Here’s Tory shadow minister for children and young people and former banker, Tim Loughton, in an interview with the Guardian:

He eventually touches upon a rather explosive, hitherto hidden, line of Tory thinking: criminalising the young for having sex.

“We need a message that actually it is not a very good idea to become a single mum at 14. [It is] against the law to get pregnant at 14. How many kids get prosecuted for having underage sex? Virtually none. Where are the consequences of breaking the law and having irresponsible underage sex? There aren’t any.”

So should there be prosecutions? “We need to be tougher. Without sounding horribly judgmental, it is not a good idea to be a mum at 14. You are too young, throwing away your childhood and prospects of developing a career.”

Thanks to our friends at Political Scrapbook for this:

With more than 39,000 views, David Cameron’s airbrush hairbrush moment is the 3rd most viewed clip on YouTube. And that’s internationally – not just in Europe or the UK.

A letter in the Guardian, co-ordinated by Colin Burgon MP, calls for a second fiscal stimulus to boost the economy:

The Conservative party’s calls for immediate cuts to the economy have been met by a growing chorus of criticism, warning that this risks sending the economy back into recession (Report, 8 March). The government was right to stimulate the economy with a variety of measures last year and so offset some of the worst effects of the recession. Yet, as some of the world’s leading economists have pointed out, the fragile nature of the recovery means that fiscal stimulus is still required. However, according to the IMF, Britain is one of only two G20 countries not currently planning any such fiscal stimulus in 2010.

A programme of government investment would not only stimulate the wider economy in the short term, but would increase long-term growth, thereby lowering the debt levels through a higher tax take. To this end, we encourage the chancellor to use the forthcoming budget to announce a second fiscal stimulus – especially in housing and transport, where investment has fallen most, and with a focus on developing a low-carbon economy – which would both help to secure economic recovery and create much needed jobs.

You can see the list of liberal-lefties who have signed it here.

Campaigning group Power2010 has announced plans to target those MPs who have consistently opposed cleaning up and reforming our political system.

In their bid to rid Parliament of anti-reform MPs, the grassroots campaign is drawing up a list of culprits from all major parties wanted for “crimes against democracy” and from today is asking members of the public to nominate MPs at www.power2010.org.uk/wanted.

Power2010 will then launch major campaigns in selected constituencies, highlighting sitting MPs’ poor records on democratic reform and civil liberties.

Ex-minister Tony McNulty is first in their sights. The former minister, who resigned in disgrace last year following allegations over his expenses, is a well-known champion of the government’s unpopular ID card scheme and an opponent of a transparent Parliament.

Power2010 volunteers and activists are planning to descend on Harrow East, beginning next week, plastering “Wanted for crimes against democracy” posters across town, whilst thousands of “swing” voters in the constituency will receive targeted campaign literature highlighting his opposition to a cleaned up reformed politics.

In the coming weeks the campaign will be targeting other MPs from all parties.

From the PCS website:

Courts, jobcentres, driving tests, tax offices, border controls and passports are amongst some of the services that will be affected today (8 March) as up to 270,000 civil and public servants from across the UK begin a 48 hour stoppage over cuts to redundancy terms.

The strike, called by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), will also see civilian staff working for the Met Police and security staff working in the House of Parliament taking strike action for the first time in over 25 years.

The dispute is over changes to the civil service compensation scheme which will see staff robbed of up to a third of their entitlements and see loyal civil and public servants lose tens of thousands of pounds if they are forced out of a job. The union fears that the government wants to make it easier for whoever wins the general election to cut low paid civil and public servants on the cheap.

It has been a difficult few weeks for David Cameron, but at least there is one international leader who hopes he will gain power:

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe Thursday said his country would have better relations with London if the Conservatives win the next elections.

“We have always related better with the British through the Conservatives than Labour,” Mugabe told journalists.

“Conservatives are bold, (Tony) Blair and (Gordon) Brown run away when they see me, but not these fools, they know how to relate to others,” he added.

Mugabe’s rant comes after Prime Minister Gordon Brown told South Africa’s Jacob Zuma in London that Zimbabwe’s targeted sanctions would not be lifted until progress was seen in the power-sharing government.

