| Is Alan Johnson the right choice for shadow chancellor? | Martin Kettle and Jenni Russell Two Guardian writers take opposing stances on Alan Johnson's appointment as shadow chancellorYES: Martin Kettle'A good communicator with bags of ministerial experience'Here are ten reasons why Alan Johnson is the right choice as shadow chancellor.First, because unlike some of the obvious alternatives, Ed Miliband can absolutely trust him. Johnson is a team player who did not and does not want to be Labour leader.Second, because it shows that Miliband rightly wants to lead from the front and not sublet economic policy to the shadow chancellor as Tony Blair did; the key public spending shadow team will now be Miliband, Johnson and the new work and pensions shadow, Douglas Alexander, a well-balanced group.Third, because although Ed Balls was qualified to do the job, his many skills do not include the emotional intelligence and loyalty he now needs to work at.Fourth, because, rightly or wrongly, Yvette Cooper, though also qualified for the job (it will be interesting to discover if she was offered it and turned it down), would partly be seen as a surrogate for her husband.Fifth, because Johnson cannot be personally accused of owning Labour's past economic policy failures in the way that the alternatives might have been; the new shadow Treasury team is definitely not Team Gordon Brown 2.0.Sixth, because he is a good communicator, good in the House of Commons and an ideal contrast with the slick skills of the formidable George Osborne.Seventh, because his appointment again shows that the union bosses who claimed they had got their party back after Miliband's election do not have the Labour leader in their pocket; if the unions thought they would be running Labour's anti-cuts strategy, they know now that they won't.Eighth, because he is honest and smart enough not to be in denial about the deficit and will not dogmatically oppose every cut as though it is part of an ideological slash-and-burn.Ninth, because he brings a lot of working-class life and trade union experience, which complements Miliband's middle-class, intellectual, professional background.Tenth, because he has bags of high-level ministerial experience, runs a good office, knows the system and is a good decision-maker who will see things through.NO: Jenni Russell 'Charm is no substitute for fierce intelligence'It is a huge mistake. Ed Miliband's decision to give the shadow chancellorship to Alan Johnson is shocking. This is the most important job in opposition. Over the next five years the question of what to do about the economy is going to dominate every political discussion. At a time of such crisis, when the government's policies are so contentious, what this post demands is someone who has a real grasp of economic issues, a ferocious attention to detail, and a capacity to shock and unsettle the chancellor with forensic criticisms.Johnson has none of these qualities. Everybody likes him. He is laid-back, non-competitive and charming. These are delightful characteristics in a friend and a colleague. They will not do in this post. Charm across the dispatch box – and he will deploy plenty – will be no substitute for fierce intelligence and deep understanding.The appointment is a sign of how uncertain Miliband is about his ability to control his colleagues. The chancellorship is the job Ed Balls has always wanted. Balls is brilliant and fierce. Yet there were many reasons not to give it to him. Balls has been shocked by the rise of the other Ed, whom he always regarded as much the junior partner when they worked together for Gordon Brown. He might have constructed a dangerous alternative power base in the Treasury. He is a natural manipulator of others, and his years of scheming and politicking during the Brown /Blair divide have given him long experience in how to take power away from Number 10. Most importantly for the new leader, Balls's opposition to a swift reduction of the deficit might have been too radical for an opposition that wants to fight the next election from the centre ground.It is for those reasons that many observers hoped the post would go to Balls' wife, the economist Yvette Cooper. Long overshadowed by her husband, Cooper shone in the months after Labour's defeat, launching well-researched and ingenious attacks on government policy while the leadership candidates were preoccupied with criticising one another. She has become an accomplished performer, completely confident of her ground. It was thought she might refuse the job if offered it, afraid of usurping her husband. In the event, it seems, she wasn't even given the choice, possibly because Miliband feared that she would be too influenced by Balls pulling strings behind the scenes. Instead she goes to the Foreign Office – a complete waste of her talent.It was always going to be difficult for the new leader to construct an effective frontbench, constrained as he was by the departure of his brother and the limits placed on him by the party's selection of the shadow cabinet. Unfortunately, in choosing not to deploy his shadow ministers' abilities in the areas where they are most needed, he has made the situation worse. Of course he is scarred by the experience of the internal rivalries of the last 13 years, but he has made a mistake in simply trying to sidestep them. He should have taken a risk on Cooper, and put Balls somewhere where an economic brain was of use. Instead he has chosen as chancellor someone whom he can, to a large extent, control. Perhaps it was partly an attempt to heal the rift with the supporters of David, of whom Johnson was one.I was an early backer of Ed Miliband. I still believe he has the capacity to be an effective leader. But this is a poor start.Alan JohnsonLabourMartin KettleJenni Russellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
