Issue 238

March
2010

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Haiti Tragedy
Brian Simpson, MEP, reflects


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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