Cameron's Communication Chief and the silence of the press over major damges payout

This doesn't seem to have been widely reported but gives politics and journalism a bad name, but it all to common.

Imagine for a moment that a bank employee in the City of London was awarded £800,000 for unfair dismissal after a lengthy period of bullying by his or her boss. I haven't the slightest doubt that it would be a major news item in every newspaper - from the Financial Times to the Daily Star.

Or how about this? Imagine The Guardian being required to pay out £800,000 to a journalist because its editor had been exposed as a bully. You can bet that would have made headlines in rival papers.

So why, I wonder, was The Guardian the only national paper to report on the fact that former News of the World football reporter Matt Driscoll was awarded almost £792,736 for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination by an employment tribunal?

The Guardian story appeared online on Monday night and in Tuesday's morning's paper. It was covered by the Press Gazette. It was reported on a lawyer's website. There were also mentions on various blogs, notably here, here and here.

But this record payout - believed to be the largest award of its kind in the media - was not considered to be newsworthy enough for any national to mention.

Yet it must surely be in the public interest for people to know about misbehaviour by Britain's best-selling newspaper, which is renowned for its own heavy-handed treatment of those it considers to have acted immorally.

Similarly, since the editor said to have carried out the bullying is none other than Andy Coulson, now the communications chief for the Conservative party leader, David Cameron, there was a powerful secondary reason for the case to be reported as a matter of public interest.

But it is becoming more and more apparent that most of the national press is now involved in a routine cover-up about its internal affairs, especially when the stories concern the News of the World's owner, News International.

A change of tone if not policy

All three Party leaders addressed the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Annual conference this week and all of them Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg and David Cameron were more upbeat on the economy than they have sounded for a while, maybe they are getting the message that the unrelenting economic gloom they keep telling us about is making us even more worried.

However, the most interesting speech at the CBI Conference was from David Cameron and not just because he could be Prime Minister in a few months.

In a more measured speech he talked about the need for growth to tackle the public debt for the first time in public and would have an emergency budget within 50 days of taking office, a subtle change of emphasis if not quite Tory policy that most commentators and journalists picked up on. Maybe it’s the opinion polls or the Tory focus groups that are telling David Cameron and George Osbourne that their obsessive focus of public sectors cuts to reduce Britain’s national debt is going down like a lead balloon with the public and business alike.

Whatever it is, it’s a welcome step forward from the man who is likely to be running the country in a few months time and in charge of the Nations finances.

Do your bit for Domestic Abuse

I missed the opportunity to blog about the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women earlier this week but got sent an e-mail about Woman’s Aid who have a released a song to mark the day called ‘Take My Hand’ to raise money. All profits from sales of the single will be used by Women’s Aid to support and protect abused women and children.

Its costs 79p to download and you can also see the song performed live on the link above, I would encourage you to download the song as I have done and to spread the word among your friends and family to help raise as much money for victims of Domestic Abuse across the UK.

Another damp squib

A chance to improve the financial situation of Wales, to increase WAG’s and Welsh local authority’s budgets were well and truly flunked today and not just by the Welsh Secretary Peter Hain. Today’s statements from the Government and Opposition parties was entirely predictable with not a shred of courage or vision just the usual denial of reality and blame game.

So here’s the statement from Peter Hain which basically says well deal with the wide ranging recommendations of Holtham after the General Election if Labour win, this in contrast to yesterdays White paper from Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy on the Calman Commission on improving the Scottish Parliaments financial accountability.

Here is Plaid Cymru's response from Adam Price blaming Labour.

There is a brief statement from Kirsty Williams on Freedom Central blaming Labour.

And this is the only quote I can find from the Welsh Conservative’s from BBC Wales their Finance spokesman Nick Ramsay said the UK government statement did not say anything that was not known already and called it "very disappointing." – also blaming Labour,

I guess the Conservatives are keeping quiet on the issue because the Tory Leadership is moving away from reforming the Barnett Formula after concerns over the rate of Scottish Devolution arising from the Calman Commission. This despite Holtham Commission, House of Lords and the Calman Commission all say that the Barnett Formula needs replacing with a needs based formula.

Government response to Holtham due

I’m sure there was a lot of anticipation in Cardiff Bay over Welsh Secretary Peter Hain’s speech on the Queen’s Speech following his statement yesterday, but it turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, he said he saw no inconsistency between the two statements and stuck to his line about having a referendum when it could be won, apart from that it was pretty predictable stuff, Labour Good for the economy and public service, Tories and Lib Dems bad and will make swinging and savage cuts, he also made a full some tribute to First Minister Rhodri Morgan.

