They want lower taxes but love free museums!
The TaxPayers Alliance are hosting the annual ‘European Resource Bank’ conference today – essentially a gathering of radical right-wing lobby groups and think-tanks from the UK and USA.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance has the privilege of hosting the seventh annual European Resource Bank meeting from 8-10th September. The name comes from the notion of building a ‘bank’ of human capital by creating and renewing the ties between academics, free marketeers, think tanks, campaign groups and taxpayer groups from across Europe, the United States and the rest of the world.
We kick off the conference on Wednesday evening with a champagne reception at a fantastic penthouse apartment overlooking central London.
A champagne reception at a penthouse suite? Clearly the cuts aren’t affecting the groups claiming to represent… er, ordinary taxpayers.
The event is also reported in the Guardian today:
The event, the largest of its kind in Europe, is heavily sponsored by US lobby groups that have backed the Tea Party grouping as its challenges moderate Republican party candidates in congressional elections.
Critics of the event said it established a clear link between British rightwing groups and aggressive American lobbyists who pursued low taxes, loose regulation and widespread privatisation of public services.
The event is being sponsored by the Cato Institute and Americans for Prosperity Foundation, amongst others.
As the New Yorker detailed a few weeks ago, both organisations have been funded heavily by the billionaire Koch brothers.
Nice money if you can get it. The same Koch brothers also, from 2005 to 2008, “vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups.”
You’d think these people would be very much against government subsidies then.
But what’s this on their ‘local info’ page?
Many museums in the UK are free to visit – these are marked where applicable.
No mention of why these museums are free to visit then? Thought these bunch of radical libertarians would be eschewing such blatant government subsidies…
[hat-tip Clifford Singer]
Double-standards on police convictions
What does the case of Sergeant Mark Andrews and Pamela Somerville tell us about the ingredients needed for successful prosecutions against police officers?
Firstly, it seems, that the officer has do to something seemingly so out of proportion to the situation he faces, such as dragging along and then hurling a completely defenceless woman to a concrete floor, that it forces a less senior colleague to make clear her concerns.
Second, that for the best possible chance of a conviction, it needs to be the police’s own cameras which record what happened, rather than a member of the public’s, or outside CCTV.
continue reading… »
Tales from A Journey
Well it looks like the media’s interest in Blair’s A Journey is finally winding down.
Journalists took a predictable tack on the memoirs: some defended Blair’s achievements, some pondered the issue of war crimes, and others took a salacious interest in the Brown vs. Blair revelations. But there was another side to the memoirs that caught my eye; a side that was barely reported at all, save a few fleeting allusions.
That side is best summed up by the Guardian’s Julian Glover, who casually observed, “There are at least three gushing sexual passages, more Mills and Boon than prime ministerial memoir.”
I’m sorry, what? Cherie is on the what, now?
continue reading… »
Putting the Con in Connaught
So Connaught plc, the public sector outsourcing and social housing specialist looks like it is headed for administration, and 10,000 jobs of real people doing real things are now at risk.
And why’s Connaught in so much trouble?
Because the Directors’ accounting practices meant that contract losses now being uncovered were hidden, while those same directors took millions home in bonuses.
continue reading… »
Poll: Libdems lose 25% of their supporters
More than one in five people who voted Liberal Democrat at the May general election say they would now vote Labour, according to a survey for The Independent.
The ComRes poll released yesterday shows that Nick Clegg’s party has lost the support of almost four in 10 of the people who backed the party in May.
Only 62% of them would vote for the party in another election today.
The proportion of Liberal Democrat voters who say they would now vote Labour has risen from 15% to 22% since last month. A further 7% would switch to the Tories.
However, the Liberal Democrats appear to have halted the slide in its ratings since May, when it won 23 per cent of the votes. According to ComRes, Mr Clegg’s party is now on 18 per cent, up two points on last month’s ratings. The Tories, on 38 per cent, are down one point while Labour, on 34 per cent, is up one point since last month.
Is this how D-Miliband supporters will unite Labour: by swift-boating Ed?
After a long string of ‘Ed Miliband is just going for the core vote’ whisperings against him, the big hitters came out. There was Alan Johnson, there was Jack Straw, Peter Mandelson and then Tony Blair.
And now it’s David Blunkett’s turn today:
In an interview with the Guardian Blunkett also criticised the 2010 Labour election manifesto for which Miliband junior had responsibility, saying it looked as if it had been written on Sunday morning and was “deeply uninspiring … it is a bit rich for those that were in what they amusingly call the Brown bunker to claim it was nothing to do with them, and it would be nice if we suddenly became radicals”.
