The Times - UK (2022-02-03)

the times | Thursday February 3 2022 2GM 29

Leading articles

are new. Indeed as the white paper itself acknowl-

edges, “levelling up” is the latest in a century-

long history of attempts to address geographical

disparities.

But reiteration is not necessarily a bad thing ei-

ther in analysis or prescription. What counts is the

implementation. Mr Gove’s shadow, Lisa Nandy,

was entitled to point out that a party that has been

in power for 12 years is culpable for many of the

poor outcomes it describes. And while the white

paper commits the government to a series of tar-

gets these are often carefully phrased to allow only

minimal progress to be claimed as a success with

the final destination set, safely, at 2030.

There is, of course, politics among the ideals.

The next election is within two to three years and

time is running out to provide tangible benefits to

voters in constituencies in northern England and

the Midlands that the Conservatives must hold to

win. The political calculation behind a promise to

regenerate 20 town and city centres, for example,

isn’t hard to infer. The crackdown on private land-

lords providing poor-quality accommodation is

low cost but politically effective and a reminder of

Mr Gove’s acumen. But then again he needed all

his skills to make up for the absence of new money,

in effect admitting that he had lost a battle with

Rishi Sunak for resources. Treasury scepticism is

not limited either to providing new funds to help

smooth the white paper’s launch. Mr Sunak is un-

derstood to be unconvinced of the wisdom of

handing more power and resources to local

leaders or creating new layers of bureaucracy.

Tensions within government over the delivery

of the devolution measures is only going to grow.

Much will depend on whether existing (often

Conservative-controlled) councils take forward

the new mayoralties on offer and the risk they are

controlled by opponents. The absence of a York-

shire equivalent to Andy Street or Andy Burnham

is worth bearing in mind when assessing how

many of a promised new set of county mayors will

ever actually take office.

After weeks in which politics has been mired in

turbulence, a restatement of high ideals feels like

a welcome relief. The white paper provides the

government with a script if not quite an agenda,

some measures it can be judged against and some

comfort for red wall Tory MPs nervously looking

for building sites to visit at the next general elect-

ion. Without the patient, focused, determined de-

ployment of considerable political capital, how-

ever, much of it will remain just another Whitehall

document, gathering dust.

the best-known is Botox, are drugs available only

on prescription. Yet our reporters found that some

practitioners advertising facial injections online

were using versions of Botox that are unlicensed

in this country. The dangers are legion, and the

social media sites that advertise these operators

are allowing greed to supplant civic responsibility.

A cheap variant may be unsafe or counterfeit, with

fake filler placed in the vial instead of a real pro-

duct. And if it is real, it must be safely and hygieni-

cally handled. Botox is, after all, a diluted and puri-

fied form of the toxin that causes botulism.

With accredited practitioners, there are safe-

guards. Beauticians can provide the treatment but

they must have had training and their client must

first have had the drug prescribed by a doctor or a

nurse with an additional qualification, and only

after a face-to-face meeting. Our investigation

showed this does not always happen. At one

beauty clinic our undercover reporter was urged

to have 25 facial injections of an unlicensed pro-

duct by a man who presented himself as a doctor

yet is not registered with the General Medical

Council. An aesthetic practitioner who visits

clients at home for anti-wrinkle treatments sug-

gested our reporter have 11 injections in her face,

offering products that are unlicensed. When con-

tacted by The Times, she said: “I wasn’t aware that

you’re not supposed to use this.”

For some young women the appeal of conve-

nience and cost of going to someone they find on-

line may dissuade them from consulting a medical

practitioner. Campaigners point to mounting con-

cerns relating to filler procedures, with 270 com-

plaints recorded in 2020 compared with 210 the

previous year. For those who suffer permanent fa-

cial scarring or large sores as a result of botched

filler treatments, the costs are traumatic.

Unlicensed products proliferate faster than reg-

ulators can act, but preventive action can be taken.

Last year it became a criminal offence to inject fil-

lers to anyone under 18. This is rudimentary child

protection. Yet our investigation found that adults

are vulnerable too. If they choose to have an inva-

sive cosmetic procedure, there must be statutory

controls on those who can administer it. Much

misery, paradoxically created by the beauty indus-

try, could thereby be avoided.

Final Appeal, that they will be expected to do so.

For the British judges who remain, including Lord

Reed of Allermuir, the president of the UK Su-

preme Court, and Lord Hodge, his deputy, this

ought to be confirmation that they should resign

without delay. There is an obvious reason that

their presence is perhaps the only colonial hang-

over Beijing can tolerate. As long as eminent justi-

ces such as Lord Sumption give the court their im-

primatur, China is able to maintain the fiction that

Hong Kong remains a common law jurisdiction

and not the puppet regime of an autocratic state.

This in turn undermines any diplomatic pressure

Britain and its allies may attempt to bring to bear.

The right time for the overseas judges on the

court to accept that their presence, lucrative

though it may be, was indefensible was the mo-

ment the national security law was passed. They

are long past that point, nor, self-evidently, have

their seats on the court been any impediment to

Hong Kong’s inexorable slide into authoritarian-

ism. To remain is not just to bolster Beijing but to

surrender their integrity. Britain’s government has

responded to the plight of Hongkongers and their

brave pro-democracy politicians with generosity.

Its judges must match it.

Whitehall Missionaries

The much-vaunted “levelling-up” agenda has noble aims and practical goals,

but financial constraints and an absence of detail are concerning

The government’s levelling-up white paper, pre-

sented to the Commons yesterday by Michael

Gove, sets virtuous objectives. It also outlines

commendable policies to close gaps in health, edu-

cation and wealth between regions, inequalities

that disfigure this country. The whole govern-

ment, including the Treasury, must will the means

as well as the ends, however, and the absence of

detail in key areas raises questions about its credi-

bility as an effective strategy.

