Sunday, 8 August 2010
Sarah Ferguson faces bankruptcy
The Duchess of York is doing "everything she can" to avoid bankruptcy as she struggles to manage debts running into millions of pounds, it was revealed today. Sarah Ferguson has paid off all her personal debts, her spokesman said, and her business debts – some of which are disputed – were "being managed", although voluntary bankruptcy was still an option.
wtf?
Ferguson's money woes became public after a newspaper claimed her personal and business debts had risen to almost £5m, prompting fears in the royal family that bankruptcy was now her best option. However, her spokesman said the figure was exaggerated. Sources said later that the Duchess owed around £2m. Ferguson's spokesman said she was reluctant to declare herself bankrupt. "There is a number of options open to the duchess, of which bankruptcy is one. But it would be premature to say she is going into bankruptcy as the situation is being managed," she said.
The Queen was "deeply concerned" about Ferguson's debts, according to the Sunday Telegraph, and had discussed them with David Cameron recently at one of his weekly audiences [and the Telegraph would know this how, exactly? - Ed]. The newspaper said Prince Andrew, Ferguson's ex-husband, was masterminding a "rescue plan" to avoid the embarrassment of filing for bankruptcy. No senior member of the royal family has been declared bankrupt.
Milk to stay free for under-fives as David Cameron makes policy U-turn
The coalition government was accused of making policy "on the hoof" yesterday after plans to remove free milk for the under-fives were summarily dropped by David Cameron amid fears it would remind voters of the "Thatcher milk snatcher" episode of the 1970s. Cameron moved so quickly that David Willetts, the higher education minister, was on live television defending the idea of removing free milk when the prime minister announced the U-turn, leaving broadcasters to tell Willetts of the change.
Big boy for five
The idea of cutting free milk had been the brainchild of the junior health minister, Anne Milton, who today received the full backing of the prime minister and the health secretary. A spokesman for the Department of Health saidtoday the proposal was "one of the options" being considered, adding: "We have decided to rule it out. "The prime minister and the secretary of state for health have full confidence in Anne Milton," he said. "She is a very good minister doing what she was asked to do – come up with ideas to save money. But we are not going ahead with this one."
The government expected opposition to the measure from the media, parents, nurseries, childminders and the dairy sector. In a letter to the Scottish Office, Milton said: "Abolition of the scheme is likely to be highly controversial, particularly as this will affect some children in low-income families." She added: "This should not prevent us from ending an ineffective universal measure … given the state of public finances and the need to make savings." Milton said that the cost of running the scheme in England this year was nearly £50m and would rise to £59m in 2011-12. She said the programme did not "provide value for money in difficult times" and had "become increasingly outdated". Health was one department that had been due to have its budget protected in the autumn spending review.
The government expected opposition to the measure from the media, parents, nurseries, childminders and the dairy sector. In a letter to the Scottish Office, Milton said: "Abolition of the scheme is likely to be highly controversial, particularly as this will affect some children in low-income families." She added: "This should not prevent us from ending an ineffective universal measure … given the state of public finances and the need to make savings." Milton said that the cost of running the scheme in England this year was nearly £50m and would rise to £59m in 2011-12. She said the programme did not "provide value for money in difficult times" and had "become increasingly outdated". Health was one department that had been due to have its budget protected in the autumn spending review.
Labour to vote on leader's power
Labour's new leader will be able to hire and fire his or her shadow cabinet under radical reforms drawn up by the former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett. After the summer recess the Parliamentary Labour Party will be balloted on a series of measures handing far greater power to whoever is elected leader three weeks later. At least 40 Labour MPs, including some only elected in May, had been expected to put their names forward for the shadow cabinet elections, due to be held in early October.
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But senior Labour figures are pressing for the "nuclear option" of allowing the new leader free rein, to avoid Tony Blair's pre-1997 predicament of having the unlikely figures of Clare Short and Gavin Strang around his top table. Other options include a 50:50 split of elected and appointed shadow cabinet members, a quota for women and having a directly elected chief whip. Mrs Beckett warned would-be shadow ministers that it was "harder work than being in the Cabinet. There is no civil service briefing on which to rely. But it can be done."
Gap, Next and M&S in new sweatshop scandal
Some of the biggest names on the British high street are at the centre of a major sweatshop scandal. An Observer investigation has found staff at their Indian suppliers working up to 16 hours a day. Marks & Spencer, Gap and Next have all launched their own inquiries into the abuses and pledged to end the practice of excessive overtime, which is in flagrant breach of the industry's ethical trading initiative (ETI) and Indian labour law.
