Birmingham Post - News Blog

Government agency cuts 122 regeneration schemes - but won't say which ones

2009-07-03T14:30:39Z

Funding for 122 regeneration projects around the West Midlands is to be axed, a government agency has announced - but it refuses to say which ones are affected.

Advantage West Midlands, a quango funded by the taxpayer, has been forced to cut spending on regeneration schemes for three reasons:

The Government has cut its budget by £48 million.

The money it raises itself, through land and property receipts, is down by £21 million.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has ordered it to focus the money it does have on measures that directly support industry, rather than regeneration.

Perhaps, then, it has no choice but to withdraw funding from some regeneration schemes which had previously been told they could expect it.

But the refusal to name the projects concerned is a pretty blatant attempt to limit the public relations damage by making it hard for us to report what has actually happened.

The people running the projects involved know who they are, as they were told in letters from AWM chief executive Mike Laverty earlier this week.

I can't see any reason why a Freedom of Information request couldn't be used to get the details, but hopefully AWM will see sense and just publish them before that happens.

Edit: AWM have sent me this statement:

"A list of projects to which funding is no longer allocated will be released on request by Advantage West Midlands shortly. The release of this information to the media is being delayed slightly in order to ensure that affected applicants have received notification and had time to assess the impact of the funding decision.

"Some applicants may already be in discussion with alternative funding providers. We do not want to compromise those discussions by announcing that those projects have definitely been cut, when in fact they might proceed through alternative mechanisms."

Now Birmingham loses £s as well as apostrophes

2009-07-03T10:00:47Z

Birmingham City Council, the local authority that decided to ban the use of apostrophes in road signs, is spending a lot of money on developing a new website and when officials tested the super-duper IT they discovered.......yes, you've guessed it, there were no apostrophes.
That might not have been so bad, but there were no pound signs either - which was a bit embarrassing given that the new system is supposed to enable citizens to pay council tax bills on line and make inquiries about other services.

The glitches are being blamed for a lengthy delay in introducing a new version of www.birmingham.gov.uk, the council website that has been universally slated for being hopelessly difficult to use and lacking in anything resembling modern communication tools.
This will be an open invitation for dissent to stroppy backbench councillors who do not buy into the council's business transformation project, which aims to save £1 billion over 10 years chiefly through introducing better IT systems.
Members of the finance scrutiny committee have been asking about delays in launching the new website for weeks and have been fobbed off with a variety of excuses - only now are the real reasons becoming apparent.
Nor will the scrutineers be impressed by a refusal to state how much the website project is costing.
Council officials say they are not being difficult, it's just that they don't actually know how much they are spending on upgrading the IT.
In a story that will be instantly familiar to anyone with a cursory knowledge of Birmingham City Council, it appears that the bill is split among various departments and it is far too complex to work out a total. They might have a figure by next Tuesday, but don't hold your breath.
This, of course, is one of the main brickbats thrown at business transformation. Costings seem to change almost on a weekly basis and when you attempt to drill down to discover exactly how the savings are to be made, it's all very murky.
Deputy council leader Paul Tilsley has said the authority has to make sure everything is working correctly before the new website is unveiled.
He is dead right there, since the reputational damage to Birmingham if the system turns out to be a load of rubbish would be huge.
Birmingham: the city that banned the apostrophe and the pound sign.
It could be our new logo, if we're not careful.

Government drive for new homes will destroy Birmingham's leafy suburbs

2009-07-02T11:24:25Z

Former West Midlands Minister Liam Byrne is not a man to say something for no reason at all.
So when Mr Byrne made a point of mentioning planned housing growth in Birmingham, his audience ought to have taken note.
Addressing the Be Birmingham strategic partnership - a gathering of executives from the city council, other public bodies and business leaders - Mr Byrne characteristically laid into the Conservative-run city council for delivering below-average schools and for lacking in ambition.
And then, in a section of the speech almost thrown away he began to talk about the number of new homes Birmingham must plan to build up to 2026.

