Government Watch

Heads are threatening to go on strike over academisation.

Haven't heard about the election expenses fiddle for a while, and I think there was a time limit of a year, which means next week for it to go to the DPP.

However, I have heard of a lawyer who was sent one of Zac's dogwhistle leaflets who has gone to the DPP about them. She is backed up by a firm of solicitors.
Zac seems to have forgotten that Sadiq Khan is not the only Muslim lawyer.

Has there been another U turn over the academies?

And what happened to election expenses fiddle?

www.change.org/p/home-office-stop-my-sick-father-s-deportation

Another person being deported. He's 77, a widower who has been staying with his son since 2010. He's very ill. He was born in the UK, but being deported to Pakistan.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36094111

There should be a police enquiry into this. Conservative party broke the law on election expenses.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/apr/21/asylum-and-immigration-court-fees-set-to-rise-by-over-500

Whatever you think about immigration, this is so wrong.
I can'rt believe that even this government is trying this on. It's just not fair, or the right thing to do, in the government's favourite phrase.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03rqnlr

A five minute listen on Radio 4, the World at One.

Do we live in a democracy?
I know we are supposed to, but two articles I've read today make me wonder.

www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2016/04/21/secretive-legal-committee-buries-ruling-against-theresa-may

This is about Theresa May sending students back where they came from as soon as they finish their courses. There was a ruling against her, but lawyers are saying it is being ignored.

www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/21/parliamentary-watchdog-not-investigate-david-cameron-tax-affairs-panama-papers

This is about the parliamentary standards commissioner not looking into Cameron's tax affairs, but not telling parliament or us why.
This government is becoming more authoritarian by the day.

No, we can't. I reckon he thinks that when the junior doctors come to the end of their current contracts and need to move on, they'll accept what's on offer.

And we all know what happened to the mines.
Can't do without hospital doctors, though, or the NHS.

I agree with you, but August will be the critical time when new contracts are issued. Neither side has won yet. He is to blame - maybe he thinks junior doctors are miners and he wants to go down in history :-(

Daphne, Hunt will definitely be to blame if he doesn't take any notice of this.

www.pulsetoday.co.uk/hot-topics/junior-doctor-contract/lift-imposition-and-well-call-off-strike-say-junior-doctors/20031634.article

When you look at the numbers who have applied to leave the NHS, he must be the only one who thinks what he is doing is right, daphne.

I noticed today that there are two doctors who have set up camp outside the NHS offices in Leeds, following the two outside the offices in London. They are threatening that the doctors will lose the public vote if they carry on with next week's strike. I don't think so. Hunt is still seen for the tyrant he is.

dj,
He's arguing over technicalities. He can't change existing contracts, but most junior junior doctors are only on one year contracts, starting in August. What he can do is insist that health authorities impose the contracts or he'll withdraw funding. Junior doctors are going to have to be really brave and not apply for new training contracts. Unfortunatley, that means that they would have no income and their training would be disrupted, but if they stick to their guns, Hunt is really going to be up creek without a paddle.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/housing-bill-defeats_uk_570f6c3ae4b00ed33e06de47

Seven u-turns on the housing bill.

www.hospitaldr.co.uk/blogs/web-news/jeremy-hunt-meets-protesters-refuses-re-start-contract-talks

He has spoken to two junior doctors, but refused to restart contract talks.
I hope this gets in every newspaper and on every news programme.

Jeremy Hunt has actually appeared in the commons today and said he is going to impose the contract.
He obviously has not had to time to read the letter to the BMA from his own lawyers.

Apparently the government are currently being challenged on the change of council tenancies down to two or five years. I think this must be in the Lords (didn't hear it clearly) as they were saying it would come back to the commons and the government would try to push it through again.

I hope the public realise that all the strikes that have happened were because of his will to impose the new contract on the junior doctors.

I remember a while ago putting a link on to an article which said that the hospitals could just refuse to do it. They could just renew the old contracts.

I also hope the junior doctors manage to get enough from the courts to enable them to call off the strike next week. If that goes ahead, they might lose more goodwill.

It just shows how nasty this government is, and how much they do not live in the same world as the rest of us, that they can try to do this to one of the most respected groups in the country. People still respect doctors far more than MPs.

It also shows that people power works as well. There was a crowdsourcing fund to pay for the junior doctors to take Hunt to court. I am pleased so many people contributed to make it happen.

Gardening leave Jen? Oh, I hope so.

Problem is that Oliver Letwin is still at the top of the government heirarchy.
He's head of the cabinet office, so does a lot of behind the scenes stuff but does not take responsibility for it in parliament.

This is so like the time when Oliver Letwin vanished, it turned unto a where's Wally game on forums and the press .. Where's Wally Hunt

There's an article on the i website asking where on earth Jeremy Hunt is.
Apparently he hasn't been seen since he rode away on his bike from his house last week. He isn't at the Department of Health headquarters, because two junior doctors have set up camp outside, waiting for the door to open, as he said his door was always open to them. They haven't seen him.

Has anyone seen him?

Hunt should be in court today.
High court challenge due to start today.

The Guardian is interesting today; all sleaze.

There's the Hunt NHS story on the front page, and the story about Boots milking the NHS. On page two there is a story about Theresa May attempting to delete sentences from a Whitehall report about illegal drug use.
Then there is a story about recruiting former child soldiers in Sierra Leone by Aegis Defence Services, a company chaired by Nicholas Soames.
It's because they can pay them less than if they recruited from other countries.

That's only in the first few pages.

Of course he'll go - Johnson will be like the cat who got the cream.

Ken Clarke said if we vote out of the EU Cameron would have to step down immediately ,polite way of saying he is toast. Yet the no camp MP's have said if we vote out Cameron can stay as PM but cannot be involved in any negotiations which will take place . Seems Dave is just a puppet