Born free......and unaccountable

In the news today Margaret Beckett has been slammed for her role in the fiasco of reforming farm subsidies. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee reported that she oversaw a shambles that has already seen millions of tax payers cash wasted, and several poor farmers have committed suicide as a result of the affair. There was also a mention of a useless computerised system that crashed, sounding familiar isn't it. You can read more about it here, here, here and here.

So what happens to Margaret Beckett afterwards? She is promoted to foreign secretary. That's yet another example of how accountable our politicians are for their negligent work. It does seem to stem from their leader a one Tony Blair, who did take us to war on very shaky grounds indeed, a decision that has since been shown to have been based on propaganda and not credible evidence.

This tale of useless reform, wasted tax payer's cash and crashing computers sounds remarkably like our good old buddy MTAS (Medical Training Application Service). The lack of accountability demonstrated by those who have forced this ill considered reform upon on is quite remarkable. I am referring here to the likes of Liam Donaldson, Patricia Hewitt, Alan Crockard, Neil Douglas and possibly even people even higher up the chain of command.

It heartens me to learn that Professor Alan Crockard has been reported to the GMC for his role in the MTAS debacle. It will be very interesting to see whether the GMC feel he has remained true to their 'Good Medical Practice'. It does seem that the GMC's guidelines are routinely ignored by several senior doctors involved in the current government reform agenda, one rule for them and another for us. Our 'self appointed' leaders are seemingly unaccountable for huge decisions that affect millions, while we are held accountable for much smaller decisions that affect individuals. Totalitarian justice has appeared.