The government would like to see at least 65,000, while the council prefers something closer to 50,000.
Across the West Midlands as a whole, local councils think 340,000 is the right figure, while the government is pushing toward 460,000.
Mr Byrne, now Chief Secretary to the Treasury with a seat at the Cabinet, warned that even 65,000 new homes might be insufficient for Birmingham.
The reasoning for this, he said, was that government figures show Birmingham can expect a growth of 87,000 households by 2026.
We are all living longer and there are more single people looking for houses.
His comments coincided with the closing stages of a public inquiry into the Regional Spatial Strategy - which will eventually decide exactly how many new dwellings the region's local authorities must deliver.
It will be some months before a planning inspector makes a recommendation, which will then have to be approved by the Communities Secretary.
Given the government's stated intention to require councils to build a record number of new homes, it hardly takes a genius to work out that the number of dwellings to be foisted on the West Midlands is rapidly heading toward the 500,000 mark.
But where are these homes to be sited, even assuming that the recession eases and builders are prepared to invest?
Environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth and the Campaign to Protect Rural England, fear that in order to hit such a high target councils will be forced to permit development on green field sites and even in the green belt. There is simply no other way of finding enough land to deliver so many houses in a relatively short period of time.
There are obvious implications here for Birmingham's green spaces, and the council is already under pressure to allow infilling development in the back gardens of large Victorian properties in places like Sutton Coldfield and Moseley.
On July 9, the city planning committee will consider an application to build 16 new homes on a site occupied by disused garages and allotments in the Moor Pool garden suburb conservation area. Despite howls of protest from local residents and councillors, council planning officers are recommending approval.
This, it would appear, is a sign of things to come as the planning committee finds that its options for refusing new-build are increasingly limited.

Liam Byrne warns Birmingham schools must do better

2009-06-29T09:58:03Z

Deputy city council leader Paul Tilsley must have found it difficult to control his famously short temper when forced to listen to Hodge Hill Labour MP Liam Byrne's analysis of the state Birmingham finds itself in.
Byrne, who is the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and a former West Midlands Minister, was giving a keynote speech at the annual summit of Be Birmingham - the city strategic partnership chaired by Coun Tilsley.
If anyone thought this would be the usual back-slapping gathering of the great and good, they were quickly disabused by Mr Byrne.

After some complimentary remarks about the way Birmingham is tackling the recession he proceeded to stick the knife into the city council, which as chance would have it has been run by a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition for the past five years.
One of the areas coalition leaders are proudest of is education, where exam results in secondary schools have risen from the very low levels of 10 years ago.
Not good enough, said Mr Byrne.
He pointed out that GCSE results are still below the national average, and as for further education none of the city's universities are in the top 20 nationally.
Oddly, he did not bother to mention that on a like-for-like basis, compared against other UK cities with similar problems of social and economic deprivation, Birmingham's schools fare rather well. It's a fact that Labour used to trot out all the time when it ran the council.
As far as the core cities are concerned - Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield - GCSE results here are at the top of the pile.
Mr Byrne went on to state that Birmingham must "raise its ambitions" and was also critical of the pace, or lack of pace, of regeneration.
Birmingham would be "overtaken, outpaced, and out-gunned by cities that are more agile" if the redevelopment of Eastside was not speeded up, he claimed.
Perhaps the oddest part of his speech was a section where he urged Be Birmingham to reject a path where "the new wealth of the future is concentrated in the hands of the few", warning that it would create "a city of inequality".
Was this a coded reference to the supposed foibles of a Tory-led council?
What Birmingham really needed, he added, was an economy with a new supply of better jobs with better wages.
Quite so. But somewhat difficult to achieve in the teeth of the worst recession for years, not to mention the huge cuts in public spending that are inevitable whichever party wins the next General Election.
Asked for his views about the speech, Coun Tilsley swallowed hard and said he felt some of the comments were unfair and owed more to Mr Byrne's struggle to retain Hodge Hill at the next election than any basis in reality.
"One of the things MPs love when they are coming up for re-election is a council of the opposite political face. It gives them something to attack.
"While not wishing to take issue with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, I think he was being opportunistic in some of his comments," Coun Tilsley added.
And that, for the deputy council leader, was an example of super-diplomacy.

