Gordon the Moron Gets Something Right at Last (well, almost).

Here in the good old Dis-United Kingdom Gordon the Moron and his idiot-infested Government are trumpeting their Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill as a landmark piece of legislation which will go down as a great achievement of this New Labour Government.
Down on our little allotment Nosher and I are unconvinced of this. In between setting our cloches and planting our seed trays in the little greenhouse each of us has on his plot, we chat about the issues of the day. And how Gordon the Moron and his fumbling cronies have handled the current situation is a case of getting it (almost) right (after great effort and more consultation than almost any other Bill in recent history) and then cocking it up at the very end.
The Bill itself is something that almost everyone wants and is undoubtedly in the best interests of the country and perhaps of the world. The best opportunity to develop treatments and cures for a range of at present incurable and fatal diseases is stem cell research.
And so the Bill will allow stem cells to be grown from unused fertilised nuclei left over from human fertilisation treatments. These are not human beings, they are not even, strictly speaking, embryos, they are in fact pre-embryonic clusters of cells, since they will never develop functioning nervous systems, hearts or lungs. The wording of the Bill (in permitting the interpretation that these pre-embryonic clusters are 'embryos') is an unfortunate inaccuracy, perhaps due to the lawyers drafting it not understanding what they were writing. And these are supposed to be the intelligent ones, folks!
Research based on other sources of stem cells has thus far been unproductive, and, according to the leading scientists in this field of reseach, the best chance of making progress lies with the techniques specified in the Bill.
Where Gordon the Moron got it wrong was in completely underestimating the determination of certain religious groups (particularly the Roman Catholic hierarchy) to make a scene as the Bill goes through Parliament. Such religious groups are not in the least deterred by the prospect of their selfish beliefs condemning millions of people to a lifetime of suffering followed by an early, painful and distressing death - they are insisting that the relevant clauses in the Bill constitute a moral crime and should be abandoned.
Now, Nosher and I accept that we live in a parliamentary democracy, and, given the lamentably low quality of our political representatives and their aptitude for poor judgement, we also accept that many of the laws we are obliged to live under are flawed, often unjust and frequently unfair, and more often than not improperly implemented. But that's no reason for blocking legislation that actually holds the promise of improving the lives of a large group of people afflicted with currently incurable diseases.
A little known truth is that this Bill was not the idea of anyone in Government - New Labour only adopted this legislation because of pressure from very influential members of the medical and scientific community, and interested patients' groups, and presumably someone at Government level decided it would be a useful coup for New Labour to have this new legislation on their record as their achievement. Due to the inherently tribalistic and authoritarian nature of modern party politics, any Bill without Government support or at least acquiescence, stands no chance of becoming law.
And so the passing of this Bill through Parliament became viewed as a matter of imposing Gordon the Moron's authority and power upon his party, rather than an issue of conscience for those Labour MPs who, in their misguided enthusiasm for condemning others to suffer for their beliefs, find themselves unwilling to vote with their party on this Bill. And that's where Gordon the Moron has cocked it up.
Of course he should have recognised that there would be some rebels who would cause him problems, but, given their determination to make a scene (in their eyes turning themselves into martyrs for their cause - i.e., condemning others to suffer for their beliefs) what Gordon the Moron should have done was offered a free vote from the very beginning. For a free vote will make not a jot of difference to the final outcome - there is so much cross-party support for this Bill that it will go through in any case.
Instead Gordon the Moron has come up with a devious and cunning plan that will allow rebel MPs to vote against specific clauses but imposes a three-line whip on the final version of the Bill. Since the Bill, including the clauses in question, will get through anyway, the result will be that Gordon the Moron's Cabinet will lose a handful of ministers who will, under parliamentary protocols, be obliged to resign their ministerial positions. This constitutes an 'own-goal' for Gordon the Moron, but may perhaps turn out to be in the best interests of the country, since amongst the ministers are some who are undoubtedly the least competent of the current crop. I suppose much depends upon whom Gordon the Moron selects to replace them, and his record of wise judgement in choosing cronies is thus far not encouraging.
And so the stumbling dance of fumbling incompetence goes on, mainly due to the inherent human capacity for conceit and self-deceit, and the depressing yet totally predictable consequences of good intentions combined with lamentable ignorance and not a little stupidity. Add to this already disaster-prone mix a little religious dogmatism, bigotry and stubbornness and you end up with the mess we so often find ourselves in, which we revisit with such great frequency one might reasonably conclude an intelligent species would devise some more constructive alternative.
Nosher and I are content, meanwhile, to tend our little allotment plots, living in peace and harmony with our environment. We seek to live our lives without inflicting harm to anyone else, still less do we wish to condemn others to suffer for our own beliefs, however enlightened we might think them to be. Perhaps the Roman Catholic Church could learn a thing or two from us...and maybe Gordon the Moron too!
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