The truth about MMR

Once again, Dr Andrew Wakefield, the author of the report which sought to link the MMR jab with autism, has been discredited. The General Medical Council has today found that he acted "dishonestly and irresponsibly" in doing his research. It will now decide on his penalty. In coming to their decision, I hope the Council Members take into consideration the huge damage his flawed findings have done. Take up rates of the vaccine plummeted, herd protection dropped and cases of measles soared. In 2008 for the first time in 14 years, measles was declared endemic in the UK. But if Wakefield was dishonest and irresponsible, so were many within the media. Wakefield's opinion was persistently presented as having equal validity as that of the Chief Medical Officer and the World Health Organisation. It wasn't. Repeated research by respected health professionals around the world found absolutely no link. Nevertheless, media scaremongering was rife. After all why present the truth when you can exploit a fear? Let's see how the case is covered in tomorrow's papers.

Remember Toussaint Louverture

As the representatives of the Friends of Haiti gather in Montreal to establish "a clear and common vision for the early recover and long-term reconstruction" of the country, the Haitian authorities have estimated that the final death toll on the earthquake is likely to be in excess of 150,000. It truly is a blighted place. On the day of the earthquake I described it as god forsaken, but i quickly decided that was entirely the wrong adjective. Its plight is not in the hands of god. Yes earthquakes and hurricanes are natural phenomena but the ability of a country to withstand the ravages of such disasters and the speed at which they recover is entirely up to people. Brutal and corrupt regimes which were tolerated (some might even say encouraged) by the West have taken their own toll on Haiti and the governments that have followed have not been strong enough to change matters. Over the last week or so I have been thinking about Toussaint Louverture, the black revolutionary leader who liberated Haiti from French colonial power. A former slave. this brilliant strategist, gifted politician and immensely charismatic leader effectively brought about the birth of the Haitian nation in 1804. Those meeting in Montreal would do well to reflect upon Toussaint Louverture and focus on what needs to be done to restore his legacy.

A less taxing experience than you would imagine

I spent last night completing my tax return. Yes I know I have left it very late. Every year I promise myself that I will do it earlier to avoid having the terrible dark cloud hanging over me in early January, when let's face it life is grim enough. But at the risk of sounding like Moira Stewart, once I waded through the darkness and got going, it really wasn't too bad. Alright I did have to turn two drawers to find my "i must keep this safe because it contains information i will need for my tax return folder" and another hour to find my P60 (because it wasn't in the folder) but once I had gathered together all the necessary bits and pieces it took less than an hour. Clearly this in part reflects that fact that my finances are not what you could call complex. But it was also easy because the online system is genuinely really good. At a time when politicians and the media are queuing up to criticise government IT projects, can I commend this one? Easy, accessible and delivering an excellent service to the citizen.

Battling in the middle

It was at Saturday's Fabian Conference (did I mention I got up at the crack of sparrow to attend this?) that the Dear Leader set out to woo the middle classes. Not necessarily a bad strategy and certainly one that Peter Mandelson is determined the party should follow. What was slightly odd about Gordon Brown's speech was how crude the woo-ing was. I had expected him to talk about so-called middle class values and how Labour would meet middle classs aspirations. What I hadn't anticipated is that GB would actually talk about "middle class jobs", "middle class families" and the "threat to middle class Britain". It felt forced and inappropriate, not least because many of those the party is trying to court don't necessarily regard themselves as middle class. His pledge to protect the "squeezed mainstream middle" literallybrought water to my eyes. My plea to camp GB - more subtle messaging, please.

Fabians on a Saturday

Spent yesterday (yes a Saturday) at the Fabian Society New Year Conference. It was an all day affair, requiring me to get up at the same time as a do for work. Those of you who know me that this is not something i do lightly. My standard Saturday regime definitely involves rising late and in a leisurely fashion. I dislike running about on a Saturday morning desperately drying my hair and praying that it won't frizz (to be honest i hate it every day but a girl has got to work). But the Fabians had secured an impressive array of speakers from both left and right and I was keen to hear the views of the likes of Peter Mandelson and Douglas Carswell on how to win the next election. By far the most interesting session was on the economy (although a smug young man from the Fabians tried to prevent me getting in, a misjudgement James, a misjudgement).Will Hutton was as always marvellous(could he be Prime Minister?) and his whose views on progressive entepreneurism were very compelling. Hutton was on a platform with Phillip Blond, Red Tory extraordinaire, and the level of consensus between these two thinkers was striking. Equally striking was that much of their thinking seems to be informed by NESTA, the innovation incubator which I think has over the last few month produced some of the most interesting, intellectually demanding and thought-provoking solutions to this country's social and economic challenges.

Two footnotes on the day's events. First, yes I was mistaken for the good Baroness Vadera at least twice!!

Second Nadine Dorries was by far the least impressive of the speakers I heard, indeed I thought she was truly awful but I did think she bears a remarkable resemblance to Heather Mills, indeed you never see them in the same place.

Alastair at the Inquiry, again

So once again Alastair Campbell has been in front of an inquiry into the Iraq War. And surprise, surprise, there were no surprises. No clangers were dropped, no faux pas made. And of course none could really have been expected. But that did not stop today's media feeding frenzy. There was a veritable scrum of photographers waiting for him when he arrived to give evidence, News 24 and Sky broadcast the lengthy session live, we will have Andrew Gilligan and all manner of talking heads commenting on his performance on every news programme, paper and website for the next 24 hours and don't even get me started on the write-throughs. Alastair is one of those people that no matter how much journalists criticise, they can't get enough of him. Back in the days when he was the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (1997-2001), his twice-daily briefings to the Lobby (Westminster-based political correspondents) were something to behold. They would sit there desperate to get his attention, hanging on every word like love-struck teenagers. Of course they would claim afterwards that they had "grilled him" during the briefings, but take it from one who was there, there was an awful lot of simpering in the mix. And it got worse when, after the 2001 election, he became the No 10 Director of Communications and Strategy and stopped giving briefings. The response of the hacks was almost comical - they became rejected love-sick teenagers, furious at being spurned, this time desperate to get revenge. Seems like old times.

New year resolutions

I have been thinking about new year resolutions. Apart from my rollovers (losing weight, getting fit and doing something new and/or scary at least once a month), my personal goals for 2010 are (in no particular order) 1. do everything in my power to stop Nick Griffin winning Barking (www.hopenotehate.org.uk) 2. perfect the New York Cheesecake 3. post blogs more frequently 4. shine a spotlight on the hypocrisy of those in power be it political or economic. Talking of which, can I add my two-pen'th in on Iris Robinson? I know acres of news space has been spent on Mrs Robinson, but the sheer hypocrisy of the woman does bear repeating: there she was condemning homosexuality as an abomination when she was having an adulteress affair with a teenager to whom she was allegedly channelling public money. Shameful.