Some workers say they were paid at half the legal overtime rate. Gap, which uses the same factory as Next, confirmed it had found wage violations and gave its supplier a deadline of midnight last night to repay workers who lost out. M&S says it has yet to see evidence to support the wage claims. Workers also say that those who refuse to work the extra hours have been told to find new jobs. Those in the factory supplying Gap and Next also claim staff who refused to work extra hours were threatened and fired, a practice defined under international law as forced labour and outlawed around the world. The factory has pledged to apologise and reinstate anyone who lost their job.
Next said it had found the situation to be "deplorable" and the chairman of the Indian company it uses has apologised and promised to make amends, blaming demand for workers at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Delhi for leaving factories short of staff. Gap admitted wage and overtime violations and ordered its supplier to reduce working hours to within the legal limits and to refund workers who have been illegally underpaid. Marks & Spencer admitted its supplier had been operating excessive overtime but said it had acted quickly to tackle the problem. It admitted its own audits had found a number of other violations, which it described as "high-risk issues in documentation and conditions".
Coalition Crescent: weekend omnibus
With Dick at Chequers you'd think things would be fairly quiet in Coalition Crescent this weekend. Nadine Dorries saw to that by attacking the prime minister on Radio 4's Today programme over his farcical plan to move council house tenants on after five years to encourage them on to the property ladder. Unfortunately, Ms Dorries's alternative proposal, to allow people to buy their council properties as a reward for good service, didn't take into account that this was how the problem of insufficient social housing came about in the first place. Heigh-ho, another own goal and an unnecessary bruising for Cameron.
Cameron, meanwhile, was trying to suck off up to the President of Pakistan with tea and crumpets at Chequers. Zardari lapped it up, ignoring the floods, diplomatic tensions and insurgency in his own country, not to mention the media's attention on his son [gay, much? - Ed]. All this was a walk in the park for Cameron, unaware that stories were about to break in London regarding the Coalition's plans to give millions to the Church of England, while taking away money from communities wishing to look after their own pubs, news of leaked advice to Michael Gove about the capability of schools to sue him over broken promises and Vince Cable saying he's not a happy bunny. Aaah, Lib Dems - who'd have one, eh?
And then the BBC heard about the Tories government wanting to scrap free milk for nursery schools. You couldn't make it up, could you?
I'd rather have a gay player who can play than a straight one who can't
Nearly a quarter of all people playing, coaching or refereeing professional football personally know a gay player, according to new research into attitudes towards homosexuality in the game. It also finds that almost eight out of 10 fans thought openly gay players would have the same positive effect on football as black players did in the 1980s and 90s when racism in the sport was tackled.
Ibrahimovic and Piqué share an intimate moment
The findings are likely to raise expectations that football will soon follow other professional sports and see a top player come out. In recent years, rugby union, hurling and tennis have seen star players reveal that they are gay while at the height of their careers. But the survey, conducted by the University of Staffordshire, suggested such a move for a professional footballer would not be without risks. Of the professional players, coaches, managers and referees who know gay footballers currently playing the game, a third believe they would face abuse from other players if they came out. Almost four out of five think they would face hostility from fans.
No professional footballer has ever come out in the UK while still still playing at the highest level. In 1990 Justin Fashanu, Britain's first £1m black player, announced he was gay after his career had, in effect, finished and he was playing semi-professional football. A number of Fashanu's former team-mates said gay men had no place in a team sport. His brother, John, the ex-Wimbledon striker and now TV presenter, publicly disowned him, although he later retracted his comments. Max Clifford, who is rumoured to have been consulted by at least three gay professional footballers, has revealed that he has advised footballers not to come out because the sport is "steeped in homophobia".
But just under 10% of fans questioned in the survey expressed hostility to homosexuality and resented any liberalisation in attitudes towards gay players witnessed in other sports. Ellis Cashmore, professor of culture, media and sport at the University of Staffordshire, who conducted the research, said for most fans the only thing that counted was a player's performance on the pitch. "One fan told us: 'I'd rather have a gay player who can play than a straight one who can't.' And this is a typical view, not just from supporters but from everyone associated with football," he explained.
One fan who completed the survey of 3,000 people explained: "A player finally having the courage to ruin their career by coming out [would change attitudes]. But it will be the end of their career as anything other than a 'gay footballer'." Another suggested the move could even prove profitable. "He could make a lot of money [as] the first gay footballer." But only, "when football joins the 21st century". Two-thirds believed at least one professional footballer would announce he is gay in the next five years.
