Aid to Burma

12:43am today

All the ingredients for a public health catastrophe were moving into place in Burma yesterday. The coconuts that many of the survivors have lived on since the cyclone struck nine days ago were running out, as was the diesel that powered the few rescue boats. Floodwater full of the bloated bodies of people and animals threatens an outbreak of cholera among people whose resistance to disease is dangerously weakened by exposure and lack of food and drinking water. Everywhere, stagnant pools are perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes, threatening outbreaks of malaria and dengue fever. Most of the eastern Irrawaddy delta, hard to reach at the best of times, remains submerged and tropical storms are forecast for tomorrow.

Alexander’s woes

12:43am today

The Alexander Technique is a popular hands-on alternative therapy defined as working to inhibit "harmful personal habits" that interfere with the functioning of the whole self. It involves a process of blocking one's "too quick and unthinking reactions". The Labour leader at Holyrood seemed bent on inventing her own version last week. The Wendy Alexander technique seems to consist of something approaching the opposite of the original. It appears to involve throwing caution to the wind and precipitating a huge internal wrangle in her own ranks by spontaneously and unilaterally ditching her party's opposition to a referendum on Scottish independence and urging the SNP to "bring it on".

Underage sex

2:40am Saturday 10th May 2008

Legislating around sex is always difficult, and reconfiguring the law on sexual offences involving children was always going to be a complex and controversial task.

By EDITORIAL COMMENT

Waste of food

10:43pm Friday 9th May 2008

The knives were out for Gordon Ramsay yesterday after the celebrity chef called for legislation to ban restaurants from selling fruit and vegetables out of their proper season.

By EDITORIAL COMMENT

Birthday for Israel

12:17am Friday 9th May 2008

Israel celebrated its 60th birthday yesterday with both exuberance and foreboding. This was more than an excuse for a national party. Six decades after the Jewish state became a phoenix that rose from the ashes of the Holocaust, Israel has much to celebrate. It is a thriving modern pluralist democracy of some seven million people. It has a free press and an independent judiciary. It has chalked up outstanding achievements, especially in science and technology and agriculture. Coverage of the anniversary has reminded us of the hardships endured by early settlers struggling to reach their promised land, their joy on arrival and the utopianism of life on the kibbutz.

By EDITORIAL COMMENT

Visitor attractions

12:17am Friday 9th May 2008

The news that Scotland's visitor attractions saw a 1.8% increase in visitor numbers last year will provide a timely fillip for a major sector of the economy as the new season moves into top gear. However, the good news coincided with the latest chapter in the cautionary tale of the Cairngorm funicular railway, underlining the fact that the tourist industry is a precarious one with no place for complacency.

By EDITORIAL COMMENT

Cannabis classification

12:50am Thursday 8th May 2008

Ordering a review into the classification of cannabis was one of Gordon Brown's early acts as Prime Minister, along with reconsidering the decision to allow a supercasino in London, which signalled that his regime would take a much tougher line on social ills. His concern on cannabis was that downgrading it from Class B to Class C sent the wrong message to young people and confused their understanding of drug laws. Now that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has recommended that cannabis should remain in Class C, the government's decision to return to Class B is open to the charge of prejudging the issue and following the dictates of populism.

Labour U-turn

12:50am Thursday 8th May 2008

Wendy Alexander has form for doing the unexpected in Scottish devolutionary politics. In the early days of the first Scottish Executive she let it be known that the Labour Liberal Democrat coalition administration, in which she was a minister, intended to repeal Section 28. The selective leaking of the policy contributed to making the ensuing debate and changing the law more controversial and difficult for the executive than it should have been. Ms Alexander, now Labour's leader at Holyrood, is engulfed in another Section 28 moment, only this time the ramifications extend beyond the issue of Scotland making its mark as a modern, inclusive country having no truck with intolerant legislation.

The NHS at 60

12:03am Wednesday 7th May 2008

The 60th anniversary of the National Health Service is to be marked with a series of celebrations marking dedicated service and pioneering treatments. Nevertheless, the burning issue at this birthday party will be how long the founding principle of a universal service free at the point of need can continue. Health economics have their own set of rules. Any universal service becomes a spiral of increasing demand. Advances in treatment such as new surgical techniques and new drugs increase costs, but also increase demand. Because improved treatment means people live longer, they need more healthcare in old age.

Crisis and opportunity

12:03am Wednesday 7th May 2008

When the 12ft tidal wave whipped up by Cyclone Nargis swept in across the Irrawaddy delta on Saturday, the people had nowhere to run. Aerial views of the area have since shown ruined rice fields choked with their bodies. It is likely that the final death toll will exceed 50,000. This would make it the most deadly storm since the Bangladesh cyclone of 1991, which claimed 138,000 lives. (By comparison, Hurricane Katrina killed just over 1800.) Regardless of other pressing priorities, the international community must mobilise a massive aid effort to save the survivors. Having failed to deliver anything approaching early warning of this catastrophe, the Burmese government's response to it has been painfully inadequate. Generally speaking, democratically elected governments handle emergencies better than non-elected ones because the alternative is political suicide. Burma's generals are not answerable to anyone and their normal instinct would be to deny or understate the emergency. Such is the scale of this catastrophe that, in contrast to the aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunami, the junta admits it needs international help. The outside world must grab this opportunity with all possible speed, not only out of simple humanity but also because the silver lining could be ultimate regime change.

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