Friday 22 July 2011

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Today's newslinks

Police 'plan to cut 14% of jobs by 2015'

Police"It estimated that the overall cut of 14% will include losing 16,200 officers and 16,100 civilian staff. The HMIC added there was "relatively strong evidence" falling staff numbers might lead to a rise in some offences. Home Office figures showed there are 139,110 officers in England and Wales - 4,625 fewer than March last year." - BBC

Times (£) graphic on how police numbers are set to fall back to 2001 levels.

"Instead of making apocalyptic predictions of a collapse in law and order, police chiefs should rethink how they use officers. It would also help if the Home Office delivered its promised cuts in police red tape." - Telegraph leader

  • The Met must lose its national anti-terrorism role and concentrate on policing London - Blair Gibbs for The Telegraph

Osborne has welcomed the new bailout package for debt-ridden Greece, saying eurozone members had taken "decisive economic action" - BBC

EuroAllister Heath at City AM summarises the package: "What we are seeing here is window-dressing, a large bailout, a move towards further fiscal unification through the back door and a partial, much-needed but small “selective default”."

  • Cabinet ministers fear that the turmoil in the eurozone will weaken Britain's already fragile recovery and could push the country back into negative growth - Independent
  • The Sun Says: "As euroland totters, there is a golden opportunity for Britain to assert itself as the dynamic, low tax, free market champion of Europe. Sadly, our recovery is snail-paced. Cutting the deficit is right. But without focus on growth, we are going nowhere."
  • UK's economic difficulties are real but overshadowed by troubles in €urozone and US - WSJ
  • David Miliband accuses the Government of "deficit zealotry" that endangers growth - Huffington Post
  • One in nine British adults have no qualifications - Express

Osborne backs 'two-speed Europe' with Britain taking a back seat - Daily Mail

Economist"Thanks to a great scoop by George Parker of the FT, it is clear the government now believes the following: (a) a big leap towards fiscal union is the only way of saving the single currency, (b) Britain has a strong interest in the survival of the single currency, (c) Britain must play no part in bailing out the single currency and will stand aloof from fiscal integration, thus (d) our national interest now lies in allowing Europe to divide into markedly different zones of integration, with us on the outside." -Bagehot

At Telegraph blogs, Dan Hannan sets out what Britain's different EU status should look like: "We should withdraw from Brussels rules on employment law, social policy, agriculture and fisheries, regionalism, industrial policy and justice and home affairs. We should, in other words, aim for a Swiss-style amplified free trade agreement, which would release me from my present employment."

  • The euro crisis will give Germany the empire it’s always dreamed of - Peter Oborne for The Telegraph
  • Cameron and Clegg differ on exploiting eurozone crisis - FT (£)

Coulson Andy at DCMSCivil servant believes he was the subject of a series of negative media reports allegedly orchestrated by Andy Coulson - Telegraph

Questions asked about why former News of the World editor, embroiled in phone-hacking scandal, was spared No 10 vetting process undertaken by his successor and former deputy - Guardian

"If Coulson gave David Cameron all the assurances he needed before the appointment, presumably he could have told the security services what they wanted to hear as well. Except that it's the job of skilled investigators to probe into areas where even prime ministers may not wish to go." - Lance Price in The Guardian

  • Wolfman Neil Wallis met Andy Coulson in Downing Street - Daily Mail
  • Alastair Campbell accuses Cameron of misrepresenting him in Commons -Politics.co.uk
  • The Independent warns against Leveson ranging too widely.
  • James Murdoch misled MPs, say former NoW editor and lawyer - Guardian

Martin Kettle: How big will Hackgate get?

Martin_kettle_140x140"Politically, the question about the phone-hacking crisis is this: where will it ultimately stand on the spectrum of damage that stretches from Watergate, which brought a president down, to the Bernie Ecclestone deal, a sordid error which caused Tony Blair not much more than embarrassment? Right now, the answer is that no one knows. Phone hacking retains the potential to be either. Cameron has handled much of the crisis with his usual reliable feel for modern politics. But he has also revealed a what-the-hell insouciance that may yet prove his achilles' heel." - Martin Kettle in The Guardian

  • The Murdoch mess complicates life for David Cameron - Mike Gerson in the Washington Post

Coalition rules out legalising multiple Islamic marriages after Whitehall leak- Telegraph

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: The Government may recognise polygamous shariah marriages

David Cameron guest edits The Big Issue - Daily Mail | Big Issue

FAMILYThe Government must correct the disincentive to marriage in the tax system - Telegraph leader

Blue Labour guru Glasman apologises over immigration remarks - Guardian

And finally... Britain’s ruling class needs a good holiday

"July is the silliest month. In England, parliamentarians are tired, looking forward to the holiday, after months of legislative grind. The terrace of the House of Commons is a wonderful place of respite, with cooling drinks, which do not lead to cool heads. In the wider world, meanwhile, the Arab spring is frozen in midwinter. If anyone understands the UK government’s policy on Libya, would they please explain it? India and Pakistan are close to nuclear tension. The euro is a zombie currency. Yet the British House of Commons is obsessed with journalistic trivia. This is not Westminster’s finest hour." - Bruce Anderson in the FT (£)