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.

The Womble Goes Soft...

As you (and Hazel Blears) know, positivity is usually way off-thread for me, but I when I saw this at Hedgewytch I felt moved by it, and decided to pass it on. Must be feeling at a low ebb or something...

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.

It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers. That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.

On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. 'Really?' she heard whispered. 'I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!' and, 'I didn't know others liked me so much,' were most of the comments. No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another.

That group of students moved on. Several years later, one of the students was killed in Vietnam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature.

The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin.As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. 'Were you Mark's math teacher?' he asked. She nodded: 'yes.' Then he said: 'Mark talked about you a lot.'

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.'We want to show you something,' his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket '. They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.'

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him.

'Thank you so much for doing that,' Mark's mother said. 'As you can see, Mark treasured it.

'All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, 'I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home'.

Chuck's wife said, 'Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album.''

I have mine too,' Marilyn said. 'It's in my diary'.

Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. 'I carry this with me at all times,' Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: 'I think we all saved our lists'.

That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be. So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.

BUT IF YOU THINK THAT MEANS I'M EVER GOING TO SAY ANYTHING NICE ABOUT NEW LABOUR, YOU MUST BE CRAZY !