London media rig poll to boost Boris
The Evening Standard, LBC radio and London Tonight have just commissioned an opinion poll about who Londoners think should be the next Mayor of London.
Normally in voting intention polls, the question about who to vote for is done first, in order to get an accurate indication of who people plan to support, and then followed by questions about specific issues.
Instead, the Evening Standard poll started by asking people about Tube Strikes and Boris Johnson’s proposals to make it harder to strike, then a couple of questions about the Liberal Democrats.
continue reading… »
HMRC: all income should go to state first
The coalition government wants direct access to your bank account. No longer will you be paid by your employer, with them sorting out the tax to collect.
The employer would send the money to the government, and then the government pay you into your bank account!
Who the hell thought of this stupid idea? Bizarrely, no one has said much about this.
via @richardblogger
Lie-detector tests on benefits ‘cheats’ won’t work
The first ever Touchstone pamphlet, The Missing Billions, was about taking the tax gap seriously and increasing government tax revenue is an essential part of the TUC alternative to cuts. So I’m obviously glad to welcome the commitment in Danny Alexander’s speech yesterday to raise £7 billion a year by a crackdown on tax avoidance and evasion.
It’s not just an economic necessity, it’s morally right, and I agreed with his argument:
continue reading… »
Johann Hari at Pope rally: we’re pro-Catholic
The Indy columnist at the rally in London yesterday.
Hari also stridently rebutted charges that the protest was anti-Catholic:
There are people who will tell you that we come here to be anti-Catholic. Well I disagree with the ideas of all religions.
But I can think of nothing more anti-Catholic than what they’re about to do in Hyde Park.
They are about to cheer a man who covered up the rape of thousands of children of Catholics. Is there anyone here who can think of anything more pro-Catholic than what we are doing – trying to bring that man to justice.
Amen to that.
via Political Scrapbook
Libdems prefer Labour deal; are on the left
In advance of the Liberal Democrat’s first party conference in power YouGov surveyed 566 Lib Dem party members.
Here are the headline results
• 58% of Lib Dem members approve of the government’s record, with 23% disapproving. David Cameron’s approval rating is +64, Nick Clegg’s +70 and Simon Hughes’ +51.
• Only 29% of party members fully agree with the government’s policy of cutting spending to reduce government borrowing. 28% would like to see borrowing reduced more gradually, and 35% think the government are right to reduce borrowing quickly, but would rather there were higher taxes and fewer cuts.
• 78% of party members approve of the decision to enter into coalition with the Conservatives. Asked what the party should have done given the circumstances after the 2010 election 50% think a Conservative coalition was the best solution, 22% would have preferred a deal short of a coalition, 19% would have preferred a deal with Labour.
• But in a hypothetical hung Parliament situation where the Liberal Democrats could form a majority government with either party, and both offered equally good deals, 46% of Lib Dem members would prefer a deal with Labour. Only 26% would go with the Conservatives.
• A narrow majority of Lib Dem members (53%) expect the coalition to last the entire length of the Parliament.
• Lib Dem members reject the idea of an election pact with the Conservatives at the next election by 21% to 66%.
• On a left right scale 65% of Liberal Democrat members identify themselves as being left-of-centre, with an average score on a scale of -100 (very left wing) to +100 (very right wing) of -32. Nick Clegg is seen as more centrist, with a score of -7. Deputy leader Simon Hughes is closer to the average of party members, with an average score of -42.
Click here for Liberal Democrat party members results
From a press release
Is Evan Harris the man to lead the left of the Libdems?
Dr Evan Harris has an interesting commentary in Monday’s Guardian, which the newspaper previews in a news report, describing Harris’ intervention as a nuanced ‘gentle criticism’, and running some long quotes from it.
Setting out what “the Lib Dem left want from Nick Clegg”, Evan Harris warned his leader not to get too comfortable. “We must make sure that we are in a position to dock with the Labour party if the parliamentary numbers work and there is relevant policy overlap. Regardless of what a wounded Labour party is saying now,” he said.
“Our leader has done a good job for the party and in government, but he has made one major error. Talk of ‘fair cuts’. Cuts in public spending of the scale needed (or at least envisaged) are never going to be truly fair or progressive … it is fundamentally wrong to claim the cuts will be fair.
Daily Mail: Mr Speaker, control your wife!!
What kind of a man are you Mr Speaker, you can’t even tell your wife to keep her mouth shut?
So says Andrew Pearce in today’s Daily Mail.
What chance is there for this Speaker to succeed in keeping control of errant MPs when he can’t shut up his own daft wife?
Back in my day we had ways to deal with such insubordination… – I’m surprised the sexist dimwit didn’t add that to his rant.
