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Dear Newsnight

re Iran

I'm concerned that they are looking for a pretext to attack Iran. Regime change will take place there through elections unless the West attacks.

The move to get the UN to move against Iran seems intended to draw countries like India into providing troops. They stayed out of Iraq because there was no UN mandate.

Hence Bush's visit to India.

No troops, no more war. Please India, do not be bullied or bribed to enter this quagmire.

If the West or the Islamic extremists succeed in drawing India in this as both want to, it will be a disaster for the region and the world.

The best way to deal with Iraq now is to withdraw western troops to seal the border against arms imports in a ring say 50 miles deep and use Iraqi forces in the rest of the country.

I may be wrong about this. If you look at the forces housing tonight, isn’t this another example of privatisation sinking standards. Forces housing was privatised? may be wrong and this privatisation not reversed by Labour

Relying on programmes like Newsnight, haven’t bought a national newspaper for almost a week following depraved and sick reporting

best wishes
Bob Goodall

I do think that Stephanie Flanders' characterisation of the NHS' planning arrangements as "Stalinist" was a bit silly and misleading (particularly as it was then repeated by Gavin in an interview). Every organisation which plans to be around in five years, has a five year plan. Since it takes more than five years to train a doctor, it would be crazy for the monopsonist employer of British doctors to not have a five year forecast.

It is also dead wrong to assume that it is necessarily a sign of failure if large numbers of people don't find jobs higher up the career ladder. This is, in fact, how management consultancies work - not everyone who joins McKinsey becomes a consultant after three years.

re Food labelling

I feel Newsnight did the traffic light system a massive disservice by having the guy who was representing the system on.

I have rarely seen a more annoying person take part in a tv debate.

I have no problem with arguing your corner but there are ways of doing it and just saying that someone is putting up another argument just to be petty shows a distinct lack of intelligence in my opinion.

My personal opinion is that neither are perfect or completely awful. Therefore, combining the two together would give the customer the best of both worlds - simplicity of traffic lights and the greater detail.

As a consummer I find the traffic light system much easier to understand and clearer. It seems clear that some food producers and retailers are more concerned with their bottom line than providing quick and easily understandable information about the health implications of their products.

Given the legislative and enforcement problems consummers have no other alternative than to vote with their feet.

I am amazed that organisations such as Tesco, that have come in for some critisisms of late are still willing to attract adberse publicity. Fortunately I have a choice of supermarkets that I can use and will be using labeling as part of the basis for which shop I will use. I hope others do the same.

Re: Food Labelling

As was pointed out in the report and in the following discussion, Tesco has displayed nutritional information following the GDA system for the last few years.

This information is extremely clearly displayed, in my humble opinion. I feel that the debate over food labelling that just occured was a waste of time in some respects, namely the issue should not be about which system is adopted by supermarkets, but that all products sold in this country should display SOME simple and clear nutritional information. Whether we look for colours or for percentages, SOME simple display should be displayed.

Personally, I do not feel that the existing GDA percentage labels are confusing. Perhaps (provided the consumer can add up) they are even simpler. I try to make sure that I do not consume much over 100% daily on any of the cateories listed. If you are looking at colours, rather than percentages however, how do you know when you have reached the GDA for a paticular category. How many 'green' labelled products must you eat before you are in effect eating a 'red' product? That would involve looking at the traditional labels on the back of the packaging, and doing more maths than just simple addition.

I do notice however, that the Tesco's GDA system uses random different colours to highlight each category. Perhaps they could change this to a hybrid system which incoporates both the traffic light and the percentage labels.

I agree with the above comment.

Iran and many other oil producing companies want to accept payments of oil in euros and move away from the petro dollar, the impact this would have on the value of dollar
as countries change part of their dollar holdings into Euros.This would not be tolerated by the USA.

History seems to dictate the USA levels of tolerance.

I think we will see a lot more negative news coverage about Iran as we, the people, are prepared for a possible attack on Iran thus completing a major part of the oil producing jigsaw puzzle, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan. Look at the map!

