Why Do Pasties Matter?

A tax on hot pasties is a trivial matter compared with, say, the privatisation of the NHS. Over the last few days, the news has been full of stories about “pastytax” and the, admittedly more important (given there has almost been a death as a consequence) panic over a possible fuel tanker drivers’ strike. The poor old NHS hasn’t had much of a look-in.

But then it wouldn’t have anyway. Even before politicians started desperately trying to remember when and where they last ate a pasty, mainstream news was ignoring the NHS.

The government has no mandate to privatise our health service, and that alone should be enough to persuade people that this government is thoroughly disreputable, but if the facts are being withheld from them, how can they reach this obvious conclusion.

So when ministers provoke panic-buying of fuel, at least a week ahead of a possible strike, people are going to notice, when the fuss dies down, how dishonest, or at best incompetent, this government really is. Add the “pastytax” to the mix, and they just look silly.

With any luck, it’ll be a nail in the coffin of the coalition of toffs.

How to Miss the Point Completely

Some Christians believe that prayer can cure all ailments. Their belief is so strong that they’ll advocate prayer instead of, rather than in addition to, medical treatment. The Advertising Standards Authority told a group of such Christians in Bath (with the slightly risqué acronym H.O.T.S.) that they couldn’t make the positive claim in their promotional literature that prayer heals. They weren’t saying that payer doesn’t work, just that there’s no credible evidence that it does. All there is, is personal anecdotes.

Now, three MPs, one from each of the main parties, plus a Liberal Democrat, have written a letter to the ASA, complete with a threat, albeit an empty one. There’s also a rather stupid attempt at “proof” in the mention of Fabrice Muamba who, it is true, was prayed for by a lot of people but who, it is demonstrably true, also received quite intensive, and prompt, medical attention.

So, the burden of proof remains with the Christians, who are making the claim that prayer works, and not with the ASA, who are merely saying “show us some evidence”.

Here is the letter, copied from the Liberal Conspiracy blog, well worth a read in its own right:

Rt Hon Lord Smith of Finsbury
Chairman, Advertising Standards Agency

21st March 2012

We are writing on behalf of the all-party Christians in Parliament group in Westminster and your ruling that the Healing On The Streets ministry in Bath are no longer able to claim, in their advertising, that God can heal people from medical conditions.

We write to express our concern at this decision and to enquire about the basis on which it has been made. It appears to cut across two thousand years of Christian tradition and the very clear teaching in the Bible. Many of us have seen and experienced physical healing ourselves in our own families and churches and wonder why you have decided that this is not possible.

On what scientific research or empirical evidence have you based this decision?

You might be interested to know that I (Gary Streeter) received divine healing myself at a church meeting in 1983 on my right hand, which was in pain for many years. After prayer at that meeting, my hand was immediately free from pain and has been ever since. What does the ASA say about that? I would be the first to accept that prayed for people do not always get healed, but sometimes they do. That is all this sincere group of Christians in Bath are claiming.

It is interesting to note that since the traumatic collapse of the footballer Fabrice Muamba the whole nation appears to be praying for a physical healing for him. I enclose some media extracts. Are they wrong also and will you seek to intervene?

We invite your detailed response to this letter and unless you can persuade us that you have reached your ruling on the basis of indisputable scientific evidence, we intend to raise this matter in Parliament.

Yours sincerely,

Gary Streeter MP (Con)
Chair, Christians in Parliament

Gavin Shuker MP (Labour)
Vice Chair, Christians in Parliament

Tim Farron (Lib-Dem)
Vice Chair, Christians in Parliament

 

EDIT TO ADD: Click here for another excellent post from Liberal Conspiracy.

The Operation was a Success, but the Patient is Dead

Actually, there is still a chance to save the NHS, if only we can find an effective Rebel Alliance to defend it.

Such an alliance probably won’t include many Liberal Democrat politicians, since members of that party in both the houses of Parliament have caved in to the Tories. The rank and file members, if there are any left, might join though.

There’s one last chance before rioting and civil disobedience become the only options. Lord David Owen tried, unsuccessfully, to delay the NHS Reform Bill until the publication of an internal assessment of the risks posed by the proposed reforms.

Now, Labour has been granted an emergency House of Commons debate on Tuesday.

I can only hope that debate is more successful than the Lords one. Maybe some LibDem MPs will grow a spine.

About Time For A Post

I haven’t posted here for a while. I blame Richard Dawkins’ ancestors.

The only known photo of an uncle who died years before I was born.

If they hadn’t kept slaves, a Telegraph hack wouldn’t have scribbled that ridiculous story intended to embarrass him, and I wouldn’t have decided, on a whim, to look into my own family tree.

And that’s why I haven’t been here for a while; genealogy is very addictive!

At first, I tried to get back as far as I could. I got back to the early seventeenth century easily enough, and may even have a line I can trace to 1240, if I can resolve a problem with one generation in the eighteenth century, but I soon became more interested with recent generations. All those conversations that went right over my head when I was a child are now ringing some bells, as I begin to put life stories, and even faces, to the names my mother and grandmother gossipped about as I played with my toys.

Me with my mum, when I was 7 months old. I can scarcely believe it's me, so imagining my older ancestors is even more difficult..

My great grandmother. I knew her name, and I even met her when I was very young, but I'd never seen a picture of her before I started my family tree.

I had tried to research my family tree  a few years ago, but couldn’t get further back than 1888. The rising popularity of genealogy has made it much easier to share results online, and there’s more opportunity to cross-check. You can also get quite a long way just using free accounts on various genealogy sites, so it’s worth having a go.

One side effect I’ve noticed is a greater appreciation of time. I have long been of the opinion that many people who don’t accept the fact of evolution are simply overwhelmed by the huge numbers involved. I  can understand the scale of evolutionary time, and even geological time, intellectually. I can’t really envisage that amount of time instinctively, however. It just wasn’t necessary for humans to deal with such big numbers until recently, so we haven’t evolved to do so.

Of course, evolutionary time doesn’t compare with the few hundred years in by family tree, but it’s also difficult to understand the passing of centuries, since no human has lasted much more than a hundred years, and most don’t even get that far. A few real stories about real lives can help understand time.

That won’t persuade dyed-in-the-wool creationists though, unless I can trace my ancestry, precisely, further back than the age they think the universe is!