Ed Miliband targets health reforms in local election campaign

Details

Category: The World

Created on Sunday, 01 April 2012 00:00

Hits: 4454

Ed Miliband targets health reforms in local election campaign

Party leader says Labour councils must use public health boards to prevent the worst aspects of health act being implemented.

Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent

Labour councils across England will act as the "last line of defence" against the controversial health act, Ed Miliband said as he pledged to overturn its "free market, free-for-all principles".

{sidebar id=11}Speaking at the launch of the Labour local election campaign in Birmingham, Miliband said Labour councils would use the public health and well-being boards to resist the most damaging aspects of the Health and Social Care Act.

The Labour leader spoke out against the act a week after it was formally granted royal assent by the Queen following a bruising parliamentary battle.

Miliband said Labour would repeal the act if it returned to government after its 11th hour failure to delay the measure in parliament. He said Labour would abide by the law, but made clear the party would do everything within the law to undermine the reforms, which will hand around 60% of the NHS's £100bn budget to GP-led commissioning groups.

The Labour leader said: "I think that Labour councils are now the last line of defence against this bill and they have got to use the public health and well-being boards as a way of trying to prevent the worst aspects of this bill. Of course, comply with legislation because the legislation has passed. But I think there is an opportunity for Labour councils to stand up for the right principles not the wrong principles in our NHS."

Miliband's remarks indicate that Labour believes the boards represent a chance to challenge the implementation of the bill at a local level. The boards will include local councillors, elected mayors and members of the clinical commissioning groups.

Liz Kendall, the shadow social care minister, outlined Labour tactics in a recent article for the Health Service Journal. She argued that the boards can pledge to work in a collaborative way to mitigate the impact of the act by, for example, agreeing to work against the introduction of a postcode lottery.

The powers of boards are, however, limited. They do not have a formal say over clinical commissioning groups and do not have the power to sign off their decisions.

Miliband pledged that a Labour government would repeal the act. "We will repeal the free market, free-for-all principles in this bill. That is an absolute commitment. It is incredibly damaging to the whole ethos of our NHS. Frankly, doctors and nurses and people right across this country know that."

The Labour party used the launch of its local election campaign to announce a focus on restorative justice. Miliband criticised the coalition government for abandoning anti-social behaviour orders, or asbos, as, he said, some criminals should be encouraged to make a greater contribution to their communities.

"Instead of just giving people a caution knowing they will commit further offences, those who do the wrong thing should be forced to make it up to the victim. Make good on the damage they have caused, help rebuild the community project, clean up the graffiti, fix a wrecked garden.

"Of course, it won't be appropriate in all circumstances and should only happen if the victim wants it to happen.

"When offenders have to confront the consequences of their crimes and meet their victims, they can come to understand what they have done and the damage they have caused. This has made some less likely to commit further offences: it puts them back on to the right path."

Miliband faced a series of questions, some pointed, from Labour party members in the Birmingham Selly Oak constituency. But he showed the skills which won him the Labour leadership in 2010; answering everyone by addressing them by their first name and asking for further explanations from those who asked the most difficult questions.

The Labour leader declined to be drawn on his party's failure to win the Bradford West by-election last week when George Galloway, the leading figure in the Respect party, swept back into parliament.

"Labour lost very badly two years ago." he said. "We had our second worst election since universal suffrage was introduced. So we have a long way to come back. I think we are making progress in being an effective opposition and setting out the alternative we are. But I am not in the commentary business. I am in the making a difference business. That is what these local elections are about. It is about saying this is a difference Labour would make."

Source: The Guardian UK

No comments

Rawlings: Over-Reliance On Foreign Investment Makes Africa Vulnerable

Details

Category: The World

Created on Wednesday, 28 March 2012 00:00

Hits: 3702

Ghana’s former President and African Union High Representative for Somalia, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings, says the over-reliance on foreign investment by Africa had made it vulnerable to the dictates of the international community.

He said such vulnerability is often to the detriment of African unity and development.

In an address delivered at the 10th Anniversary colloquium of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, President Rawlings said: “While the West is boosting regional integration and supporting each other at a time of global financial crisis, we are still grappling with unifying our continent and protecting each other from global economic challenges.”

