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Haiti Tragedy
Brian Simpson, MEP,
reflects
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 Nature’s
power is something we in Cumbria have come to respect over recent
months, and that power was demonstrated again in Haiti in mid
January. An earthquake that measures 7.2 is big, believe you me, and
the effect was to kill thousands of people, destroy homes,
infrastructure and public buildings and leave one of the poorest
countries in the world destroyed. A tragedy of epic proportions. One
major problem has been the distribution of aid to the people of
Haiti. I spoke with the EU’s High Representative, Kathy Ashton, and
she explained how the European Union was responding to the crisis
but the difficulty they had because many aid workers and charity
workers had been killed or are missing, including the EU’s own head
of mission in the country. That’s why it was essential that the
American military took on the role of not only distributing aid but
also keeping some form of order. I know many thought that this
should be done by civilian agencies but frankly they did not have
the capability to deliver. I know that the European Union accepts
that rebuilding Haiti will be a long term project and it is
essential that when the BBC or Sky News pack up and leave Haiti the
work to rebuild this nation carries on.
New Commission
Parliament has now interviewed all the new Commissioners and at the
time of writing this article it has become clear that one in
particular has failed and will have to be replaced and a number of
others barely passed the test.
I have to say it was difficult to judge whether this time around the
standard was lower than in previous years or whether the poor
showing was down to President Baroso instructing them to commit to
nothing; a fact that became clearer as the hearings went on; which
frankly subjected a number of Commissioner designates to a very
uncomfortable three hour grilling. One weakness of this systems is
that you cannot reject individual Commissioners, just the lot of
them which was what Parliament threatened to do if the Bulgarian
candidate was put forward.
So we now await a new Bulgarian candidate and a final vote in
February but I think we can say that we have not been impressed with
the new proposed Commission up to now.
Wrong colour and culture for Cumbria
I was shocked to hear that taxpayers will have to pay damages in
excess of £300,000 to a doctor who was working for the North Cumbria
Acute NHS Trust and who was allegedly told by somebody senior that
she was “the wrong colour and culture” for Cumbria when they sacked
her. An employment tribunal unanimously upheld her complaint
commenting that the lady doctor concerned had endured an
“intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive
environment” during her time with the Trust.
This case disturbs me greatly and I sincerely hope that the Senior
Management at our NHS Trust reflect on the findings, stop making
alleged inappropriate BNP statements which they denied but which the
tribunal upheld and get on with the business of managing our NHS
Trust for the betterment of the people of Cumbria.
£300,000 by the way would provide 16 extra nurses or pay for some 50
hip replacements, but added to this is the bad publicity this case
brings for the good people of Cumbria. Am I mad at this case, you
bet I am and I feel that those who have allegedly spouted forth
these utterances should had a duty to contribute to the costs. But
the question of training also needs to be raised. At the end of the
day, if the alleged words have been said then that is totally
unacceptable and should not be tolerated, but no doubt there will be
another side to the argument. However, in the meantime, the
taxpayers foot the bill.
I have often commented about the good things our young people do in
the area. Recently I’ve heard of the exploits of West Lakes Academy
band any many of our young people are involved in helping their
local communities in a number of ways.
I know there are always a minority who misbehave and reading the
article in last month’s ET edition, underage drinking is a problem –
but frankly underage drinking is a national problem and not just
confined to Copeland. I don’t know why we as a nation have a problem
with alcohol, but we do. But do the parents of these underage
drinkers not notice what is going on, or is it a case of turning a
blind eye?
Anyway, I’m sure that the majority of our young people are fine
upstanding citizens we can be proud of and in our area we are well
blessed with hundreds, if not thousands of young people who are a
credit to their families and their community.
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