Another big setback for the global warming deniers
contribution by Tim Fenton
Yesterday also has brought news that an independent review of his finances has cleared Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of financial wrongdoing.
The review, undertaken by KPMG, has concluded that Pachauri, who has been accused of abusing his position as head of the IPCC, has been scrupulously honest and has not been making the millions of pounds that had been suggested. He does not even get a salary as head of the IPCC.
There need not, of course, have been any need for the review, had the Maily Telegraph bothered to fact check the article they published back on December 20 last year, by Richard North and (yes, it’s him again) Christopher Booker, who made the initial allegations.
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Figures show markets don’t reward big cuts
Paul Krugman at the New York Times made a very astute observation yesterday.
He pointed out how the fortunes of Irish and Spanish economies show that immediate, deep cuts doesn’t necessarily bring market confidence.
A couple of months back I asked, does fiscal austerity actually reassure markets? I noted there the curious case of Ireland, which embraced savage austerity early on; quite a few press reports declared that this had gained it the confidence of markets, but the actual numbers said otherwise.
And I noted the contrast with Spain, which has been relatively slow and reluctant to embrace austerity, but has been treated no worse by investors.
Look at the contrast between the two economies.
He adds:
Now, this isn’t a clean experiment: Ireland had an even bigger bubble than Spain did, so you could say that’s the issue. But since austerians were claiming bond market approval as a sign of its policy success, it is worth pointing out that dutiful Ireland looks as if it’s entering a runaway debt spiral, while malingering Spain is looking considerably better.
Indeed.
Why Nick Clegg’s attempts to redefine ‘fairness’ don’t stack up
Yesterday’s FT featured an opinion piece from Nick Clegg, where he set out his refutation of the IFS’s analysis.
The Deputy Prime Minister is now arguing that fairness is about more than a ‘purely numerical’ view, and that income distribution only tells part of the fairness story.
But, as with previous attempts, this argument does not stack up.
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Ed Balls slams Coalition with alternative approach to cuts
In a keynote speech today (Friday) Ed Balls will say Labour needs to urgently make the case for a credible economic alternative to the coalition’s “deflationary cuts” which risk a double-dip recession.
In his speech – which is being held at Bloomberg, where ten days ago George Osborne accused Labour of being ‘deficit deniers’ – Ed Balls will accuse David Cameron and George Osborne of being “growth deniers”.
He will say that Labour must challenge the current consensus that there is no alternative. It is a strong speech – and exactly the narrative we need to be hearing from Labour.
Sanity, liberalism and hypocrisy. And MORE BOOZE!
Much of the most interesting work that I’ve done has been paid for by the drinks industry. So I’m about as impartial on this article as Mao Zedong on ‘whether or not Chinese-style communism was a good idea’.
Nonetheless, the often-missed point about the drinks industry, is that we’re an interesting, jolly, fun and indispensable part of society. A wedding without some champers, or a night out with the boys without a few beers would be shit.
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Dirty tricks against Yes2AV campaign begin!
Mark Pack at LibdemVoice notes something interesting today: The yes2AV.org domain name has been bought by one Matthew Elliott.
Elliott is of course the former head of the TaxPayers’ Alliance and now running the ‘No2AV’ campaign.
So what exactly was their motivation?
The online campaign will obviously be an important aspect of this referendum, so Matthew naturally bought several website addresses, using his personal credit card, to reach different audiences. Matthew bought the domain names before he accepted the invitation to become Campaign Director and therefore used his colleague Andy as the technical contact.
Sadly not all the No2AV sites were available, so we look forward to seeing what appears on the others as the campaign unfolds.
Isn’t that nice? It’s only yesterday Matthew Elliott told the BBC:
We will be fighting our campaign in the spirit of open and honest debate, because we want to see more referendums in the future. I am pleased to hear the No campaign are looking to do similar.
Is that what they call an open and honest debate?
We’re looking at whether this breaks any rules or whether it’s simply a straight-forward case of domain-squatting.
Fox rejects ad referring to Murdoch’s $1m gift
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, the parent company for Fox News, recently made a $1 million contribution to the Republican Governors Association, a partisan group planning to help Republican campaigns.
Facing criticism, News Corp. responded by citing their support for the RGA’s “pro-business agenda”.
Progressive media watchdog group Media Matters responded by creating an ad critical of the donation, and requested airtime during The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News to broadcast the spot.
But according to HuffPo – they rejected the ad for spurious reasons.
None of the UK-owned News International media outlets reported on the donation either.
How your money is destroying our environment through RBS
The camp for climate action came to Scotland this week.
To those wondering why so many people are angry with this bank, the answer is pretty simple: when it comes to climate change, RBS make it happen – and they do it with taxpayers’ bail-out money.
RBS is Europe’s biggest financer of the fossil fuel extraction driving climate change. According to a report last year by banking expert Nick Silver, the bank is financing projects and companies which deliver 3% of carbon emissions worldwide: more than the whole UK economy.
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Another EU outrage: Cornish pasty scandal
Martin Beckford at the Telegraph reported this week:
The European Commission is drawing up guidelines on the permitted ingredients of the traditional West Country lunch, so that it can be given the same protected status as other regional specialties such as Melton Mowbray pork pies.
Officials have decreed that only minced or diced beef, sliced potato, onion and swede are allowed to fill the pastry.
ZOMG, those bastards from the EU! It’s an outrage etc etc.
Bizarrely, the Cornish Pasty Association doesn’t seem to agree:
Following some press coverage over the past few days, the Cornish Pasty Association can confirm that the European Commission (EC) does not dictate ingredients or names of ingredients for products seeking EU protected status.
…
Larry File, Chairman of the Cornish Pasty Association, commented: “We have been working to get protected status for the Cornish pasties for eight years now…. It is in our best interest, for our food heritage and local economies, to safeguard our quality produce. We should encourage more producers to protect their foods and the EC plays an important role in giving the final seal of approval.”
A joint letter from the European Commission and Cornish Pasty Association to the Telegraph called it “amusing but inaccurate”.
Hah! Those sneaky people at the EC; I bet they quickly changed their minds once the mighty Telegraph got outraged. That showed them!
Just wait until the Daily Mail hears of this…
[hat-tip Tabloid Watch]
The contradiction at the heart of David Miliband’s campaign
Jonathan Cox, one of the organisers of David Miliband’s “Movement for Change”, argued yesterday:
To build a movement you have to put the development of people before policies. So the answer to the rejuvenation of the Labour Party’s grassroots is not to adopt other organisations’ campaigns and turn them into Labour campaigns, but to invest in the development of our members and harness their desire to tackle local issues.
This is an attempt to resolve the dilemma at the heart of David Miliband’s campaign.
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