The food labeling debate was timely and urgent. Despite greater attention to corporate governance in recent years, there seems a frightening lack of ethics amongst so-called industry spokespersons, and the proftis they seek to protect. Lobbying furiously against measures that might protect the public and saying that they are championing the very consumers they seek to fool. It is obvious that the industry wants the smallest and most obscure print possible. The spokesperson had the neck to make the unsubstantiated claim that they were leaders and way ahead of other countries in Europe. Clearly he has never been to Austria. What is unique about the food processing and retailing industry in Britain is its reliance on either small print or its absence to earn superprofits. The Professor, Lang I think his name was, thankfully won that debate. If traffic lights are good enough to prevent mayhem on the streets, they are good enough to enable consumers quickly and fairly decide whether a particular product was worth the associated health risk. Anybody who is in doubt about this issue should study the small print, if they can read it, of the breakfast cereal they try and eat in the morning.

On Iran, I hope Bob Goodall is wrong. The Indians will hardly be fooled by Bush to wage war on a Muslim country despite what Bush says about it. Would the new Congress stomach it? There is always the risk however that Bush, with no more to lose, will encourage the Israelis to bomb Iranian suspected nuclear facilities. By the time the Iranian retaliation drags the whole of the middle east into war, Bush will be gone and the new Democratic administration will have to clean it up.

I'm very happy to have sensible % GDA nutritional information from the food manufacturers rather than have some food nazi putting a red traffic light on foods they have set themselves against. Sugar, for example, is a carbohydrate with the same calorie content as any other carbohydrate but the food nazis would have you believe it'll kill you.

Dear Newsnight
re food labels

Kept waiting to hear, but nothing was said about the current standard labelling which includes a lot more information than is now being recommended. Secondly, if customers are regarded as complete idiots -- which was an easy inference to draw from this segment -- one which seemed to be earnestly trying to get to grips on 'what the stupid consumer needs' the question arises why did Newsnight bother to do the report in the first place for a Newsnight audience? I don't think Newsnight audiences really want to be treated like six year olds.The Cadbury spokesman's management-speak was never properly challenged. His patter was riddled with jargon and spin. He was snowing us under with irrelevancies. For example, to state what percentage of big retailers use his preferred system - as if this was an automatic indication of food manufacturers' having the best interest of the public at heart - was a highly dubious premise ( a new system is being introduced by the Government undoubtedly because there is reason to do it). But his self-assurance just seemed to be smiled upon.

Will other information in addition to fat and salt and calorie content such as percentage of protein and carbohydrates continue to be shown on food packages? Newsnight, could you please update us?

In the US, it is common to see information on the content of food products refer to 'serving' and it is utterly useless to the consumer. Who is to judge what a 'serving' is? And 'serving' quite obviously does not allow any possibility of comparing products. Per 100g information is a very good way of making comparisons. Obviously. One manufacturer's idea of a serving doesn't necessarily conform to another's and how is the would-be buyer to know? This was a non news segment not worthy of Newsnight. It was just a stunt.

Iran - A predictable prelude set up by newsnight's usual pro-war suspects. Come on Newsnight - you can't continue to tow the party line in the face of lost war.

Ref Charles #14

So you do not like/rate Newsnight report reference Iran activities in Iraq (personally thought story very well researched & presented)

Seem like you need a gentle reminder of spying & other activities undertaken by Iran:

- nukes [1]
- Iraq: insurgency [2a] [2b]
- Lebanon: Hezbollah [3a] [3b]
- Gaza: Hamas [4a]
- Gaza: Hezbollah & Hamas [5a]
- British Army: spying (alleged) [6a]

Q. or don't you think radical & extremist Iran is up to anything?

Lets hope the opposition in Iran gets to grips with its radical administration, before they or other nations are forced to react/proactively take action [7a] [7b]

Meantime:
- No wonder the Yanks are busy [8a]
- No wonder Israel is busy [9a]

… and we have not even gone into the internal repression of Iranian society by its radical government …. still no surprise why its not willing to treat its neighbours with respect given it has little for its own people.

vikingar

SOURCES:

[1]
[2a]
[2b]
[3a]
[3b]
[4a]
[5a]
[6a]
[7a]
[7b]
[8a]
[9a]

1. that anyone should leave school without the ability to put together a diet is either a gross failure of education policy or a deliberate strategy to sustain a redundant profession of 'nutrition educators' to teach us 'healthy eating'(this is not the same as dieticians who are part of the medical service).