President Rawlings said a hugely resourced continent such as Africa should be able to give real stimulus to the African Union and its organs such as NEPAD to implement progressive initiatives that pursue a common African agenda of continental development.

The former President said one of the challenges facing the smooth implementation of NEPAD and other African initiatives is the abuse of leadership by elected officers.

“We can over the past decade lay claim to expanding democracy across the continent with multi-partyism flourishing. Electoral victory for some however, means a leadership of impunity”, President Rawlings said.

{sidebar id=11 align=right}Please find below the full text of President Rawlings’ address.

Address By H.E. Jerry John Rawlings, Former President Of The Republic Of Ghana At The 10th Anniversary Colloquium Of Nepad – Addis Ababa, March 28, 2012

Your Excellency Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Your Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria, Your Excellency Dr. Erasmus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Honourable Dr.Ibrahim Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer, NEPAD Agency, Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I wish to express my gratitude to the NEPAD Agency and the African Union for offering me an opportunity to share my thoughts on the topic, “NEPAD, Inspiring change in Africa”.

This ceremony marks ten years since African leaders endorsed an ambitious new project aimed at infusing dynamism and action into a truly African driven plan for accelerating political and economic development on our continent.

NEPAD has chalked significant successes in the areas of agriculture and food security, regional integration, economic and corporate governance, the environment, human development as well as gender and capacity development.

These wide-ranging programmes, some in partnership with other international agencies have created opportunities for our people across the continent, helped accelerate Africa’s economic growth and has great potential for poverty alleviation.

It is heartwarming to note for instance that NEPAD is in conjunction with the UNDP supporting the capacity building processes of the new South Sudan government. NEPAD is also facilitating feasibility studies on the proposed high-speed rail line from South Sudan to the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.

Ladies and gentlemen, while we applaud NEPAD for these developmental initiatives, we have to concede that sadly, Africa has also faced significant challenges over the past decade particularly in giving true meaning to African unity, national political leadership, curbing corruption across all sectors of our societies and lack of true inspiration for our youth as builders of tomorrow.

LEADERSHIP AND IMPUNITY

Africa’s major challenge has been in the area of leadership across the board – we can over the past decade lay claim to expanding democracy across the continent with multi-partyism flourishing. Electoral victory for some, however, means a leadership of impunity. This culture of impunity is widespread, affecting economic, political, judicial and almost every sector of our society in some parts of our continent.

The fallout of this impunity is the emasculation of opposition groups, effectively ensuring that the opposition is rendered inefficient and of late leading to uprisings of wide-ranging nature from internal terrorism to popular uprising.

Ladies and gentlemen, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development can be sustained and enhanced if as a continent we learn to collectively appreciate the relevance of true African unity. NEPAD is still one of the vehicles that promises to inspire change on the continent and we all have a responsibility of creating a conducive environment for the real change required to boost Africa’s development.

INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT

There has been heavy international investment in various parts of our continent. Unfortunately our reliance on those foreign powers has made us vulnerable to their dictates to the detriment of African unity and development.

While the West is boosting regional integration and supporting each other at a time of global financial crisis, we are still grappling with unifying our continent and protecting each other from global economic challenges.

African unity and development is not a mirage. It requires a positive will from our political leaders who ten years ago had the dream of pursuing the continent’s development in a multi-faceted manner.

Ladies and gentlemen, in furthering the ideals of NEPAD and giving true meaning to the theme: “Inspiring change in Africa”, the continent has to embrace the relevance of our youth to political, economic, social and cultural development.

EMPOWERING THE YOUTH

The dynamic nature of global technological development means our youth are equipped with so much under-utilized knowledge because we fail to appreciate and tap their potential. The era of idealism which allowed young people to have patriotic aspirations of one day bringing honour and achievement to their countries and by extension to the continent has given way to a youth who today have their lives compromised.

It is admirable that NEPAD and the African Union have in various initiatives worked to build capacities for the youth to boost their role and impact on their countries’ development, but individual African countries have to embrace a concept of cultural renaissance in a bid to boost justice, truth and integrity in our national life.

Nothing can be more constructive, purposeful and liberating than the integrity of truth and justice, just as nothing can be more destructive as the corruption of our integrity.

