ToryDiary: A little local difficulty in the whips office - and 10 Downing Street Columnist Anthony Browne: Conservatives must join the debate about the morality of capitalism Alistair Thompson on Comment: Students should switch tactics - they would have far more power as consumers than protesters Local government: Councils should audit and maintain war memorials and Ofsted publishes Children's Services ratings VIDEO: David Cameron attempts another definition of his Big Society idea VIDEO: Osborne tells other EU finance ministers why Britain opposes a financial transactions tax VIDEO: George Osborne says any break up of €uro likely to be "catastrophic" for Britain Quoted by the BBC; "If the euro collapsed, if countries started falling out of the euro in a disorderly way that would have a catastrophic impact on the European economy, and that would have a huge impact on all those British businesses that sell things to Greece to Italy, to France and Germany as well. We would be very badly affected." Steve Hilton is blamed for briefing against George Osborne "Several stories have appeared suggesting that “senior figures” in Number 10 are irritated that the chancellor has not intervened to back liberal new employment laws, including a move to allow companies to “fire at will” in return for the payment of compensation. The prime minister’s allies believe the stories are damaging and have originated from Steve Hilton, Mr Cameron’s policy adviser, who is becoming increasingly frustrated at his failure to win support for a more ambitious deregulatory drive." - FT (£) George Osborne and Vince Cable are pushing for a potentially groundbreaking new road toll scheme to widen the heavily congested A14 -FT (£) Brodie Clark of Borders Agency has contradicted Theresa May's version of events, accusing her of misleading parliament - BBC "The civil servant at the centre of the row over relaxed passport controls resigned from the UK Border Agency last night and denounced the Home Secretary for insisting he was to blame for the fiasco. Brodie Clark said that he had left the agency and would sue for constructive dismissal following comments made by the Home Secretary to MPs in the House of Commons." -Times (£) "Mr Cameron offered little comfort to Mrs May by saying it was "not acceptable" the scandal had gone on for so long — implying she should have sorted it sooner." - The Sun > Yesterday's ToryDiary on the Borders Agency row Not a single overseas prisoner deported since coalition came to power, admits Clarke - Daily Mail People who fail to find work despite “intensive” mentoring for two years could be made to do 30 hours of community service a week for 26 weeks a year - Telegraph "Chris Grayling, the employment minister, said: “We want a welfare state which is a ladder up which people climb, not a place in which they live. “If people who are fit for employment still haven’t managed to find a job after the intensive support provided by the Work Programme, we want them to do community work and get into the habit and routine of work. No one should expect to be able to sit at home doing nothing.”" - Times (£) The Sun puts the above two stories together and concludes... "David Cameron promised to kick out thousands of foreign prisoners by securing repatriation deals with non-EU countries. Eighteen months on, how many deals have been struck? None... So forgive us if we can only raise half a cheer for the Government's latest benefits "crackdown". Welfare shirkers will have to do community work or lose their benefits, we're told (again). We'll believe it when we see it." > Monday's ToryDiary looked at Cameron's awful relationship with the Big Four centre right newspapers Cameron slams FIFA's Poppy ban "Banning England's footballers from wearing a poppy on their shirts is an outrage, David Cameron said yesterday. The Prime Minister told the sport's ruling body to reverse its 'absurd' ruling against 'political' symbols. Fifa is thought to have made the decision to avoid offence being given to German players and fans." - Daily Mail David Mundell MP talks to Labour MPs about holding an early Scottish referendum "The Whitehall sources said: “There is no secret plan on the table to hold our own referendum but if there were to be such a plan there is a recognition that it would have to have the backing of the Labour Party in Scotland. If we can get that, then it may be a totally different kettle of fish.”" - Times (£) Britain should not pick shale gas, nuclear or renewables; it should invest in a diversity of energy sources - Chris Huhne in The Telegraph Nicholas Soames MP and Baroness Morris say UK must vote for Palestinian state at UN - Guardian Conservatives should worry about lower income Britons more than it should worry about women's issues - Jackie Doyle-Price MP for the Huffington Post We must not ignore the rights of fathers - Ann Widdecombe in The Express Patients Association finds rising incidences of elderly neglect within NHS - Telegraph Student protest to march on City over fees and university "privatisation" - BBC Daniel Finkelstein: Labour's fairness challenge "The issue of power and rewards for top people is important but only a part of fairness, a part where Labour is already relatively strong. It is on crime, welfare fraud, the deal for taxpayers and immigration, the other big fairness issues, that Mr Miliband needs to concentrate. To win on fairness he will have to get far tougher on these issues, and talk about little else. And this is something that runs counter to his instincts." - Daniel Finkelstein in The Times (£) Alistair Darling: Tories plan to put too much power in Bank of England Governor's hands "If the government has its way, the governor of the Bank of England will be handed unprecedented new powers to shape the British economy. While continuing to set interest rates, the Bank will take over the supervision of commercial banks and insurers, be responsible for identifying and tackling threats to financial stability – entirely new and pretty much uncharted territory – and have the power to restrict lending on mortgages, or order banks to increase their capital... To invest all these powers in one person, the governor, flies in the face of all ideas of modern governance, let alon e parliamentary accountability." - Alistair Darling for The Guardian Gordon Brown should be the hero of all Eurosceptics - Jonathan Freedland inThe Guardian Nearly one in every five staff passholders in the House of Lords is involved in lobbying - Guardian The ex-wife of Chris Huhne, Vicky Pryce, says she is considering seeking election as a Lib Dem MP - BBC And finally... Cameron is putting on weight "I know that I can hardly accuse others of being porky but let us put it like this: Mr Cameron has a pudgy pair of love handles developing. Mr Moobs! It may have to be a Christmas without mince pies in the Cameron household." - Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail ToryDiary: Eric Pickles announces new £500m growth fund for Local Enterprise Partnerships MPsETC: Eurosceptic Tory MPs grill Cameron following G20 statement WATCH: Theresa May says there is no question of her resigning over Borders Agency scandal Andrew Lilico on Comment: Germany is not responsible for the debts of other countries. Why should it have to pay them off? LeftWatch: Labour's five-point economic plan would add over £20billion to the deficit
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
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Posted by Britannia Radio at 19:26