MG Rover Inquiry is Complete, But We May Need To Wait For The Results

2009-06-26T18:30:10Z

The inquiry into the collapse of MG Rover has completed its work - but we may still have to wait to discover what it says.

My colleagues on the business desk are working on a story reporting that the inquiry into the collapse of MG Rover has been completed, at a cost of almost £16 million, four years after it began.

The collapse of the Birmingham carmaker in 2005 directly cost around 5,200 jobs according to the National Audit Office, which measured the number of former MG Rover staff who signed on for Jobseekers Allowance. Their 2006 report (a 1.38mb PDF download) is here.

The Government has revealed that a new report setting out the findings of an official inquiry into MG Rover is now in the hands of Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, in a Parliamentary written answer to Richard Burden (Lab), the Northfield MP who has been increasingly vocal in demanding its publication.

Business Minister Ian Lucas said in the written answer: "The inspectors delivered their report on 11 June 2009. It will be for my noble Friend the Secretary of State to consider its findings and next steps."

The steps Lord Mandelson will take obviously depend on what the report says.

I say there could be a delay before it is published because the report's findings will determine whether any further action is needed. If it is needed, then the publication of the report could be considered prejudicial to that action.

The inquiry was ordered by the Business Secretary (at that time, Alan Johnson) under section 432 of the Companies Act 1985.

The Act states that the Secretary of State may appoint inspectors to investigate the affairs of a company "if it appears to him that there are circumstances suggesting--

"(a) that the company's affairs are being or have been conducted with intent to defraud its creditors or the creditors of any other person, or otherwise for a fraudulent or unlawful purpose, or in a manner which is unfairly prejudicial to some part of its members, or

"(b) that any actual or proposed act or omission of the company (including an act or omission on its behalf) is or would be so prejudicial, or that the company was formed for any fraudulent or unlawful purpose, or

"(c) that persons concerned with the company's formation or the management of its affairs have in connection therewith been guilty of fraud, misfeasance or other misconduct towards it or towards its members, or

"(d) that the company's members have not been given all the information with respect to its affairs which they might reasonably expect."

The inspectors - led in this case by Gervase MacGregor, of accountants BDO Stoy Hayward, and barrister Guy Newey QC - will have considered whether any such circumstances exist, and presented their findings to Lord Mandelson, who now has to decide what to do next.

Power 50 long list: which sectors dominate?

2009-06-22T12:01:34Z

This morning I and two fellow-conspirators set to work creating the long list for the judging of the 2009 Birmingham Post / Birmingham Future Power 50 list. To find out more about this initiative, go here.
Being a stats junkie, I thought it would be interesting to see what the balance is between different sectors: public / private, education vs arts etc.
This is what we've found so far, but please bear in mind the long list isn't completed until tonight (Monday June 22).

Arts & Culture 17
Business 41
Media 10
Public Sector 23
Science & Tech 2
Sport 3
Third Sector 6
Academia 7

Grand Total 109

Commons Fees Office Censored Expenses Even When MPs Objected

2009-06-19T14:13:44Z

Coverage of MPs' expenses has understandably focused on the way that key details were blanked out.

Some of the worst excesses were only spotted because a newspaper obtained unofficial copies of MPs' receipts, with all the details intact.

As I have said in the Birmingham Post in the past, I was one of those people who had doubts about whether the Daily Telegraph was right to publish advance, leaked details of expenses claims - but was soon forced to agree that they were.

We always knew that the receipts would be censored before the official release. You can see how the process works in the video I made a few weeks back.

But I think some of the reports in today's papers, which suggest MPs simply got to choose what to delete, give the wrong impression.

