How far should government get involved to reduce obesity?

by Ben Mitchell    
October 21, 2011 at 2:08 pm

Last week we had a great example of what I’d call “you’re free to die in a ditch if you so choose” Conservatism.

The government launched its own obesity strategy and came out with this groundbreaking policy proposal: eat less. That’s it.

The public just need to be more “honest with themselves about what they’re eating and drinking,” said Professor Sally Davies, the country’s chief medical officer, who’s clearly swallowed this bilge hook, line, and sinker.
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Watson to make more News Corp allegations

by Newswire    
October 21, 2011 at 9:40 am

Labour MP Tom Watson will make further allegations against News Corporation today that will go beyond phone hacking.

He will make the allegations at the company’s Annual General Meeting today in Los Angeles. He is acting as the proxy for stock owned by the US labour organisation AFL-CIO.

The MP for West Bromwich-East will detail findings of “covert surveillance techniques” allegedly employed by News Corporation, which will “leave the company liable to civil liability but also huge reputational harm,” he said.

The AGM is the first time Rupert Murdoch will face ordinary shareholders since the Milly Dowler revelations came to light.

Why Labour is making two tactical mistakes on the EU referendum

by Sunny Hundal    
October 21, 2011 at 8:45 am

The government’s decision to have a debate on whether the UK should have a referendum on the EU has the Labour party jumping with joy. They think it’s Christmas come early, with one source telling this blog: “This debate is more about the present divisions of Cameron’s party over Europe than it is about Britain’s future in Europe.”

That is certainly how they hope the debate will play out in the media too.

But I think the party is making two mistakes here.
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Watch: ‘Fox News UK’ goes to #occupyLSX

by Newswire    
October 20, 2011 at 3:50 pm

From the satirists at Don’t Panic magazine – ‘Fox News UK’ goes to #occupyLSX.

Why we should support QE (or printing money)

by Left Outside    
October 20, 2011 at 3:38 pm

Printing £75bn does not sound like a plan to make us all richer. It sounds like a plan to turn us into Zimbabwe.

But last week Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, announced that is exactly what he will be doing. When complete, the Bank’s Quantitative Easing, or QE, programme will have seen £275bn leave the printing presses, nearly £5000 for every person living in the UK.

The Bank’s actions appear odd, even dangerous, only because of the rarity and extremity of our situation.
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Want to help #occupyLSX or just fight inequality? Here’s an idea

by Sunny Hundal    
October 20, 2011 at 10:45 am

Many of you might be thinking – I sort of like this #occupy movement, even if I wouldn’t camp out in the city in the cold for my left arm. Fair enough.

But you want to help right? You want to highlight growing inequality and want the media and people around you to take notice?

Want to do a bit of guerilla activism? Here are some thoughts.
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Where the Tea Party and #OWS overlap

by Sunny Hundal    
October 20, 2011 at 10:01 am

Lots has been said recently about the demands and political leanings of the #occupywallstreet movement.

And there has been lots of contrast with the recent Tea Party movement. But where is the overlap?

I think this is an interesting characterisation, by this left-wing blogger in the US.

The blogger adds:

Yeah, I’m oversimplifying, but only a little. The greatest threat to our economy is neither corporations nor the government. The greatest threat to our economy is both of them working together. There are currently two sizable coalitions of angry citizens that are almost on the same page about that, and they’re too busy insulting each other to notice.

Thoughts?

Why Labour should concentrate on the bottom 99%

by Guest    
October 20, 2011 at 8:40 am

contribution by Lee Brown

Over the past 30 years of unrestrained free market capitalism, the gains of growth have overwhelmingly accrued to the top 1%. They have barely trickled down to whole sections of society. The wealth has trickled up.

As an FT article ‘Top Dogs take bigger slice of spoils’ pointed out: “Between 1976 and 2007 in the US, 58% of the total growth in income was captured by the top 1%. Not only that, but the trend appeared to be accelerating.”
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How Boris is over-spending and borrowing too much at City Hall

by Sunny Hundal    
October 20, 2011 at 8:40 am

Boris Johnson has frequently complained of Labour’s “over-spending” in his columns for the Telegraph. He has supported this government’s austerity measures in the name of reducing the deficit.

But the media has consistently given him an easy ride over his own over-spending and borrowing for pet projects.

And figures out this week reveal that Boris will borrow over £100 million for his projects.

In June this year Boris unveiled the new Routemaster buses, after running a crusade against the bendy buses. How much did they cost? £7.8 million for just five of them.

Worse, Boris is obsessed by a plan to have a cable car linking the Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Victoria Dock. The project was originally projected at ‘no cost to the taxpayer’.

But its cost has ballooned to £60m and Boris hasn’t found a way to cover them. So taxpayers will have to bail him out.

Boris has another pet project called the Outer London Fund, which helps constituents to came out to vote for him.

And where does the money for all this extra spending come from? Increased borrowing.

This week, City Hall’s pre-budget report found that: “the business case for borrowing £40 million for the Outer London Fund has not yet been made.”

So what’s the total?

Boris Johnson’s administration plans to borrow £110 million, using up all the GLA’s current borrowing capabilities.

This will lead to an annual cost of £10 million in interest and loan repayments.

How can Boris preach to others about fiscal responsibility while he maxes out London’s credit card for his own pet projects, instead of reducing travel fares?

EU referendum: right-wingers gear up for hysteria

by Tim Fenton    
October 19, 2011 at 8:06 pm

Out there on the right, an increasing number of hacks and pundits are getting themselves rather excited on the issue of the EU – more excited, even, than usual. Because there is going to be a vote in the Commons on our membership.

This will be so much easier for the assembled MPs as the question is multiple choice. But some are already smelling a rat.

The Telegraph’s Christopher Hope has news from “Government sources”.
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