What is the PM doing?

THE FRIDAY THING: DOES anyone really know what Prime Minister David Cameron is playing at? Does he know himself, do you think?

What Prime minister in his right mind — especially a prime minister who could well be neither in prime position nor a minister in a few months’ time — would push for a bill that he knew would alienate half his party and probably more than half of the people in the country.

Although an unseemly alliance between the Lib-Dems and Labour guaranteed the safe passage of the same-sex marriage bill (Nick Clegg is the prime mover in this fiasco - perhaps he likes wedding cake) only 126 of Cameron’s 303 Conservatives stood in the same aisle as the PM when it came to the vote.

We know what a lot of the Tories made of the fiasco, but what will the country make of it? Where has the sudden desire for the acceptance of same-sex marriages come from?
If there have been any major campaigns by the gay communities, I must have missed them.

Quite what the churches and the churchgoers will make of this remains to be seen but from what we have heard so far, there is little enthusiasm for same-sex marriages in many churches.

David Cameron may very soon find himself embroiled in a leadership contest he won’t win.

Even those Tories who voted with the PM are getting nervous about their election prospects in 2015 and there are those who say openly that Mr Cameron cannot survive until then.

FINAL WORD: Hospitals in Tameside, Blackpool, Burnley and Mid–Staffs have been found seriously lacking in the care they offer patients.

The Royal Oldham was not on the list of failing hospitals and all of us should find cause to celebrate that.

I had reason to attend the A and E unit at the hospital recently and can testify that the care received by all concerned was second to none.

True, we were there for getting on for six hours, but the place was crammed with patients waiting to be treated.

We should celebrate the triumph of care that is the Royal Oldham and the staff who work there at every level.