ToryDiary: Four appointments that would address Downing Street's vulnerabilities LeftWatch: Coalition-sceptic Lib Dems thrive in internal Lib Dem elections ThinkTankCentral: ResPublica proposes allowing communities to buy and run state assets - and at a profit WATCH: Iain Duncan Smith discusses welfare reform and jobs on yesterday's Andrew Marr Show Cameron to insist that the UK remains a world force Happiness index to gauge Britain's national mood "The UK government is poised to start measuring people's psychological and environmental wellbeing, bidding to be among the first countries to officially monitor happiness. Despite "nervousness" in Downing Street at the prospect of testing the national mood amid deep cuts and last week's riot in Westminster, the Office of National Statistics will shortly be asked to produce measures to implement David Cameron's long-stated ambition of gauging "general wellbeing". - The Guardian Lords could derail Coalition plans for electoral reform referendum "Not many voters have twigged, and even among many MPs, the implications have yet to sink in. But the consequence of the Coalition's plan to reduce the number of MPs and equalise the size of their constituencies is that almost every MP will have to be reselected before the next election. About 50 of them will find themselves without a job at all." - Mary Ann Sieghart in The Independent Labour can't ignore electoral reform: it is in their interest - Jackie Ashley inThe Guardian Britain may face £6 billion EU bill to save Irish economy Ireland and Greece should ditch the euro - Peter Oborne in the Daily Telegraph Gerry Adams quits Parliament he refused to attend to fight for election in Irish Republic (and he gets £41,000) "Gerry Adams is to step down as an MP, landing British taxpayers with a bill for tens of thousands of pounds in the process. The Sinn Fein leader announced yesterday that he will give up his Westminster seat - and his seat on the Northern Ireland Assembly - in order to contest a constituency in the Irish Republic. It means Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Provisional IRA, will be entitled to a ‘winding-up allowance’, worth up to £41,000, to pay for office costs and staff redundancy." - Daily Mail > Yesterday's LeftWatch: How Gerry Adams is spending Remembrance Sunday David Cameron will bow to business and relax immigration cap "David Cameron is expected to increase significantly the number of immigrants from beyond Europe permitted to enter Britain each year, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. The Prime Minister is understood to have been influenced by business concerns that the cap introduced after the election is preventing highly-skilled people from coming to this country." - Daily Telegraph Bruce Anderson: IDS was wrong as leader but is right on welfare reform The grubby reality of a hung parliament "Gradually, a picture is emerging of the backroom deals which led to the formation of the Tory/LibDem Coalition. Inevitably, it’s every bit as grubby, underhand and anti-democratic as this paper predicted would be the case, in the event of a hung parliament." - Daily Mail editorial Labour split over 50p tax "Alan Johnson, the shadow chancellor, yesterday said the 50p rate should be a temporary feature of the tax system – putting him at odds with his party leader. During his leadership campaign, recently installed Labour leader Ed Miliband said the 50p top rate would be made permanent if he became Prime Minister." - City AM Angry students target Lib Dems as NUS prepares to contest Oldham East and Saddleworth Higher fees ‘will make more study in the US’ - The Times (£) Boris bids for pan-London enterprise partnership... ...as he lambasts George W Bush "It is not yet clear whether George W Bush is planning to cross the Atlantic to flog us his memoirs, but if I were his PR people I would urge caution...Unless the 43rd president of the United States has been grievously misrepresented, he has admitted to authorising and sponsoring the use of torture. Asked whether he approved of “waterboarding” in three specific cases, he told his interviewer that “damn right” he did, and that this practice had saved lives in America and Britain. It is hard to overstate the enormity of this admission." - Boris Johnson in the Daily Telegraph MPs pocket rents from homes paid for by taxpayer "MPs may be making thousands of pounds a month renting out London properties renovated at taxpayers' expense, The Daily Telegraph can disclose." - Daily Telegraph £1,000 asset limit to be introduced on legal aid eligibility - The Independent Nicolas Sarkozy leans to the right as reshuffle kicks off re-election campaign ToryDiary posts: Chris Butt on Platform: The Big Society must act as a correcting force to the supremacy of the State and big business Charles Crawford on Platform: How the EU Budget process really works - Part I International: Sarah Palin's ten point message Melanchthon on CentreRight: Islam should become our state religion andFurther remarks on Islam as our state religion Ben Rogers on CentreRight: Aung San Suu Kyi's release is welcome, but by itself is no measure of change in Burma WATCH: David Cameron on how Aung San Suu Kyi is "an inspiration" Other videos from the weekend:Charles Crawford on Platform: How the EU Budget processreally works - Part II
"David Cameron is set to deny that Britain is in "decline" internationally despite economic woes, severe defence cuts and the rapid growth of economies such as China. The Prime Minister will insist the country is still "at the centre" of major global decisions and remains a "great economic power" and a key military force. But, making his first annual Mansion House foreign affairs address, he will concede the UK has lost "respect" because of the state of the national finances which must be won back." - Press Association
"The House of Lords could derail the Government's plans for a referendum on the voting system by diverting key legistation to a committee for further scrutiny... members of the Upper House, led by the former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer have claimed that the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill is flawed and is "hybrid legislation" and should be referred to a House of Lords committee so that various parties can lodge appeals. A vote by peers is due to take place today over whether the bill should be diverted. Meanwhile Labour, who says the reforms will unfairly target them, is expected to table a motion to refer the legislation to a parliamentary select committee local appeals process." - Daily Telegraph
"British taxpayers could be asked to guarantee up to £6 billion of Irish debt as part of an emergency pan-European deal to save the country’s economy from collapse. The Treasury made clear last night that Britain would, if needed, play its part to restore market confidence in Ireland, stressing the taxpayer’s interest in protecting an ailing ally. “This is not like Greece — they are close trading partners,” an official said." - The Times (£)
"Iain Duncan Smith is proposing one of the most crucial reforms in modern British history. There will be a lot of difficult detail and it will take some years to implement. But by the end of that process, there will have been fundamental changes in the welfare system. Despite all the talk of change, old-fashioned Tories should applaud the work and pensions secretary, for he is a reactionary. He is rejecting recent failures and reverting to older principles." - Bruce Anderson in the FT (£)
"Nick Clegg was facing a further political backlash last night over his tuition fees U-turn as students prepared to target key Liberal Democrat seats. The National Union of Students will today announce it is fielding a candidate in the Oldham by-election to hound the Lib Dems – a move likely to cost them any chance of winning the seat. And it will also mount a ‘decapitation strategy’ at the next election to oust Lib Dems who vote for the Coalition’s plans to treble fees after signing an election pledge to oppose rises in tuition costs." - Daily Mail
"Boris Johnson is preparing a bid to create a local enterprise partnership covering all of London even though some boroughs have submitted plans for smaller, more targeted schemes. Some council leaders in the capital believe the move by the Tory London mayor to create a super-Lep runs counter to the government’s policy of creating partnerships of businesses and councils to drive economic development in specific local areas." - FT (£)
"Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday took his first steps in the race to be re-elected France's president in 2012, reshuffling his government and appealing to the disgruntled right wing of his party by keeping François Fillon as prime minister. For five months, Sarkozy had personally stoked bitter rivalry and infighting within the government as he spurred his ministers to publicly fight each other to keep their jobs. So great was the rush to curry favour with the president that ministers apparently even changed hairstyles and went on diets." - The Guardian
Monday, 15 November 2010
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