Jack Wilshere called up for England duty
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This makes Jack happy
but puppy wants to be careful
SEE ALSO
Saturday, 7 August 2010
The 'big society' is a big fat lie – just follow the money
'The 'big society' is an idea, not a plan." So said Francis Maude, and he is right. It is an airy thought, and the smile on the face of the shrinking state. Maude, minister for the Cabinet Office and paymaster general, says this government will be more radical than Thatcher's – and so it is proving: governments are defined not by words but by how they distribute their budgets.
David Cameron promises encouragement to charity, volunteering and social enterprise. Little platoons will re-engage people with their communities. Every party agrees: a society of isolated individuals is no society at all. The fading of trade union, church, political party and friendly society that once brought (some) local people together has left a gap. Labour tried hard to find political solutions to this lack of geographical community. People feel an emptiness in modern affluence that keeps them behind their own front doors with their own entertainments. But there is also misplaced nostalgia for selected elements of a bygone era, viewed through rose-tinted lenses. These institutions were pre-welfare state necessities, threadbare self-help when there was nothing else. The Cameron/Maude vision looks like warmed over Victorianism, sepia-coloured with a little 1950s national service for the idle young. It is certainly a pre-trade union idea that volunteers will tend park flowerbeds and man museums as the state retreats.
16,000 job losses as Coalition cuts the forces
In the most significant changes to Britain’s defences since the post-Suez review of 1957, ministers and officials plan to scrap large parts of the Armed Forces. The Services will lose up to 16,000 personnel, hundreds of tanks, scores of fighter jets and half a dozen ships, under detailed proposals passed to The Daily Telegraph. The RAF will bear the brunt of the planned cuts.
The Air Force will lose 7,000 airmen – almost one sixth of its total staff – and 295 aircraft. The cuts will leave the Force with fewer than 200 fighter planes for the first time since 1914. In addition, the Navy will lose two submarines, three amphibious ships and more than 100 senior officers, along with 2,000 sailors and marines. The Army faces a 40 per cent cut to its fleet of 9,700 armoured vehicles and the loss of a 5,000-strong brigade of troops. The Telegraph has also learnt that the “black hole” in MoD finances, caused by orders which have been made but cannot be paid for, is approaching £72 billion over the next decade – double the amount previously suggested.
The Air Force will lose 7,000 airmen – almost one sixth of its total staff – and 295 aircraft. The cuts will leave the Force with fewer than 200 fighter planes for the first time since 1914. In addition, the Navy will lose two submarines, three amphibious ships and more than 100 senior officers, along with 2,000 sailors and marines. The Army faces a 40 per cent cut to its fleet of 9,700 armoured vehicles and the loss of a 5,000-strong brigade of troops. The Telegraph has also learnt that the “black hole” in MoD finances, caused by orders which have been made but cannot be paid for, is approaching £72 billion over the next decade – double the amount previously suggested.
While the Strategic Defence and Security Review is yet to be finalised, officials have drawn up a series of likely options to meet cuts of 10 to 20 per cent demanded by the Treasury. By the end of this month the Defence Strategy Group, comprising ministers and military chiefs, will be presented with a number of recommendations that they will refine and pass to the National Security Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, in September. In October, after agreement with the Treasury, an announcement will be made in Parliament on precisely what cuts the Forces face as part of the comprehensive spending review of Whitehall budgets. If implemented, the cuts will mean that Britain will almost certainly depart the world stage as a major military power and become what military chiefs call a “medium-scale player”.
The proposed cuts – which are certain to face a critical reception from the public – are being considered without resolving the question of who pays for the Trident replacement. The MoD hopes that once voters realise the scale of the cuts to the Armed Forces, George Osborne, the Chancellor, may spare some parts of the military. The plans will lead to the RAF losing its status as the fifth biggest air force in the world. The entire force of 120 GR4 Tornado fighter-bombers looks destined for the scrap heap to save £7.5 billion over the next five years. The Tornado was supposed to be in service until 2025, but with a major overhaul due in the next five years costing £10 million for each aircraft, it is now under threat. The cut will mean job losses as RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Marham totalling almost 5,000 personnel.
