New year brings fresh nannying from Coalition
It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new year, and we're all raring to make 2011 one of those years to remember for all the right reasons, writes John Hipwood.
It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new year, and we're all raring to make 2011 one of those years to remember for all the right reasons, writes John Hipwood.
Or are we? Fuel duty went up on Saturday, train fares rose by double figure percentages in some parts of the country yesterday, and VAT increases to 20 per cent tomorrow.
Not a terribly encouraging start if you have to travel any distance to work, to look for a job, or if your business relies on the transportation of goods or services.
And red-eyed and sluggish after the festive over-indulgence in food, wine and late nights, we all look to our health and fitness at this time of year.
Is that nagging pain in the gut just IBS or something more serious? Should my tongue really be that colour?
David Lloyd wants me to join one of his fitness and leisure clubs, but I bet that won't be cheap, and what's the Government's traditional response at this time of year? To come up with yet another programme aimed at making us lead healthier lifestyles.
"Time to Get Healthy in 2011 Next Phase of Change4Life Launched" was yesterday's headline on the Department of Health press release.
Not withstanding the modern inability to spell the preposition "for", my immediate reaction is irritation and annoyance that ministers are prepared to sanction yet more taxpayers' money on telling us the Bleedin' Obvious that regular exercise and a balanced diet are rather more likely to keep you alive and kicking than smoking 20 a day, gorging on fatty or salty foods and drinking too much alcohol.
Read further down the press release and the irritation factor goes up a level because we're told that this year's Change4Life activity is going to be called "the Great Swapathon". Pheidippides and that town in Greece have a lot to answer for.
The Department of Health says that, through the Great Swapathon, families can get access to:
* a £50 book of vouchers off healthier foods and activities.
* recipes for healthier alternatives to favourite snacks.
* recipes for family options for each meal time.
* nutritional and activity advice.
The swapping bit comes in by "swapping unhealthy behaviours in food, alcohol and physical activity to healthier ones".
Delve further and you see that the £250 million being spent on the voucher scheme isn't directly coming out of the pockets of taxpayers but is being sponsored by a well known supermarket chain and our biggest selling Sunday newspaper, and that there is involvement from several food and drink manufacturers.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley tells us it's "a revolutionary new partnership between government, industry and the media".
But not everyone is convinced that it's a great idea. Tim Lang, professor of food policy at London's City University, is worried about companies getting involved in the delivery of public health.
"I'm nervous if big companies are put in charge of public health - that's not to say they can't be good for public health - but if they are centrally involved in delivering it," he said.
To top it all, you get this from the Government's interim Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Dame Sally Davies: "The new year is a great time to think about making some small changes to be a little bit healthier. My simple tips are to be a bit more active and eat a little more healthily."
Well blow me down with a doctor's prescription. How interim is interim?
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MPs don't return to Westminister after the Christmas recess until next Monday, but there is already a whiff of more trouble for the Coalition Government when the European Union Bill is debated the following day.
This is the Bill which David Cameron argues will guarantee a referendum to the British people if anything is proposed in Brussels which sniffs of a further transfer of power from Westminster to the European Union.
Having argued for decades that successive pieces of European legislation have gone too far, arch Euro-sceptics like Bill Cash are worried that the EU bill doesn't go far enough.
The Staffordshire MP, who has always described himself as a "Euro-realist" rather than a sceptic and is now chairman of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee, approves of the idea of the British public having the chance to halt any further leakages of UK sovereignty.
But he and a number of other like-minded Tories are worried that ministers will decide whether or not a new European treaty is acceptable or not and should or should not be put to voters in a referendum. Only judges will be able to overturn their decisions.
"It is essential that it is made clear that Parliament is the ultimate authority, and not the Supreme Court or the Court of Justice of the EU determines the United Kingdom's relationship to the EU," said Mr Cash, whose concerns are shared by many on the Labour benches.
He argues, however, that this is not a party political matter, and any amendments that he tables to the European Union Bill will be "in the national interest".
You can't see Mr Cash and his Conservative colleagues voting for any amendments tabled by Ed Miliband or shadow foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, but the Labour leader might well decide to cause a bit of mayhem by telling his troops to back Mr Cash and the Tory rebels.
The Coalition's majority is a healthy 76, but might start to wheeze a bit if squeezed by Labour and worried Conservative backbenchers.
MPs are not at Westminster so the telephone lines will be hot over the next few days between Mr Cameron, Foreign Secretary William Hague, Europe minister David Liddington and the likes of Bill Cash.
Mr Cameron needs a Commons defeat on Europe or a row with his backbenchers on Europe like advice from the Whitehall nanny on his daily jog.