Spoof FT, and marches this week
According to the Guardian today, “Anti-capitalism campaigners have published a spoof edition of the Financial Times today as the prime minister, Gordon Brown, prepares to host next week’s G20 summit in London.”
See their website too. The Put People First march takes place tomorrow. On Wednesday there will be the anti-G20 marches. I’ll be at both, reporting and slagging off bankers.
Why doesn’t the Mail understand the Constitution?
I know the Daily Mail is very proud of our constitution but – once again – that doesn’t necessarily seem to guarantee any particular knowledge of the content of it. At the risk of this becoming habit-forming, I have sent another letter to the editor.
—
Steve Doughty offered a flawed analysis (page 2, 27th March 2009) of sensible reforms to the Royal succession laws which have support in principle from all three major parties.
Firstly, there is no serious proposal to repeal the Act of Settlement, but rather to reform it. Evan Harris MP (LibDem) has brought forward the current Bill. Lord Dubs (Labour) proposed similar reforms, recommended by the Fabian Monarchy Commission report. Doughty claims this is a “left-wing” campaign, so why on earth did Jeffrey Archer promote a Lords bill to reform male primogeniture in 1998? There is nothing in these changes which ought to be an issue of party political controversy.
Secondly, the idea that ending the rule against heirs marrying Catholics would threaten the establishment of the Church is another red herring. There is currently no bar to an heir marrying a Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, agnostic or atheist. Removing the specific anti-Catholic discrimination has no effect on Establishment.
Thirdly, the idea that ending male primogeniture would threaten the Monarchy is bizarre and suggests a lack of confidence in it. Sensible monarchists would support reform now (while the heir and his two sons are male). There would be a considerable and damaging public outcry, in the event that Prince William were to marry and have a daughter before a son, at the line of succession putting the second-born son ahead of his elder sister.
Changing the law retrospectively (as was done in Sweden) would be more controversial, once individuals at the head of the line of succession were directly affected. Presumably no Monarchist would dream of insulting the Queen by suggesting that women can not do as good a job as men on the throne?
Sunder Katwala
General Secretary
Fabian Society
These bankers just don’t get it
Wednesday morning I attended the Liberal Democrat treasury team meeting in my capacity as a parliamentary researcher. Paying a visit were some representatives from the banking sector, who were there to give high-profile members of the Liberal Democrats – the party currently at the forefront of attempts to close down tax havens, or secrecy jurisdictions as they are better termed – a bank’s eye view.
In the course of discussions, the issue of Tesco avoiding/evading £billions in stamp duty arose.
continue reading… »
Top Stories – 27th March
Nationwide
Thousands to march for jobs on Saturday
Royal succession rules may be reformed
Met facing crisis after rape failures
UK teens among heaviest drinkers in EU
International
Pope ‘distorting condom science’
How the West lost its way in the East
Obama won’t back down
‘You have dishonoured family, please kill yourself’
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Douglas Johnson
Pickwick’s Papers - on a crisis in journalism.
Rupert’s Read - Is turning rainforests into charcoal to save the planet really evidence of a logical though process?
Andy Worthington – Binyam Mohamed was offered a plea bargain to stay silent on torture.
Two Doctors - All this talk about succession is a pointless distraction tactic.
New Direction - puts a case for state intervention for green energy.
StroppyBlog - Rowan Williams continues to talk himself out of a job.
Individuals have rights, not religions
If the framers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were still alive to today, would they be happy with what the U.N. has become? Whilst we can’t ignore or dismiss its enormous humanitarian work and the countless lives saved as a result, what would they have made of UN’s record of defending the very principles which made these good works possible, and which remains the organisation’s one flawless foundation?
After reading the latest news, I suspect their judgement would not be kind. The U.N.’s Human Rights Council has finally approved a long-threatened motion calling on member states to outlaw the ‘defamation’ of religion.
continue reading… »
The financial end is not nigh
The failure yesterday of the DMO’s auction (pdf) of 4.25% 2049 gilts – bids fell 7% short of the £1.75bn offered – has led to some hysteria, such as some of the comments here.
I fear, however, that the truth is rather more mundane.
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Top Stories and Blog Review Thursday 26th March
Nationwide
Energy plan chaos as wind giant backs out
Abortion clinics to advertise on television
Comic artists take on the government
Iraq war inquiry will be held in private
International
Israel accused of phosphorus use in Gaza
India is stealing water of life, says Pakistan
Pentagon: China ‘shifting balance of power’
Glacier melt forces border rethink in Europe
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Neil Robertson
The Refugee Council on the sorry state of Labour’s 8th immigration Bill. Fun fact: this lot have made as many immigration Bills since ’97 as Newcastle United has had managers. Make of that what you will.
BenSix probes the consequences of ‘the surge’ in Iraq.
Dave Semple reminds Pat McFadden that Labour should spend more time telling the country what it’d do with a fourth term, and less time scolding trade unions.
Hopi Sen thinks through the implications of Mervyn King’s intervention in the debate on fiscal policy.
Alex Massie probes the comparisons between Obama & Tony Blair.
At Crooked Timber, Henry asks: what kinds of posts do blog readers leave comments on, and why?
Lesbilicious savages Lesbian Vampire Killers and points out that it’s even worse than you might’ve imagined.
Across the pond, The Nation reports on an LBGT victory in Florida.
And in The New Yorker, Woody Allen describes what happens when Bernie Madoff’s former clients are reincarnated as as lobsters.
Not done yet? You could always browse through previous Netcasts.
Daniel Hannan – the new Tory saviour!
It’s amusing to watch right-wingers get into such a tizzy over Daniel Hannan MEP’s speech at the EU criticising Gordon Brown. Iain Dale is unhappy our media isn’t playing this repeatedly (I expect the BBC will soon, since they give in to rightwingers easily).
Newsflash: Tory MEP disagrees with Labour policies! Stop press! Even Mr Hannan himself breathlessly claims that: “I have been making similar speeches every week and posting them on YouTube for the past seven months.” — Oh. Well, surely it’s still news that the stalwarts of American rightwing-nuttery: the Drudge Report, Rush Limbaugh and Faux-News are hailing him as the new messiah? Well can we have a look at Mr Hannan’s record first?
continue reading… »
Top Stories and Blog Review – 26th March
Nationwide
Energy plan chaos as wind giant backs out
Abortion clinics to advertise on television
Comic artists take on the government
Iraq war inquiry will be held in private
International
Israel accused of phosphorus use in Gaza
India is stealing water of life, says Pakistan
Pentagon: China ‘shifting balance of power’
Glacier melt forces border rethink in Europe
DAILY BLOG REVIEW / coming later
Counter-terrorism, an improved stance
Whenever the government hypes something up, you can almost guarantee that the end result will be less than the sum of its parts. So it is with the latest attempt by the Home Office to get to grips with something approaching an anti-terrorism strategy.
While in the past such doom-mongering was regular, both from politicians and police, this latest document mainly eschews scaremongering, as have the politicians promoting it. With the exception of the potentially worse than useless training of up to 60,000 people in how to act should they suddenly find themselves in the middle of a terrorist attack, which in reality amounts to an around 3 hour seminar session for business people, and the emphasis that has been put on the threat of some variety of “dirty” attack being launched increasing, it mostly keeps things in something approaching perspective.
continue reading… »
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