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Meadow case must be heard
Lancet's ill-judged intervention
SO MUCH for allowing justice to run its course. The General Medical Council hearing of the case against Sir Roy Meadow has barely started yet already the medical journal The Lancet has intervened in an unprecedented and ill-judged way.
It may well be that Professor Meadow has a good defence to make against the charge of serious professional misconduct over claims he gave "misleading and flawed" evidence at the trial of Sally Clark who was convicted but later cleared of murdering two of her children.
It may well be that further inquiries are needed into the whole question of expert witnesses and into the matter of child protection. And it may well be that Sally Clark's defence team was astonishingly lax in not questioning Sir Roy's evidence during the trial.
Considering the medical profession's notorious inability to police itself, however, none of this justifies the doctors' house magazine blundering into the middle of the hearing in a ham-fisted attempt to defend Sir Roy.
The paediatrician's evidence at Sally Clark's trial undoubtedly justifies the GMC hearing and it is heartening that it is taking place, not least for the reason that it should provoke a far more wide-ranging look at balancing the need to protect children with the need to ensure that innocent mothers are not punished for crimes that they never committed. This, however, is a matter to be considered at the hearing's conclusion.
The public's fear that the medical profession is only too eager to close ranks once one of their number is criticised has grown in recent years as the result of a number of high-profile cases.
Now, after the long wait for Sir Roy's hearing to begin, The Lancet's immediate and unjustified intervention will only fuel the suspicion among patients that doctors are principally concerned with caring for themselves.
Tory turmoil
Party must broaden its appeal
IN acknowledging that the Conservatives failed to appeal to ordinary voters at the election, Lord Ashcroft, the party's biggest and most influential private donor, was, in essence, saying nothing new.
For this message was being articulated by both the party's modernisers long before May 5, when they realised that immigration alone was not going to decide the election.
But, instead of using the Conservatives' moderate electoral gains as a springboard to build for the future, neither Lord Ashcroft, nor his cohorts, seem prepared to put forward any clear ideas on how the Conservatives can broaden their appeal.
Instead, every intervention so far has merely deflected from Mr Howard's attempts to hold Labour to account, and reinforced the message that the Tories are still regarded as yesterday's party in many quarters because of their prevailing disunity and bickering.
Unless the Conservative leadership contenders are prepared to outline their respective visions for the future, they will continue to flounder.
To his credit, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, former Foreign Secretary and would-be leader, attempted to precipitate just such a debate yesterday with his call for tax reforms rather than tax reductions.
At face value, the Conservatives could capitalise upon this eminently sound approach as the extent of Labour's stealth taxes hit home.
But neither Sir Malcolm nor his leadership rivals will make electoral headway until they have a coherent set of policies that resonate on doorsteps across Britain, not just those of people inside the M25's perimeter.
Furthermore, they do not need to pay the likes of Lord Ashcroft for such advice. For it is the plain political reality that the party's high command continue to overlook at their peril.
Present opportunity
Evolution of EU a necessity
JUST as Britain prepared to take over the presidency of the EU, the landscape of the Union changed. By raising questions about the EU's legitimacy and purpose, the No votes of the French and the Dutch had a profoundly de-stabilising effect, as seen in the acrimonious summit which followed.
The once-powerful Franco-German partnership is now backing up against the wall for a rearguard action, but while Jaques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder will do what they can to counter Mr Blair's reforming zeal, they are both somewhat distracted.
The French President's position was undermined when his countrymen rejected the constitution, while the German Chancellor faces a strong challenge when his country goes to the polls in September, with the opposition widely expected to take control.
Mr Blair's attempt to drag the EU into the 21st century – by making it more flexible and less remote, more competitive and less megalithic, and by changing the Common Agricultural Policy so as to end the absurd situation in which almost half its annual budget of 110bn euros is spent on subsidising farmers who compose less than five per cent of the population – might gain momentum if, over the next six months, he practises that venerable and useful British genius for welding together alliances.
The Union is not the cosy club its founders thought they were creating, and in shattering the illusion that it is, Britain can help hasten its evolution towards a dynamic institution fit for the coming challenges from the economies in the Far East.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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