out that on a day when there’s a big political event happening, it’s always worth checking the press rooms of government departments.

New Look

So, after a few delays, the new interface is finally here. I spent yesterday evening putting it up and I think you’ll agree the interface looks a lot cleaner and Greener!

Looks pretty much the same I hear you chanting. Well, yes, the layout is the same, I’ve just tweaked the graphics and changed the colours a bit.

However, that’s not it. If you’re one of the growing number of people who read this blog on your mobile device you will have noticed that there is now a mobile version of the site. For Iphone users, there is a fully functioning version of the whole site and for other mobile readers, there is a cut down version, which for now just includes the blog. What’s more, there’s no special address for the mobile site, the website will automatically detect what device you have and the relevant version will be downloaded for you.

As ever, if you have any comments on the blog, in particular comments on the new look, then please do email me or post in the comments section. Thanks to all of you who have already joined the new Facebook page and remember that you can follow my Twitter updates by pointing your browser to twitter.com/greensdiary

Badly Prepared for the Recession, Badly Prepared for the Recovery

So, the figures are out. Britain is out of recession. Statistically that is, however we all know that the effects of a recession go on long after the economic slump has ended. Today’s figures showing a 0.1% growth in the final quarter of 2009 was the first period of growth for 18 months. But, that doesn’t tell the real story. Of course, the headlines Downing Street wants pumped out is “Britain out of Recession”. The government will claim that our coming out of recession is mainly due to the measures they put in to protect the economy.

The problem is of course, that’s not the truth. If you walk into clothes retailers on the high street, they will tell you that business is slow. If you go to hotels they will tell you it’s quiet. The simple fact is that the final quarter of 2009 included Christmas and thus it’s no surprise that there was slight economic growth due to people buying presents.

0.1% is an incredibly small growth and there is nothing to suggest that the economy will continue to grow in the 1st quarter of 2010. The labour government inherited a strong economy. We know this because they committed to Tory spending plans for the first three years of government. After that time, the economy started to slide and there’s only been one party in power during this time. Brown claimed we were best prepared to weather the storm, yet we were the first G20 nation into recession and we’re the last out of it.  Meanwhile, each newly born baby is saddled with £17,000 of debt and this is what Gordon and his moronic crew believe to be ‘best placed’!

Whatever the next few months holds for our economy doesn’t particularly matter when it comes to the election. many people are very much of the mind that it is Labour who has caused this mess. They’ve had their chance to make the country better and they’ve spectacularly failed. The British electorate will not forgive them for that and now the time is up. Despite the left still claiming there’s a chance Labour will win the next election, a poll out for Channel 4 last night by ICM shows that people will not reward Brown for ending the recession. Some 46% feel worse of now than they did 12 months ago. That’s a staggering increase and shows just how many people this Labour recession has had a large negative impact on.

The last chance Brown had was if today’s figures showed reasonable growth. But they haven’t and the growth is only just growth. Things are much much worse than we may have thought a few months ago. That emergency budget from Osborne is looking more and more needed as the weeks go by.

Wee Des and his Two Jobs

Des Browne the former Defence secretary come Scottish secretary went before the Chilcot Inquiry today and finally admitted that Gordon Brown made a big mistake in giving him both portfolios at the same time.

About time too. We all said at the time that it was a disgrace on two fronts. mainly that we were fighting two wars at the time and that therefore the position of Defence Secretary should have full attention, not just partial attention. Secondly, in a time when the SNP seemed to have rising support and Scottish independence was again on the table, it was also important to have a Scottish Secretary whose full focus was on Scotland to fight off the SNP and protect the Union.

It’s no wonder therefore, that troops were sent onto the battlefield under equipped and the question of Scottish independence still has not been put to rest. Brown has made many mistakes, some more obvious than others, but this situation of dualism was not just him been short-sighted, it was the height of incompetence and moreover showed a complete ignorance of our national interest.

Yes, Iraq and Afghanistan weren’t wars that Brown started and the fact that he refused to fund the military properly during his time at the treasury gives rise to the suspicion that Brown did not like the wars. However, that was before he was PM, if he had any personal courage (the sort of courage he speaks about in his book), he would have put a stop to the war rather than carrying on with it.

