Another Day, Another Apology

I see that Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley has apologised for saying that some good can come out of a recession.

Lansley wrote an article on Blue Blog which, in the main, concentrated on the fact that the numbers of mental health cases and suicides surge during a downturn. He was putting forward what he sees as the case for better mental healt hcare for the greater number of unemployed people and "at risk" workers.

But Lansley also said that there can be upsides of a recession. He claimed that research had found that "...on many counts, recession can be good for us. People tend to smoke less, drink less alcohol, eat less rich food and spend time at home with their families."

These latter remarks appear to have cause something of a storm, and he has since had to apologise, saying "I am very sorry for any offence this has caused and I totally withdraw my comments."

What the hell is the matter with this country ? Why is it next to impossible for anyone to say anything even remotely controversial without later having to apologise ? It was perfectly obvious that Lansley wasn't belittling the impact of a recession - quite the reverse. The whole context of his article was a need as he saw it to improve health care facilities for people who lose their jobs. But there can be positive outcomes too, is all.

Lansley has apparently been given a dressing down by David Cameron. If I'd have been Lansley I'd have told Cameron where he can stick his front bench job.

I'd like to give you the link on Blue Blog to Lansley's article, but I can't, because it's been removed.

Instead, I'll have to display a screen shot of the article I found on the blog of Labour MP Tom Watson.

God Almighty; it's coming to something when you're relying on the bloody socialists to defend free speech.