2. the food industry has done more to suggest practical ideas for healthy meals in their TV adverts in recent months than the public sector has with all their do's and dont's - ain't that right Ray?

3. Tim Lang is the only person who the media has ever invited to speak on food policy from outside of the food industry - first when he was leading the F&F lobby and now as a rep of the public sector - backed by the now powerful F&F lobby - are there no other opinions in the public sector?

4. there are several learning styles - some people simply do not take in pictoral information and others do not take in figurative/numeric information (still others only take in information by 'doing'), so 'one solution fits all' doesn't work for food labelling anymore than it does for body shape and size.

5. we know what the industry wants - money, same as any other industry - but what does the public sector want? also money - ie. in reduced medical costs? or perhaps moral supremacy, over who? or simply more jobs for their families and friends??

6. food habits spring from culture, so French markets are exciting because of their distinct French history and English farmers' markets are boring white and bourgeois because of our distinct agricultural history.

7. I laugh when people in the media talk about 'out of town' supermarkets - for the majority of the population supermarkets are the geographically local option - and the multicultural option too.

8. lots and lots of people don't like english food - but most of the english do!!!

9. food has been traded over vast distances for over 5000 years, you could say it is part of our make up.

10. cheese, bread, jam, biscuits - are all processed foods - must we make them ourselves now or are we going to adopt a more sensible attitude to processed food from now on and stop witch-hunting the poor supermarkets? only when we acknowledge the role for processed foods can we start to get the more nutritionally moribund varieties off the market

11. in the 19th century food reformers produced all sorts of wholewheat goodness but they also had some unusual beliefs about bodily functions and abstinence. now in the 21st century we seem to be returning to this former state of 'food flagellation' but I think the extremes of the lobby have only caught on because a) the much weakened farm lobby sees some salvation in sight through pressure on supermarkets; and b)it's cool to be part of the latte culture saying 'oh no, english food, how perfectly dreadful darling' or part of the drippy ethical culture saying - 'actually, we don't actually shop in supermarkets anymore because actually we don't think it's actually appropriate'.

12. there must be a 12 surely?

Looking forward to a Newsnight piece on the intelligence activities in Iraq of other foreign powers, such as the UK. It should be quite easy to research.

Or are we to understand that the UK undertakes no intelligence activities in Iraq?

In response to post #15,

Dear Bert,

Please take your extremist perspective elsewhere, it is not a particularly helpful blog when you blame everyone bar yourself of being racist.

I have no doubt that the British Government lies, however,I also have no doubt that the Iranian Government also lies, in this instance I fail to find any sympathy for your rather strange rationale for who these Iranians are and what they were doing in Iraq.

You accuse the Media and by extension me of racism, well I find your comment racist and very hurtful, so I ask that in future you stop trying to take over debates with emotive words and start behaving like a normal human being.

I agree with Fed in blog 21, it is because of people like Bart who cause so much distrust aound the world.

Bart argumentation is strange, he accused Newsnight and the Americans of being Racist, he also says people should not judge without having all the information in front of them, well my question to Bart is the following........where is your proof that they are not Iranian spies?, and where is your proof that Newsnight and the US are racist?.

Not a very good report on the NHS by Stephanie Flanders. Saying on the one hand that every year is a crisis year and management by is boom and bust, and on the other that having a five-year plan is "Stalinist", is tabloid journalism of the worst sort. Even the "usual suspect" interviewees couldn't cope with the weird pre-spin on the piece. And not one mention of what anything in the story might mean for patients, except the general "don't rely on the NHS" one.

What was with the weird music in the food labelling piece? A slow xylophone whilst shopping trolleys rush by at enhanced speed? Unmentioned in the piece was that salt content has at last been brought to the front of packaging at a readable size. With salt always implicated in raised blood pressure, a huge proportion of the population suffering blood pressure problems, and medical treatments expensive and riddled with side-effects, that is a huge advance. Unfortunately the smaller print recommened daily quantity is far too high for those who should be restricting it. The recommendation being averaged over a population of genetically varying sensitivity, with smoking further enhancing the danger. The fact is that most pre-prepared foods are too dangerous for anyone with blood pressure issues to eat, because salt has been added just for the palates of people who have been made used to the taste of salt. Which isn't what manufacturuers wish potential consumers to realise. The next thing that needs tackling is apparent portion sizes, because people too often over-eat, and eat what they think is a "normal" size, and food packaging, intended to sell more, tends to make those seem larger and larger. American manufacturers especially push that.