I've written today, in a story which should go up on this website before long, about two MPs - Andrew Mitchell (Con Sutton Coldfield) and Liam Byrne (Lab Hodge Hill) - who actually asked for information to be public, and were told by the Commons fees office that it would be censored whether they liked it or not.

MPs' Expenses Will Finally Be Published on Thursday

2009-06-16T22:23:56Z

You've seen what journalists make of MPs' expenses claims. And you may have seen some of the claims themselves, when individual MPs chose to place them on their websites.

But on Thursday, June 18, the great British public will at last be allowed to examined every claim, in detail, when the House of Commons finally gets around to making them officially available.

The whole lot is going up on the website for people to examine.

Well, kind of. Because what you're going to get is the censored version (officially called the "redacted" version"), missing out details such as the addresses of homes MPs are claiming subsidies on.

So you won't know, for example, if MPs are claiming cash for properties in their constituency, or in London, or somewhere else entirely.

Neither will it be possible to tell if they have "flipped" properties - buying furniture for one home and then designating another one as their second residence, allowing them to get a second sofa.

Perhaps it doesn't matter - as the newspapers have already uncovered all the dirt.

But I'm betting people won't see it that way. This is a chance for the nation's bloggers to prove Gordon Brown is right about the power of the interweb and spot the stories the traditional media have missed.

At least, assuming they're not already sick to the back teeth of expenses.

Backbench fury over "nil-cost" to council claim over NEC wages

2009-06-15T11:07:35Z

The mind-numbing futility of life on the backbenches at Birmingham City Council has been exposed yet again, this time by the hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth over £15,000 salaries to the local authority's non-executive NEC directors.
When the matter came before the full council last week - with a recommendation to make the payments to city leader Mike Whitby, his deputy Paul Tilsley, cabinet member Neville Summerfield and opposition Labour leader Sir Albert Bore - most of the cannon-fodder councillors far removed from the very small Whitby-loop didn't have a clue what they were being asked to vote for.

All they had in front of them was a piece of paper setting out how it was important to rectify an "anomalous" situation whereby council NEC non-execs weren't paid for their efforts while Chamber of Commerce NEC non-execs were paid.
Strangely, there was no mention of the recommended £15,000 figure.
Councillors were simply advised to consult the minutes of a business management committee meeting in August 2008, where the sum of money was proposed and supported.
This, according to council director of corporate governance Mirza Ahmad, is "completely transparent" - not if you are sat in the council chamber with no access to the business management committee's on-line minutes it's not.
Even Mr Ahmad seemed somewhat confused, reportedly confirming a claim by Labour councillor Carl Rice that the amount in question was £12,000.
Well, £12,000 or £15,000? I suppose that's the sort of piffling small detail that Mrza thinks isn't terribly important in the grand scheme of things.
While some of the less cowardly backbenchers were prepared to abstain and refused to vote, enough of their colleagues duly stuck to the party line and put their hands up in order to make sure Whitby, Tilsley, Summerfield and Bore get £15,000 on top of their already generous council allowances.
Good news particularly for Sir Albert, with the award taking his total council salary up to £45,000 - a 50 per cent pay rise. Not bad for Whitby, either, edging him close to the £100,000 mark.
It wasn't just the sum of money involved that provoked anger.
The wording of the resolution before councillors stated that the payments would be at "nil-cost" to the council, since the financial arrangements would be the direct responsibility of the NEC.
This claim verges on sophistry, since the NEC is ultimately bankrolled by the council which bears any losses and takes a share of any profits. Handing over £60,000 each year to the four councillors will of course eat into the NEC's balances and cut potential profits.
This point in particular, the suggestion that the council will not be out of pocket, was picked up by Randal Brew who no doubt has his own reasons for wanting to point allegations of financial irresponsibility at the council leadership.
Brew, of course, was beaten last month when he challenged Mike Whitby for the leadership of the Conservative group and of the city council.
It should be noted that Brew's leadership campaign was based to a large extent on the notion that backbench councillors are routinely kept in the dark by Whitby and his cabinet and rarely consulted in advance on policy issues.
The NEC salaries fiasco rather makes Randal's point, you might think.

