Convention comes to Birmingham
Convention on Modern Liberty, Birmingham Event (with video-links to London speakers)
28th February 2009, 9.30am to 12.45pm
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Call for Prince Andrew inquiry
Republic has this evening called for Prince Andrew’s use of taxpayers’ money to be subjected to a full parliamentary inquiry after a damning Channel 4 documentary.
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Following Ashcroft’s Money
At the risk of giving Sunny another attack of the vapours by poking a stick at the notoriously litigious, the news that the Electoral Commission have finally decided to take a good close look at Lord Ashcroft’s financial affairs is not only long overdue but if, like me, you’ve done a bit of poking around in few sets of relevant accounts, hardlycomes as much of surprise.
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Top Stories and Blog Review Monday 23rd February
Nationwide
Tories urged to suspend Ashcroft donations
Britain tightens curbs on non-EU migrant workers
Brown launches another bank rescue plan
NHS contaminated blood findings due
International
Israel-Hamas arms embargo urged by Amnesty
Clinton sets framework for US-Asia relations
Citigroup holds talks over bigger govt stake
Taliban truce seems in flux in Pakistan
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Jennie Rigg
Lib Dem Voice, among others, has congrats to Nick and Miriam Clegg this morning on the birth of their latest son.
Stephen Glenn, appropriately enough, examines how the government’s plans for parental leave are the a subject of divide in the Labour party.
Andy Worthington, in a sequel to yesterday’s post, discusses Abu Quatada.
Mr Quist does a Ben Goldacre impression, and dissects some dodgy statistics and science reporting.
Anton Vowl points out the misogyny of a popular tabloid media meme.
Martin King pays a visit to the UK’s motor city to see how it is coping with the demise of the motor industry.
Today’s cheerful link: Rob Brydon and Ben Miller snogging on QI (and here is the follow-up tweet).
And there’s more in the Scottish Political Roundup. Also, you can now look back through previous Netcasts
Labour’s response to economic crisis is all wrong
Effectively dealing with the economic crisis is Labour’s last hope for re-election. So it’s rather bizarre that though Brown has recruited apparatchiks obsessed about honing the New Labour message, the response so far has been all over the place.
The polls show people want left-wing economic policies; they have no problems with bank nationalisations; they don’t trust the Tories on dealing with the crisis; and they gave Brown a chance once the economy nose-dived.
But the response has been all over the place. People aren’t obsessed about bank bonuses as much as they are about jobs. Jobs. They want to hear you talk about what will create jobs, New Labour, not what you’re doing about bank bonuses. And yet Brown keeps talking about banks.
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Top Stories – 23rd February
Nationwide
Tories urged to suspend Ashcroft donations
Britain tightens curbs on non-EU migrant workers
Brown launches another bank rescue plan
NHS contaminated blood findings due
International
Israel-Hamas arms embargo urged by Amnesty
Clinton sets framework for US-Asia relations
Citigroup holds talks over bigger govt stake
Taliban truce seems in flux in Pakistan
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / coming later
Public want banks nationalised
Government moves to completely nationalise banks already under partial state control would be supported by the British public, a politics.co.uk poll suggests.
Sixty-five per cent of respondents believed the best way forward for bailed out banks is the action shareholders and bankers fear most – full nationalisation.
But despite such popular support, few industry experts recommend shifting privately owned banks wholesale into the public sector – with all of the added debt that would entail for the taxpayer.
…
If the public misunderstand the finer points of nationalisation, they are certain in their desire for change. Only 15 per cent thought keeping banks as they are was the best course of action.
Blunkett warns of ‘Big Brother’ Britain
David Blunkett, who introduced the idea of identity cards when Home Secretary, will issue a stark warning to the Government tomorrow that it is in danger of abusing its power by taking Britain towards a “Big Brother” state.
At the 21st annual law lecture in Essex University’s Colchester campus, Mr Blunkett will urge ministers to rethink policy and counter criticism from civil liberties campaigners that Labour is creating a “surveillance society.”
He will come out against the Government’s controversial plan to set up a database holding details of telephone calls and emails and its proposal to allow public bodies to share personal data with each other.
His surprise intervention will be welcomed by campaign groups, who regard him as a hardliner because of his strong backing for a national ID card scheme and tough anti-terror laws. The former home secretary will propose a U-turn on ID cards for British citizens, although he agrees with plans to make them compulsory for foreign nationals.
Time to defend politics – not liberties
Try as I might, I can’t help feeling that this week’s Convention on Modern Liberty addresses far more of the symptoms that our liberal democracy exhibits than the actual diseases that it suffers from. I say this because I’d argue that the biggest threat to individual liberties is not the particular instances of illiberality in themselves by governments, as much as what the late Bernard Crick described as the populist mode of democracy that we are drifting into.
Here’s an example. I would argue that the Conservatives have – this week – promoted perhaps the most reactionary and dangerous set of proposals that any party with a realistic prospect of victory has ever announced in this country.
In their local government proposals, they have adopted the very worst excesses of populism. And by populist, I don’t mean any half-arsed Phillip Gould-type attempt-to-push-the-party-where-focus-groups-tell-them sort of populism.
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Protecting our children’s rights to education
Home Educating families face ongoing and increasing challenges in protecting the right to educate our children without interference from the state.
There have been three Government reviews into Home Education in the last four years.
The most recent is extremely concerning as it alleges links between Home Education to abuse without producing any evidence. Details of the review are here.
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» The real agenda behind Telegraph’s abortion investigation
» How Scotland Yard monitors prying bloggers and journalists
» When disabled people want to work – employers can hold the back
» Revealed: the reality behind Workfare and why it doesn’t work
» Job snob? No, I’ve got the T-shirt
» Why country-by-country reporting matters to our wellbeing
» If Unions want to become stronger, they need to modernise
» Why work “reforms” in Spain are a warning for workers across Europe
» Five things you need to know about the NHS bill
» Bigger. Fatter. Gypsier. More Racist.
» Laziness levels in Britain getting lazier, wails government
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