For years he has been warning against the folly of expanding Nato too far to the east. The sight of David Miliband, Britain's immature Foreign Secretary, going to Georgia to embrace its hotheaded President Saakashvili was bad enough. To see David Cameron rushing to get in first was deeply shameful. It is obvious that the surefootedness Cameron has shown in domestic matters does not extend to foreign affairs.

The blame for the present crisis lies squarely with the Georgian leader. Russia's response was as brutal as one would expect but they had no choice except to intervene. Saakashvili was encouraged in his brinkmanship by the notion that, as a coming Nato member, he could rely on support from America. When it was not forthcoming, he had the gall to complain. Doubtless he has been encouraged by the sabre-rattling US Vice-President Dick Cheney.

If I had to say who was the greater threat to world peace, Cheney or Putin, I would unhesitatingly answer Cheney. The sooner he is out of office, the better.

The case of the Ukraine is even worse than Georgia. A majority of Ukrainians do not want to be in Nato, yet they are being railroaded by ambitious politicians. General Sir Mike Jackson, who commanded our forces in Kosovo, has recalled the time when a Russian detachment moved into the airport at Pristina and Jackson was ordered to eject them (even though they were in theory our allies). Jackson refused and told his American superior: "I have no intention of starting a Third World War."

Miliband, Cameron and others should answer the question: Are you really willing to go to war in support of Georgian or Ukrainian hotheads? If not, keep them out of Nato.



THE drug-rationing body NICE is a godsend for Ministers. Instead of facing the protesters who are denied drugs, they can blame it all on NICE.

The cases are becoming ever more bizarre. Patients with eye trouble were told they should wait for treatment until they went blind in one eye.

Medicine that could extend the lives of kidney cancer patients is denied: NICE said offering patients a drug that was not "cost-effective" would mean taking treatments away from patients with less high-profile conditions.

The same goes for a £2 pill for Alzheimer's sufferers, on the grounds that the NHS couldn't afford it. No use blaming NICE – they do the best they can within the budget they are given.

A Yorkshire mother undergoing treatment for cervical cancer has been denied anti-sickness tablets costing just £7 a day. Her weight had fallen to under seven stone because of the repeated vomiting that was a side-effect of the treatment.

Her oncologist prescribed the anti-nausea drug Ondansetron to combat the daily sickness bouts, but when she went to her GP for a repeat prescription, she was told it was too expensive.

At the same time, we are told that the NHS is set to make record savings, with a surplus of £1.7bn at the end of 2008-09. The Department of Health says the surplus was "in line with expectations" and would "stay within the NHS to improve patient care".

What better way of improving patient care than giving these patients the drugs they need? In the overall total of the NHS budget, it is a fleabite. But why bother, when you can keep on blaming NICE?



REGRET that the Labour MP Ann Cryer is to retire is largely based on the fact that there is no one to replace her. Of course they will have no difficulty in finding a party hack to stand in Keighley, but with her departure virtually the only honest and brave Labour MP is silenced. Show me the others with the courage to speak out on issues like forced marriages and the need for immigrants to learn English or the medical problems caused by the marriage of first cousins, and other hospital issues associated with immigrant communities. Just mention them and Labour MPs run for cover. Except Ann Cryer.

When the history of Britain's inner cities is written, it will record the betrayal of the working class by Labour. The MPs saw what was happening in their constituencies through uncontrolled immigration but dare not open their mouths. They watched while the whole character of towns and cities was changed without the consent of the people. They said nothing. If anyone else mentioned it, they screamed racism. The Government is still covering up the rate of immigration by boasting the news that East European immigration is set to decline over the years. But this disguises the fact that EU immigration has never accounted for more than one-third of the total. The overwhelming majority come from the Indian sub-continent and Africa. No fewer than 68 per cent are from outside the EU. Just don't mention it. That would be racist.

Ann Cryer will leave a permanent memorial in the shape of the Forced Marriage Act which she guided through Parliament. We are told that she has upset some members of the Asian community in her constituency. There is one large group of Asians who will be forever grateful to her: the young girls forced into marriages against their will. The only voice speaking up for them was Ann Cryer's.