Zuma, who is the mediator in Zimbabwe’s fragile unity accord, wants the sanctions lifted.

“We have a better chance with (British Conservative leader) David Cameron than with Brown,” said Mugabe.

Mark Reckons has the goods on the new YouGov poll of marginal constituencies:

Very interesting finding from the latest marginals poll by Channel 4/YouGov today. They asked the question:

“Who would make the best Chancellor after the election”

The answers were:

Vince Cable: 27%
Alistair Darling: 17%
George Osborne: 15%

This is pretty damning stuff for the Tories and ties in with what I have been saying for a while. Osborne is a liability for them.

It’s great to see Vince getting the recognition he deserves. It is so difficult for spokespeople in any portfolio to get recognition for the third party so his achievement here is even more incredible.

In January this year the US Department of Defense, that bastion of socialists, published its Quadrennial Defense Review Report.

The report not only implicitly accepts climate change but also points to the dangers it poses to national security.

It’s worth reading how it expects climate change to impact the armed forces:

Crafting a Strategic Approach to Climate and Energy (pg84)
Climate change and energy are two key issues that will play a significant role in shaping the future security environment.

Although they produce distinct types of challenges, climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked. The actions that the Department takes now can prepare us to respond effectively to these challenges in the near term and in the future.

Climate change will affect DoD in two broad ways.

First, climate change will shape the operating environment, roles, and missions that we undertake. The U.S. Global Change Research Program, composed of 13 federal agencies, reported in 2009 that climate-related changes are already being observed in every region of the world, including the United States and its coastal waters.

Among these physical changes are increases in heavy downpours, rising temperature and sea level, rapidly retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, lengthening growing seasons, lengthening ice-free seasons in the oceans and on lakes and rivers, earlier snowmelt, and alterations in river flows.

Assessments conducted by the intelligence community indicate that climate change could have significant geopolitical impacts around the world, contributing to poverty, environmental degradation, and the further weakening of fragile governments. Climate change will contribute to food and water scarcity, will increase the spread of disease, and may spur or exacerbate mass migration.

The review also offers examples of how the US Military has reduced its carbon foot-print and secured energy supplies

By 2016, the Air Force will be postured to cost-competitively acquire 50 percent of its domestic aviation fuel via an alternative fuel blend that is greener than conventional petroleum fuel. Further, Air Force testing and standard-setting in this arena paves the way for the much larger commercial aviation sector to follow. The Army is in the midst of a significant transformation of its fleet of 70,000 non-tactical vehicles (NTVs), including the current deployment of more than 500 hybrids and the acquisition of 4,000 low-speed electric vehicles at domestic installations to help cut fossil fuel usage.

The Army is also exploring ways to exploit the opportunities for renewable power generation to support operational needs: for instance, the Rucksack Enhanced Portable Power System (REPPS). The Navy commissioned the USS Makin Island, its first electric-drive surface combatant, and tested an F/A-18 engine on camelina-based biofuel in 2009—two key steps toward the vision of deploying a “green” carrier strike group using biofuel and nuclear power by 2016.

The Marine Corps has created an Expeditionary Energy Office to address operational energy risk, and its Energy Assessment Team has identified ways to achieve efficiencies in today’s highly energy-intensive operations in Afghanistan and Iraq in order to reduce logistics and related force protection requirements.

An LC reader wrote in to say: “With the Pentagon acknowledging the reality of global climate change in the latest Quadrennial Defense Review Report, this surely puts the neocons with their ‘greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people‘ at odds with their own Generals and Admirals.”

The full report is here.

A few weeks ago Left Foot Forward reported that a leading Navy commander said climate change could be “the tipping point to cause conflict”

Fifty years ago, in the aftermath of World War Two, a group of pacifists opened Housmans radical bookshop in London’s Kings’ Cross.

Ever since, Housmans has worked hard to continue its mission of promoting ideas of peace, human rights and a more equitable economy by which future wars, and all their inherent suffering, might be avoided.

Now, Housmans has launched its own online bookshop to rival Amazon. Although still prioritising their stock of radical interest and progressive politics, the site is also able to provide around half a million general titles.