What has society come to that women can say what they want??
Why are Mandelson and the old-guard determined to tear apart Labour?
Peter Mandelson has popped up in the Guardian again this morning, criticising Ed Miliband for producing a “crowd-pleasing Guardianista” election manifesto that “offered nothing to people worried about immigration, housing and welfare scroungers”.
It seems that Lord Mandelson is intent on tearing apart the Labour party to get his man David Miliband into power – even if it means pushing such obvious horseshit.
continue reading… »
NYT hits back at NotW accusations on hacking
The New York Times’ readers editor this weekend hit back at accusations by the News of the World that its story on phone-hacking was politically motivated.
Public Editor Arthur Brisbane said the story was justified because it resulted in two new parliamentary investigations of the matter.
He also quotes the NYT’s editor:
Bill Keller, executive editor, said The Times learned during the reporting stages that The News of the World believed the project was “tainted” because of the business rivalry. He rejected the argument that The Times should recuse itself from doing such stories, or that its competitors should do likewise.
News of the World editors, he said, “made clear that this dubious argument would be the paper’s first line of defense, and it probably added another layer of caution to a process that is quite careful under any circumstances,” Mr. Keller said. “It was at least in the back of our minds that because Mr. Murdoch has declared war on The New York Times, a story centered on one of his newspapers had to bend over backwards to be seen as fair. In my view, the process was thorough and scrupulous.
And what did other journalism experts think of it?
I asked several outside experts about it. Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, felt the story was worthwhile on its own merits. “It is very hard to argue that because The Times is competing with The Journal that The Times shouldn’t do a story that is this good,” he said.
Pics from protest for Sakineh Ashtiani
In the Islamic Republic of Iran 150 people have been put to death by stoning in the last 31 years, according to Farshad Hosseini. Yesterday, a cohort of activists set up a stall in Trafalgar Square to protest the decision to execute Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani at the hands of the Iranian judiciary – and to show their opposition to stonings full stop.
Stoning is not only inhumane, but is apparently disapproved of OFFICIALLY in Iran. Before his death in 2006, the then Minister of Justice and spokesman for the Judiciary, Mr. Jamal Karimi-Rad, became the first Iranian judicial authority to comment in reaction to the Stop Stoning Forever campaign – formed of various women’s rights organisations to see stoning as a form of punishment for adultery in Iran abolished.
He denied that stoning took place in Iran, brushing aside examples where judge’s have sentenced it, often with little in the way of evidence.
Mr Jamal Karimi-Rad’s comments did demonstrate then an official disapproval of stoning, however flimsy it was, consistent with the ban on stoning ordered by the Head of Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, in December 2002.
It beggars belief. The thing that could knock some sense into Ahmadinejad’s regime in Iran is that the execution case is making Iran look bad – not that justice is being perverted in such a foul way. But, of course, for Ashtiani’s family, this reason is better than none.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or RSS feed. You can also get them by email and through our Facebook group.
» Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote
» Would raising the tax threshold actually help the poorest?
» To win London, Ken Livingstone has to step outside his comfort zone
» This trade agreement with India will destroy thousands of lives
» UK debt hasn’t hit £1 trillion – mostly because of QE
» The benefits of being a “burden” on society
» Today’s economic figures will simply confirm UK’s “lost decade”
» Have Labour realised the election is more than three years away?
» Violence in the office
» Want a more responsible capitalism? Reform how pensions work
» The world is entering the third phase of the crisis, warns ILO
|
32 Comments 34 Comments 62 Comments 18 Comments 15 Comments 25 Comments 38 Comments 7 Comments 64 Comments 11 Comments |
|
LATEST COMMENTS » So Much For Subtlety posted on Does Priti Patel MP care for human rights? » So Much For Subtlety posted on Does Priti Patel MP care for human rights? » Staffordshire UNISON posted on Even by economic standards Hester's £1m bonus is unworthy » Silvio posted on New Compass paper opens up Red/Green ties » Leon Wolfeson posted on To win London, Ken Livingstone has to step outside his comfort zone » So Much For Subtlety posted on Diane Abbott resigns from abortion panel » Leon Wolfeson posted on Would raising the tax threshold actually help the poorest? » Leon Wolfeson posted on Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote » Chaise Guevara posted on Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote » Brett RB posted on PCC admits: Richard Littlejohn is a bullshitter » Chaise Guevara posted on Diane Abbott resigns from abortion panel » Chaise Guevara posted on Diane Abbott resigns from abortion panel » Cylux posted on Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote » Alice posted on Diane Abbott resigns from abortion panel » Alice posted on Diane Abbott resigns from abortion panel |