Martin Mullaney takes unusual vow of silence after joining the cabinet

2009-06-10T15:30:29Z

No show at the leisure scrutiny committee from Birmingham city councillor Martin Mullaney.
The new cabinet member for leisure, sport and culture declined an invitation to come along and give his views on the sprawling portfoilo.
It was possibly the first time that the normally outspoken Moseley Liberal Democrat has refused to share his thoughts with anyone who is prepared to listen.
He was also unusually quiet at Monday's cabinet meeting, his second since being appointed, where he made no verbal contribution.

Officially, Mullaney is biding his time and continuing to receive "briefings" from council officials before commenting on leisure matters.
More realistically, he is attempting to find a way of working out how he can respect cabinet collective responsibility while remaining true to himself.
It could be difficult for someone who has criticised many aspects of official council policy in the past year or so.
He's questioned the need to get rid of the Central Library, commented unflatteringly on the proposed Olympic swimming pool complex and waged a campaign for more buses rather than an expensive city centre extension of the Metro tram system.
He also criticised former cabinet leisure member Ray Hassall for not doing enough to safeguard the likes of Moseley swimming baths.
Arguably, it was his reputation for being a fully paid-up member of the awkward squad that persuaded fellow Lib Dems to promote Mullaney to the cabinet.
Leisure scrutiny committee chairman John Alden, himself a former cabinet leisure member, commented a tad unhelpfully that Coun Mullaney was "still attempting to get to grips with his portfolio" and would probably submit himself for questioning at a future meeting.
And for good measure, Alden added that only scrutiny could ask the awkward questions that "cabinet members don't get the time to ask or perhaps decline to ask".
If Mullaney had turned up at the scrutiny committee he would have received early warning of a highly controversial issue heading his way.
Leisure officers have almost completed a review which seems certain to recommend closing some of Birmingham's loss-making municipal golf courses.
The seven courses lost £400,000 last year and were £1 million short of income targets set by the council.
Asked about the prospect of losing golf courses on his watch, Mullaney said he wanted to keep all facilities intact if possible.
He also pointed to growing fears among backbenchers that a redundant golf course would be an ideal location for developers to build some of the 60,000 new houses that the government would like to see in Birmingham by 2026.
The trouble is, if Coun Mullaney is serious about saving the golf courses he must persuade his cabinet colleagues to turn a blind eye to continuing losses.
Income targets set for the municipal courses are ridiculously high in a climate where over-provision means that most West Midlands courses, public and private, are struggling to make ends meet. You might almost wonder whether the targets are deliberately unrealistic in order to justify closing several courses.

Liam Byrne's first task - defend the funding bias against English regions

2009-06-08T14:25:32Z

Birmingham MP Liam Byrne has been handed a poisoned chalice in one of his first tasks as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

The MP for Hodge Hill will appear before a House of Lords Committee to discuss the Barnett formula, which helps determine how public spending is allocated to the nations of the United Kingdom.

Unless the Government is about to announce a major change of policy, it means he will have to defend a system which means regions such as the West Midlands make do with less money for public services than Scotland - even though average wealth in Scotland is higher.

The system has been in place since 1978, so it's not new. But it's become increasingly controversial since Scottish devolution.

Cabinet Reshuffle List in Full

2009-06-05T15:51:16Z

Downing Street has released the official list of Cabinet members following the reshuffle:

HER MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT: THE CABINET

The Queen is pleased to approve the following Ministerial appointments.

The Queen has also been pleased to approve that Lord Adonis and Ben Bradshaw MP be sworn of Her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council.

