Watch: tributes from Jimmy Reid’s funeral
Comedian Billy Connolly and football manager Alex Ferguson were among those sharing memories of former Scottish union leader Jimmy Reid at his funeral yesterday afternoon.
Mr Reid, who died last week, attracted international attention for leading the “work-in” of thousands of shipbuilders in the early 1970s, eventually quashing the then-Conservative government’s attempts to close the yards.
Watch video extracts below.
From the funeral via Channel 4.
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A report by Sky News with some background.
But what about their other controversial appointments?
ConservativeHome reports the CCHQ announcement that controversial former tax exile David Rowland will not now take up the post of Tory party Treasurer.
Rowland now intends to spend more time with his business interests but the right-of-centre blog gives credit where it is due to a highly energetic Daily Mail campaign in derailing Rowland’s hopes of succeeding Michael Ashcroft, the Lord of the blogosphere, in the formal role as Tory treasurer and perhaps as chief source of public controversy over the party’s tax ethics too.
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Coalition’s cock-ups show why they’re losing popularity
contribution by Andy Slaughter MP
I was given two insights this week into why the Coalition’s honeymoon may have come to a premature end after 100 days.
Nick Clegg came to my constituency to preach the virtues of social mobility, but chose as his platform a Project for deprived children which his Coalition partners are evicting and whose grant they are taking away.
Clegg’s cock up was reported as exactly that – a gaffe.
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At least Tony Blair’s book title makes sense
Tony Blair’s forthcoming memoirs have already been getting some attention.
Obviously, I’m not important enough to have not read them in advance. But nor will I be reading them when they are published. And it’s not just because, as Dave Osler notes, they will contain nothing new (except, perhaps, new lies).
It’s because the title of the book tells us everything we need to know already.
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Watch: Govt urged to scrap control orders
Catholic charity fails appeal on gay adoption
A Roman Catholic adoption charity’s appeal to be allowed to discriminate against gay people wanting it to place children with them has been rejected.
Catholic Care wants exemption from new anti-discrimination laws so it can comply with Church teaching ruling out homosexual couples as adoptive parents.
The Charity Commission said gay people were suitable parents and religious views did not justify discrimination. The Leeds-based charity said it was “very disappointed” and might appeal.
Catholic Care – which had been placing children with adoptive parents for more than 100 years – was among a dozen Catholic agencies in England and Wales forced to change their policy towards homosexual people by the new equality laws.
An open letter to Cameron, from an audience member he ignored
Last week David Cameron attended a ‘PM Direct’ Q&A in Manchester. Ellie O’Hagan, in the audience, got to ask a question and mentioned a friend who had “a crush” on Cameron. But she also asked a serious question of Cameron which he ignored. She was subsequently misquoted in the press and ended up trying to correct online versions.
She has now written a letter to David Cameron. Here, we publish excerpts from the letter (linked at the end) by Ellie. It is an excellent piece of work.
Dear Prime Minister,
Thank you for visiting the North West on Tuesday, 10 August 2010 and taking time to listen to the concerns of the local electorate. You may remember me as the person who mentioned her parents and her friend who has a crush on you (for which I have had to apologise profusely since).
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Gove’s unpopularity: Tory schools in trouble
Schools policy has emerged as a potential weakness for the coalition, according to a Guardian/ICM poll. As A-level results push the education debate centre stage, the survey reveals that 42% of voters think the government is doing a bad job in reforming schools, against 23% who believe it is doing a good job.
That 19-point deficit stands in unflattering contrast to the generally positive esteem in which the coalition is held. As the Guardian reported, the coalition enjoys an overall approval rating of +10 points in running the country, with the public also inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt on the economy.
But education is one of the few areas where the cuts are already being felt, and education secretary Michael Gove’s protracted difficulties over his axing of Labour’s schools rebuilding programme forms the background to the ICM survey.
The coalition is planning free schools which, Gove believes, will create a new generation of “independent state schools” led by dedicated groups of parents and teachers. But the free school agenda is divisive among Liberal Democrats.
Why the NHS £65bn PFI cost may be a good deal
contribution by ‘Alien from zog’
The BBC ran a front-page article this week on the £65bn cost of PFI to the NHS. Based on a FOI request, the BBC has calculated that £11.2bn of assets (new hospitals) will cost the NHS a total of £65bn of the next 30-40 years.
PFI (Private finance initiative) was, and remains one of the most controversial New Labour policies. There is no doubt that a huge amount was achieved in terms of new schools and hospitals.
However there is a question as to whether the price was too high – essentially are private companies profiting at the tax-payers expense? At first glance, this article seems to pretty good evidence for that argument. However, delving more deeply reveals that it is nowhere near that simple.
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Labour’s hypocrisy on electoral reform continues
There is nothing worse in politics than listening to the continuing hypocrisy of the political parties. By far the biggest turn off to the whole process for me personally, perhaps only matched in the general public by the lack of choice or apparent influence over their politicians.
It’s ironic the amount of bashing the Lib Dems have to go through about “propping up” the Tories, by a Labour party that are doing just that on the single greatest barrier to public participation in politics – the General Election.
Labour should look in the mirror when they’re taking their opportunistic and “opposition for the sake of it” counter-gerrymandering and I hope they feel ashamed.
continue reading… »
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