Global events must keep us on our toes
TURMOIL in financial markets is a daily occurrence. Yesterday was different because the turbulence sprang from such an unusual source.
The Standard and Poor's credit rating agency gave a "negative" rating, not to some debt-burdened, misgoverned small country but to the rich and powerful United States. Yet the reason was simple and predictable. The US has a staggering public deficit. It is one of only three countries in the developed world -- the others being Ireland and Japan -- with a deficit of more than 10pc.
Both President Barack Obama and his Republican opponents in Congress recognise the need for dramatic action. Both propose budget cuts amounting to an astronomical $4 trillion. But they are divided on the timescale and the method of achieving the cuts. In particular, the Republicans dislike any proposal for tax increases.
No doubt a compromise will be reached. Any other scenario is too bleak. Yesterday in Washington, there was speculation that S&P had made its extraordinary move specifically with a view to achieving the political and fiscal objective of reducing the deficit to manageable proportions.
It is needless to labour the worldwide effects of America's difficulties, especially the dampener on prospects for a general and sustainable economic recovery.
It is harder to measure the likely effects of a concurrent, and ominous, European development: the advance of the True Finns party in the Finnish elections.
The True Finns opposed the Irish and Greek bailouts and object to the Portuguese bailout at present under negotiation. In this, they undoubtedly reflect not just a large section of Finnish public opinion but a popular view across the European Union. At home, with 19pc of the vote, they will probably form part of the next coalition government.
Their success owes a great deal to the dismal lack of political leadership everywhere in Europe. We have gone beyond the stage of a financial and economic crisis to a point where the common currency and the future of the EU itself are at risk.
In Ireland, we have to look to our own survival.
Events in Washington and Helsinki do not help. Taoiseach Enda Kenny calls on public servants to implement the Croke Park deal quickly and in full; Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore repeats the warning of further pay cuts if they fail to comply.
Their words should have extra force, and gain extra attention, because they are spoken against such a threatening background.
Miscarriage scandal goes to very heart of humanity
DOCTORS make mistakes in diagnosis every day. Most can be rectified; some have harmful results; a few can be fatal. But one kind of misdiagnosis has a poignancy all its own. To hear from a doctor that "your baby is dead" must be unbearable for any pregnant woman.
Often, in the past, the doctor who gave them that news had got it wrong. In the last five years, in 16 Irish maternity units, there have been 18 cases of misdiagnosis in early pregnancy. A trawl back over a long period has found a further six.
Most of the babies were alive and healthy. The mistakes occurred because the doctors involved -- consultants or registrars -- could not detect a heartbeat. They were not required to seek a second opinion. But determined young women questioned the decisions and persevered with their pregnancies.
The story broke in June 2010, and the Health Service Executive set up an inquiry under Professor William Ledger. His report was published yesterday, and it is to the credit of the HSE that it has appeared within a relatively short space of time. It has also done well to issue an unequivocal apology and to give an assurance that there will be second scans once sufficient people are trained.
But it contains less comforting sections. Progress appears wretchedly slow on support services for families. These should be a priority on a subject so basic and so emotional. This scandal goes to the heart of humanity.
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