Cabinet

Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service

The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP

Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal; Minister for Women and Equality (and deputising for the Prime Minister at PMQs)

The Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP

First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Lord President of the Council

The Rt Hon Lord Mandelson

Chancellor of the Exchequer

The Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

The Rt Hon David Miliband MP

Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor

The Rt Hon Jack Straw MP

Secretary of State for the Home Department

The Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP

Secretary of State for International Development

The Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

The Rt Hon John Denham MP

Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families

The Rt Hon Ed Balls MP

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change

The Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP

Secretary of State for Health

The Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

The Rt Hon Shaun Woodward MP * and #

Leader of the House of Lords and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

The Rt Hon Baroness Royall of Blaisdon

Minister for the Cabinet Office, and for the Olympics and Paymaster General

The Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP

Secretary of State for Scotland

The Rt Hon Jim Murphy MP

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

The Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP

Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP

Secretary of State for Wales

The Rt Hon Peter Hain MP

Secretary of State for Defence

The Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth MP

Secretary of State for Transport

Lord Adonis

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Ben Bradshaw MP

Other Cabinet attendees

Chief Whip (Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury)

The Rt Hon Nick Brown MP

Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Rt Hon Lord Malloch-Brown

Minister of State (Housing), Department for Communities and Local Government

The Rt Hon John Healey MP

Minister of State (Business), Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP

Minister of State (Science and Innovation), Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The Rt Hon Lord Drayson*

Attend Cabinet when their Ministerial responsibilities are on the agenda
Attorney General

The Rt Hon Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC

Minister of State (Children), Department for Children, Schools and Families

The Rt Hon Dawn Primarolo MP

Minister of State (Employment), Department for Work and Pensions

The Rt Hon Jim Knight MP

Minister of State (Regional Economic Development and Co-ordination) Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The Rt Hon Rosie Winterton MP

The Queen has accepted the following resignations:

Cabinet resignations

The Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP
The Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP
The Rt Hon John Hutton MP
The Rt Hon Paul Murphy MP
The Rt Hon James Purnell MP
The Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP

Other resignations

The Rt Hon Tony McNulty MP**
The Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP**
The Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP**

* unpaid
** attended Cabinet
# Provides Ministerial support to the Prime Minister in the Cabinet Office on the coordination of Government Policy and Strategy

Bastion life

2009-06-04T18:35:40Z

AFTER five days in Camp Bastion I am finally starting to get a feel for life here.
Dozens of journalists from all nations and all platforms are currently passing through the huge base looking for their own unique story.
I have been here to tell the tale of the Territorial Army's Kings Heath 202 Field Hospital who are currently running the medical unit at the British base in Helmand Province.
Their story is incredible, and I have already given an insight into the work done by these warm hearted and truly expert professionals in my stories about baby Hamdia and the treatment of seriously wounded soldiers in the Emergency Department.
But there is much more to life here that people at home rarely hear about.
Since my arrival in the country on Sunday morning, three British soldier's have died and many more have been seriously injured.
Flags are constantly at half mast and vigils and repatriation ceremonies are becoming common-place.
Operation minimise, where all communications are cut off with the outside world until an injured (or deceased) serviceman's family have been notified, is now in effect so often that soldiers lose track of who it is for.
So how do these brave young men and women keep themselves going?
There's no alcohol to take the edge off the strain.
Exercise is a hobby that reminds them they are in an inescapable military world.
And family and friends are thousands of miles away at home, oblivious to the true extent of the roller-coaster ride that is life in Afghanistan.
From what I have seen so far, passion and belief is the glue that holds Bastion together.
Today I had five minutes with 28-year old Sergeant Andrew McNulty from Two Mercian.
Exhausted to the point of tears, this lion-heart of a man could barely gather the strength tell me about his past two days.
His company had battled with insurgents seven times in 24 hours.
The Afghan army, who were supporting them, were hit by three roadside bombs, killing one and seriously injuring five more.
But his company carried on, determined to completed their mission of providing vital supplies to forward operating bases in key strategic positions.
Two things struck me about Sgt McNulty.
His complete workman-like. no-nonsense attitude was summed up when he told me that the way they prepared to return back to camp after the mission, which would involve more dangerous battles with the Taliban, was by playing rounders.
A simple playground game was their only escape from the world of war that could, at any point, put an end to their fledgling lives.
Secondly, I was struck by his modesty.
As a dad who had to leave Britain just two days after seeing the birth of his first child, he showed little anger at being ordered to do such dangerous tasks so far from home.
How many of us would have snapped, broken down, or capitulated?
I for one know I would not have the mental strength to continue in these incomprehensible circumstances for anywhere near the six months that is demanded of these men and women.
So as I returned to my air-conditioned tent I reflected that writing about my personal experiences so far was not quite appropriate.
Indeed, there is the serious danger for all journalists that a week in Helmand may be treated like a week in the Med.
We bounce round the exciting and dangerous battles, meet the heroes and angels, and bounce back to our comfortable lives in civvy street.
But this is serious business, with families' lives at risk, and the temptation to glamorize war must be averted.
So be under no illusion, no matter how sexy reporters' articles like mine may look on your computer screens and in your morning paper, war is exhausting, filthy, heartbreaking and often without reward.