They say the biggest threat to independent bookshops has been the rise to dominance of the online bookseller Amazon.com.

What is wrong with using Amazon?
In 2001 the Guardian first reported on the poor working conditions in Amazon’s warehouses, and nothing much has changed since.

In December 2008, a Sunday Times reporter went undercover to their Marston Gate warehouse near Milton Keynes and discovered that staff were required to work seven days a week and were punished for taking sick leave, even if they had a note from their doctor.

According to Unite the Union, Amazon continues to see trade union representation as illegitimate.

Amazon’s dominance of the market means that publishers have little choice but to comply with their demands. Aside from the ethical considerations, this affects readers in reduced output from small presses, and diminished availability of radical titles.

Co-manager Nik Goreck says:

This year Housmans celebrates fifty years of trading from our Caledonian Road address, but in order for us to be here another fifty years we have to stand up for ourselves, and trust in ethically-minded book-buyers to support independents.

The staff at Housmans has fought many battles over the years for causes we believe in, and this is one battle we can’t afford to lose. Please support the shop that supports your campaigns!

www.housmans.com
From a press release

Liberal Democrat Lynne Featherstone MP has today outlined a vision of how to tackle race inequality in the UK.

In a paper published by the Runnymede Trust, Featherstone criticizes the Government for poor management of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and calls for ‘Representative Action’ to tackle discrimination.

The Equalities Spokesperson also challenges the Government to tackle the over-representation of the black population on the DNA database and the disproportionate number of black men stopped and searched by the police.

In the context of the rise of the far-right, Featherstone argues that since 9/11 a “culture of fear’ has been created around the Muslim community which has been exploited by the BNP.

To help tackle inequality, Featherstone calls for the introduction of a ‘name blank’ application policy to remove bias in the process of deciding job applications.

She also calls for those discriminated against to be represented as a group by trade unions or the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Today’s paper includes critiques by academics Dr Clare Alexander and Dr Harry Goulbourne, and is the second in a series of essays to be written by senior politicians on race equality as part of the ‘Runnymede Platform’ series.

A paper by Conservative front bencher Dominic Grieve QC MP on Conservatism and community cohesion was published in January, and essays by senior Labour and SNP politicians will be published shortly.

Commenting on her paper, Lynne Featherstone said:

Equality is of paramount importance and I welcome the opportunity of launching ‘Race, Equality and the Liberal Democrats’. I would like to thank Runnymede Trust for providing this opportunity.

Today’s paper is the second in the series following the publication of ‘Conservatism and Community Cohesion’ by senior Conservative Dominic Grieve QC MP. Essays by the Labour Party and the SNP will be published shortly.

From a press release

Tory deputy-chair and millionaire funder Michael Ashcroft today revealed that he is non-domiciled in the UK.

He published a statement on his website clarifying his current legal status.

The statement says:

I am making this statement in advance of the release by the Cabinet Office of limited information about the award of my peerage and of the undertakings I gave at the time.

While I value my privacy, I do not want my affairs to distract from the general election campaign. I have therefore decided to release a copy of the letter which I wrote to William Hague, and to expand on what actually happened.

As the letter shows, the undertakings I gave were confirmed in a memorandum to William Hague dated 23rd March 2000. These were to “take up permanent residence in the UK again” by the end of that year. The other commitment in the memorandum was to resign as Belize’s permanent representative to the UN, which I did a week later.

In subsequent dialogue with the Government, it was officially confirmed that the interpretation in the first undertaking of the words “permanent residence” was to be that of “a long term resident” of the UK. I agreed to this and finally took up my seat in the House of Lords in October 2000. Throughout the last ten years, I have been declaring all my UK income to HM Revenue.

My precise tax status therefore is that of a “non-dom”. Two of Labour’s biggest donors – Lord Paul (recently made a privy councillor by the Prime Minister) and Sir Ronald Cohen, both long-term residents of the UK, are also “non-doms”. As for the future, while the non-dom status will continue for many people in business or public life, David Cameron has said that anyone sitting in the legislature – Lords or Commons – must be treated as resident and domiciled in the UK for tax purposes.