Under the plans, the number of Eurofighter Typhoons is likely to be reduced further from 160 to 107 planes based at a single RAF airfield to save £1 billion. The entire fleet of 36 Hercules transport aircraft, the workhorse in Iraq and Afghanistan, is to be phased out and replaced by an order of 22 new A400M planes. The £3.6 billion project for nine Nimrod MR4 reconnaissance aircraft is also vulnerable, along with a number of other surveillance planes.
The proposals include a swathe of cuts to the Army’s armoured regiments with the loss of Challenger 2 tanks, AS90 guns and Warrior armoured vehicles. While the Army is likely to lose a few thousand soldiers in the coming year, reducing its numbers to about 100,000, it is braced to lose an entire brigade of about 5,000 when combat troops withdraw from Afghanistan in 2015. It is understood that 7 Armoured Brigade or 20 Armoured Brigade, both based in Germany, are the most vulnerable. Infantry battalions will be increased from about 600 troops to 750 as a lesson from Afghanistan has been the loss of combat effectiveness through leave and casualties, according to the plans. The Royal Marines also face coming under direct Army control from Navy command and the possibility of being grouped into a “super elite” unit alongside two Parachute Regiment battalions.
A senior Whitehall source said: “These are not Tory cuts, these are Labour cuts as a result of their irresponsible overspending. However, a lot of this comes down to how much political appetite there is to do this.” An MoD spokesman said: “The Defence Secretary has made clear that tough decisions will need to be made but the complex process of a Strategic Defence and Security Review will be concluded in the autumn and speculation at this stage about its outcome is entirely unfounded.”
the Daily Telegraph
The Npower Championship Preview
Each team in eight words:
Barnsley
Ended last season poorly, bottom half likely again.
Bristol City
Showing plenty of ambition, but play-offs at best.
Burnley
Squad capable of challenging yet doubts over Laws.
Cardiff City Danny Drinkwater
Top six achievable again despite embargo ruining summer.
Coventry
Shrewd signings this summer, should improve under Boothroyd.
Crystal Palace
Avoided extinction and kept Ambrose - already exceeding expectations.
Derby County
Another dull and disappointing season on the horizon.
Doncaster Rovers
Should survive comfortably, permanent Sharp signing bodes well.
Hull City
Hired the right manager, financial situation still bleak.
Ipswich Town
More outs than ins, over-reliant on promising youngsters.
Leeds United
Predicted to impress despite Beckford loss; we're unconvinced.
Leicester City Michael Morrison
Play-offs are a reasonable target under ambitious Sousa.
Middlesbrough
Favourites after Scottish spending spree - Boyd should shine.
Millwall
Brilliant team spirit and home record; should survive.
Norwich City
Massive momentum on return, capable of outperforming Ipswich.
Nottingham Forest
Struggled to strengthen, risk of being left behind.
Portsmouth
Don't bet until August 31! Promotion very unlikely.
Preston North End
Lack of cash has hindered progress - bottom half.
Queens Park Rangers
Among the favourites as always - it's unclear why.
Reading Shane Long
Considered contenders - was last spring a false dawn?
Scunthorpe United
Star striker sold, another relegation battle looks likely.
Sheffield United
Unpopular manager capable of launching another play-off push.
Swansea City
Rodgers will revive reputation by extending top-half stay.
Watford
No money or loan heroes - things look bleak.
Fabregas stays, begrudgingly
Fabregas isn't known for his happy bunny moments and when somebody gets paid that much you just want to smack a smile out of them. He's overjoyed at staying with Arsenal, as you can tell:
"Firstly I would like to apologise to all the Arsenal fans for not speaking sooner about my future but I have not known what I was going to do until this moment. I cannot deny that joining a club like Barcelona was an attractive move for me. This was the club where I learnt my football, it is my home town where my friends and family are and a club where I have always dreamed of playing. There are not many players in the world who would not want to play for Barcelona."
"I have had many conversations with Arsène Wenger both in person and over the phone over the last few months and although the content of those conversations will remain private, the conclusion is that Barcelona have had two formal offers rejected by Arsenal. I am a professional and I fully understand that it is Arsenal's prerogative not to sell me. I owe a lot to the club, manager and the fans and I will respect their decision and will now concentrate on the new season ahead. I can assure all the fans that now the negotiations have ended I will be 100% focused on Arsenal."
I almost wish Wenger would turn round and tell him to fuck off to Barcelona but he's not in the planetpmc xi* for nothing, so just shut it and play the beautiful football, yeah?
