Thursday 4 November 2010

Today's other newslinks

Cable victory 1: Vince Cable refers News Corp's BSkyB bid to regulator

CableVinceWide"Vince Cable has ordered media regulator Ofcom to examine News Corporation's £12bn bid to take control of BSkyB, as revealed by MediaGuardian.co.uk last night. Cable has issued an intervention notice under the Enterprise Act ordering Ofcom to investigate the proposed transaction, which would see News Corporation take control of the 61% of the satellite broadcaster it does not already own, on public interest grounds." - Guardian

Cable victory 2: Modification of immigration cap

"The decision to exempt so-called ‘intra-company transfers’ from the annual quota is a major victory for Vince Cable and the Liberal Democrats.   The Business Secretary had argued that companies wanted more freedom to recruit staff from abroad.  But his critics say this makes the cap an empty political gesture and will not stop firms bringing in cheap foreign labour at the cost of British jobs.  In comments which caught some ministers by surprise, David Cameron yesterday revealed that Mr Cable had won out." - Daily Mail

Immigration cap threatens cancer research in Britain - Times (£)

Nick Clegg's whips get to work on tuition fees as Liberal Democrat Ministers waver

"The Deputy Prime Minister and Business Secretary Vince Cable have launched a charm offensive to prevent a humiliating Lib Dem rebellion that could see up to four ministers vote against the Government...Chief whip Alastair Carmichael is trying to thrash out a deal which will see backbenchers abstain and ministers vote in favour.  But a succession of Lib Dems, led by former leader Charles Kennedy, insist that they will vote no.  Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone; Jenny Willott, a ministerial aide to Energy Secretary Chris Huhne; Mike Crockart, an aide to Scottish Secretary Mike Moore and pensions minister Steve Webb have all threatened to rebel." - Daily Mail

But coverage in the FT(£) offers a very different take: "A coalition plan for a near-trebling of the cap on student fees to £9,000 has drawn only muffled dissent from Liberal Democrats, in a sign that Nick Clegg is making headway in stopping his party splitting three ways on the issue. The deputy prime minister’s team are confident their “fair” solution to student finance, unveiled on Wednesday, is convincing wavering MPs to back it – even though their right to abstain is enshrined in the coalition agreement."

"The middle classes on moderate incomes will be hardest hit by the most radical shake-up of university funding for a generation, ministers admitted.  Overall, three out of four university leavers will be worse off than at present following the move to allow institutions to charge up to £9,000 a year for courses.  Successful graduates will be penalised most by the introduction of variable interest rates on the loans they take out to pay the fees. A university leaver with debts of £30,000 and an annual salary of £45,000 will have to pay back about £2,160 a year for about 30 years. Someone earning £25,000 will have to pay £360 a year for the same debts because a lower interest rate will be applied." - Daily Telegraph

Camilla Cavendish in The Times (£) writes about the nationalisation of Britain's universities, arguing that we can't have excellence and social engineeering.

Vince Cable ducks out of Oxford University visit after students plan 'peaceful protest' - Daily Mail

IDS: Cost of family breakdown is £100 billion per year

Timthumb.php"Iain Duncan Smith said the collapse of marriage had brought soaring crime rates, doubled the chances of living in poverty and cost the country an astonishing £100billion a year. The Work and Pensions Secretary accused Labour of undermining marriage and family life and said the country had paid a ‘heavy price’ in deeper poverty, high crime and poor life chances for the children of families that failed to stay together.  Mr Duncan Smith’s speech to representatives of the Relate counselling charity was the strongest defence of marriage made by a major government figure in years. " -Daily Mail 

Tories mull LibDem/AV election pact

"The Conservatives are considering an informal pact with the LibDems under which they would urge people to make Nick Clegg's party their second choice at the next general election. The historic pact, which could severely dent Labour's prospects of returning to power, would be proposed in the event of a Yes vote in next May's referendum on whether to replace the current first-past-the-post system with the alternative vote (AV)." - Independent  

David Cameron says that giving prisoners the vote makes him feel "physically ill" - Daily Express