The most interesting thing for me was in response to questions from Plaid Cymru was that he will make an Official statement to Parliament tomorrow on the Holtham Commission, the one set up to look at funding and finance in Wales, which he said‘ I think you will be pleased with what's in it’

I blogged back in September that the Calman Commission, being outlined today, was getting an official response from the UK Government from Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy and asked why there wasn't a similar response from Welsh Secretary Peter to the Holtham report, which is just a far reaching but it good to see that situation rectified and to what the Government has to say.

A day of drama, but the issues remain

It was certainly a day of drama in the Assembly today over the timing of a referendum and Welsh Labour Party’s official response to it, which if you believe the reports almost resulted in the Labour/Plaid coalition imminent collapse – something I doubt, but Rhodri and Ieuan hurried statement issued earlier this evening is a sign of how difficult things remain between the parties.

So what’s Labour or more to the point Welsh Secretary Peter Hain up to again, was he testing the strength of the One Wales Coalition to see if it might collapse with a new and less cooperative Welsh Labour leader as First Minister or is he trying to shore up Labour’s vote for the General Election with some Plaid Cymru bashing.

Whatever it is Peter certainly isn’t speaking for everyone in the Labour Party, Labour AM’s were unhappy with his intervention and Rhodri Morgan’s less than helpful response to the All Wales Convention in the Assembly today, it may not be the first time Labour AM’s have been unhappy with the First Minister but it’s the first time I can remember the press reporting it, maybe things are changing.

And even though Plaid Cymru got Labour to back down today they need to remember the pitfalls of gloating and obsessing over the constitution especially when they are after disillusioned Labour voters in the General and Assembly Elections.

As for Welsh Secretary Peter Hain is in Cardiff Bay tomorrow to lead the debate on the Queens Speech, it will be interesting to hear what he’s got to say and see how supportive Labour AM’s are of him.

Scrutiny for the Special Advisors?

Gareth Hughes raises the possibility of Special Advisors in Cardiff Bay being publicly vetted, along similar lines to what happens in the America Government before taking up their jobs in the Welsh Assembly Government in future.

It’s an interesting idea because Special Advisors or SPAD’s as they are known certainly have a lot of power in our political system without actually being visible or accountable to anyone except their political bosses and most of them are hired from the Governing party’s ranks or straight from University for their ability to only think along party lines.

Still it’s an intriguing thought of public hearings in Cardiff Bay after each Assembly election for the SPAD’s and as Gareth says it would increase the health and accountability of Welsh politics somewhat, especially these days with the expense scandal and low trust of politicians.

But there’s more chance of hell freezing over than parties allowing their choice of Special Advisors to be subject to public scrutiny panels, not so much because they don’t believe in accountability (although for some that would be an issue) but they would show up the partisan and often poor quality appointments those who Govern us hire to advise them on important matters that affect Wales.

Securing the Post Office’s Future

In his column for the Western Mail last week Russell Lawson of Federation of Small Business Wales (FSB) wrote about a new Coalition lead by the FSB and includes the Communication Workers’ Union, the New Economics Foundation, the Public Interest Research centre, the National Pensioners Convention and Unite the Union to lobby the Government to set up a Post Bank to be run as part of the Post Office network to help local businesses and help secure the Post Office network in Wales and the rest of the UK.

He writes ‘The debate needs to focus on how to enact these changes, as it could be done either through the creation of a post bank, or through an existing relationship with the Bank of Ireland.

But small businesses are not getting the services they need from the Post Office. The future Post Office should look and function very differently from the current model. It should be made into a flexible business hub, able to stand on its own feet and service the small business community, which constitutes the backbone of the British economy.

Each branch could establish a dedicated business desk, with specially trained staff; establish mobile business support services; offer dedicated advertising facilities to help small businesses reach other small local businesses and potential customers; offer wi-fi facilities; offer meeting room facilities to start-ups and micro businesses; establish a full range of financial services, including business banking.

The small business community provides an extremely loyal customer base. Reaching out to the small business community in a bigger way will not only help small firms improve and grow their business, it will also bring in much needed revenue to the post office network.

The liberalisation of the postal market in 2007 has not yet benefited small businesses to the same extent as large businesses, because of their smaller mailing volumes. Small businesses find it difficult to find an alternative carrier to Royal Mail.'

The proposals have cross party support in Westminster and in Cardiff Bay with many AM’s keen to see Post Offices remain open in community across Wales because many Post Offices provide a real social and community benefit as well as an economic one. A Post Bank seems like the best way of securing Post Offices so they can continue to serve our communities and local businesses, I hope the politicians are listening and will act.