Wednesday, 10 November 2010

Today's top ConHome features
Today's other newslinks

Cameron issues provocative message in Beijing...

Picture 7"David Cameron will risk antagonising his Chinese hosts today by criticising their political system and their disregard for basic human freedoms. In a provocative message to the Beijing government, coming amid worldwide condemnation of the imprisonment of the Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, Mr Cameron will insist that democratic elections, independent courts and uncensored media are essential in a modern economy." - The Independent

"In a speech to students in Beijing, Cameron will go further than previous British prime ministers visiting China by urging the world's new economic superpower to embrace human rights and democracy. Downing Street said Cameron had also used a banquet last night to personally raise the issue of individual human rights abuses with the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao – including the case of Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Chinese dissident awarded the Nobel Peace prize last month." - The Guardian

...as the poppies worn by the Cabinet ministers in China raise eyebrows

"As Premier Wen Jiabao and his ministers looked at the visitors’ buttonholes, they saw not a comradely reference to home team colours but an echo of an altogether darker chapter of Sino-British history. The Opium Wars with Britain cost China two humiliating peace treaties and Hong Kong — not the sort of memory that Mr Cameron would want to be stirring as he sought to take relations with Beijing to a “new level”. Chinese officials had warned their British counterparts that the poppies would not go down well. Tough, was the thrust of the response." - The Times (£)

David Cameron is right to focus on trade with China - Telegraph editorial

> Yesterday's ConHome coverage of the visit:

Theresa May seeks judicial review of July 7 terror inquest ruling

Theresa May Home Secretary"The Home Secretary is trying to prevent secret evidence at the 7 July terror attack inquests from being heard in public. Theresa May is seeking a judicial review of the coroner's ruling in favour of the bereaved families, who want to see the evidence and question the security service, MI5, about the intelligence gathered before the bombings on London's transport network in the summer of 2005." - The Independent

Review of Prevent programme will not examine spying allegations - The Guardian

Foreign criminals to be paid £1,500 to go home

"Foreign murderers, rapists and other criminals are being offered cash bribes of up to £1,500 to return home after serving their sentences. The Coalition, which wants to ease the pressure on overcrowded jails, has trebled the amount of money offered to prisoners who go back to their country of origin voluntarily. Those who agree to return with up to nine months left to serve will receive a bigger payout than those who go at the end of their sentence, in an attempt to create more space in prisons." - Daily Telegraph

EU accounts rejected for the sixteenth year in a row

EU-FLAG"Auditors have refused to give the European Union’s accounts a clean bill of health – for the 16th year in a row. Billions of pounds of EU funds were spent wrongly, they concluded, such as farmers being paid for crops that were never grown, or sheep being double counted to get extra grants. Details of the scandalous waste emerged only weeks after David Cameron pledged to restrict the increase in the EU budget next year." - Daily Mail

Cameron under fire over his promise on EU Budget -Daily Express

Navy grandees attack ‘perverse’ defence cuts

"The decision to scrap a fleet of fast jets and Britain’s flagship aircraft carrier makes no financial sense and leaves the Falkland Islands vulnerable to a new attack by Argentina, a group of senior, retired commanders claim today. The officers, including Lord West of Spithead and Sir Julian Oswald, Admiral of the Fleet, urge David Cameron to reverse the coalition Government’s cost-cutting measures, announced as part of last month’s defence review." - The Times (£)

Hague backs Brazil bid for UN Security Council seat

"William Hague, the British foreign secretary, has backed Brazil’s case for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, only a day after Barack Obama, US president, said India should be given permanent membership." - FT (£)

Nick Clegg: The Coalition's welfare reforms will at last make work pay

Nick Clegg on Marr 2"Our welfare reform plans go hand in hand with our investments in long-term social mobility. In the comprehensive spending review we announced a £7bn "fairness premium", stretching from the age of two to 20. These investments are intended to promote social mobility, to ensure that children are able to rise regardless of their background. The welfare reform package is an investment in mobility too. We will finally offer, to borrow a phrase from the US, a "hand up, not a handout". - Nick Clegg writing in The Guardia

Simon Hughes threatens Liberal Democrat rebellion over housing benefit reforms - Daily Telegraph

Minister suggest that people still don't know the meaning of "the Big Society"

"Tory Tim Loughton said charities frequently used the "buzz phrase" when lobbying politicians, but the majority of people struggle to understand the concept. Delivering a speech to volunteering organisation CSV, the children's minister said: "The trouble is that most people don't know what the Big Society really means, least of all the unfortunate ministers who have to articulate it. "What actually is the Big Society, let alone is it good or not? Exactly how big is it now or is it going to be? Is it in fact Ann Widdecombe?" - Press Association

Labour MPs "back shamed Woolas and turn fury on Harman"

Phil Woolas"Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman yesterday sparked mutiny in her party over her treatment of expelled MP Phil Woolas. Four Shadow Cabinet ministers and nine backbench MPs slammed Ms Harman after she said the ex-minister's career was over even if he overturns an election ban. Mr Woolas is appealing after he was thrown out of Parliament for three years for lying about his Lib Dem opponent during the General Election campaign. The MPs told Ms Harman, standing in for leader Ed Miliband who is on paternity leave, she was wrong not to wait for all the legal avenues to be exhausted." - Daily Mirror

"Mutinous Labour MPs have defied their party leadership to launch an extraordinary legal fighting fund for disgraced former minister Phil Woolas... A formal fighting fund, with its own bank account, is set to be launched today and Labour MPs are being asked to donate at least £100 each." - Daily Mail

Daniel Finkeslstein: Woolas went too far – but so have the judges - The Times (£)

> WATCH: Labour MPs suggest Harriet Harman should resign over treatment of Phil Woolas

Alan Johnson becomes Miliband's enforcer

"Members of Ed Miliband’s Shadow Cabinet have been asked to apply in writing to Alan Johnson every time they want to make a policy announcement, The Times has learnt. In an attempt to curtail the profligacy of senior Labour figures, shadow ministers are being told to fill in a detailed questionnaire devised by Mr Johnson’s staff before any new policy initiative." - The Times (£)

British deny George Bush's claims that torture helped foil terror plots - The Guardian

> AmericaInTheWorld yesterday: George W Bush says 'waterboarding' of terrorist suspects saved London from attacks

British soldiers may face trial over alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners - The Independent

Posted by Britannia Radio at 17:17