Julian Cole

Now you might agree with either, both or neither. But that's not important. What matters is what we all choose to believe. For we can choose to believe anything we like, and vote accordingly.

Perception is all in politics. It is perfectly possible to argue that John Major's Tories were not in fact sleazy, though a number of discredited ministers and MPs in his gang certainly were. But if we thought the whole stinking lot of them had sleaze creeping up their pin-striped trouser legs like damp rising up a rotten building, that's the way they were.

So if the Tories were done for more by perceived sleaze as much as actual sleaze, New Labour could stumble if everyone thinks the NHS is in crisis.

The great NHS crisis comes round most years, usually after Christmas. The Government expresses surprise at the arrival of the annual outbreak of flu, as if struck by Ministerial Forgetfulness Disease. The newspapers, eager to fill empty post-Christmas pages, stir into life. And before you know it, there's a health scandal.

This is not to deny there are problems in the NHS, because patently there are. But it is to point out that the difficulties now are similar to those in the past. What's happened is that these problems have become the currency of the moment. They existed before and often went unreported.

Once health becomes the story of the hour, unfortunate people are dragged out of their hospital beds and paraded before us. This time round the main patient horror story has been that of Yorkshire woman Mavis Skeet, who has cancer of the oesophagus. Mrs Skeet was due to have surgery at Leeds General Infirmary, but her operation was cancelled four times because of a shortage of intensive care beds. After this delay, doctors told Mrs Skeet the cancer had spread making surgery impossible.

At this point in a very sad story, it is usual journalistic practice to exclaim how appalling it is that Mrs Skeet has been condemned to death by a heartless health service. Yet it is also likely that this poor woman's cancer would have been inoperable whatever happened. If so, her private tragedy has become public property and an emblem for all that is wrong with the NHS, even though her dreadful illness may well have doomed her from the start.

New Labour's problem with all this is that Saint Tony came in on such a moral high that for a while anything seemed possible. Yet all governments are dogged by a process of slow disenchantment. However high they start, and New Labour started higher than many, the only way is down in our estimation - especially now, 1001 days after the election. What's surprising is that this Government hasn't actually slipped that far and remains surprisingly popular, despite problems with the NHS, the Euro, Ken Livingstone, feeble reform of the House of Lords, and a hostile press.

HOW many parents of three children planned matters that way? I am not about to share the secrets of my sex life with you lot, however long we've known each other. But I was interested to read about Marian Richardson who is suing Durex for £120,000 as reimbursement for a third, unplanned child.

A faulty condom apparently led to the birth of Ms Richardson's third child, and she wants compensation - including £40,000 for her daughter's future care and £5,000 to upgrade her car to a Volvo.

When two became three, we had our own problems. But, like most people, we got on with life and found happiness in our new circumstances. As to seeking damages, that is surely just the latest and silliest sign of the compensation culture gone rampant.HERE are two statements, thrown in for discussion. The last Tory Government wasn't really sleazy at all. New Labour is making a fair fist of the National Health Service.

Now you might agree with either, both or neither. But that's not important. What matters is what we all choose to believe. For we can choose to believe anything we like, and vote accordingly.

Perception is all in politics. It is perfectly possible to argue that John Major's Tories were not in fact sleazy, though a number of discredited ministers and MPs in his gang certainly were. But if we thought the whole stinking lot of them had sleaze creeping up their pin-striped trouser legs like damp rising up a rotten building, that's the way they were.

So if the Tories were done for more by perceived sleaze as much as actual sleaze, New Labour could stumble if everyone thinks the NHS is in crisis.

The great NHS crisis comes round most years, usually after Christmas. The Government expresses surprise at the arrival of the annual outbreak of flu, as if struck by Ministerial Forgetfulness Disease. The newspapers, eager to fill empty post-Christmas pages, stir into life. And before you know it, there's a health scandal.

This is not to deny there are problems in the NHS, because patently there are. But it is to point out that the difficulties now are similar to those in the past. What's happened is that these problems have become the currency of the moment. They existed before and often went unreported.

Once health becomes the story of the hour, unfortunate people are dragged out of their hospital beds and paraded before us. This time round the main patient horror story has been that of Yorkshire woman Mavis Skeet, who has cancer of the oesophagus. Mrs Skeet was due to have surgery at Leeds General Infirmary, but her operation was cancelled four times because of a shortage of intensive care beds. After this delay, doctors told Mrs Skeet the cancer had spread making surgery impossible.

At this point in a very sad story, it is usual journalistic practice to exclaim how appalling it is that Mrs Skeet has been condemned to death by a heartless health service. Yet it is also likely that this poor woman's cancer would have been inoperable whatever happened. If so, her private tragedy has become public property and an emblem for all that is wrong with the NHS, even though her dreadful illness may well have doomed her from the start.

New Labour's problem with all this is that Saint Tony came in on such a moral high that for a while anything seemed possible. Yet all governments are dogged by a process of slow disenchantment. However high they start, and New Labour started higher than many, the only way is down in our estimation - especially now, 1001 days after the election. What's surprising is that this Government hasn't actually slipped that far and remains surprisingly popular, despite problems with the NHS, the Euro, Ken Livingstone, feeble reform of the House of Lords, and a hostile press.

HOW many parents of three children planned matters that way? I am not about to share the secrets of my sex life with you lot, however long we've known each other. But I was interested to read about Marian Richardson who is suing Durex for £120,000 as reimbursement for a third, unplanned child.

A faulty condom apparently led to the birth of Ms Richardson's third child, and she wants compensation - including £40,000 for her daughter's future care and £5,000 to upgrade her car to a Volvo.

When two became three, we had our own problems. But, like most people, we got on with life and found happiness in our new circumstances. As to seeking damages, that is surely just the latest and silliest sign of the compensation culture gone rampant.

27/01//00

If you have any comments you would like to make, contact Julian Cole directly at julian.cole@ycp.co.uk

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.