ToryDiary: Cameron should not forget the mood of the English in his defence of the Union Columnist Andrew Lilico: "Civil partnership" vs "gay marriage" - Why does it matter what you call it? Chris Skidmore MP on Comment: Labour has become the anti-reform, anti-competition, anti-choice, and above all, anti-patient party MPsETC: Leader of Tory MEPs, Martin Callanan, leads calls for Greece to be put out of its €uro misery Majority Conservatism: The third part in our 'Building A Majority' series - Ending windfarm subsidies Christina Dykes on Local government: Councillors deserve more help to become leaders of the Big Society and Localism "Inside the United Kingdom, Scotland – just as much as England, Wales and Northern Ireland – is stronger, safer, richer and fairer." - Writing for The Scotsman, David Cameron makes the case for Scotland staying in the UK "Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, had intended to introduce an early repayment penalty which would have cost graduates thousands of pounds if they cleared their debts within 30 years of leaving university. The Prime Minister is understood to have dropped the scheme earlier this week amid warnings that it would be unfair on the hundreds of thousands of people expected to repay their loans early." - Telegraph Police Federation attack David Cameron’s plans to tackle binge drinking as ‘dangerous’ and ‘unhelpful’ -Daily Mail Andrew Lansley faces questions after leaked emails reveal at least 25 senior staff have salaries paid to private companies, avoiding tax - Guardian UK unemployment stuck at 17-year high as economy flatlines - Guardian "The Office for National Statistics said the number of British-born workers with a job crashed by 208,000 last year. But this is the exact opposite of what is happening to foreign-born workers, with numbers jumping by 212,000 last year." - Daily Mail Francis Maude: The Civil Service has been shrunk to its smallest size since the Second World War as part of a £5 billion package of savings in Whitehall this year - Telegraph "Last year we proved that efficiency works, with £3.75 billion in savings, a figure confirmed this month by the National Audit Office. We are starting to build a totally new way of running the operations of government — focusing on what people spend their money on rather than just how much they spend... I can today reveal that our efficiency drive means we are on track to save an additional £5 billion this year. These savings are not the result of tinkering and trimming. We are creating a much leaner, more effective Whitehall machine that manages its finances like the best-run businesses and demands the best return for public money." - Francis Maude in The Telegraph Some advice for Laura Trott, Cameron's new adviser on women's issues - Guardian roundtable Zac Goldsmith says Cameron is too soft on big companies like BP, Costa Coffee and Tesco - Times (£) Tory MP Aidan Burley could be charged over Nazi stag party as French prosecutors launch criminal investigation - Daily Mail The leader of the Tory MEPs says Greece must default and devalue - Simon Richards at the Daily Mailwishes other Conservative politicians would follow Martin Callanan's lead and put the Greek people out of their misery. We need a leveller up, not a leveller down - Camilla Cavenish explains why Les Ebdon is the wrong man to oversee universities access - Times (£) > Yesterday's Jill Kirby column: Vince Cable's choice for university access tsar shows why Gove should be given control of higher education Martin Kettle: The Liberal Democrats must abandon the doomed folly of Lords reform Labour last night defended its decision to ditch its opposition to elected police commissioners - The Sun The Lords Communications Committee recommends tax breaks for newspapers - BBC Academics calculate that knowing a cabinet minister is worth £113,000 a year to a lobbyist - Telegraph ToryDiary: "A speech by the PM has to be an event" says Janan Ganesh. He's right. Patrick Mercer MP on Comment: Abu Qatada must go back to his home country and face justice Lord Wei on Comment: Why we need legal advocates for trafficked children and the scandal of those we lose from local authority care Local government:
The pro-union parties are determined to block this option because they would struggle to agree what form devo-max would take. But it would be risky for them to block an option that has voter support." - FT (£)Penalty for paying off student loan early is lifted
David Willetts to visit Falklands today in sign of Coalition's commitment - Times (£)
"When the whistle blows for the start of the second half of the coalition's period in office, the Liberal Democrats will have a precious two years in which to prove to voters that they have made a positive difference in difficult but unavoidable times. That could, even now, be a much more runnable argument than many allow. But it will not deserve to succeed if they squander so much of the rest of their time in office on a half-baked and doomed folly that would not solve the constitutional problem and for which, in grim economic times, there is no demand anyway." - Martin Kettle inThe Guardian
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Thursday, 16 February 2012
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