Killed by Death

Drugs are harmful - we know that. The current unquestioned hysteria over the cheap amphetamine Mephedrone has taken us back to the late 80s when Ecstasy mania dominated the front pages for a few months. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1200759_legal_killer_drug_mephedrone_for_sale_on_our_streets

Gordon Brown at PMQs called it "evil" and showed his Bush-like determination to, "protect our children." On Monday the hastily reformed Advisory Council will recommend its control under the Misuse of Drugs Act. A few moments later Alan Johnson will merrily accept their advice and start talking really tough before the rapacious media, almost certainly using the word "scourge".

There probably is no time for a law change this side of an election for which Minsters will be criticised by the Sun and the Mail as evidence of Labour's soft attitude to drugs.

Evidence on this drug is moot. The Advisory Council (ACMD) suffered an almost terminal degree of resignations in the autumn following political interference, from Johnson, in its scientific analysis. Under new leadership they are allowing themsleves to be rushed headlong into making firm and lasting conclusions based on the thinnest of evidence bases.

The Chair of ACMD admitted before the Home Affairs Committee this week they have been pouring over the survey results of 'Head' magazine 'Mixmag'. So the experiences of a few 'chemical brothers' will be setting Government drug policy. Of the half a dozen or so deaths attributed to Meph since the media got interested, none have had a toxicology report proving it.

The drug appears to have similar harms to 'speed' and by that throughly subjective rule-of-thumb, it passes some vague test of controlled drug status. The outcomes of Mephedrone being 'banned' will be instructive about prohibition itself. Guernsey had a tiny amount trickling in - as soon as it became a matter for criminal justice the price rose 500% and gangs took over its supply. There is a shortage of firearms in the channel islands so dealers have elected to carry Samurai swords.

Such is the mental straitjacket we as a country are caught in over drugs, even the most obvious and imminent failure of the 'control' regime still does not allow us to think of any alternative. The desire to get tough in the face of fear is obsessional behaviour, some would say an addiction in itself.

Same Old, Same Old

Conservative Party Chairman, the ample Eric Pickles (left), is unequivocal about the main public perception his Party needs to guard against, “same old Tories” he sighed. This is essentially the sleaze-tarnished protect-the-privileged image which Cameron has been trying to re-model since day one of his five year leadership.

There have been some obvious successes judged by the discomfort and grumbling from the backbench grandees and the middle England blazer brigade of reactionaries and xenophobes. While Brown stumbled politically and support drained away from Labour, so the poles surged to the Tories, establishing the likely prospect of a huge landslide in the nation’s psyche. But now the margin is five points at best. Who would have thought a lead of 25 percent could be, what the psephologists call, ‘soft numbers’?

One of Cameron’s pat phrases about Labour, aimed at re-enforcing our antipathy to an arrogant Government is, “they’re treating us like fools.” But Cameron appears stuck with the Hilton/Coulson script and is just as culpable of the same charge. Dave’s speech last month on the “new politics” was, in the light of the Ashcroft revelations a litany of rank hypocrisy.

He decried Labour for, “money buying influence” and claimed his party should be recognised as a “new generation… of openness and accountability.” Struth.

He still has yet to respond to questions why he did not know the biggest party funder for the last ten years and deputy party chairman was not paying tax in this country, in line with assurances Ashcroft gave to Parliament and the Crown. Cam's deputy, Hague, had known for “some months” but could not find the courage to defy the great business oligarch, Ashcroft and tell his party leader.

Cameron’s speech was a succession of preposterous political suggestions aimed at a semi-intelligent tabloid reader’s view of the world. For example, “We will abolish the Human Rights Act and introduce a new Bill of Rights, so that Britain’s laws can no longer be decided by unaccountable judges.”

The HRA may be maligned in the press as preventing the police from circulating pictures of wanted criminals (cited by Cameron last year but a total myth). But in any event, the UK is still a signatory to the European Convention (written by British lawyers in the 1940s) so the abolition would have no difference in law. It will just take longer to go through Strasbourg, like we used to.

What is most curious was his criticism of the decision-making powers of “unaccountable judges.” The alternative would appear be elected and political judges, a horrifying prospect for those who respect the objective application of the law by the learned experts.

This terribly woolly thinking cannot be helping Dave’s prospects with the 'floaters' in the marginals. It’s very well appearing very decisive as a leader but there is a distinct downside when your bold decision-making looks idiotic.

The party has invested its future in Cameron’s image and the lack of scrutiny on the other key figures in his team has left them ‘short of match fitness’. George Osborne, despite his superior sneer, regularly disappoints on his grasp of economic detail - he should learn the lesson from Ken Clarke of when to make a purely political point and when to demonstrate you actually know how an economy works.

Liam Fox has tapped into the Daily Mail’s laughable assertion of fearing any wobbles in the money markets are in response to the prospects of a hung Parliament. 'Vote Conservative and help the traders sleep better', seems to be the message. Even if it were true, the idea that the electorate should amend its voting intentions to ensure stability in the Square Mile could hardly be less democratic. IDS’s stuck record on 'Broken Britain' is antagonising and preachy. Other than Hague and Theresa May, the remainder are only known to Westmister anoraks and close members of their own families.

As the Tory party’s poll figures slide below the magic 40%, any thought of outright victory with workable majority can be forgotten. Brown need do and say little while Cameron’s inexperience is exposed further.

If Dave were inclined to ask Brown, “what makes you more popular all of a sudden?” Gordon would be able to reply,

“Standing next to you.”