I'M NOT a big fan of the style of programmes hosted by Stephen Nolan. I don't like the shouty nature of its political debate and its frequent appeal to the lowest common denominator. Too much heat, not enough light.
I was gobsmacked a few years back by the sight of him cavorting in his boxers on his show with the now disgraced reality TV personality, Stephen Bear, and wondered why his excesses weren't reined in by senior management, however popular he certainly was.
His sending of explicit pictures to colleagues was even more shocking.
But sometimes his radio show literally stops you in your tracks, like on Tuesday morning when a desperate father of a nine- year-old autistic boy rang in to say he had reached the end of his tether.
He'd been up from 5am trying to pacify the child, who could be heard shouting over the noise from a video in the background.
His father explained that when the battery of the iPad ran out, the boy would get frustrated and start self-harming, battering his head against the car window or any other object, leaving himself bruised and battered: "It's so awful to watch."
Sometimes, he brought him to a local park at 6am, before other children were around, but the boy would frequently start banging his head against any poles he could find.
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His voice breaking, he said his wife could no longer cope, being frequently battered herself by the child. There seemed to be little official help and the couple were literally begging for someone to give them some kind of relief.
The attention from a platform like the Nolan show will probably find a solution for that poor family's ordeal. It shouldn't need to be this way.
WHILE Lucy Letby is an aberration – a killer of vulnerable infants hidden behind the smile of a caring nurse – the inaction of the authorities in the case is sadly all too familiar.
The hospital trust at the Countess of Chester behaved just like other organisations including the Catholic and Anglican Churches, the Post Office, the BBC and countless other bodies over the years, whose first priority was always to protect their own reputation.
How often have we heard that lessons will be learned after one tragedy or another? Until organisations actively encourage openness among their staff with management who listen and take action, then such horrors will be repeated.
In Letby's case, four paediatric consultants raised concerns about the nurse's presence during a number of unexplained and unexpected deaths among babies in the neonatal unit. Yet incredibly, not only were they not heeded, they were forced to sign a letter of apology to the nurse who was supported in her claims of victimisation.
If consultants, at the top of the medical hierarchy, aren't listened to, what hope have ordinary staff or patients with concerns? Whistleblowers who have risked their careers to expose wrong doing are more frequently punished than rewarded. A consultant anaesthetist who exposed the scandal of poor care at Bristol Royal Infirmary which led to the deaths of dozens of children who'd undergone heart surgery, could not get another job in the UK.
Another paediatrician was put on "special leave" after she warned that services at the Great Ormond Street children's hospital posed a serious risk to patient safety. Her warning came a year before staff there failed to detect a broken back in the child known as Baby P, two days before he died in 2007.
Doctors are under a professional obligation to report concerns to prevent patient harm, but the leader of the British Medical Association, Prof Philip Banfield, said too many who did so had been "silenced, treated unfairly, or dismissed from their roles". It shouldn't require a public inquiry to change that climate.
I ALWAYS knew Boris Johnson was shameless, but his latest incarnation as a columnist for the Daily Mail takes some beating for total hypocrisy.
Writing in support of the England women's football team, who must always be referred to as the Lionesses, Johnson said they were an inspiration, especially to the "appalling government in Kabul", who've banned women's sports and prevented girls and women from attending school or university.
You'll remember, after the catastrophic withdrawal by US and UK troops two years ago, that while desperate people were trying to leave, his Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab didn't interrupt his holiday, while Johnson insisted on a mercy flight – to rescue cats and dogs.
Now, Afghan refugees are drowning as they attempt to flee in small boats.