One of the challenges Africa youth face, arises from the manner in which the colonial language has been used to superimpose a foreign but powerful reality on our world. Often this new reality challenges the authority and integrity of truth and truthfulness that is carried in our indigenous languages.

The integrity of truth related to our social and political life has been so corrupted that freedom and justice remain elusive.

The acquired language has opportunistically been used to avoid incorporating the wisdom, the sense of integrity and democracy in our traditional culture into our adopted Western form of constitutionality. Whilst Western constitutionality and elections ensure Western democracy, we use our constitutionality and elections to not only undermine democracy but to also perpetuate authoritarian rule. We use the outward trappings of constitutional rule and elections to give a false impression of democratic and responsible leadership.

Ladies and gentlemen, Africa’s potential is enormous and the fact that our leaders conceived the NEPAD ten years ago is enough evidence of what we are capable of.

With a continent, which still has huge untapped resources and continues to discover them in such significant proportions, we need to give real stimulus to the African Union and its organs such as the NEPAD to implement progressive initiatives that pursue a common African agenda of continental development.

But such a position will be realistic and workable only if as a continent we agree to work together rather than against each other. Integration on the continent has made some significant inroads, but there is the fear that sometimes some of our regional blocks are influenced more by the dictates of the West and other powerful economies than the demands of our people.

PEER REVIEW

The African Peer Review Mechanism, as an initiative of African leaders should be empowered to set standards and indicators that would be a yardstick to measure political and institutional management on our continent.

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen: NEPAD as a radical intervention, spearheaded by African leaders to pursue new priorities and approaches to the political and socio-economic transformation of Africa can truly enhance Africa’s growth, development and participation in the global economy.

The quest for regional and continental integration should not be seen as a threat to individual sovereignties of African countries. It should be recognized as a mutually beneficial process that enhances our political economies through the creation of wider markets, taking advantage of the benefits of economies of scale while protecting us from the demands of so-called advanced economies.

NEPAD focuses on the accountability of African leaders to their people and their peers while pursuing policies that are in line with global standards with the goal of halting the marginalization of the continent. While commending the continent for embracing a commitment to enhancing good governance, we need to create a more transparent mechanism of accountability and integrity if we are to win the trust and confidence of not only our people, but also our global partners.

As we deliberate here today and look forward to the future of NEPAD and its partner initiatives, let us enjoin member countries and their leadership to commit themselves to strengthen their resolve and belief in the potential of African-owned initiatives. There may be stumbling blocks but with a commitment to succeed we are bound to overcome the challenges.

Thank you.

Source: JJR WordPress

No comments

Shawn Tyson gets life sentence for murdering British tourists in Florida

Details

Category: Law & Justice

Created on Thursday, 29 March 2012 12:51

Hits: 3752

Shawn Tyson gets life sentence for murdering British tourists in Florida

Teenager who killed James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24 will receive a mandatory life term in prison

Richard Luscombe in Miami

A teenager who shot dead two British tourists on holiday in Florida will spend his life in prison after he was convicted of two counts of murder.

{sidebar id=11 align=right}A jury in Sarasota took just two hours to decide that Shawn Tyson, 17, killed James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24, after they strayed into a rundown area of the city after a night out last April.

Tyson, who bragged to friends about shooting the pair because they refused to give him money, received a mandatory life term with no possibility of parole from circuit court judge Rick De Furia.

He showed no emotion as the unanimous verdicts and sentence were read out. But he slumped into his chair as he watched emotional video tributes from the victims' families, and assistant state attorney Karen Fraivillig read a statement from Cooper's parents, Stanley and Sandra. "There are no words which can express the despair, disbelief and desolation we now have to live with," they said. "We will miss him every minute of every day in a home that now feels empty. We have lost the core, the heart, the life and the love of our lives."

In a joint statement released to the media with Kouzaris's parents Peter and Hazel, they branded Tyson evil and said they had been "given a life sentence of our own when our sons were so brutally and needlessly taken from us".

The victims' friend Joe Hallett spoke directly to Tyson after the verdict. "Every night you go to sleep, every morning you wake up, I want you to think of my friends who you murdered. Their images will be imprinted on your conscience until your very last breath in life," he said.

Cooper, a tennis coach from Hampton Lucy, near Warwick, and Kouzaris, a town planning graduate from Northampton, were on a three-week holiday with Mr and Mrs Cooper on the upmarket resort island of Longboat Key.