Secret Memo: Met wanted to please NotW
The Home Office abandoned plans to establish an independent inquiry into the News of the World phone-hacking scandal last year after a senior official warned that the Metropolitan police would “deeply resent” any interference in their investigation, according to a leaked government document.
…
Stephen Rimmer, the Home Office director general for crime and policing, warned that Scotland Yard would “deeply resent” a review of its investigation by the inspectorate and that it would send a message that “we do not have full confidence” in the Met.
…
• John Yates, the senior Met officer in charge of investigating the scandal, said he was prepared to interview Sean Hoare, a former News of the World journalist who told the New York Times that Coulson knew about the hacking. Coulson, who denies the allegation, said he would be happy to talk to the police.
• Alan Johnson questioned the conduct of Scotland Yard after senior officers told him last year that every individual whose phone may have been hacked into would be informed. The former home secretary spoke out after his former government colleague, Chris Bryant, said that police took no action when it became apparent his phone might have been targeted.
Vote reform bill passes Commons
MPs have voted for the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill by 328 votes to 269.
That means a referendum on AV will take place next year.
Conservatives and Libdems mostly voted for the bill, Labour mostly against (due to opposition to equalising constituency sizes).
More soon.
Update: BBC reports:
But there are still parliamentary hurdles ahead in the Commons and the House of Lords and some Tory MPs suggested they may rebel if changes were not made at later stages of the bill’s passage through Parliament.
The bill must be approved within months if the referendum is to go ahead on the planned date of 5 May 2011.
Why does the BBC tolerate anti-Scottish bigotry?
contribution by Mike Small
When is a media row not a media row? When the media doesn’t report it. This week has been rightly dominated by ‘Metgate’ and Andy Coulson.
But another media controversy tells a different story about British culture and acceptable public behaviour. Rod Liddle has entered the fray with a bizarre outburst that must surely be referred to the Press Complaints Commission. But let’s ignore Liddle for the moment.
The row centres about comments made by Baroness Ruth Deech and Douglas Murray on Radio 4s Any Questions programme (20 August).
continue reading… »
BBC responds to Coulson-gate criticisms
Two Liberal Conspiracy readers have written in to say that the BBC has responded to their complaints that the corporation did not cover Coulsongate / Metgate quickly enough.
The responses were to Tam Chandler and Alex Andrews, and both received the same response. Here it is:
Thank you for your feedback.
We appreciate some viewers and listeners feel we haven’t sufficiently reported on allegations levelled at the Conservative Party’s Director of Communications Andy Coulson, surrounding supposed involvement with phone hacking during his tenure at the News of the World.
The story first emerged on the New York Times website as a pre-publication to a story in its Sunday Magazine – published on Sunday 5 September. At the time they were quoting anonymous sources and the BBC could independently substantiate the claims made with its own journalism. After doing our own research as well as a BBC interview with the former News of the World Reporter Sean Hoare we ran with the story on Friday 3 September. That day it led our TV bulletins at Six and Ten as well as our radio bulletin at Six pm. It also featured prominently on the BBC news website. The New York Times then ran the full story on Sunday 5 September.
Our handling of this story was in line with our working practices of double checking sources and accuracy of any story before we broadcast it. Impartiality is one of the cornerstones of BBC News and we reject any suggestions that we did not cover the story for political reasons.
We have fully covered the progression of this story. Last year we extensively reported on Mr Coulson’s appearance at the Commons Culture, Media and Sport committee. This event was covered across our television and radio news bulletins, in flagship programmes such as ‘Newsnight’ and ‘Today’ and also online at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8161642.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8160433.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2009/07/cameron_aide_emerges.html
It must be noted we have accordingly reported on more recent developments surrounding this matter. Aside from the coverage previously mentioned, ‘Today’ spoke to Lord Prescott on 3 September; the story was covered in detail on the BBC News Channel on this day and also featured online at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11175076
We’ill continue to follow this story as it develops and cover its many aspects in a clear, fair and balanced manner.
We appreciate the strength of your views regarding this matter, please be assured we have registered your comments on our daily audience log.. This is the internal report of audience feedback which we compile daily for all programme makers and commissioning executives within the BBC, and also their senior management. It ensures that your points, and all other comments we receive, are circulated and considered across the BBC.
Thanks again for getting in touch.
Kind Regards
BBC Audience Services
If anyone received anything different please let us know. And well done to everyone who complained to the BBC.
Update: Meanwhile, here is the political editor of the Spectator: “The BBC is not ready for the full-on confrontation with the government that would come from giving this story the same prominence tomorrow as it has today”
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