bullying

Hidden under the debate about whether bullying has gone on at Number Ten; whether throwing your weight around a bit when you have a difficult job at a difficult time is allowable; whether the focus on alleged individual conduct, rather than policy impact distorts politics, or whether all this is just the Tories having a go: hidden behind all this is the miserable reality of workplace bullying. It's miserable in a number of ways. Firstly, if you have a full-time job, you spend more time at risk of being bullied by whoever it is than you might do with your own family. The second thing is that despite Trade Unions, health and safety at work, quality standards and all these bulwarks against bullying, it is likely that most bullying is reported to no-one. In the same way as much domestic violence goes unreported. Except that gradually solutions are being developed here that take into account what it's like to face this.

So what we need are solutions that take into account how it can totally wring out your normal abilities to confront, speak out and seek redress that you might normally be capable in other situations. If we want to stamp this out, we should assume it's perhaps going on at Westminster; in your local betting shop; in your great auntie's old people's home; in the surgical unit that fixed your dad's knee or in some of your local Council offices. Anywhere, in fact. But we need more research, to identify patterns and triggers, to spell out solutions and define how bystanders can help. There are economic consequences of doing nothing, bearing in mind the damage this problem does to productivity, the sickness it may cause, such as headaches, insomnia and anxiety and how it stalls the career development of worker capable of moving up. So, we need some a consensus that this is important. It is, after all, about fairness. And we need serious action to put a stop to it ... whatever we feel about this week's media furore.

Misfortune and blew it

I feel real dismay at the actions by Hewitt and Hoon today. The appropriate thing for people leaving their job is to all they can for a seamless handover to their successors. If Labour were to narrowly lose in June, it could clearly be their fault.

No Labour leader is without weakness, but the focus now should be on campaigning and getting our message to voters, not on questioning whether the person at the helm is the right one.

Their arrogance is clear. But what this shows - about two former ministers whose achievements seem negligible to me (eg bringing in private provision into health services: NOT a good thing) - is a misunderstanding about what a democratic political party should be. Party comrades like me who have given freely of our time year after year for nothing to get a better deal for ordinary people are treated with utter contempt. We need to change the Labour Party to create more of a bottom-up accountability so members' views, observations and experience are treated more seriously. More like a mutual than a multi-national, in fact. And less of this top-down approach, in which party members have as much say in what policies ministers pursue as Town Hall cleaners have in the policies adopted by the Council. If Patricia Hewitt had got her priorities right, she might have thought more about the contribution made by hospital cleaners to fighting infection and brought them back in-house.

I am left thinking that Hoon and Hewitt must be Cockney rhyming slang for someone who messes up for a large number in a group - like misfortune and blew-it.