Our cultural prejudices have held back democracy in the Middle East
contribution by George W Potter
It’s obvious from the events of last night that the spirit of democracy is alive and kicking in Egypt.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for the US and Europe where governments were hesitant in the first place when it came to the protests.
continue reading… »
Should we be telling teenagers how to drink?
contribution by Claire Turner
For many, underage drinking conjures up images of young people drinking lots of cheap, strong alcohol in a public place getting out of control. But does this stereotype match the reality of teenage drinking cultures?
A recent report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation takes a closer look at alcohol use in groups of teenage friends.
continue reading… »
Why Libdems should welcome the revolt by local councillors
The news yesterday that 17 council leaders and 71 local party heads spoke out against the devastating 28% local authority cuts should be celebrated, not opposed by the Liberal Democrats.
I firmly believe that if indeed the public did vote for a coalition, then this is what they expected. When something seemed wrong, I think they wanted one or the other party to oppose it. Not destructively but passionately. Not to harm the government, but to strengthen it.
continue reading… »
Labour councils and the cuts: grotesque chaos is back
Maybe Manchester council didn’t hire taxis to scuttle round the city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers, a crime for which former Labour leader Neil Kinnock famously berated Liverpool’s local authority in his 1985 conference speech.
Then again, I don’t suppose the 2,000 Mancunians who are losing their jobs are any happier about it just because they learned their fate through the post. What is happening to them must surely rate as ‘grotesque chaos’ too, as Kinnock might have put it.
50 MPs sign EDM on BBC bias against Morning Star
Over 50 MPs from Labour and Libdems have signed an Early Day Motion in Parliament to end BBC bias against the daily newspaper Morning Star.
The Motion by Labour MP Ian Lavery states:
That this House notes the Morning Star is a national daily newspaper available in shops across the UK; further notes that it is the only socialist daily newspaper in the English language worldwide; further notes that the Morning Star and its management have strong links with the trade union movement; welcomes the different light it shines on news and current affairs from that of other daily newspapers; expresses concern that the Morning Star is rarely ever shown on or reported by the BBC on television and radio; and calls on the Director General of the BBC to ensure that the Morning Star is featured regularly and as a matter of course in broadcast newspaper reviews in the interests of fair and balanced reporting.
Signatories to the EDM include Lib Dem MP Bob Russell, Labour MP Frank Dobson and the SNP’s Angus MacNeil.
When was the last time anyone saw Morning Star editors / writers featured on any BBC programmes?
MPs should not have the right to interfere with BBC editorial process, but I think its a fair point in that I’ve never once heard of anyone from the Morning Star being featured on a BBC news programme.
hit-tip: Jim Jepps
Why Cameron’s speech on terrorism puts us more in danger
David Cameron’s speech last week was primarily focused on counter-terrorism, even if excerpts released to the media highlighted the ‘death of state multiculturalism’.
This is a problem in itself because, by conflating counter-terrorism and integration, Cameron weakens internal security and makes all of us more vulnerable to terrorism. This isn’t limited to the Conservatives either; many others who define themselves as ‘muscular liberals’ make the same mistake.
Poll: almost half of voters want to save EMA
contribution by James Mills
According to a poll conducted by Yougov out yesterday, almost half of the British public oppose the abolition of the Education Maintenance Allowances (EMA) and would prefer to keep the current scheme and not replace it as the government plans.
This will come as a blow for the coalition and many coalition backbench MPs, as only two MPs from coalition parties voted against abolishing EMA on the vote last month that the Save EMA campaign successfully lobbied to get.
Even more interesting, is that this poll shows that a substantial amount of voters who voted for both coalition parties at the last election oppose the abolition of the EMA; as 50 % who voted Lib Dem in 2010 oppose abolition of EMA, and 42% who still intend to vote Lib Dem also oppose the abolition of EMA.
Something that might also give backbench Tory MPs concern is that 27% who voted Conservative in 2010 and 25% who still intend to vote Conservative also oppose abolition of EMA.
