MPs face a form-filling challenge
I feel really sorry for Jacqui Smith and her husband, and indeed for all MPs at this time of year. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the situation with MPs’ expenses seems to work like this: Members of Parliament fill in long and complicated forms, and then a panel of journalists choose a few of them and publicly humiliate them on the grounds that they filled in their forms incorrectly in a sufficiently entertaining way.
For these purposes, the rules about what is judged to be the correct way to fill in the form change randomly all the time.
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Top Stories And Blog Review- 31st March
Nationwide
Brown: stop cash for MPs’ second homes
UK troops begin Iraqi withdrawal
Poll: Brown should focus on domestic problems
iPhone brings Skype to UK’s mobile masses
International
Why the Democrats Can’t Govern
Afghan women’s rights hit by new law
Sarkozy and Merkel shape European unity
Rampage in Pakistan shows reach of militants
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Sarah Ismail
Andy Worthington Publishes Moazzam Begg’s recent interview with Binyam Mohammed.
Bartholomew’s Notes Obama Seeks Muslims For White House Posts.
Bleeding Heart Show On Prison Reform
Chicken Yoghurt Thinks Iain Dale’s taken over the media!
Gary Younge/CIF The Mythical Muslim.
Indigo Jo Car crime is a priority over rape. What are the police thinking?
Natalie Bennett A book that explains an important part of Herstory.
And finally…Victoria Brignell on her penfriend… the only person she knows who doesn’t know she’s DisAbled. Or you can flick through previous Netcasts
Statement by Afghan civil society groups at the Hague conference
The following statement was presented today by a group of Afghan civil society organisations at the international conference in the Hague today. Your help in circulating it would be appreciated:
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The Trouble With Boris
In 1990, Boris Johnson received an infamous phone call from his friend from Eton and Oxford, Darius Guppy. Dispatches has acquired a recording of the conversation, which until now has never been broadcast. It is a recording that suggests Boris was not only willing to break the rules – but even to break the law.
continue reading… »
Top Stories – 31st March
Nationwide
Brown: stop cash for MPs’ second homes
UK troops begin Iraqi withdrawal
Poll: Brown should focus on domestic problems
iPhone brings Skype to UK’s mobile masses
International
Why the Democrats Can’t Govern
Afghan women’s rights hit by new law
Sarkozy and Merkel shape European unity
Rampage in Pakistan shows reach of militants
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / coming later
Eric Pickles in car-crash TV
His infamous performance on Question Time this week hits YouTube, (via Libdemvoice)
Curiously, Tory blogger Iain Dale avoids any mention at all.
Update: But one Tory says: ‘put him under house arrest’!
Top Stories and Blog Review Monday 30th March
Nationwide
Brown accused over green spending
Is London having an anxiety attack?
Cut in maternity leave so fathers get time
Council told to switch off CCTV network
International
‘French Eminem’ misogyny prompts outrage
Merkel ready to greet, and resist, Obama
Vast spy system loots computers in 103 countries
Judge OKs torture probe against Bush official
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Jennie Rigg
Think you’ve spotted a blog we should be linking to? Email
and let us know!
Steve Webb MP details how he spends his expenses.
The Award-winning Alix Mortimer details exactly why we should care about Jacqui Smith’s husband’s porn habit.
Anton Vowl has a forensic dissection of the lies about people not being allowed to celebrate St George’s Day because of politicalcorrectnessgawnMAAAAAAAAAAAAD.
Ekklesia is a bit annoyed with the BNP asking WWJD?
Hagley Road to Ladywood has noticed a stunning little bit of tabloid hypocrisy.
Ampersand (a bloke) writes in defence of male-bashing (although he doesn’t like the term).
And finally, Reza Ghadiri-Zare will reveal an embarrassing story about himself for every £100 of sponsorship he recieves for the London Marathon. There’s only a tenner to go to the next one at time of typing, and the last one was a belter. Or if you are feeling skint, you can browse through previous Netcasts
Evan Harris should demand a British republic
At the apex of the highly developed and still largely unassailable British class system – the social networks that centre on the landed aristocracy, the county set, the upper layers of the Church of England, the Bar, and the City, and officers serving in ‘good regiments’ – stands the royal family.
That must make Evan Harris’s private members’ bill, seeking to amend the Act of Settlement 1701, ever so slightly subversive. The consistently radical Lib Dem MP is seeking to end restrictions on those in line to the throne marrying Catholics, and to institute equal succession rights for royal daughters.
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Exclusive: Policy Exchange forced to apologise; takes report off website
The right-wing thinktank Policy Exchange has been forced into a humiliating climbdown over its report, ‘The Hijacking of British Islam’, for making allegations in the report that it now admits were unsubstantiated.
continue reading… »
Top Stories – 30th March
Nationwide
Brown accused over green spending
Is London having an anxiety attack?
Cut in maternity leave so fathers get time
Council told to switch off CCTV network
International
‘French Eminem’ misogyny prompts outrage
Merkel ready to greet, and resist, Obama
Vast spy system loots computers in 103 countries
Judge OKs torture complaint against Bush ppl
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / coming later
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» Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote
» Would raising the tax threshold actually help the poorest?
» To win London, Ken Livingstone has to step outside his comfort zone
» This trade agreement with India will destroy thousands of lives
» UK debt hasn’t hit £1 trillion – mostly because of QE
» The benefits of being a “burden” on society
» Today’s economic figures will simply confirm UK’s “lost decade”
» Have Labour realised the election is more than three years away?
» Violence in the office
» Want a more responsible capitalism? Reform how pensions work
» The world is entering the third phase of the crisis, warns ILO
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