A terrifying sign of the times
A short post but there really isn’t a great deal to say.
We have falling share prices, falling commodity prices, record low bond yields across UK, Germany and the US. And the worst hit shares are financial companies (where rumors of problems in the European banking system are once again circulating) – those most exposed to global growth.
This is a growth scare – and a big one.
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Polls show govt is losing economic credibility
An increasing number of polls show that the government is losing credibility on the economy as economic stagnation continues and people feel fearful about the future.
A YouGov poll has found that compared with 6 months ago – 35% of people now have less confidence in the government’s strategy on the economy.
Only 5% have more confidence, while 54% said they did not feel any different (negatively or positively) to 6 months ago.
Also on the economy
- Only 33% feel the government is managing the economy well, while 57% feel the government is managing it badly.
- A massive 76% of voters feel the economy is doing badly – only 4% think it is doing well.
- Only 10% think the economic outlook will improve over the next 12 months – which will continue to depress spending.
The poll also found:
What are the chances parents will shop their kids to the police now?
Let this be a lesson then – if your kid is out of control and needs a short, sharp shock, why not just trap them in their rooms and nail the doors and windows shut for a week, or debag them and chuck them out of your car in front of their school?
Hell, why not just beat them down with a rolling pin?
I’d take that over any amount of jail time, since prisons – for men or women, and young offenders’ institutions – are about the most godawful, dismal places in the country.
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Are (absent) Dads really to blame for this crisis?
contribution by George Roberts
This week’s New Statesman cover asks if Dads are the answer to the riots? Disclosure: I am a dad in a nuclear family. But, I / we are not the “answer” to the riots or any other manifestation of social exclusion.
To imply fathers are the answer, and therefore implicitly (if “absent”) the cause, for disorder is to confuse correlation with cause, to continue the fetishisation of the nuclear family and to impute blame inappropriately.
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How does Labour deal with its record on civil liberties?
contribution by Emma Burnell
Labour is neither a liberal nor an authoritarian party. That’s not to say that all members of the Party don’t have views on these issues. They do, and some are held very strongly.
Because Labour exists fundamentally to deal with issues on the left/right axis and not the Liberal/Authoritarian axis, we have an extremely broad range of viewpoints within the Party, all held firmly, with conviction, that theirs is the view that truly matches the Party’s Socialist ideals.
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We are facing a constitutional crisis
contribution by Elliot Folan
This week our Prime Minister, using the spectre of disorder and criminality, revealed that he dislikes the Human Rights Act because of all the various misinterpretations it has resulted in – apparently it exerts “a corrosive effect” on our society.
In a similar vein, we see a war of words over Lords Reform. Despite an ostensive commitment by the three big parties to electing our second chamber, Lords and MPs are lining up to condemn it as “constitutional vandalism”, saying that it will challenge the supremacy of the Commons.
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Cameron is ‘undermining news media’
The Committee to Protect Journalists has published a strongly-worded letter accusing David Cameron of ‘undermining the news media’.
The CPJ usually focuses on journalists in more authoritarian countries.
But it has published a letter saying that Cameron’s proposal to curb social media sites would “set alarming precedents that hinder press freedom and the free flow of information”.
It notes that both China and Iran “take solace” in Cameron’s intent “to restrict communications”.
It states:
In light of such defiance of the U.K.’s moral authority on human rights, we urge you to clarify the intent behind your statement, spell out any planned actions you may take, and reaffirm your government’s commitment to protecting free expression. Failure to do so would gravely undermine global efforts to defend human rights and would provide authoritarian regimes with arguments they will use to justify censorship and surveillance.
Video footage demonstrates that journalists in Britain already face physical danger and intimidation when covering public disorder. As both the BBC and commercial television outlets have stated, the proposal that media companies hand over raw footage creates a further and immediate risk to journalists’ safety. To declare that journalists have a responsibility to effectively act as the eyes and ears of law enforcement profoundly compromises their status as independent observers.
Libdems now u-turn on ‘fluorescent bibs’ too
Nick Clegg launched his ‘riot-payback’ plan yesterday, while trying to regain public initiative on the issue.
He told reporters:
In every single one of the communities affected there will be community payback schemes, riot payback schemes, where you will see people in visible orange clothing making up the damage done, repairing and improving the neighbourhoods affected.
The idea behind visible orange clothing is partly to shame those doing ‘community payback’ – as it clearly marks them out as being punished.
A good idea you say?
Turns out it was proposed by Labour ministers earlier.
But a court ruled in 2009 that a teenage convict had a “reasonable excuse” for refusing to wear a Community Payback fluorescent jacket.
At the time, Libdem Shadow Justice Secretary David Howarth released this statement:
The real question about these fluorescent bibs is whether they help to reduce future crime.
Since the Government has no evidence that this is the case, it should not have introduced them simply as a headline-chasing gimmick.
A headline chasing gimmick you say? Someone should tell Nick Clegg.
(hat-tip Craig Woodhouse)
Amnesty criticises police Taser use after death
Amnesty International today expressed deep concern of wider deployment of Tasers after a man living in Barrow, Cumbria died after he was struck by the weapon.
The man in his 20s died yesterday after being shot with a Taser by police during his arrest.
He later complained of feeling unwell and was taken to hospital, where he died.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has been called in.
Amnesty International spokesperson Eulette Ewart said:
Amnesty International has long been concerned at the wider deployment of the Taser across UK police forces.
Tasers are potentially lethal and therefore should only be used in a limited set of instances where there is a very real threat of loss of life.
Only officers who receive the highest standard of training on how and when to use Tasers should be armed with these weapons and there must be a high level of accountability whenever Tasers are used.
Last month an 82-year-old man was hospitalised for days after being Tasered in west London by a Metropolitan Police officer. The man was reported to have been arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and criminal damage to a motor vehicle.
In 2006, a 47-year-old man died after being shocked with a Taser. Brian Loan was believed to be the first person in the UK to die after being shocked with the electro-shock weapon. A Home Office post-mortem reportedly found that he had died of “natural causes”.
Since 2001, Amnesty International has recorded the deaths of more than 450 people in the United States after they were struck with a Taser. In many instances, most of the deceased were unarmed and did not appear to present a serious threat when they were shocked, in some cases several times.
From a press release
Why cutting or scrapping the minimum wage is economic lunacy
Dr Eamonn Butler, Director of the right-wing think tank The Adam Smith Institute, says we should scrap the minimum wage in order to reduce unemployment. Similar calls have come from right-wing Tory MPs.
The IEA also unsurprisingly chimes in. With unemployment up again today, it’s likely we’ll hear more of the same from the usual suspects.
The argument behind this is simple enough. The rationale isn’t however.
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» 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
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