The pair, who met as students at the University of Sheffield, spent their last evening in several central Sarasota bars before they wandered drunkenly into the Newtown area in the early hours of 16 April. Both were shot several times and their bodies were found on either side of the street, shirtless and with their trousers "practically to their knees", prosecutor Ed Brodsky said.

Fraivillig called the victims "two vulnerable, drunk and lost young men in an unfamiliar city, in an unfamiliar country".

Former friends of Tyson, who was on bail for a separate gun crime at the time of the murders, gave damning testimony against him. One, Marvin Gaines, told the court that Tyson had asked him to dispose of a .22 calibre handgun, the same type used to shoot the victims, and several bullet casings. Detectives never recovered the murder weapon but Gaines led them to the incriminating bullet shells.

Another witness saw Tyson climbing into the window of his mother's house after the shooting while telephone records proved Tyson was making and receiving calls on his mobile at a time he claimed he was sleeping.

But perhaps the most damaging testimony in four days of evidence came from witnesses who said Tyson boasted of shooting the pair after they pleaded for their lives.

"The boys were crying, 'Please let me go home'," Brodsky said. "Instead, Shawn Tyson said, 'Since you ain't got no money, I got something for your ass,' and began shooting."

At first, detectives had a hard time getting witnesses to co-operate because of fear of retribution, but it was their bravery in coming forward, Brodsky said, that proved Tyson's guilt.

"The Sarasota police department followed every trail, and every trail led to only one person," he said.

Tyson, who denied two counts of pre-meditated first-degree murder, declined to take the stand. Public defender Carolyn Schlemmer attacked the integrity of the witnesses and claimed their evidence was tainted because some were offered deals to avoid prosecution and another was found new accommodation in exchange for testimony.

The victims' friends and families in the UK have set up a charity, Always a Chance, in their memory to tackle youth crime and violence.

Source: The Guardian UK

No comments

Thousands march in protest to Florida hearing on Trayvon Martin slaying

Details

Category: Law & Justice

Created on Tuesday, 27 March 2012 00:00

Hits: 4090

Thousands march in protest to Florida hearing...

Thousands of people streamed through the streets of Sanford, Fla., on Monday to demand that authorities prosecute the man who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin one month ago.

By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

The protesters were on their way to a special meeting of the City Commission at the town's Civic Center that began at 5 p.m. ET, where members were to hold a hearing on the killing of Martin, who was unarmed, by George Zimmerman, 28, a self-described neighborhood watch volunteer.

{sidebar id=11 align=right}The shooting of Martin, who was black, by Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, has led to similar rallies across the country. Martin's family has made multiple media appearances pushing for Zimmerman's arrest.

Tracy Martin, the young man's father, addressed the hearing Monday, accusing police of trying to "sweep another dead black male under the rug."

To loud cheers and applause, Tracy Martin said Zimmerman "needs to be arrested. He needs to be put on trial. He needs to be given a sentence by a jury of his peers."

Sybrina Fulton, Martin's mother, said her heart was broken.

“I’m not asking for anything," she said. "I know I cannot bring my baby back. But I’m sure going to make changes so that does not happen to another family.”

The speakers included Rev. Al Sharpton, host of MSNBC-TV's "PoliticsNation," Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rep. Corrine Brown, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League.

Rep. Jackson Lee gave a legal case for the city or for the state of Florida to arrest George Zimmerman. Rev. Sharpton fierily demanded an arrest, while Rev. Jackson drew parallels between Martin’s death and that of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black teen who was beaten and murdered in Mississippi in 1955.

Ben Crump, the attorney for Martin’s parents asked, “Who made the decision for whatever reason to not do a background check on George Zimmerman who had just shot and killed Trayvon Benjamin Martin? But yet saw fit to do a background check on this dead child on the ground.

Crump continued: “Number two, who was the officer who made the determination not to do a drug and alcohol analysis on George Zimmerman who had just shot an unarmed teenager with a bag of Skittles but yet found it appropriate to order drug alcohol analysis of Sabryna and Tracy’s son?”