The white paper notes the scourge of low-paid,

low-productivity economic activity concentrated

in areas that are disconnected from large cities. It

identifies this as the problem that underlies much

of the geographical inequality that marks Britain

apart from other advanced industrial economies.

Its main prescription is an acceleration of devolu-

tion. The central bet is that the extension of the

regional mayoralty model will deliver gains that

have eluded Whitehall for decades.

In a document just shy of 300 pages, Mr Gove

clearly wanted to put paid to the criticism that

what the government calls its central mission is

a vacuous slogan. The white paper draws together

policies on education, transport, housing, re-

search and development, and many other areas

of government spending, of which only a few

Face-saver

Unlicensed anti-wrinkle products are a danger to public health

Injecting the contents of a syringe into someone’s

body is a big responsibility. In the case of vaccina-

tion, the procedure is safe and the person perform-

ing it is qualified. The same is not true of the

beauty industry. A Times investigation has found

that practitioners with no medical qualifications

are injecting young women with “black-market”

variants of Botox. Their activities can potentially

ruin lives, causing permanent disfigurement.

Botox and similar filler products work by tem-

porarily paralysing the facial muscles and thereby

reducing the lines caused by facial expressions.

They are assiduously promoted on social media

sites, especially to young women seeking to en-

hance their looks. And there is nothing to prevent

unqualified people from administering this and

other non-reconstructive cosmetic procedures.

These activities are a threat to public health.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regula-

tory Agency, which regulates medicines in Britain,

has begun an investigation into our findings. Its

action follows a review by MPs published in July

calling for legal protections for users.

Licensed brands of botulinum toxin, of which

Judgment Call

British justices have no defence for serving in Hong Kong courts

It is an overdue reckoning. The presence of eight

British judges on Hong Kong’s highest court has

long been an uncomfortable anomaly. Since the

imposition of China’s national security law on the

territory’s pro-democracy movement in June

2020, it has been an indefensible one. Until this

week, however, it was possible for the British justi-

ces who remain on the Hong Kong bench to con-

sole themselves with the assumption that, as for-

eigners, they would not be required to enforce the

whims of the Chinese Communist Party.

Yet this week came clarification from Andrew

Cheung, the chief justice of Hong Kong’s Court of

UK: Ofgem, the gas and electricity markets
regulator, announces the next adjustment of
the energy price cap, which is due to take
effect in April.

The breeze set the
reedbed dancing.
Growing on long,
golden stalks, the
feathery seed heads
sparkled in the
winter sun.
Common reed (Phragmites australis) is a
staple of wetlands and typically grows a
couple of metres high, though it can lift
considerably higher. An important habitat, it
shelters many species such as bitterns,
marsh harriers and Homo sapiens. For
millennia we thatched our roofs with reeds.
Perhaps the ancient harvesting of reeds has
a great future; the species purifies water,
helps to process sewage, stores carbon and
provides a biomass fuel that can grow on
otherwise unproductive land. In summer the
wind sighs evocatively through these useful
reedbeds; in winter it is just a tired murmur.
jonathan tulloch

In 1014 Sweyn Forkbeard died in
Lincolnshire, five weeks after becoming the
first Viking king of England, on Christmas
Day; in 1954 the Queen visited Australia, the
first reigning monarch to do so, as part of a
six-month tour of the Commonwealth that
started in November 1953; in 1959 the singer
Buddy Holly died, aged 22, in an aircraft
crash in the US; in 1966 the Soviet Union’s
Luna 9 space probe made the first landing of
a man-made object on the moon.

Paul Auster, pictured,
writer, 4321 (2017), 75;
Stephen Anderton,
garden writer for The
Times since 1993, 67; Dr
David Balmforth,
president, Institution of
Civil Engineers (2014-15),
75; Amal Clooney, human rights lawyer, 44;
John Cridland, chairman, Transport for the
North (2015-21), director-general, CBI (2011-
15), 61; Blythe Danner, actress, Will & Grace
(2001-06), 79; Dave Davies, guitarist and
singer, the Kinks, You Really Got Me (1964),
75; Warwick Davis, actor, the Harry Potter
and Star Wars films, 52; Michael Dickinson,
champion racehorse trainer, 72; Isla Fisher,
actress, Wedding Crashers (2005), The Great
Gatsby (2013), 46; Barbara Hall, crossword
puzzles editor for The Sunday Times (1977-
2010), 99; Prof Gavin Henderson, principal,
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
(2007-20), 74; Dame Sue Ion, nuclear
engineer, vice-president, Royal Academy of
Engineering (2002-08), 67; Nathan Lane,
actor and singer, The Producers (2005), 66;
Paula Nickolds, managing director, John
Lewis (2017-20), 49; Elaine Padmore,
director, Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden (2000-11), 75; Joanna Prior, chief
executive, Pan Macmillan Publishers, 56;
Melanie Safka, singer-songwriter, Brand
New Key (1971), 75; Bob Simpson, cricketer,
Australia (1957-78), 86; Kirsty Wark,
journalist, Newsnight, 67; Lord (Alan)
Watson of Richmond, high steward,
University of Cambridge, president, Liberal
Party (1984-85), 81; Robin Watson, chief
executive, John Wood Group (engineering
company), 55.

“What a country calls its vital economic
interests are not the things which enable its
citizens to live, but the things which enable it
to make war.” Simone Weil, French
philosopher, The Power of Words (1937)

Nature notes

Birthdays today

On this day

The last word

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