Thursday, 8 October 2009

Today's newslinks

George Osborne is in talks with international credit agencies in a mission to reassure that Conservatives are "deadly serious" about curbing deficit - Times

Cuts and pay freezes 'just the beginning’, Tories admit - Telegraph

"The Conservative leadership would aim to push through an emergency budget, including spending cuts and a possible rise in VAT, with the support of the Liberal Democrats if David Cameron fails to secure an overall majority in the Commons at the general election." - Guardian

YouGovResults YouGov's daily tracker poll has the Conservatives up 2% after George Osborne's speech. It also finds approval for Grorge Osborne's pay squeeze but the public is divided on the decision to make people retire one year later >>

Michael Gove promises to dissolve education establishment in sign of confrontation with unions to come - Guardian

"All failing schools would be identified for takeovers by new heads within 100 days of a Tory election victory, Michael Gove promised yesterday. Britain’s worst schools would be reopened as academies within 18 months of the general election, the Shadow Schools Secretary said. Mr Gove also promised to allow all schools to bid to become academies, with the freedom to set their own curriculums and hire and fire teachers. The best schools would be automatically approved for the change, he said." - Times

A leading article in The Independent welcomes the Tory pledge for 10,000 extra university places

"The move is smart on a number of counts. Politically it is astute for the Tories to position themselves as the friends of higher education at a time when public spending cuts are threatened. Until now it is the Labour Party that has been portrayed as the universities' supporter. The announcement acknowledges the importance of higher education to the British economy and to getting young people off the dole and into work. Offering graduates an incentive to pay back loans is a clever way to raise the money to pay for the extra places. This gives people who might not normally vote Conservative a reason to do so." - Independent leader

Matthew Parris criticises General Dannatt's behaviour

"What would be his reaction to a junior officer going public with doubts about his own leadership? The military top brass — serving and retired — are beginning to behave like shop stewards. They’ll get an easy cheer (I predict) from the Tory defence spokesman, Liam Fox, who speaks today. It’s said here that the Tories plan to recruit General Dannatt as an adviser. But if Dr Fox becomes Defence Secretary he’ll inherit a situation in which military chiefs think it appropriate to attack the elected Government whenever they don’t get their way" - Matthew Parris in The Times

Hopes fade that Czech Republic might stop Lisbon

"David Cameron's hopes that the Czech Republic would give him an excuse to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty were fading last night. It emerged that a legal challenge against the treaty's validity was being 'fast-tracked' through the Czech courts. This means the country's Eurosceptic president Vaclav Klaus could be forced to ratify the European Constitution before the end of the year." - Daily Mail

Conservatives deny they plan to slash the number of MPs in Wales - Western Mail

The Tories must walk progressive if they want to talk progressive - New Statesman leader

"The Pink turns blue" - The Guardian reviews the Tories' gay pride party

Warning of exodus from Team Boris in run up to General Election - Guardian

Boris Johnson accused of cronyism

"Boris Johnson has been accused of breaching rules on public appointments after trying to appoint a key ally to a top London arts job, The Times has learnt. The Mayor of London tried to install Veronica Wadley, former editor of the Evening Standard, which championed his campaign for the mayoralty, to run the Arts Council in London. He recommended her for the job despite the shortlisting panel judging that she was insufficiently qualified to take the role." - Times

"A Tory Party member was arrested after being accused of failing to pay the bill on a £150 bottle of champagne at the party's conference in Manchester." - Manchester Evening News

Ben Bradshaw accuses BBC of "fawning" coverage of Tories

Picture 51 "A Cabinet minister was yesterday accused of bullying the BBC after he used Twitter to accuse it of bias in favour of the Tories. Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw said coverage of George Osborne's party conference speech was 'fawning and feeble'" - Daily Mail

Royal Mail workers likely to vote for strike action - BBC

Posted by Britannia Radio at 09:32