* coming soon
Friday, 6 August 2010
Jack Straw to quit frontbench politics
Jack Straw is to step down from frontbench politics after 30 years, he announced today. The Blackburn MP, who served as justice secretary, home secretary, foreign secretary and leader of the Commons, said he believed Labour needed a "fresh start". "I was first appointed to the Labour frontbench in 1980, and then elected to the shadow cabinet in 1987," he said. "But now I want the freedom to range more widely over foreign and economic policy. I'll be spending more time on my constituency, and I will be writing a memoir in time."
Straw - currently shadow deputy PM - said he would leave in early October when a fresh shadow Cabinet had been appointed under a new Labour leader. Straw said he was not planning to quit as an MP, pointing out that he had been returned with a higher majority at the general election. "They seem to want me," he added. Straw, Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling were the only Labour figures to remain in the Cabinet throughout the party's 13 years in power. Darling has already indicated he is retiring to the backbenches.
Straw told the Lancashire Telegraph he had been "extraordinarily lucky" with his career. "My decision [to leave the frontbench] was entirely voluntary. I decided a few months ago, as it seemed we were going into opposition, that I wouldn't stand. The shadow cabinet is about offering a fresh start for a party in opposition to present itself to the electorate and I thought 30 years was getting on for enough." He insisted his memoirs would not be "kiss and tell", a charge that has been levelled at the recent book by former business secretary Lord Mandelson. "I'm going to take a bit of time, and do them differently," Straw said. "I'm afraid I don't agree to people breaking confidences."
Straw entered parliament in 1977, and was made opposition Treasury spokesman in 1980. Neil Kinnock promoted him to the shadow cabinet as education spokesman in 1987, and when Tony Blair became leader in 1994, he was appointed shadow home secretary. He took charge of the Home Office after Labour gained power in 1997, controversially bolstering anti-terror powers and introducing Asbos – but also steering through the Human Rights Act.
In 2001, Straw became foreign secretary and oversaw the fraught negotiations in the run-up to the Iraq War. However, he was demoted to leader of the Commons in 2006, amid friction with the PM over policy towards Iran. When Brown entered Number 10 the following year, Straw was made justice secretary and lord chancellor until Labour was ejected from government.
So where are the Naomi Campbell Diamonds?
Sounds very like the Alastair Campbell Diaries, have you tried there? Look, I care nothing for Naomi Campbell, nor the trial that has ensconced her, but I have to say it was niggling me as to the whereabouts of those bloody diamonds. Well, it turns out the former head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund has admitted receiving alleged "blood diamonds" from the said Ms Campbell. Jeremy Ractliffe said he personally kept three small uncut stones to protect the reputation of Campbell, Mandela and the fund, of which he remains a trustee. The 74-year-old said he recently handed the diamonds to South African police and would be willing to testify at the war crimes trial of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor. In a nutshell.
"You may be skinny, honey, but at least I ain't no whore."
Campbell told the trial at The Hague yesterday that she received "dirty-looking stones" after a 1997 dinner hosted by Mandela in Cape Town where guests included Taylor and the actor Mia Farrow. She said she then passed the gift to Ractliffe on the luxury Blue Train, intending that he use them to benefit the children's fund. Ractliffe confirmed in a statement today: "Three small uncut diamonds were given to me by Naomi Campbell on the Blue Train on 26 September 1997. I took them because I thought it might well be illegal for her to take uncut diamonds out of the country. Naomi suggested they could be of some benefit to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund (NMCF) but I told her I would not involve the NMCF in anything that could possibly be illegal."
Ractliffe, who worked as the finance director of construction and engineering company Murray & Roberts during the apartheid era [not used to doing anything illegal then - Ed], continued: "In the end I decided I should just keep them. A factor that influenced me not to report the matter to anyone was to protect the reputation of the NMCF, Mr Mandela himself and Naomi Campbell, none of whom were benefiting in any way. So I did not inform the NMCF or anyone else. I have now handed the alleged diamonds to the South African authorities. I do not wish to say any more as the matter is sub-judice and I am happy to testify should the international criminal court at The Hague request it of me."
Police in South Africa confirmed that Ractliffe alerted them yesterday and they collected the diamonds from his home. It was too early to say whether he could be charged with possessing them illegally, they added. "South African police have received the diamonds," said Musa Zondi, a spokesman for the elite crime fighting unit the Hawks. "They were handed over yesterday. They have been handed to the diamond board for authentication. "Once that is done it will be decided whether there is going to be a case into his [Ractliffe's] possession of uncut diamonds. You can't jump the gun now and say yes there will be or no there won't be."
