Politically correct Met police? Not very likely
After the riots in August, Peter Hitchens criticised “the political correctness of the police”. It’s a criticism frequently made by the Daily Mail, which he writes for.
Here, for instance, the Met are described as being “burdened by decades of political correctness,” and “crippled by liberalism”.
It may not be definitive proof of the Daily Mail being wrong about absolutely everything, but here’s an interesting disclosure from the Met Police themselves.
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Topman t-shirt compares girlfriends to animals
This is an actual t-shirt currently being sold by Topman
Angry customers are welcome to tweet at @TopmanUK
via @GlamorousLeft)
Devastating poll for Ed Miliband? Don’t believe the Times hype
The Times today (£) reports on a supposedly devastating poll for Labour leader Ed Miliband.
On the eve of Mr Miliband’s first anniversary as Labour leader, almost two thirds of the public (63 per cent) say that they find it hard to imagine the Labour leader running the country. His own side is also pessimistic, with 49 per cent of Labour supporters saying that they find it difficult to see him in Downing Street and 22 per cent who “strongly” hold this view.
Sounds bad huh? Except, it’s out of kilter with other polls – most notably with the monthly Ipsos-Mori political monitor. Quite significantly, in fact.
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A second bailout of the banks is now inevitable
If you listened to UK politicians yesterday you would think the banking crisis was solved.
300 odd pages of report from John Vickers and a promise to implement plans after the effective careers of all currently involved in politics and banking are over and apparently the problem is solved.
With respect to all in question, no it isn’t.
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Revealed: the secret leader of Labour’s New Entryists
Over at Labour Uncut, Dan Hodges is concerned that the Labour Party is being taken over by political entryists, ranging from “Flat-earthers. Liberal conspirators. Ivory tower intellectuals. New politicos. Community cultists. Direct action die-hards.”
These entryists are worse than Militant were in the 1980s, because at least Militant believed in something whereas these people just want to march the Labour Party round in circles. But like Militant, we don’t know who their leader is. And their diabolical plans to sideline Labour Party members and trade unionists are already influencing the Labour Party leadership.
Now you might expect that over here at Liberal Conspiracy, we’d deny all of this. But, actually, it’s all true.
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BBC evading scrutiny over Jeremy Hunt emails
The BBC is knowingly breaking Freedom of Information laws by refusing to release emails sent between the Director-General Mark Thompson and Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.
The disclosure of communications was requested in June by myself, but the BBC has not responded as it should.
They said: “we need further time in which to consider the public interest in disclosing the information.” But, having already extended their response deadline by 20 days, they have now crossed the final legal deadline for response.
Despite warnings to the BBC stating that it’s intention to delay the disclosures would be a breach of the rules, staff remained defiant. “The BBC is of the view that the delay is justified,” a policy adviser said.
This was not the view of a source at the Information Commissioner’s Office who said he couldn’t see how the behavior did not constitute a breach.
The ICO explain: “Public authorities should respond to a request for information within 20 working days. If they need to consider the public interest this may be extended to 40 working days, providing you have been informed.”
More than a week has passed since the maximum 40-day deadline.
Ex-MI5 chief says Tony Blair got it wrong…a lot
The Guardian reports today on a speech yesterday by the former MI5 Chief Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller.
In earlier lectures she criticised the invasion of Iraq, said the term “war on terror” was unhelpful and said 9/11 was “a crime, not an act of war”.
Yesterday she said it was important “to try and reduce terrorism by talking to its advocates” and that many anti-terrorist laws passed by the Labour government were “unnecessary” and “unproductive”.
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NHS ‘watchdog’ will be a “bloated monster”
Monitor – the government’s revamped organisation to regulate competition in the NHS – is set to become ‘a bloated bureaucratic monster’, Unite, the largest union in the country, has warned.
Unite said that Monitor’s running costs were set to soar from £72 million-a-year to £82 million – with a 600-strong staff being paid twice the national average wage of £26,000.
Unite said that ministers were creating a bloated, old fashioned bureaucracy which would be responsible for handing over lucrative NHS contracts to the ‘government’s friends’ in the private healthcare sector.
