What did Jeremy Laurance expect to be the outcome of the research? That counsellors were more effective than GPs? The fact that

What did Jeremy Laurance expect to be the outcome of the research? That counsellors were more effective than GPs? The fact that they are at least as effective may well disturb GPs, considering the length and expense of their training. Sir: One basic problem with the research on counselling to date is that the researchers are not always clear as to the nature of counselling or as to who or what is a counsellor (“What’s so special about psychotherapy?”, 9 December). But to treat this as a moral issue, and thereby justify the use of big sticks as well as carrots, is not what a Labour government should be about.I will not be renewing my membership.Professor JIM TOMLINSONBrunel UniversityUxbridge, Middlesex. Yet each time the labour market has subsequently revived “morals” seem to have shifted remarkably quickly as unemployment has fallen.A policy of welfare to work, in the sense of facilitating the way back to work for those who want it, is quite right.

As a historian I am sceptical of this.
Every time there has been a collapse of the labour market there have been politicians who have claimed that the unemployed are suffering from some moral deficiency rather than from economic circumstances. I ask myself whether I want to remain a member of a Party which can so dramatically reverse its previous opposition to this measure. The new stance is based on the assumption that there is a major problem of welfare dependency which any sensible government would have to tackle. Sir: My new Labour Party membership card for 1998 arrived in the post the morning after the vote on single-parent benefit. Form we’ve got, but where’s the content?Look, we’re overflowing with content! Don’t forget that this column has blazed its way through the newspaper jungle with a series of firsts which was greeted by the What the Papers Say awards with complete bafflement.Don’t forget that this is the column that bought Prince Edward out of the Marines.Don’t forget that we were the first ever people who brought you:-a newspaper column licensed for the performance of marriage actually in the newspaper itself!details of the conditions on which Screaming Lord Sutch would form a coalition with Tony Blair if there were a hung parliament at the last election!Lord Spencer’s real name!proof that the jojoba and aloe vera plants do not exist but were invented by the pernicious cosmetics industry!compelling evidence that Sir Hugh Trevor-Roper’s memoirs were fake!a report on a woman’s magazine that is so free of sex that a man could read it without blushing!the shocking tale of a man who had the operation to become a woman, and then changed sex back to man because women’s magazines were so in- your-face!I think you get the idea.And now this is the point at which we traditionally shyly mention the name of the Christmas book which contains the best extracts from this column, in at attempt to make it a best-seller.But there is no such book.Yes, this is a commercial plug without a product.Remember that, kids.When you grow up, spend your money on the column that didn’t try to take your money from you when you were young.. Didn’t enjoy that much, but had to do it.That’s the kind of column we are.Of course, saying Good Morning isn’t enough We’ve got style but we need substance as well. But other papers they are the right age for.That is the market that we have to aim at.The market that one day is going to grow up and say to itself, Hey, what was the name of that paper that was so nice to me when I was a kid? Indefatigable, Inexorable, Indefensible, something like that?So, to that market we say this bright (or dull) morning, “Hi, kids! Hey, I like your haircut! Mark you, I don’t like the way you dress or the sound of your music, but you’d hate it if I did, right? Because you can come to me for down-to-earth honesty! This is the column that tells it like it is! This is the newspaper column you can hate as much as your parents – maybe even hate instead of your parents!”Phew.

Good morning. And welcome to the only column in any daily newspaper which has the grace to say, “Good morning” to its readers.
Oh yes, there are many columns which will start out by saying: “How long can the Spice Girls last?” or “Come off it, Tony Blair!”, but there is only one column which will say a simple “Good morning”.And that is this column.So, this morn (morn!) we say “Good morning”.Because we realise that the old niceties are not to be discarded and that there are people out there who like the old-fashioned exchanges of courtesy.To them we say: “Good morning, ma’am, or it may be, sir.”We are proud of that.We are proud of the older readers whose hands are encrusted with marmalade and whose nostrils react favourably to the aroma of bacon fat.On the other hand we do realise the extreme importance of attracting younger readers.We know that there are many readers under the age of 40 who, as soon as they hear the phrase: “Good morning, ma’am, or it may be, sir”, will throw up.What they want to hear is a modern, fresh-air greeting such as “Hi there, dude,” or “Yo, friend!”And to them we say: “Hi there, dude,” and “Yo, friend!”So, there it is.To the older readers we say, “Good morrow.”To the younger readers we say: “Hey there, dude!”I think that takes care of the grown-up market, those who are old enough to be allowed to go out and buy a newspaper by themselves.But what of the under-age market, those who are children of our readers, those who are aged 18 or less? Maybe 15 or less, or even 10 or less?What of them?Well, the received wisdom is that people of 12 or under don’t buy papers.That may be right.On the other hand, that may be wrong.You see, people of 12 or under are already of the mental age to read many of our tabloids They may be too old at 12 to read The Sun. It means that the Government has to persuade the country and the party that it is at least as worried about the living standards of the disabled as those of the anti-tax, better- off voter – but is also prepared to turf the minority of workshy off benefits They don’t give that impression at the moment They’d better start.. Nobody who voted Labour in May did so hoping that ministers would cause anguish and poverty to people already badly disadvantaged in life. And, we say again, these changes need to be accompanied by more generous benefits for the badly disabled.Getting the balance right means mixing compassion and generosity with tough-mindedness about eligibility and need. This may lead to a national quota system, enforceable by law.

We are not much in favour of new regulations and bureaucracies, but companies are reluctant to employ the disabled and it looks futile to rely on exhortation.Will all this radically reduce the welfare budget? Not soon, because of the huge number of disabled people who are already beyond working age, and because the change in culture cannot happen overnight if it is to be introduced humanely. There needs to be, in other words, a sharper cut-off between citizens recognised as seriously disabled and needy, and those who are not.At the same time, much more should be done about getting disabled people into work, using the stick not simply on individuals but on companies. But the balancing quid pro quo is that disability benefit would not be cut, but raised, for those who are really incapacitated. Cutting into the ”middle-class welfare state” is absolutely consonant with the New Labour programme Many better-off people will lose, and howl. But it doesn’t really answer the hard questions.The only way ahead is to spend more, in the short term, on better inspection procedures, and to ensure that money is spent only on those who really need it. Over time, responsibility for paying people who are injured or become sick at work should pass from the state to employers, and thus, in effect, the insurance companies That might save some pounds 700m eventually. No wonder they sound abstract, oddly passionless and wooden-tongued on the issue.So what is to be done? The state cannot and should not compensate for all the misfortunes and difficulties of life.