Cameron and Eurosceptic Tories both humiliated in Brussels
So it looks like that both Eurosceptic Tories and David Cameron have lost in Brussels. As the Telegraph’s editor tweeted last night:
French verdict on our Euro ‘interference’: PM ‘like man who wants to go to wife swapping party without taking his own wife’
The latest news is that the 17 Eurozone countries will negotiate amongst themselves to deliver a treaty change and ignore David Cameron.
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Why it looks like Newt Gingrich may be the Republican nominee
contribution by Marcus Roberts
Newt Gingrich should not be leading in the polls. And now that he is, it won’t last. He can’t be the nominee. He’s not a disciplined candidate. He doesn’t stick to his talking points. He doesn’t kiss the ring of the Religious Right.
His entire senior staff resigned for heavens sake. And Karl Rove says he doesn’t have the early states organization he needs to win . So he can’t be the nominee. Right?
Wrong.
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Revealed: How Tories became the party for hedge fund managers
Research by the Financial Times today shows how the extent to which the Conservative party has become the party for hedge fund managers.
FT research show that over the past 10 years, hedge fund managers have personally donated more than £14.3m to the Conservative party.
Hedge fund chiefs have now become the top Tory backers. Since the general election alone they have donated more than £2.2m to the party.
No wonder George Osborne is so eager to cut the top rate of 50p tax.
This graph shows the extent of the donations.
The FT also adds that hedge fund managers have benefitted from this largesse:
Businesses linked to donors have even benefited from government policy decisions. The contract to run the failing National Health Service Hinchingbrooke hospital was controversially awarded in November to a private company, Circle – part-owned by hedge funds run by three of the Conservatives’ biggest donors: Paul Ruddock’s Lansdowne Partners; Crispin Odey’s Odey Asset Management; and Michael Platt’s BlueCrest.
I wonder how many other public services will be sold off to hedge fund managers.
Are Brits too quick to take offence and condemn?
Take four recent developments:
- Joey Barton provokes “fury” by saying that suicide is selfish, with some of his critics invoking the weasel work “inappropriate“.
- Over 30,000 people complain to the BBC about Jeremy Clarkson’s “shoot the strikers” comment.
- Luis Suarez gives Fulham fans the finger, and they faint like Victorian spinsters.
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The tabloid mentality is to rather not know
On occasion it’s well worth reminding yourself of just how utterly vile the likes of the Sun can be: an editorial in yesterday paper says, presumably in reference to the Guardian’s Reading the Riots research, that “[F]our months on, the Left has regrouped to concoct its perverse excuses for evil”.
It’s a sentence that sums up so much about the Sun’s editorial mindset.
That the “Left” would not have had to do any sort of “regrouping” had the government ordered a proper independent inquiry into the worst outbreak of disorder on our streets for a generation goes completely unmentioned.
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Watch: Jon Stewart starts War on Christmas
Why only a two-state solution is now viable in Israel and Palestine
When seven Palestinian activists tried to channel Rosa Parks by illegally boarding a ‘Jewish’ bus in the West Bank last month, winning the world’s sympathy should have been easy.
After all, the Israel-occupied territory has two kinds of citizens. Jewish settlers have their own towns, roads, buses, and schools – from which Arabs are, naturally, excluded. Jews can vote for their leaders; Palestinians have few democratic rights. Jews have full access to a liberal justice system; Palestinians are tried in military courts, and can be held indefinitely without charge or trial in jails where torture is routine.
So why, when those activists stepped off the bus and were carted off to jail, didn’t they inspire a storm of moral indignation from the watching world?
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Shock as NHS maternity unit first to go private
NHS Wirral has become the first NHS trust in the country to sign a contract with a private company to provide maternity services to women, it was announced today.
The move was received with scorn by Unite the union, who said it was part of the full-scale privatisation of the NHS.
Women opting to go with ‘One to One’ care would get a midwife who would take them through the process. Usual NHS services are being kept as an alternative for now, however.
Unite’s general secretary, Len McCluskey said in a statement to the press:
Before the Health and Social Care Bill is even law, the Tories are pressing full steam ahead with the privatisation of NHS – this is an affront to the democratic process.
Unite is very concerned that as private companies take over more and more services in the NHS, the profit motive will take priority over patient care – and that the pay and employment conditions of NHS staff, such as midwives and maternity staff, will be seriously eroded over time.’
The fact that this is the first time the NHS has signed a contract of this nature, with the backing of the Department of Health, is nothing to be proud of – it is the thin edge of the wedge.
One to One is in talks with other NHS trusts to take over their maternity services too.
Jacque Gerrard from the Royal College of Midwives’ said they had “reservations” regarding the impact the move had on jobs for midwives in the NHS.
She added: “We have formed a professional relationship with One to One to gain recognition for our members, as they will be an alternative employer for midwives.”
Can society really reduce inequality without redistribution?
It is becoming harder and harder to believe in a strategy to reduce inequality or relative poverty that does not involve redistribution.
The IFS report yesterday pointed out that “since 1980, low- to middle-income households’ incomes have only grown because of rises in other income sources, most notably benefits and tax credits.
This means that wage increases by themselves are not going to make a huge difference to them.
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Why are commentators obsessed with useless post-budget polling?
Can you grab a person from the street and ask them if they remember any three things from George Osborne’s recent budget statement? I bet a significant percentage portion wouldn’t even recall the budget itself.
Most people simply don’t have time to pay attention to the news or even understand it in detail. Us politicos are a very small minority.
So it frustrates me that Westminster commentators keep over-estimating how much attention the public pay to the news and subsequent poll movements. Today has two such examples.
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» 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
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