Labour's Bad News Week

If you were going to come up with a good working definition of a "bad news week", a diary from the Labour Party over the past few days would probable do it. A Labour Health Secretary being mauled by a nurses conference, the Home Secretary admitting to "losing track" of prisoners without considering them for deportation, and John Prescott. The less said about the latter, the better - it makes Season feel queasy.

In terms of the scandal of Government inaction in the prisoner release affair, one thing is clear: Charles Clarke must go. The "he is the only man to sort it out" argument simply doesn't stand up. If the only solution is Charles Clarke, the problem must be even worse than has already been admitted.

The Lib Dems nationally are calling on Charles Clarke to resign (and, given the fast moving nature of the news this week, he may already have done so by the time you ready this) - you can sign the petition calling for Charles Clarke's resignation online at http://www.libdems.org.uk/charles-clarke.html

The NHS funding problem is even more incredible - and the biggest part of the problem is an entirely self inflicted wound by the Government. Some trusts have over-spent their budgets (generally in order to met Government set targets). In fairness, I can see the argument for those trusts to be cut back that overspend over time - although you should look at whether their budget was realistic in the first place.

But at this stage, the rules of logic and fairness are walked to the corner of the room, given a firm talking to, then shredded. The Government is not just requiring the trusts to end that overspend, but are actively reducing the trusts grant in this year by the 110% amount of the overspend in the last - ensuring trusts spiral further into losses as their income is cut. It's a punishment beating for NHS Trusts, and is forcing cut-backs and redundancies in effected trusts. And with this single, bloody-minded, warped piece of logic, patients are made to suffer as hospital staff numbers are cut.

And this from a Labour Government for who in 1997 all seemed so bright. I feel queasy now too - must be catching...

Post-script: On 5 May, Charles Clarke was sacked as Home Secretary and John Prescott had many of his Ministerial responsibilities removed. The curse of "View from the Chair" strikes again...