Watch: Attempted citizens arrest on Blair
At Tony Blair’s book signing in Dublin, one demonstrator, Katie O’Sullivan, managed to get past security and attempted a Citizen’s Arrest on Blair before five of his team took her away quickly.
Here she describes what happened
via Guy Aitchison
Coulson-gate explodes as more revelations tumble out
Both the Observer and Independent on Sunday today lead with Coulson-gate, though less attention is being paid to the part Scotland Yard played in this
Independent
Mandelson targeted in phone-hacking scandal
The Independent on Sunday has learnt that Lord Mandelson’s mobile-phone details and an invoice for research on him were among files seized by police investigating illegal activity by News of the World reporters during the time when Mr Coulson was editor. The former business secretary told a senior colleague that his phone had been “hacked”, and has been in contact with the police.
Is Coulson the most dangerous man in Britain? (As the NoW might say)
In fact, nobody at News International fought to keep Coulson, even if there was a feeling that the quicker he went, the sooner he could be rehabilitated and come back into the fold. On the contrary, he had embarrassed them, and he had to pay the price. He was no happier than were Goodman and Mulcaire – who sued for wrongful dismissal and later signed confidentiality agreements – about carrying the can for something that many red-top journalists regard as an accepted trick of the trade.
continue reading… »
Libdems face local resignations
Nick Clegg is facing a growing grassroots revolt as Liberal Democrat councillors quit the party in protest at the decision to form the Coalition with the Conservatives.
Eight councillors in four areas have already resigned and the party’s high command is braced for more resignations as the full impact of the public spending cuts becomes clearer. Town halls face a severe budget squeeze despite the Government’s pledge to devolve power.
The rebellion suggests that Mr Clegg could face a rough ride when his party holds its annual conference in Liverpool in two weeks. Four councillors in Halton, Cheshire, who have quit the party and now sit as independents, said the Liberal Democrats had become “nodding dogs for the Tories”. One of them, Peter Blackmore, said he “can’t look people in the eye” because of the spending cuts.
In Liverpool, Councillor Ian Jobling has defected to Labour, accusing the Liberal Democrats of “double standards and hypocrisy”. He said: “Our manifesto in May clearly stated that there would be no cuts before 2011-12 because it would cost jobs.”
Why is it easier to cut services for students than elderly?
contribution by Laurie Penny and Ben Little
In recent weeks, the conservative right has begun to annex the anger that today’s harassed young people are feeling towards the unprecedented privilege of the baby boomer generation.
George Osborne claims that ‘intergenerational fairness’ is a key plank in his rationale for the budget, while Nick Clegg’s argument that it is “morally wrong” to pass debt from one generation to another is a cleverly constrained excuse for his party’s conversion to a narrative of economic cuts.
Simply slashing the state, however, will not solve the problems of what Shiv Malik and Ed Howker call the ‘jilted generation’.
continue reading… »
Shock poll: voters reject ‘New Labour’ policies
Tony Blair’s claim that his party was defeated at the polls because it ignored his concerns about “departing a millimetre from New Labour” has been undermined by new polling evidence showing that this stance is rejected by a clear majority of uncommitted voters.
A survey for YouGov found that 72% of undecided voters said they would be less likely to vote Labour at the next election if the new leader adopts the New Labour philosophy advocated by the former prime minister this week as he was promoting his memoirs.
The poll was commissioned by Ed Miliband, and tonight he welcomed the findings, which also suggest that his policies on the 50p rate of tax, on Iraq and on tuition fees are more likely to attract voters to the party at the next election than the position on these issues adopted by the favourite to win the leadership contest, his brother David.
…
In a poll of nearly 3,000 adults carried out this week, YouGov asked respondents if they would be more or less likely to vote Labour at the next election if the new leader were to pledge to “not move a millimetre from the New Labour approach followed by Tony Blair”.