Clearly there are two things that Gordon Brown has no care for, that of Scotland and the military. We need Scotland as much as we need the military. For if we have not Scotland, we lose a significant proportion of our armed forces and if we have not military, then we cannot protect our national interest when it is threatened by those states who wish to have the freedom we cherish.

The election campaign has already begun, but there’s only 14 weeks until the official campaign gets going and less than 130 days until we have to have an election. For Gordon, the clock is ticking ever closer to midnight. For the country we are on the cusp of a new dawn. A dawn which will hopefully bring a new government, one which we hope will be a Conservative one.

The Return of Green’s Diary

Frequent visitors to this site will have noted the lack of postings since the beginning of November. The main reason for this is simply not having enough time to produce read-worthy articles. Running a daily blog requires a lot of time and effort especially when covering subjects which I do not have a wealth of knowledge on.

As a result i decided to stop blogging for a while in order to focus on university. However, in this election year, I feel that now is the time to return to the blogsphere. I’ll not be posting everyday nor will I be commenting on every story. Green’s Diary is not a breaking news service, there’s already far too many of those in existence.
What GD does offer is commentary and analysis of politics both in the UK and further afield. I am a Conservative and this blog exists to promote Conservatism and so I will naturally be biased in what I write. sphere

As we approach the general election, I’ll be posting updates of campaigns in the target seats where I am campaigning for change. I’ll also be looking at the activities of the other parties and examing what their policies would mean for the country.
With all that has happened in politics over the last year, we stand now in interesting times where politics and politicians are having to make changes. Parliament has seen a large undermining with the expenses scandal and now it is important that we embrace the change necessary to rebuild our political institutions.

I hope that over the next few months Green’s Diary will be able to offer good quality analysis of political events, hopefully providing a view on stories not necessarily evident in the main stream media.

Green’s Diary officially relaunches with an updated look on Monday. The site will be down on Sunday evening whilst the new interface is uploaded.

You can follow My Twitter updates by clicking here and you can join the Facebook page by clicking here

This Week in Tweets

• Age shall not weary them, nor the years condem. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them #
• We will remember them #
• civilisation arrives in Glasgow in the form of Waitrose. I'm feeling happier alrwady #
• at the moment a lecture on vampires seems a better option than the rain of Glasgow that will be encountered in the by-election #glasgowne #
• off to locate some tories in #glasgowne. labour win by 5000+ me thinks #
• this election coverage on the bbc is hilarious. trust me: Scotland is not as bad as those appearing on the TV #
• speeches to be in alphabetical order: staged walkoff to take place when bnp make speech #glasgowne #
• is that cigarette smoke rising the bbc studio. bbc flouting law #glasgowne #
• job done by scottish tories. deposit to be returned – just #glasgowne #

This Week in Tweets

• goodness me first shift back was a killer. now on to more important things such as beer o clock with X-Factor and Casulty… #
• 12 hours of sleep and a record month on Green's Diary – excellent news #
• Czech president signs Lisbon Treaty. Cameron doing news conference tomorrow – bury bad news day as Kelly reports as well. #
• lack of blogging today can be explained by the very busy day – tomorrow & Thursday are going to be the same #
• so far speaker Bercow best at #pmqs #
• here we go awkward block has a go #pmqs #
• pm: "i favour votes at 16, we should consult the public on it". – hopefully tories win election before he gets the chance to consult #pmqs #
• RT @torybear:"Votes for 16 is a moronic idea unless they are employed. Those paying tax should get a vote, those at school – certainly not." #
• house not so happy about £100,000 salary #
• Colonial Casino is go. Let the festivities commence #
• thanks to @Tcat – my 100th follower #
• the clear up operation commences after the second instalment of Colonial Casino #

Brown Ignores ‘Resign’ Petition

The petition entitled, “resign” on the Number 10 website has ended and Gordon’s response:

The Prime Minister is completely focussed on restoring the economy, getting people back to work and improving standards in public services. As the Prime Minister has consistently said, he is determined to build a stronger, fairer, better Britain for all.

Doesn’t say how well he is doing it does it? Maybe that’s the reason the petition was set up in the first place!