Votes, elections and the remedy

Votes and elections form an important part of the democratic process, and if this area becomes corrupt then it has the potential to undermine the whole democratic process. No wonder Labour keep trying to fiddle with votes, it seems they are it again. An undercover investigation has shown examples of blatant corruption, I just wonder how widespread this kind of activity is? There was illegal activity a plenty at the last general election, with the postal vote seemingly a particular weak spot. Is enough being done to counter this threat? Is the man in charge of countering this threat doing enough? At least something is being done to prevent partisan think tanks spinning party propaganda while pretending to be balanced and perfectly neutral.

A man who is very well clued up on the government's growing powers at the expense of our liberties is Henry Porter, he has written another well researched piece here. The rising quangofication of the country runs against the principles of good open democracy, PMETB are the perfect medical example of this.

There was a small meeting in London yesterday, the BMA Junior Doctor's Committee conference; while those attending probably thought it to be of great importance, I think the majority of junior doctors have lost faith in the BMA for a number of reasons. It certainly does not help that the structure of the BMA allows it to function as an undemocratic autocracy, this has led to the organisation being dominated by politically climbing committee loving cronies who represent themselves at the expense of their members. The BMA has become deeply dysfunctional as its structure allows it to get away with ignoring the majority of grass roots opinion. In this day and age it is very easy to regularly assess the opinion of members or ballot members on important issues, the BMA has failed to do these simple things time and time again. It appears to me that trying to achieve change at the BMA would be a bit like entering Kafka's castle, the complicated rules and regulations are enough to drive anyone to distraction. The majority of those involved with the BMA seem pretty oblivious to this and are happy to blame the grass roots members for their 'apathy'. The BMA seems in desperate need of reform.

Remedy UK on the other hand are an organisation that does represent the grass roots of the medical profession, they are showing the BMA how it should be done. Remedy regularly surveys its members for their opinion and then represents this opinion, hardly rocket science but this is something that the BMA cannot manage. Remedy have now applied for a judicial review in the Administrative Court between Legal Remedy (the Claimant) and the Secretary of State for Health (the Defendant) regarding MTAS. PMETB, CoPMED, the BMA and NACT have been named as interested parties.

Metaphorically the BMA has been playing 'keepy-uppies' in a closed circle for a while; now Remedy has stepped in, broken up the circle, taken the bull by the horns and booted the football firmly into touch. Well done Remedy UK. Have it!