I agree with this change and expect to be sitting in the House of Lords for many years to come.

The statement and letter are here.
[via @MirrorJames]

A book just published by Routledge sheds new light on the Conservative Party’s controversial radical right-wing allies in Poland.

It illustrates the rapid growth of organized radical nationalism in Poland by showing its origins, its internal dynamics and the historical, political, social and cultural context that has made it possible.

‘The Populist Radical Right in Poland’ goes to the heart of radical politics in one of the European Union’s newest members

The book is written by Rafal Pankowski, who has served as deputy editor of ‘Nigdy Wiecej’ (Never Again) magazine since 1996.

He has published widely on racism, nationalism, xenophobia and other issues including the books Neo-Fascism in Western Europe (1998) and Racism and Popular Culture (2006).

He currently works as a lecturer at Collegium Civitas and head of the Warsaw-based East Europe Monitoring Centre.

Press contact: james.williams@tandf.co.uk
From a press release

In a speech three years ago this March David Cameron claimed Margaret Thatchers economic revolution as his own. She had, he said, engineered an enterprise economy that was the envy of the world. Today “our country does not face economic breakdown. We’ve won the economic argument.”

As we approach an election in which the economy will be the defining issue we need an assessment of the Conservative legacy. The three turbulent decades of Conservative economic hegemony has created little productive wealth.

The Conservative legacy has been a massive shift in income, wealth and power from labour to capital, from the poor to the rich and from the country to the City.

The defining issue of the election will be how we rebuild the economy. What are the Conservative answers?
Come and find out at a public meeting:

‘OSBORNOMICS: What will the Conservatives do to the economy?’
7pm – 9pm, Monday 1 March.
Venue: House of Commons, Committee Room 10, St Stephen’s entrance
Speakers: Howard Reed, Larry Elliott, Polly Toynbee, Andrew Gamble. Chair, Jon Cruddas MP

Organised by the New Political Economy Network and Compass in association with The Guardian, Renewal and Soundings

Places are limited.
Please register by emailing newpolecon@googlemail.com

New figures released today by the Office for National Statistics suggest that the world-wide economic crisis has had a significant impact on migration flows to and from the UK, according to the think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research.

Net immigration to the UK in the year to June 2009 was:
* 147,000 – down from 168,000 in the year to June 2008 (and a peak of 245,000 in 2004).
* Net immigration from the new EU member states was down to 10,000 (from a peak of almost 90,000 in 2007).

But the modest decline in net flows between 2008 and 2009 disguises some more striking changes in overall patterns of migration.
* In the year to June 2009 146,000 British nationals emigrated from the UK, and 87,000 came back to the UK.
* This meant that net emigration by British nationals was 59,000, down from 89,000 in the year to June 2008 (and a peak of well over 100,000 in 2004), due to both decreased emigration and increased return.
* In the same time period, net immigration by non-British nationals was 206,000, down from 257,000 in the year to June 2008 (and a peak of over 350,000 in 2004).

Tim Finch, Head of Migration at ippr, said:

In all the heated debate around this issue, the importance of British migration is often neglected. The number of Brits going to live abroad or coming back to this country is a key component of overall flows. The recession seems to have significantly reduced emigration by British people, as well as reducing the numbers of non-British nationals coming to the UK. This is a reminder that migration is always a two-way street.

New research soon to be published by ippr shows that there are an estimated 5.4 British nationals living overseas – but the emigration boom among Brits seems to have slowed, at the same time that immigration to this country is slowing. When times are tough, people seem to be less likely to move, or if they do, it’s more often to go home.

All figures taken from ONS Migration Statistics Quarterly Report, February 2010 and ONS Long-Term International Migration time series.

The estimate of Britons living overseas is taken from a forthcoming ippr report titled Making the Most of the British Diaspora which will be published in June 2010.
From a press release

Rupert Murdoch’s media giant News International could face a judicial inquiry after a highly critical parliamentary report today accuses senior executives at its top-selling newspaper of concealing the truth about the extent of illegal phone hacking by its journalists.

