VIEWPOINT FOR 13 MARCH 2008
FROM DR RICHARD TAYLOR

Readers will know by now that the debate on a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty ended in a division where there were several rebellions by Members from all the main parties but none large enough to change the result from an easy victory for the Government to deny a referendum on the Treaty which most commentators say is at least 95% the same as the European Constitution. Being in the House for nearly seven hours for the whole of the debate I was able to analyze the order of speakers called. I have long realized that Privy Counsellors have priority but on this occasion all but two of the members called became MPs in 1992 or before.

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I have become involved in two serious allegations arising from whistle blowing about NHS related issues. 

The first is an allegation supported by leaked evidence from a whistle blower at the pharmaceutical company involved claiming that the company planned and carried out a successful campaign to delay the introduction of a generic brand of its medicine long after the patent expired thus preserving its profits unethically. 
This was exposed on Newsnight last Friday and hopefully will be investigated fully.

The second concerns the governance of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the regulatory body for nurses and midwives, where there are allegations about bullying and possible inappropriate use of funds. 
There was a debate on this on Tuesday and the Minister responding engaged fully with the problem and promised to request investigations by the Charity Commission and the Council for Health Regulatory Excellence. He even said there was a chance of investigation by the Privy Council but in his words this would be "the nuclear option". A very satisfactory outcome!

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Last Friday and Saturday evenings we were treated to a celebration of the life and work of Ralph Vaughan Williams with a Choral History of our area. Primary Schools in Lickhill, Offmore, St Mary's CE, St Ambrose RC and St Wulstan's RC  had each taken an aspect of local history and with the help of staff, historians, a writer, a radio producer and several musicians turned their subjects including Winter, Steam Trains, Weavers, Canals and Wash Day into Radio-Ballads sung to folk tunes, preserved by Vaughan Williams, which were performed by choirs from the schools with Wyre Forest Young Voices and Primary Chords. 
They were accompanied by The Carnival Band playing an incredible assortment of instruments with great skill and verve. 
The musical items were conducted by Geoffrey Weaver who inspires and contributes so much to Wyre Forest music. 
Spoken commentaries were performed sympathetically and humorously by John Flitcroft and Alison Carney. 
The whole exciting, innovative and complex performance was smoothly directed by Peter Leslie Wild. 

I enjoyed particularly "Waiting for the train" sung to the tune of "Early one morning" and the tale of "The Chamber Pot" encored enthusiastically at the close of the performance. It was a superb evening, enthralling, different and will be hard to equal although I am sure all concerned will come up with another enjoyable formula for the future.

R.T.