MoD overspend 'rose under Labour' Labour ministers wrote a £3.3bn cheque that could not be cashed in their last year in government, the defence secretary has said. bbc.co.uk |
Britain 'home to witches, fairies, and guardian angels' Britain is home to witches, fairies, and guardian angels, according to a 25-year-study of paranormal activity. telegraph.co.uk |
National scheme to grade the hygiene of food outlets aims to cut rates of illness The £1.4m project funded by the FSA will potentially involve 500,000 restaurants, cafes and supermarketsA national food-hygiene rating scheme, potentially covering 500,000 restaurants, cafes, supermarkets and other food outlets, will be launched today to try to improve standards, inform consumers and cut food poisoning cases, which are now running at a million a year.Businesses will be expected to display the results – on a scale from zero (urgent improvement necessary) to five (very good) – in bright green and black stickers on their doors or windows.All the ratings will also be put onto a website so the public can check on outlets that choose not to publicise their results.Nearly 170 local authorities in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, about half the total, are expected to be part of the scheme by the middle of next year, with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) providing them with about £1.4m.The FSA is trying to replace a plethora of local schemes using different criteria and symbols, including stars, letters and smiley faces, with a standardised system based on findings of local inspections of premises. In some areas, hygiene verdicts on local businesses still sometimes have to be obtained through freedom of information requests.In Scotland, where businesses will just get either a pass or "improvement required" rating, 26 of 32 local authorities should be involved by the end of next year. The idea has taken more than two years to reach this stage, with the FSA gradually persuading authorities to take part and convincing some with their own schemes that they would not be frittering away either money or goodwill by switching to a national plan.Some councils have yet to make up their minds, while others are objecting to being "forced" into a national scheme.Once a council joins, the ratings of all businesses covered will be published even if the display at outlets is not compulsory. There is an appeals system for businesses who believe their rating to be unfair. The launch of the scheme comes less than a week after a coroner urged stricter controls on food hygiene following the death of Mason Jones, a five-year-old boy from south Wales, who died from E coli poisoning after eating school lunches.Jeff Rooker, the FSA's chair, said: "We shouldn't feel we are gambling with our health when we eat out. In developing this scheme, we wanted to give people the ability to judge for themselves whether they considered the hygiene standards of a food outlet to be good enough. If customers are looking for a hygiene rating, this will drive businesses to improve their standards."Paul Bettison, chairman of Local Government Regulation, the body representing council interests, said: "More than 200 councils have been working independently on 'scores on doors' schemes for several years in response to demand from consumers and food businesses. "Where those local schemes have run they have been very successful in improving the food-safety performance of businesses, by increasing people's awareness of the hygiene record of the shops where they buy food." Decisions on whether to join the FSA scheme must take into account the views of local people and businesses, he said.Teignbridge district council, in Newton Abbot, Devon, an area that depends on the tourist trade, said about a third of its 1,550 local businesses had "five ratings" under the new scheme, and, following inspections, many of the poorest performers had smartened up their act since the council announced its intention to join.In Teignbridge's area, among the privately run outlets there were only seven trades with a zero rating, including two pubs. "We hope tourists will understand the scheme and make their own individual decisions about where to go," said Paul Nicholls, food and health and safety manager at the council. "It is in the interests of businesses to get ratings up and display them."Norwich city council, a pioneer of local ratings,2005, has switched to the new scheme. "We saw the benefit of having a single national rating from the beginning," said Jaan Stanton, its food safety team manager. "The agency branding is very distinctive, simple and visual. It will bring consistency and integrity." Ratcheting up standards would bring savings for councils, since poorly performing businesses cost "inordinate" time and money for officials trying to improve their compliance with the law.Food safetyE coliFood & drink industryHealthFood & drinkFoodJames Meikleguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Disabled will suffer from assisted dying law, claim critics of new inquiry Vulnerable elderly and disabled people will feel pressured to end their lives if the law on assisted dying is relaxed, disability campaigners have claimed. telegraph.co.uk |