Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Today's ConservativeHome Top Features
ToryDiary: "Ken Clarke speaks off the cuff about the EU without first getting the go-ahead from Downing Street, but writing about it in the Daily Telegraph this morning will have been a different matter.  It is impossible to believe that his piece, in which familiar arguments for Britain's membership of the EU are set out, will not have been cleared in advance." - The hands are the hands of Clarke, but the voice is the voice of Cameron
Majority
Max Wind-Cowie continues our Future Majority series on MajorityConservatism: We will win ethnic minority votes by backing outsiders - and learning from Boris
On Local Government, Cllr Susan Hall asks: Why do the media ignore Labour's local government splits?
Today's ConservativeHome Newslinks
Leaving the EU would be to indulge damaging isolationism, writes Ken Clarke
EU Exit"There always has been something of the romantic in the British soul. We can’t fail to be stirred by Charge of the Light Brigade visions of Britain standing alone against the odds. It is the same sentiment behind the idea of exchanging the EU for Nafta. But, in the end, we are a practical race. We know that the empire on which the sun never set was created by intrepid, relentlessly outward-facing adventurers and administrators, not isolationist John Bulls. That “Brexit” would mean curtains for our ability to have any leadership role in world-defining plays like these free- trade agreements would greatly disturb us." -Ken Clarke, Daily Telegraph 
  •  Miliband should resist temptation of a referendum - Donald MacIntyre, The Independent 
  • EU-US trade talks open, as the French fall out with Brussels - FT (£) 
  • Make privacy part of the talks - Yochai Benkler, FT (£) 
  • UK agrees City regulation deal with the EU - FT (£) 
  • Brussels declares that the Euro is safe. Again. - Daily Telegraph 
Last chance for Syria - Cameron puts pressure on Putin at the G8
"At a tense G8 Summit dinner, the Prime Minister was expected to warn that the world was at a “clarifying moment” in attempts to end the civil war. British officials said Mr Cameron had concluded that President Putin’s continuing support for the regime of tyrant Bashar Assad had become the primary obstacle to an international deal. Insiders said the Russian leader faced being isolated in a “frank discussion”." - Daily Express
Miller invites internet companies for another summit on extreme images...
"Maria Miller has summoned 13 companies, including Google, BT and Microsoft, to a summit in Whitehall on Tuesday. They will be told that “widespread public concern has made it clear that the industry must take action”. Ms Miller will ask the companies to draw up specific plans by the autumn. However, the search companies and internet service providers attending the 90-minute meeting say they feel the criticism is unfair because they have been blocking illegal content for years." - FT (£) 
  • The day for action on child abuse imagery - Daily Mail Leader 
  • Is it down to companies, Government or parents to protect children? -Matt Warman, Daily Telegraph 
  • Tech industry accuses Maria Miller of using summit to boost her image ahead of the reshuffle - The Times (£) 
  • Rights groups warn Miller of censorship risk - FT (£) 
...while anger grows over Stuart Hall's 15-month sentence for sexual abuse
Police"The Attorney General has already been forced to agree to review the sentence after being inundated with complaints. He was last night examining whether it was 'unduly lenient' and should be referred back to the Court of Appeal. Politicians and child protection charities were among those who condemned the former BBC presenter's sentence, saying it sent the wrong message to victims of historic sex abuse following the Jimmy Savile scandal." - Daily Mail
  • He should have got longer - Daily Express Leader
  • A sickening new low for Britain's soft justice system - Sun Says
  • Two thirds of those caught downloading child abuse pictures avoid jail - Daily Mail 
  • Five special jails for sex offenders - The Times (£) 
  • Disgust at Ian Brady's taxpayer-funded campaign for right to die - Daily Mail
It costs £45bn - but will the pension triple lock survive the election?
"Pensions Minister Steve Webb has raised doubts whether the system – and its crippling £45billion cost – will survive beyond the General Election in May 2015. Critics said yesterday the revelation was a ‘travesty’. The ‘triple lock’ promise appeared in the Coalition agreement – but there is no legal obligation to keep this pledge beyond the next election…Yesterday Downing Street refused to say whether David Cameron would stick with the new system after the next election, but added that his Government can take credit for its introduction." - Daily Mail 
  • Coalition planning radical restructure of private pensions - FT (£) 
Britain spends more on international aid than any other G8 country
Philip Davies"Tory MP for Shipley, Philip Davies, a longstanding critic of the Government's foreign aid commitments, said: 'Other countries are making more sensible decisions about their priorities given the tough economic times we are in. We are now the mugs of the world. We're spending money we haven't got. They are making sure their spending across the board is being cut, not just on domestic things. I'm afraid it proves that our argument that if we do it everyone else will follow suit is just pure humbug.'" - Daily Mail 
Councils plead poverty while splashing the cash
"Even in the poorest areas, senior local government officers are paid astronomical salaries in comparison with most of those they are employed to serve. Their gold-plated, inflation-proof pensions are padded with money which could be spent on schools, or social services or employing a few more dustmen. The biggest racket is the system of ‘allowances’ which means it is not uncommon for councillors to receive £20,000 a year from the public purse. Some council leaders are on £50,000 plus." - Richard Littlejohn, Daily Mail 
  • Council gives gardeners an award…then orders them to scrap their plants - Daily Mail 
Gove savages Labour's new education policy
GoveFlag"Mr Gove said: ‘Labour’s policy on free schools is so tortured they should send in the UN to end the suffering.  'On the one hand Stephen Twigg says he will end the free school programme, but on the other he says he would set up “parent-led” and “teacher-led academies” – free schools under a different name.  'When is a free school not a free school? When Stephen Twigg is trying to appease the teaching unions.'" - Daily Mail 
Janan Ganesh has kind words for Britain's political class
"After the second world war, as British colonies around the world grew restless for independence, politicians in London might have fought to preserve the empire. Instead, they allowed the “winds of change” to blow, saving the country blood, treasure and dignity. Not all European empires retired so painlessly. There was nothing inevitable about the British approach: it required leadership by a political class that could have taken the other, uglier road. Their handling of the fiscal crisis might come to be seen in a similar way." - Janan Ganesh, FT (£) 
BorisAtRally
Borisstan: The Guardian imagines London's future
"By the summer of 2030, David Cameron wasn't a name that meant much to most Britons. Ed Miliband? He barely rated a mention from the Will Straws and Euan Blairs now running the Labour dynasty. Yet there was one early-21st-century politician who could claim a permanent legacy. Little urchins would break off from intense communion with their iJobs™ to pull off a passable impersonation. "Cripes!" They'd say, while ruffling their hair. "Crikey!"" - The Guardian 
News in brief
  • Illegal immigrants' driving licences to be seized in new crackdown - The Sun 
  • Estuary airport would close Heathrow, warns Heathrow - FT (£) 
  • 400,000 households avoid paying the licence fee thanks to BBC iPlayer -Daily Mail 
  • NHS executives act to reduce weekend deaths - The Sun 
  • New restrictions on banks lobbying ministers - Daily Telegraph 
  • Cameron will visit Kazakhstan despite human rights record - The Independent 
  • Private sector companies set to take over police cells - FT (£) 
And finally...
Whips, beware! Now Nadine fancies going on Strictly - and backs Boris for leader
"She said there is ‘no doubt’ that Mr Johnson will be leader of the Tory Party. ‘He’s won two major elections, and nobody else in the party matches that at the moment. We would be idiots not to have Boris. He’d take the party back to the highlands again pretty easily.’" - Daily Mail 

Posted by Britannia Radio at 09:26