Monitor was expecting to spend a further £14 million-a-year on consultants and £4 million in legal fees, according to the Department of Health’s own Impact Assessment report.
Monitor is a lynchpin of the government’s Health and Social Care Bill, currently before Parliament, with the remit of promoting choice, competition and collaboration – which Unite says are contradictory and confusing aims.
Unite national officer for health, Rachael Maskell said:
It is equally disgraceful that the Impact Assessment team have been unable “to develop a robust monetary estimate of the benefits of changes to the regulatory regime”.
All this indicates that a revamped Monitor is not being geared for the benefit of patients, but as a conduit to channel lucrative NHS contracts to private healthcare companies, many of whom have bankrolled the Tory party since David Cameron became leader.
A bloated bureaucratic monster is being created – so much for all the ministerial chatter about efficiency savings. This is being paid for by cuts to frontline services, as well as staff pay and terms and conditions.
Unite will be lobbying the members of the House of Lords who will be scrutinising the bill over the next couple of months – Rachael Maskell described the peers as ‘the last thin line defending that great British institution – the NHS – from rampant privatisation’.
The TUC is running an ‘Adopt a Peer’ campaign to lobby the House of Lords
From a press release
Ed M to defend ‘secure’ union link at TUC
Ed Miliband will today declare that Britain faces a “fork in the road” over the direction of economic policy in a speech at the TUC conference where he will say government, business and union leaders must all shoulder new challenges in the years ahead.
Unless we are willing to challenge many of the assumptions on which economic policy has been based for a generation, we will fail the next generation.
He will also focus on the economy:
Financial services are important to Britain and will continue to be so, but unless we broaden our economic base and introduce reforms to tackle irresponsibility of bankers, we will be exposed to crisis as we were in 2007.
While jobs must be our priority, we must ensure they are decent jobs at decent wages and opportunities are extended to all our young people.
We need to reward entrepreneurship and wealth creation, but if we just shrug our shoulders about inequality – not just between the top and the bottom and but for the squeezed middle too – it will cause further problems for both our society and our economy.
These present huge challenges for all of us: For the next Labour government. For business. And for the trade union movement.
On Labour’s union link he will say:
Of course, there are times when you and I will disagree. You will speak your mind. And so will I.
Our link is secure enough, mature enough, to deal with disagreement. The relationship between party and unions is not about romance or nostalgia. It is about respect and shared values. It is a relationship in which we listen to each other when we disagree. And we always know that what unites us is greater than what divides us.
The reality is that away from the headlines, the new offer you are already making to members is about “getting on, not getting even”.
The challenge for unions is this: to recognize that Britain needs to raise its game if we are to meet the challenges of the future and to get private sector employers in the new economy to recognize that you are relevant to that future.
Just 15% of the private sector workforce are members of trade unions. But Unions can offer businesses the prospect of better management, better relationships – trust. Britain needs you to take your place as partners in the new economy.
In a wide-ranging speech, Mr Miliband will reiterate that Labour would have had to make tough spending decisions and acknowledge the last government did not spend every penny wisely before echoing Ed Balls’s call for a plan B to get the economy growing again.
Highlighting the Government’s decision to cut corporation tax for the banks and George Obsorne’s “obsession” with removing the 50p rate, he will say the Tories offer only greater insecurity for the hard-working majority in Britain with plans to make it easier to sack workers.
The message is clear: It’s one rule for them. Another rule for everyone else.
The speech will be made at Congress House in central London, at the annual TUC Congress event.
This is why the Osborne cocaine allegations matter
contribution by Mark Thompson
Guido has details today of a story about how someone who knew George Osborne when he was in his early twenties is claiming that she saw him take cocaine on multiple occasions.
Osborne has had these allegations made to him before and has always strenuously denied them. It is possible that this latest round of allegations will come to nothing too. It is not clear if there is a smoking gun.
But if it turned out to be true would Osborne have to resign?
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» The real agenda behind Telegraph’s abortion investigation
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» Why work “reforms” in Spain are a warning for workers across Europe
» Five things you need to know about the NHS bill
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