Tracy Martin said he was anguished at "the slander of my son," referring to leaked details of Zimmerman's account of the shooting to police, which suggested that Trayvon Martin initiated the incident, and news reports revealing that the younger Martin had been suspended from his high school for possessing an empty marijuana bag.

"We consider ourselves strong black parents and we take pride in our kids," Tracy Martin said, pounding his fist in the air for emphasis. "We're not asking for an eye for an eye. We're asking for justice, justice, justice!"

Although toxicology tests on Martin's body are pending, a spokesman for his family confirmed to NBC News that Martin was suspended for 10 days from Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School in Miami for possession of an empty marijuana baggie.

Trayvon Martin was suspended three times from school

Shooter's account

Zimmerman's account emerged for the first time Monday in a report by The Orlando Sentinel.

Quoting unidentified "law enforcement authorities," the Sentinel reported that Zimmerman told police that Trayvon Martin knocked him down with a single punch and slammed his head into the sidewalk several times before the shooting — an account that police said witnesses have corroborated.

Zimmerman said he was walking back to his SUV when Martin approached him from behind, according to the Sentinel's report, which Sanford police confirmed Monday afternoon.

The two exchanged words before Martin decked him with a punch to the nose and began beating him, Zimmerman told police. He said he then shot Martin in self-defense.

Witnesses said they heard someone cry out in distress, some of them telling NBC News and other news organizations that it was Martin. But police sources told the Sentinel their evidence indicated it was Zimmerman.

Dateline NBC interviews woman who saw aftermath

One witness told police he saw Martin pounding Zimmerman on the ground. This witness was certain it was Zimmerman who was crying for help, the Sentinel reported.

When police arrived less than two minutes later, Zimmerman was bleeding from the nose and had a swollen lip and bloody lacerations to the back of his head, the newspaper reported. Police said Zimmerman wasn't badly injured and didn't seek treatment until the next day. ABC News reported separately that Zimmerman told police that Martin also tried to take his gun.

In a statement, Sanford police said the Sentinel's report was "consistent with the information provided to the State Attorney's office by the police department." It did not address the ABC report.

Zimmerman's attorney, Craig Sonner, has said he could invoke Florida's "stand-your-ground" law, which provides significant leeway for people to use deadly force if they feel their lives are in danger.

Meanwhile, Angela Corey, the special prosecutor assigned to the case, told ABC News that means "the state must go forward and be able to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. ... So it makes the case in general more difficult than a normal criminal case."

The information about Martin's three suspensions from high school also appeared to complicate the case.

Crump, the family lawyer, called the disclosures an attempt to assassinate Martin's character.

"Very clearly, whatever Trayvon Martin was suspended for had absolutely no bearing on what happened on the night of February 26," he said, adding that Martin "wasn't suspended for anything violent or criminal."

"If he and his friends experimented with marijuana, it's still completely irrelevant," Crump said.

As the City Commission hearing approached, there were these other developments:

The Smoking Gun, a website that tracks criminal cases and document filings, reported Monday afternoon that Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, filed two applications last week for trademarks on her late son's name.

Fulton is seeking marks for the phrases "I Am Trayvon" and "Justice for Trayvon," according to filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In both instances, Fulton is seeking the trademarks for use on "digital materials," namely, CDs and DVDs featuring Trayvon Martin," and other products.

Sanford City Manager Norton Bonaparte announced that Capt. Darren Scott would serve as interim police chief during the investigation, NBC station WESH of Orlando, Fla., reported. Police Chief Bill Lee stepped aside last week as criticism over the lack of an arrest mounted across the country.

Following is the full text of the statement Monday confirming The Orlando Sentinel's report by the Sanford, Fla., Police Department:

The information in the article is consistent with the information provided to the State Attorney's office by the police department.

"We do not condone these unauthorized leaks of information," said City Manager, Norton Bonaparte, Jr. "Acting Chief Scott will be doing an internal investigation within the Sanford Police Department as this type of action compromises the integrity of the law enforcement agency which has pledged to uphold the law".

Mr. Bonaparte stated that disciplinary action including possible termination will be taken against anyone found to have leaked the information.

Roxanne Garcia, Lauren Selsky,Tom Winter and Edgar Zuniga Jr. of NBC News contributed to this report by M. Alex Johnson of msnbc.com. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: NBC Neews

No comments