Fairplay UK

TUC support for smoking ban

The government should ignore biased evidence against a ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants, says the Trades Union Congress (writes our health correspondent). It rejects the "junk science" funded by the tobacco industry, which argues that a ban would have a disastrous effect on takings because disgruntled smokers would stay at home.

Brendan Barber, the new general secretary of the TUC, said in a report, May 4, 2003: "The government should implement the Code of Practice, backed by unions and employers, that will save the lives of 165 bar workers every year."

Call to vote "and save democracy"

Political parties and commentators were appealing to the UK public to turn out to vote in the elections of May 1 (writes our local government correspondent). Exhaustive inquiries into the low voter turnout last year found a widespread belief that core supporters in the major parties had become disillusioned - with their own parties and with politics generally.

The elections were for the 129-member Scottish Parliament and the 60-member Welsh Assembly, and for 308 councils in England. Commentators stressed the Baghdad factor, and many suggested that this would reflect badly on Labour, with its large number of anti-war members, including more than 100 MPs who voted against it in Parliament in spite of passionate speeches by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and most of his ministers.

Tory support for the war was unlikely to affect its core membership, who had expected it. The main problem for them has been the perceived poor performance of their leader, Iain Duncan Smith. The Liberal Democrats, though deemed wobbly on the war question, putting their faith in the United Nations, were expected to continue their steady progress of recent years, increasing their number of council seats. Their leader, Charles Kennedy, said apathy at the polls could destroy democracy.

In the English councils, Labour had 7,476 seats, representing 36 per cent of the total; the Tories 7,067 (33 per cent), and the Lib Dems 4,223 (20 per cent). Independents had 2,095 (10 per cent). Councils where the Lib Dems were thought to have a good chance of gaining control included Bristol, Derby, Leicester and York.

What Orwell would make of Blairite Britain today

Bernard Crick, biographer of George Orwell, whose centenary is to be marked in June, has been tempted to imagine this great English political writer's views on Iraq and the rest of the Blair agenda. Writing in the Observer, March 23, 2003, he says that Orwell, having lived in the 1930s, would have a sardonic contempt for the "appeasement of Hitler" analogy, considering the obvious differences.

Most of all Orwell might have lamented the decay of the Labour Party: "He might have been sad, even bitter, at the final victory (with Tory support) of the office-holders and seekers ('The backstairs creeps and the arse-lickers of the parliamentary Labour Party') over the moralists and public-spirited...."

He might have wondered "had the majority of the inhabitants of our country been consulted on tying ourselves to Bush's tail and breaking with the United Nations and the European Union ? He might have spotted that we have, if perhaps only for a while, not Cabinet government by presidential government. 'Democratic government?' I hear a sarcastic chuckle from the grave, or the mocking laughter of a free man."

 Archbishops warn of war consequences

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York issued a joint warning on March 21 of the unpredictable consequences of attacking Iraq, as they led prayers for a swift end to the war. Dr Rowan Williams and Dr David Hope said the road to military action had been a long and difficult one.

Adopting the neutral tone now assumed by most church leaders in the present situation, they also offered prayers for Muslims. Dr David Goodburne, general secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, and Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, also issued a joint statement. They said it was important that "despite the occasional unhappy use of 'crusade' language by some American political leaders, none should see the conflict as one between faiths."

Growing campaign for fairer pension system

Thanks to its vigorous campaign the National Pensioners' Convention is growing rapidly. The president, Rodney Bickerstaffe, reports that more pensioner groups and associations have joined in recent months than at any time in its history. It now has 50 national affiliated bodies and 350 local groups, as well as 12 regional organisations.

The NPC's Annual Pensioners' Parliament will be held at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, July 1-3.

Tabloid editor's confession

A shock confession by Rebekah Wade, the flame-haired temptress who edits the Murdoch Sun, has amazed the world of London pornalism. A headline in the Guardian carried the blatant headline: Sun editor admits paying police officers for stories. This referred to a session of the Commons culture committee of MPs, which has been questioning newspaper editors about their principles and practices.

The same committee heard from the editor of the Murdoch News of the World, Andy Coulson, who was aghast at the suggestion that he had broken some kind of "gentleman's agreement" in publishing photographs of Prince William. He was reminded that an agreement had been reached with editors by a former chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, Lord Wakeham, that would prevent publication of paparazzi pictures while William is at university. A shocked editor from another stable, Piers Morgan, Daily Mirror, described Princes William and Harry as "a huge commercial property." Source: agencies and mediaguardian.co.uk

Big Brother methods in UK uncovered

A three-part series exploring how much the lives of the British people are watched, recorded and analysed by others was launched in the Guardian as a Saturday supplement. The editor, Stuart Millar, says in his introduction: "The government and its agencies, while keen to keep their own secrets, are less willing to allow us ours, handing themselves new powers that let them steadily map our private lives."

Wealth gap widens under New Labour

The gap between rich and poor in the UK has continued to widen since Labour's victory in 1997, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research. A think-tank with close links to the government, IPPR says the value of personal wealth in the UK rose from £500bn in 1979 to £2,752bn in 1999 - an unprecedented increase (writes a correspondent).

What dismays government ministers, however, is that the top 2.4 million households have assets worth £1,300bn, while the bottom 12 million own only £150 million. The share of wealth held by the richest one per cent rose from 17 to 23 per cent between 1988 and 1999.

Wide opposition to British role in war on Iraq

The depth of concern in Britain over the apparent official acceptance of the US President's case to wage war against Iraq was illustrated by a declaration handed in to Downing Street on August 6. 2002. Among the nearly 3,000 signatories in various churches was the new Archbishop, Rowan Williams. This has added to the pressure on the Prime Minister as already expressed in public statements by some of his own Labour MPs, former Labour and Tory Ministers, senior military figures, and diplomats.

A former Chief of Defence Staff, Field Marshal Lord Bramall, warned that an invasion of Iraq would pour "petrol rather than water" on the flames and provide al-Qaida with more recruits. General Sir Michael Rose, former UN commander in Bosnia, warned: "The evidence of the last few days seems to be that we are heading for an assault on Iraq without - on either side of the Atlantic - anything like enough debate about the moral justification or military practicality of doing so." In an article in the Evening Standard, London, he said: "There are huge political and military risks associated with launching largescale ground forces into Iraq." Air Vice-Marshal Sir Tim Garden, a former assistand Chief of Defence Staff, suggested that the US and Britain should continue to contain Saddam Hussein by enforcing and patrolling no-fly zones over southern and northern Iraq.

Parliament's watchdog to check PFI claims

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