Could someone tell the reporter who voiced the report from Sierra Leone that using an unremittingly depressed voice doesn't assist viewers to engage? Was she saying that government hsopitals are corruptly charging for what should be free, or were the hospitals she showed to be half empty, and those referred to by the mother who chose to buy a calendar from a charismatic church instead, because it was cheaper, private ones? The report seems unclear. But it was still very worthwhile. Thanks for showing how those churches prey on people. Thanks for showing the after-effects of war in the mental wards. Thanks for showing what seemed a thoroughly dedicated, British (and Russian) trained psychiatrist, even if he chains his patients. Thanks for showing the work of Medecine Sans Frontiers, with a British doctor too, rathe rthan the original French. But why no explanation of them pulling out of the country, if that was what was implied? Why no indication of whether more hospitals are being built (British aid often used to do that), or why doctors are in short supply, apart from that many leave the country after training. Shame it was the only film of the evening Newsnight didn't feel was worth any subsequent studio time. Couldn't you have asked if Sierra Leone medical staff are being sucked over here, and then left unused. Or asked how our development money is being used out there regarding medical facilities? Or whether UK government, World Bank or IMF policies have restricted those health facilities? UK government (specifically Hilary Benn's) criticisms of World Bank policies might suggest so.

Collected Eric wrote: "Food labelling. Are people too thick to realise that too much fat and salt kills them? Fat, unlike nicotine, isn't even addictive."

Salt is though, sort of. When you cut down on it much food tastes horrid until you become reaccustomed, and meanwhile everyone else is trying to get one to taste their salty food, and all the salty food is high-pressure marketed, and no pre-prepared alternatives are available. Not easy. Can be done though, and very worthwhile. Not doing it killed my father; a long (10 year), slow, horrible death of brain damage from strokes.

CE: "The whole spat about labelling is ridiculous. Eating less is the central way of reducing health risks. A few more oranges and a few fewer fatty pies."

You seem to be ignoring the salt side. In denial, Eric?

Interesting contrast between our own health system troubles and those of Sierra Leone... Two key problems in SL, apart from obvious infrastructure ones, are the recruitment/payment of health staff and the decentralisation of basic services.

Recruitment on the official payroll is slow and salary levels are low. Some staff are said to be remunerated on "private funds", i.e. handouts of patients and fellow staff. Individuals who should benefit from free treatment have been asked to pay; in some cases those who have to pay anyway have been charged more than the official rate. Apart from ineffective recruitment, the main reason for the lack of doctors is the brain-drain: health staff leave for EU/US/CAN and for regional countries with better pay and less dire living conditions.

The departure of some NGOs is largely due to the fact that they specialise in humanitarian/emergency aid which by definition is tied to conflict/disaster zones. As SL is no longer strictly speaking a conflict zone and as the state has increasingly taken over the provision of basic services, the NGOs are no longer seen to play as important a role.

Decentralisation, not so much privatisation*, is a core element in donor/World Bank health policy. While the underlying concept - allowing people to access/be responsible for their services locally - is important, the practical implementation - such as qualifying local administrators/health staff, control mechanisms, logistics, and the programming and provision of funds there for - has been erratic at best.

I cannot help thinking that the Minister for Health’s statement either illustrates her ignorance of the realities on the ground or, if she is aware conditions, her reluctance to admit to serious flaws in the health system on camera. It is certainly not just a problem of perception by the local population. With, until recently, little in the way of effective reporting and a certain reluctance of the authorities to introduce stricter rules on 'private income', there is little chance of real change in the future. The unwillingness of most donors to impose systematic controls further exacerbates the situation.

* The use of the term 'privatisation' in the report was a bit misleading: unlike privatisations in the utilities, telecommunications and/or energy sectors, the vast majority of health care system in SL is still owned and provided for by the state; however, individuals are required to pay for their services except for some groups which are, in principle, exempt.