Danny Alexander stars at Treasury Select Committee

"In a two-hour debut before Andrew Tyrie's Treasury select committee, Alexander was on top of his brief, fluent and good-tempered. Better still for the Treasury, he said little that is likely to generate headlines at a time when the cuts face growing scrutiny and dwindling popularity." - Michael White in The Guardian

Innovation is the secret of economic success - George Osborne and Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google) in The Telegraph

"Osborne approved an £8.3 million pay package for the new head of Lloyds Banking Group, which is 41 per cent owned by the taxpayer" -Times (£)

MPs find civil servants 'are incapable of cutting Whitehall waste' - Daily Mail

Daily Mail unimpressed with David Cameron hiring personal photographer

Cameron PM"A filmmaker who produced his ‘WebCameron’ videos before the election has been given a public post. The revelation came a day after it emerged that Mr Cameron had found a job for the man who was his personal photographer in opposition. Labour leader Ed Miliband today attacked the Prime Minister for finding the money to fund publicity staff at a time when half a million public sector jobs are facing the axe.  Filmmaker Nicky Woodhouse will join photographer Andrew Parsons as a civil servant in the Cabinet Office, where she will be working across all departments.  One of her WebCameron video blogs showed him washing up while dealing with his noisy children off-screen. It was widely criticised as cheesy." - Daily Mail

Valentine Low in The Times (£) takes a more fogiving view: ""It has taken only half a century for Britain to catch up with the United States. American presidents have had personal photographers ever since John F. Kennedy."

The issue was raised by Ed Miliband at yesterday's PMQs; ToryDiary report anddiscussed on ToryDiary yesterday evening.

Al-Qaeda-in-the-Arabian-Peninsular operating in the UK, says Theresa May

MAY-THERESA"The Home Secretary said an “associate” of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was arrested earlier this year and was allegedly planning a terrorist attack in Britain. One of the central figures in the organisation in Yemen is Anwar al-Awlaki, who is thought to have been behind the planned attack on passenger aircraft uncovered last week. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is... part of a new network of al-Qaeda affiliated groups across the Middle East, East Africa and North Africa which are targeting Britain, the Home Secretary warned." - Telegraph

Stephen Timms backs Pauline Neville-Jones on al-Qaeda video

"Mr Timms said he found it “puzzling and alarming” that Roshonara Choudhry had been transformed from a quiet student into a terrorist simply by “spending time on some website”. Choudhry had tried to murder him as “punishment” for voting in favour of the Iraq war after she watched the online sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemen-based al-Qaeda preacher wanted over last week’s parcel bomb plot to blow up aircraft. Mr Timms said: “It is puzzling and alarming that she seems to have reached the conclusion by spending time on some website.  That raises questions about what's on the web. As I understand it the material she accessed would be illegal if it were hosted in the UK." - Daily Telegraph

Fury erupted last night after police allowed Islamic bigots' hate-filled demo at the life sentence on MP murder-bid student Roshonara Choudhry - The Sun

Benedict Brogan on the Tories and the Tea Party

"When it comes to the Tea Party, those ministers with close connections to US politics dismiss talk of replicating such a populist movement here. They recall how badly William Hague fared when he tried to campaign against "the liberal elite": as one involved says, "that just reminded everyone that there was an elite, and we weren't part of it"." - Benedict Brogan in The Telegraph

Richard Littlejohn wants a Tea Party in the UK - Daily Mail

> On International yesterday: Mike Magan's view that MIddle America turned against Obama and Tim Montgomerie's take that Republicans have an opportunity to control Washington from 2012.

Highlights from yesterday on ConHome

ThinkTankCentral: North London Mosque gets no apology from Policy Exchange - and pays a "substantial contribution" towards their costs

Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: John Simpson compares BBC licence freeze to "waterboarding"

WATCH: John Hirst - the axe murderer who brought the case which will give prisoners the vote - laughs his way through an interview with Andrew Neil(Warning: This video will make the blood boil of any right-thinking person)

Parliament: Health Minister makes reducing abortion rate "an absolute priority" as Nadine Dorries raises concerns over lack of pre-abortion counselling

Three videos covering key results from the US midterms:

Posted by Britannia Radio at 13:00