The sky was dazzlingly blue.   A Beaufort 5, fresh-breeze, was pushing the 72 ft yacht through the swelling seas.  No Rolly Tasker Sails on this boat.  The two speed Harken winches made life a bit easier but Craig's arms burned with the effort of winching.  He was exhausted.  Ready to retch over the side of the boat.

Craig is not the usual sun-bronzed, perfectly toned Musto model.  He is a frail 18 year old, stick thin and as pale as paper.  He looks out of place and his body is telling him, he is in the wrong place.

He's never worked so hard.  He wished his Mum could see how he had mastered clipper sailing and learned to work with people who had come to depend on him.  People who like him and trust him for what he is.  He is a heroin addict in recovery.

He is also one of the lucky few, chosen by the Wilberforce Training Academy, to turn his life around.  The project's aim is to give unemployed youngsters a healthier lifestyle, ambition and training.  They learn skills such as plumbing, electronics and carpentry. They undergo training in things like CV writing, interview skills and job applications. It doesn't just finish when they get off the boat, there's almost a year-long package.  In fact the boat segment is only two weeks at sea.

Last week in a desperately poor speech, at Ealing Hospital, David Cameron denounced this scheme as an example of extravagance and waste.

Four years ago 266 young people took part; pulled off the unemployment register to train on ten week courses.  Today 179 have jobs or are in education or training. Twenty nine of those on the scheme had criminal records and had been referred to the project by the Youth Justice Service. Only three of them have subsequently reoffended.

It cost about a million a year to run the project and the cash came from a variety of sources including Hull PCT who put in �400,000, which, at the time was about 0.1% of their annual budget.  NHS Hull said they supported the programmebecause, they calculate, one in seven people not in employment, education or training (NEETS) today, will dead in ten years - and in the meantime consume a disproportionate amount of healthcare. 

The project has been held up as a beacon of good practice for the Big Society to emulate by the Institute of Community Cohesion.

I dug up the facts following David Cameron's, 'I love the NHS speech' at Ealing last week, quickly mimicked by Silly Puppy Britnell.   We all love the NHS.  Does Cameron love it any more than anyone else?  I doubt it.  We all have reason to be thankful.

He says he hates waste.  Like we don't?  I have no idea who his speech writer is; I think they would be better employed by Clinton Greetings Cards.

Love is an easy word to use and easy to devalue. 

Here's what love really is: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

'Love' should not be hijacked, discredited nor stolen for effect.

So Mr Speech-Writer; you're crap, you don't do your research and you have persuaded me that LaLa is right.  The NHS is better off without politicians demoralising everyone by scoring cheap points. 

I have idea if the Wilberforce Scheme is doing the business.  Neither has Cameron.  But, why should anyone innovate, take a risk, try something new, make an effort, push the boundaries, experiment, endeavor and go the extra mile if their work is to be traduced by a backroom child with a lap-top and a politician desperate to dig himself out of a hole.  We deserve a more sophisticated argument.

I'm sick of LaLa, Cameron, Britnell, Mad-Dog Monitor, speech writers, policy advisers, Kitchen Cabinets and Listeners, Mr & Mrs Huhne and Hair-Cut-Clegg.  But, it is nice to see Mike Farrar back and talking sense. 

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