Two Lib Dem MPs voted against scrapping EMA in the vote on Wednesday 19th January.
Especially concerned should be the seven London Lib Dem MPs as according to the poll almost half of Londoners oppose the government’s decision.
MPs such as Sarah Teather and Simon Hughes both have large amounts of teenagers on EMA in their constituencies.
—
James Mills runs the Save EMA campaign
Work with us to stop Pickles, say Labour councillors today
A government source confirms to The Times (£) that Eric Pickles’ relationship with local councils has become dysfunctional.
They hate him and he hates them.
As a result, LibDem council leaders have asked Nick Clegg to step in so that they don’t have to deal with the Tory Community Secretary.
continue reading… »
YouGov puts Labour 9% ahead in tonight’s poll
A YouGov poll for the Sun tonight has the following figures: Con 35%, Lab 44%, LD 10%.
Its likely to be an outlier, but its also the case that Labour is now consistently showing around a 7% lead in the polls.
The Libdems have stabilised on 10%.
Writing on the YouGov site earlier today, Anthony Wells pointed out that Tory support is also starting to slip:
Notably the level of Conservative support has started to drop below the share of the GB vote they received at the General Election (37%). Up until now, while Labour had moved ahead in the polls this was largely at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives themselves seems to be holding their support. Prior to February, only one of our daily polls had shown the Conservatives below 37%. In February so far, four of our polls have shown the Conservatives at under 37%.
Keep in mind, this is all before the Tory cuts have actually been decided and hit people properly.
It is before the train-crash of ‘NHS reforms’ really start to hit, and before people really get angry about local library and facilities closures.
IDS finally admits over-stating benefit fraud
The DWP secretary Iain Duncan Smith finally admitted today that his department was “wagging their finger” and “stigmatising” people on benefits as committing fraud despite their innocence.
This belated semi-apology came only a few weeks after Lord Freud from the same department wrote to Churches apologising for exaggerating the extent of benefit fraud.
Earlier today, while answering questions from the Work and Pensions Select Committee, IDS said people were receiving overpayments through no fault of their own, and were were being characterised as “fraudsters”. (via Full Fact).
The truth is quite a lot of what we here politically term constantly as fraud is often complexity error, which is very easy for us to then say this is fraud and people feel quite stigmatised by that.
The truth is quite a lot is nothing to do with them, it’s the system itself.
It simply means they didn’t understand what they were meant to be doing and now they are apparently committing fraud and a lot of them didn’t know that was the case.
So we’re hoping that this will politically just tone some of this rhetoric down and stop basically accusing people of things which frankly is partly because of the system and nothing to do with them.
According to Full Fact, he also said that by moving to the Universal Credit system, such instances would be reduced.
But it has been repeatedly pointed out that the DWP itself frequently briefs newspapers with exaggerated statistics in order to push their line.
Iain Duncan Smith himself exaggerated statistics on housing benefit by claiming they came from the ONS, when in fact they came from a property website owned by the Daily Mail.
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.
» 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
|
62 Comments 15 Comments 23 Comments 8 Comments 24 Comments 16 Comments 16 Comments 83 Comments 203 Comments 85 Comments |
|
LATEST COMMENTS » JIm posted on The real agenda behind Telegraph's abortion investigation » pagar posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » Chaise Guevara posted on The real agenda behind Telegraph's abortion investigation » Katie posted on The real agenda behind Telegraph's abortion investigation » Chaise Guevara posted on The real agenda behind Telegraph's abortion investigation » TimJ posted on How Scotland Yard monitors prying bloggers and journalists » Shatterface posted on The real agenda behind Telegraph's abortion investigation » Cylux posted on The real agenda behind Telegraph's abortion investigation » pagar posted on The real agenda behind Telegraph's abortion investigation » pjt posted on The real agenda behind Telegraph's abortion investigation » nothingspecial posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » Chaise Guevara posted on How Scotland Yard monitors prying bloggers and journalists » Patron Press - #P2 posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » karl meyer posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? » BevR posted on Workfare - what does the evidence show? |
