The slippery slope to satirising standards regulators

By Dude Swheatie of Kwug

Satirical songwriter Tom Lehrer famously took the awarding of a Peace Prize to Henry Kissinger as his cue for retirement from writing satirical songs. He said that that choice of Nobel Peace Prize winner betokened the death of satire, as satire had become reality.

Tom Paxton who had recognised Lehrer as a model in his own path toward writing satirical songs took that Peace Prize award for Kissinger as his cue to write a hard-hitting song about just some of Kissinger's 'accomplishments' in a song called The White Bones of Allende.(1)

I was reminded of that Tom Lehrer story by my discovery over the weekend of who the current Conservative Government had chosen to operate as commissioners of the Care Quality Commission that is supposed to help regulate services dedicated to the well-being of vulnerable people in care homes, etc.

A big difference between the awarding of a Nobel Peace Prize for 'Dr K' and the Conservative Government's choice of Care Quality Commissioners has been the level of publicity given to those two events. I would argue that my discovery via the Disability News Service website of the fact that the Care Quality Commission has in effect been privatised serves to emphasise for me the enormous need for the Disability News Service in publicising what we the public would otherwise be largely ignorant of.

I already knew from discussion at a Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group meeting that the current Conservative Government had sold the previously State-owned Remploy to Maximus, the company that took over from Atos Healthcare in administering Work Capability Assessments for the Department for Work & Pensions. For further information, go to Disability News Service article Cancelled inspections by care watchdog rise 360 per cent in one year.

Links

1. http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Music/Paxton-Tom-18070_2.html
2. http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/cancelled-inspections-by-care-watchdog-rise-360-per-cent-in-one-year/