Gordon Brown Can't Hide Behind Labour's Rulebook

2009-06-03T18:35:44Z

Gordon Brown's allies have been busy reminding journalists and Labour MPs that, under party rules, they can't get rid of him even by gathering the 75 or 80 signatures they supposedly have lined up.

It remains to be seen whether reports that Labour plotters really do have a long list of MPs ready to stick the knife into Mr Brown after the elections.

They are apparently drafting a letter calling on him to go, for colleagues to sign, but this may be an exaggeration or wishful thinking on their part.

If they can get the numbers, however, Labour rules won't help the Prime Minister.
Tony Blair's friends made the same point about the Labour rulebook when he was clinging on to office.

It didn't save Mr Blair, because the rules aren't the point. If a significant part of your Parliamentary Party wants you gone, then you have to go.

Angels in extraordinary circumstances

2009-06-02T17:12:28Z

For seven weeks medics from the Kings Heah Field Hospital have been saving lives and limbs at Camp Bastion - the British military base in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

What makes these men and women so extraordinary is that they are Terrirotial Army reservists, sent out from civvy street.
Normally you would find these hard working, passionate and warm-hearted people working in the NHS.
They are the people who would deliver your baby, operate on you in A&E and nurse you back to health again.

But here in the middle of the desert in Southern Afghanistan, they deal with the most severe trauma patients any doctor or nurse could ever encounter.

They say every week working at the hospital in Camp Bastion is the equivalent of a year at a civilian hospital. That is the scale of the task that faces them.

Spending a week embedded with these Midlanders is humbling. Military patients here tell me they have nothing but their utmost respect for them.

I stood and waited at the front of the hospital with them after we were told that casualties were being flown in from the battlefield.
Amazingly, the hospital is kept up to date with all military movements in the province that may result in an injury.
A complex computer system tickers updates on a widescreen television, with red words indicating an injured soldier.
This time the injuries were only fairly minor but there is always the fear that the worst news is just around the corner.

One patient I saw walked into the Emergency Department from the back of an ambulance, chatting and smiling, but obviously in pain.
I heard doctors muttering something about how lucky he was as they evaluated his injuries and assessed what was to be done with him next.
It was only later, when I bumped into him on the ward, that I found out just how lucky he was.

An insurgent had shot him in the arm but, amazingly, the bullet had passed between all the bones in his shoulder and flown out the other side.
Not only had this patient survived (the bullet only missed his head by a matter of a couple of centimetres) but his injuries were so minor that he did not need surgery.

Medics here have just passed "the hump" this week - they are now more than half way through their three month tour.
I asked Major Kathryn Rickers if she was missing home.
She told me that of course she was but if I offered her a flight home tomorrow she wouldn't take it.
"None of us would," she said.
"We are here for a reason and we want to play our part.
"And we actually quite like it here too."