Review of the Papers, Wednesday 07 March

Government

• The Government was forced to climb down and announce an immediate review of the new system for selecting junior doctors for training. The Medical Training Application Service has united doctors young and old into a revolt so powerful that it has forced the Department of Health into retreat. The service is supposed to handle applications for higher medical training, sifting them by a computer-based system to produce shortlists of candidates suitable for interview. About 30,000 junior doctors are competing for 22,000 training places. The British Medical Association and a pressure group, Remedy UK, have denounced the system as unfair. But their criticisms were brushed aside until a panel of surgeons in Birmingham walked out rather than interview candidates who they suspected had been unfairly selected, and the Royal Colleges made clear that it backed the critics. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article1480385.ece
• The care of patients has been held back by "ill thought-out" Government policies, say senior hospital consultants. Four out of five leading consultants questioned by the British Medical Association said their initiatives had been hampered, including a pioneering treatment for prostate cancer and a test for Down's syndrome. Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, says that overall the NHS will be in financial balance at the end of this month but 132 trusts are expected to overspend by a total of £1.3 billion in the current year, according to estimates. A different survey last month found that half of NHS hospitals in England were delaying operations in order to save money. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/07/nhealth107.xml
• Independent schools are to be compelled to demonstrate how their charitable status benefits the poor, and to account for every penny they save through tax breaks valued at £88 million a year. Bursaries, subsidised places, the sharing of lessons and sports grounds with state schools - all will come under close scrutiny, according to the draft guidance published by the Charity Commission. For more than 400 years public schools have benefited from a presumption in law that education is a charitable activity. But under the terms of the new Charities Act, which came into force last year, charities that charge high fees, such as private schools, opera houses and hospitals, must prove that they are of "public benefit" to justify their tax breaks. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article1480350.ece
• The government's environmental credentials are destroyed by a scathing report from its own green watchdog. The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) says that while ministers have been urging the public, companies and foreign leaders to adopt more environmentally friendly behaviour their own departments are failing to meet basic targets on carbon emissions, water and waste. Government operations across Whitehall are "simply not good enough" the report says, and ministers and senior civil servants are failing to set the right example. Sir Jonathan Porritt, head of the commission, said: "I have no doubt that people will see this as hypocrisy on their part." http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2028172,00.html
• London mayor Ken Livingstone and leading City figures will today urge the government to fund the most costly transport project since the west coast mainline upgrade as they outline the case for the £10bn Crossrail scheme. Tony Blair and ministers from the Treasury and Department for Transport will attend the Downing Street meeting, where Crossrail's backers will argue the economic case for another multibillion pound investment in Britain's railways. The Crossrail team is hoping to receive financial backing in this month's budget or the comprehensive spending review in the summer. But Gordon Brown, who will not be at the meeting, has indicated that public spending will be tightened over the next three years. http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2028062,00.html
• Britain set itself on a collision course with Brussels yesterday by making it clear it would oppose a deal to open up transatlantic air routes agreed last week by US and European Union negotiators. Douglas Alexander, the Secretary of State for Transport, said that "there remains work to be done" on the draft agreement because it "falls short" of providing EU carriers with access to the US domestic market. His comments came as British Airways wrote directly to Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, which is the current holder of the EU presidency, and the European Transport Com-missioner Jacques Barrot, urging them not to try to ratify the proposed "open skies" deal when EU transport ministers meet in a fortnight. http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2334960.ece
• Tony Blair made an unprecedented acknowledgement of Britain's "spectacular" achievements in the arts yesterday and pledged not to return to the boom or bust investment of the past. But as the Prime Minister claimed a "golden age" in culture as one of the unmitigated triumphs of his decade in office, his belated celebration leaves a poisoned chalice for his likely successor. In his address to leading arts figures - which is believed to be the first cultural statement by a serving prime minister - Tony Blair raised high expectations that spending would be maintained. He stressed he could make no promises as to the outcome of the current spending review, but insisted that the arts had nothing to fear - and particularly not from the Olympics, despite concerns that they would divert resources. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this-britain/article2334899.ece