The 167-page report by a cross-party select committee is withering about the conduct of the News of the World, with one MP saying its crimes “went to the heart of the British establishment, in which police, military royals and government ministers were hacked on a near industrial scale”.

MPs condemned the “collective amnesia” and “deliberate obfuscation” by NoW executives who gave evidence to them, and said it was inconceivable that only a few people at the paper knew about the practice.

The culture, media and sport select committee was also damning of the police, saying Scotland Yard should have broadened its original investigation in 2006, and not just focused on Clive Goodman, the NoW’s royal reporter.

… more at The Guardian

Update: The Libdems have released a statement demanding a judicial inquiry:

This report blows a gaping hole in the News of the World’s line that only a sole rogue reporter was involved in illegal hacking of phones, and reveals enormous worries about the feeble response of the Metropolitan Police in investigating what was clearly widespread illegal activity.

There are very serious issues at stake here for the privacy of the citizen and the report highlights deep concern at the weak reaction to these illegal intrusions by News International, the Press Complaints Commission, the Met and the Information Commissioner.

The only alternative to get to the bottom of what actually went on at the News of the World is a judicial inquiry so that a judge can insist on information and can draw out the lessons if we are to avoid such wholesale abuse of privacy again.

Update 2 Benedict Brogan puts his tin-foil hat on and starts spinning.

Tom Watson MP hits back in the comments:

If you’d wanted to know when I knew about the bullying claims, why didn’t you call or email before you wrote this blog post?

I knew at the weekend about Mr Rawnsley’s book. Frankly, I’m out of the loop these days – not remotely interested in the usual Westminster conspiracy theories like the one you cast above.

The reason the amendment was tabled was because of the complete difference in approach to the employment issue between Mulcaire and Goodman (jailed for criminal offences yet paid off by News International before an employment case) and poor old Matt Driscoll (bullied at work and had to fight all the way for a record compensation). If you read the report in full, you might understand the context.

Ands if you’d bothered to ask me, I would have told you why I moved the amendment. You’re a professional journalist not a ham blogger. Next time, at least check before you make these insidious suggestions.

Update 3: The full report is now online (PDF). The phone-tapping bit starts at page 96.

This from page 100:

422. Mark Lewis also told us that, during his conversations with the Metropolitan Police at the time of the Gordon Taylor case, a Detective Sergeant Maberly had put the number of people affected by the phone tapping at 6,000. Mr Lewis went on to say that ‘it was not clear to me whether that was 6,000 phones which had been hacked, or 6,000 people including the people who had left messages’.389 Assistant Commissioner Yates, however, referred to only a handful of victims,390 while Detective Chief Superintendent Williams told us that: “I suppose the honest answer is we do not know”.

Subsequently, in answer to a Freedom of Information request, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that there were 91 individuals whose pin numbers were recorded in the material which they had seized. This does not however prove that only 91 individuals were targeted; how many of those pin numbers were accurate, and the number of individuals with default pin settings which might not be individually recorded, is not known.

The request came from the Guardian, which also reported being told by three mobile phone companies that they had traced over 100 customers, from numbers passed to them by the police, whose voicemails had been called

And more later:

439. We have seen no evidence that Andy Coulson knew that phone-hacking was taking place. However, that such hacking took place reveals a serious management failure for which as editor he bore ultimate responsibility, and we believe that he was correct to accept this and resign.

440. Evidence we have seen makes it inconceivable that no-one else at the News of the World, bar Clive Goodman, knew about the phone-hacking. It is unlikely, for instance, that Ross Hindley (later Hall) did not know the source of the material he was transcribing and was not acting on instruction from superiors. We cannot believe that the newspaper’s newsroom was so out of control for this to be the case.

441. The idea that Clive Goodman was a “rogue reporter” acting alone is also directly contradicted by the Judge who presided at the Goodman and Mulcaire trial. In his summing up, Mr Justice Gross, the presiding judge, said of Glenn Mulcaire: “As to Counts 16 to 20 [relating to the phone-hacking of Max Clifford, Simon Hughes MP, Andrew Skylett, Elle Macpherson and Gordon Taylor], you had not dealt with Goodman but with others at News International.”

The Conservatives should no longer count on winning the election outright, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today.

