Sunday 29 April 2007

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!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The majority? That'd be the people who vote.

Garth Marenghi said...

that is precisely why!

the people who vote are only a tiny proportion of the membership, they do not represent the majority.

The Angry Medic said...

Good Lord man. Do you even have a life outside of this blog, or are you merely a machine-supported brain, slaved to the blogosphere for all eternity? *Twilight Zone theme plays*

Ooh, and I just found out that the guy who plays Dean Learner (and who created Garth Marenghi) used to be president of Footlights here at Cambridge! I'm part of Footlights now, though where he got applause I mostly get rotten vegetables. Still, we're connected somehow *We Are The World plays in background*

Garth Marenghi said...

wow, a link to the great man himself!

Indeed I am a brain in a small jar surrounded by gelatine and connected to my laptop via crocodile clips and some insulated wires, I wish I could escape to the outside...

If I'm honest it's only cos the mrs is working this weekend, she normally limits my access to the internet.

damn her.

x said...

Garthy

Whoever you are babe - do what you do. Love what you write and am a huge fan ( second to Crippen).

As for the BMA - they ought to shut down. What do I know about that inept organisation. Failed doctors for decades. Heaven knows why we all became members of it in the first place.

As for the brain in a jar - feed it some cocktails and chocolate. All will be fab for you babe :).

By the way, who is Angry Medic. I was just wondering where his brain is situated within his bod. Please describe whether there have been sightings of said brain.

Rita Pal
www.nhsexposedblog.blogspot.com
www.nhsexposed.com