Nine per cent of respondents said that this approach would make them more likely to vote Labour, 23% said it would make them less likely to vote Labour and the rest said it would make no difference – either because they definitely would or would not vote Labour anyway, or because they did not know.
Sun admits mistake on ‘EU banned dozen eggs’
The Press Complaints Commission today published this judgement regarding the Sun newspaper.
Ray Merrell complained to the Press Complaints Commission that the newspaper had published an article about the European Union’s plans to sell all food by weight which was misleadingly headlined “Euro ban on eggs by dozen”.
The complainant pointed out that it was not the case that British shoppers would no longer be able to by a box of six eggs or a dozen rolls: merely that the items will be priced by weight. He was concerned that the article – which appeared on page ten of the newspaper and online – represented an attempt to stir up anti-EU feeling among readers.
The Sun was then forced to publish this today:
Eggs by a dozen are safe
Brussels has vowed it has no plans to ban Brits buying eggs by the dozen. Controversy erupted in July following reports that the EU wanted food to be only sold by weight. Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman pledged to fight the plans. And the Food Standards Authority watchdog also voiced concern.But the European Parliament has insisted it never intended to stop people buying eggs or bread rolls by the dozen. A spokesman said: “Selling eggs by the dozen will not be illegal under the terms of the amendments adopted by the European Parliament to EU food labelling proposals. “Labels will still be able to indicate the number of food items in a pack, whether of eggs, bread rolls or fish fingers.”
The above appeared on page four of the newspaper.
hat-tip Minority Thought blog
What would the Met get for not pursuing NotW phone-hacking?
contribution by Five Chinese Crackers
Perhaps the most disturbing revelation in the New York Times Story, as Tom watson says in this post at Jack of Kent, is this:
The New York Times also suggests, for the first time, direct police collusion with a commercial media organisation, an unnamed senior investigator alleging that a Scotland Yard press officer stressed the department’s “long-term relationship with News International”.
A Scotland Yard press officer allegedly urging the police to go easy on the News of the World because of an alleged “long-term relationship with News International”? Whatever could he have meant?
continue reading… »
What the Hague ‘scandal’ says about gay rights
Look away now if you have an unduly salacious imagination, but I confess to sharing a hotel bedroom with Newsnight economics editor Paul Mason. Yeah, I know, girls. Dishy, isn’t he?
This, you understand, was simply to save the National Union of Journalists a bob or two on conference expenses. It does not imply that we are anything other than red-blooded meat-eating full-on skirt-chasing 100% heterosexual coureurs des dames. Or I am, anyway. Can’t speak for Paul.
The saddest thing surrounding the kerfuffle over William Hague and his special advisor Christopher Myers is that most reasonable people get over any hang-ups about homosexuality by the time they are actively involved in the mating game, whichever team they bat for.
The EDL in Bradford: ‘a threat to fashion’
The latest video from the excellent people at Don’t Panic magazine.
How Connexions has been cut across the country: a spreadsheet of info
I’ve published a comprehensive database of cuts announced so far to the Connexions youth service.
Connexions provides universal information, advice and guidance to young people, and works with young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) to help them back into education or work. The service is funded by local authorities with a grant from central government
But after the coalition government cut this grant by 24 percent in June, applied to this financial year (‘in-year’), councils across England have announced cutbacks to local Connexions services.
continue reading… »
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» The real agenda behind Telegraph’s abortion investigation
» How Scotland Yard monitors prying bloggers and journalists
» When disabled people want to work – employers can hold the back
» Revealed: the reality behind Workfare and why it doesn’t work
» Job snob? No, I’ve got the T-shirt
» Why country-by-country reporting matters to our wellbeing
» If Unions want to become stronger, they need to modernise
» Why work “reforms” in Spain are a warning for workers across Europe
» Five things you need to know about the NHS bill
» Bigger. Fatter. Gypsier. More Racist.
» Laziness levels in Britain getting lazier, wails government
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