The new survey suggests Britain is on course for a hung parliament amid faltering public support for David Cameron’s party.

The opposition have also lost ground on key policy issues, including the economy, and in particular may be losing their campaign against Labour’s so-called “death tax”. Labour leads the Tories by eight points as the party with the best policy on care for the elderly.

…more at The Guardian

via North of Westminster

Last week, on Friday evening (Feb 12) at prime time, Channel 4 broadcast a programme that was little more than a half-hour party political broadcast for the National Front.

“Young, Angry and White” purported to give insight into the political ideas of a disaffected young man, let down by the established political parties, who was considering joining the BNP.

Yet the programme failed to reveal that “Kieren” – the subject of the documentary – is the national organiser for the youth wing of the extreme right National Front.

“Young, Angry and White” showed the trained and experienced young racist Kieren in an extraordinarily positive light, allowing him unchallenged to insist on the “racial purity” of his girlfriend, accuse his friend of “genocide” because he had a black girlfriend and was therefore guilty of “racial mixing”, and to introduce his masked, far-right associates, who spoke about the “filth flooding through our streets” – non-white people.

The programme failed to inform viewers about the political nature of the National Front, its history of racial motivated violence, and the criminal convictions of its past and present leaders, and its close links to the BNP.

It failed to confront Kieren with any of these facts about either the National Front or the BNP. It failed to investigate Kieren’s activity as a leading National Front member.

For confirmation of Kieren’s status, see the National Front’s website (NSFW).

David Crouch, press officer for the campaign Expose the BNP, said:

A pattern is emerging of public service broadcasters presenting soft interviews with leading far-right extremists. The latest example after a similar fiasco on Radio 1’s Newsbeat. This is very poor journalism – Channel 4 should be ashamed.

The Channel 4 shambles comes as media workers prepare to launch a new campaign to challenge weak coverage of the BNP.

Watch “Young, Angry and White” here:

Expose the BNP launch rally:
Tuesday February 23, 7pm
Amnesty International Human Rights Centre, EC2A 3EA
www.exposethebnp.com

From a press release

A ban on advertising in all public spaces and limits on shopfront marketing will be proposed tomorrow by the leftwing thinktank Compass in what could be a rare alliance between the left and rightwing moralists.

Compass also proposes a complete ban on all advertising aimed at children under 12 and an open debate about tighter regulations on alcohol marketing.

David Cameron has already called for restraints on “creepy and harmful” sexualised advertising aimed at children, and in some ways Compass, from a left wing perspective, is joining the same debate about childhood, and the growing impact of advertising. Cameron said he opposed the advertising industry’s effort to undermine the family through concepts such as “Kids Growing Older Younger”.

The leftwing group, with which the potential Labour leader Jon Cruddas is closely linked, says: “Advertising encourages us to go faster on the treadmill of modern consumer life so contributing to growing consumer debt, social problems and an ever greater risk of climate change.”

…more at the Guardian

Sunder Katwala has a letter in today’s Guardian offering Goldman Sachs a platform to debate the Robin Hood campaigners.

Also covered on Next Left.

—

Goldman Sachs will no doubt recognise that it scored an own goal with the crude attempt to rig an online poll about the new Robin Hood tax campaign (Clicking in the votes, 12 February). The investment bank has said it is investigating the incident: no doubt the stunt may well have been unauthorised.

Yet the episode does highlight the need for those involved in international finance to engage seriously with the charities, pressure groups and churches who are campaigning for a financial transactions tax – as well as with those governments, including Britain, France and Germany, which are looking seriously at how such a tax might be practicable.

The principle is an increasingly attractive one at a time of acute fiscal pressure after a public bailout saved the financial system from the consequences of excessive risk- taking, though Dr Neil McCulloch (Letters, 12 February) identifies that important issues would need to be addressed.

The challenge for Goldman Sachs is to come out from behind the computers serving up anonymous spam votes and engage seriously on the merits of the issue. The Fabian Society would be delighted to offer Goldman Sachs a platform to debate with the Robin Hood tax campaigners on this important public policy debate.

Sunder Katwala

General secretary, Fabian Society