Charles Taylor denies using illegally mined diamonds to secure weapons for Sierra Leone's RUF rebels during the 1991-2001 civil war [I wondered when we'd get on to that - Ed].
[Oh, is that it? - Ed]
Tories hold on to Sitwell
This week's only council by-election saw Tories hold off a Labour challenge in a marginal seat. The result at Sitwell, Rotherham Borough, South Yorkshire, saw a swing to Conservatives compared with May's main polls which were on the same day as the general election. The outcome is in contrast to metropolitan council contests last month in Walsall and Wolverhampton which showed double digit switches to Labour.
RESULT: Con 1213, Lab 864, Ind 252, Ukip 241, Lol Dem 98
(May 2010 - C 2,684, Lab 2,238, Ukip 793, Ind 751)
C hold. Swing 3.1% Lab to C
RESULT: Con 1213, Lab 864, Ind 252, Ukip 241, Lol Dem 98
(May 2010 - C 2,684, Lab 2,238, Ukip 793, Ind 751)
C hold. Swing 3.1% Lab to C
Heard the one about Frank Lampard and the iPods?
The thing about the England of recent years is that even when you think you have seen it all, they always find a way of disappointing you further. Only days ago, the sheer scale of the trust-building task was once again underscored by the tale of the gold-plated Frank Lampard iPods. Have you heard this one? Let me summarise: 5,000 gold-plated iPods bearing Frank Lampard's lasered signature are to be melted down after demand for the £599 product failed to materialise in the wake of the World Cup. Do take a moment to digest those details.
Gold-plated tosser
Writing in this space before the tournament, I recalled all those dementedly self-regarding autobiographies that followed the 2006 World Cup tournament, of which Frank's was such a standout example. Yet at no stage, not even in my most grimly cynical moments, did I suspect that the once-bitten Frank was at that very moment lending his lasered imprimatur to something that even in a crowded marketplace would manage to redefine early 21st century tosserage.
Marina Hyde, the Guardian
Cameron slips up again during the sales pitch
David Cameron arrived in Hove, East Sussex today with his "PM Direct" roadshow, designed to engage the public in his plans to slash the deficit. He suggested that council park gardens should be tidied by volunteers, charges should be levied on visa application appeals and criminal bureau checks in the NHS ought to be streamlined. The public will be asked to rate some of the approved ideas on a website next week. The prime minister urged people not to view 5%-a-year cuts (amounting to 25% over the parliament) as drastic reductions.
"No, but that's what we're telling everyone."
However, his roadshow was buffeted after he was accused by Labour of making a diplomatic gaffe when, during a question and answer session, he referred to "the fact that Iran has got a nuclear weapon". Downing Street said Cameron had "mis-spoken" and had meant to say the Iranian government was seeking a nuclear weapon. The apparent blunder came as he explained why he wanted Turkey to join the EU. Accusing the prime minister of a diplomatic gaffe over Iran, the shadow Europe minister, Chris Bryant, said Cameron had "two right feet - both of them permanently planted in his mouth". Mind you, I think it's safe to say that he'll never make as big a blunder as invading Iraq.
Cameron had also to apologise repeatedly to angry pensioner Kathy Finn after she accused him of "denigrating his own country", after he suggested that Britain had been the junior partner against the Nazis in 1940 when, in reality, it had stood alone. A contrite Cameron said he had meant to say "the 1940s", adding that 1940 was the most glorious moment in a thousand years of British history. "There was no senior partner. We were on our own in 1940 ... You are absolutely right and I was absolutely wrong." The PM said: "There were a few Polish pilots, there were a few French pilots, [but] on the whole it was Britain standing completely alone against Nazi Germany. It is the proudest moment of our history and we should be incredibly proud of the fact that we stood alone against Hitler."
As he continued his efforts to get the public behind his plans to slim down the state, Cameron revealed that nearly 100,000 people (60,000 of them public sector workers) had put forward money-saving ideas to a Treasury website. Highlighting two ideas, he pointed out that health service workers had to get a new criminal records check every time they went to a different hospital. "Secondly, someone working in the immigration system said that when people appeal against a visa decision, even though that appeal might cost £10,000 pounds, that appeal is entirely free," he said. "That is something we can change." He also proposed merging police force use of computers, frogmen, helicopters and other assets, and revealed he was against implementing the EU agency workers directive.
"In terms of the rights of agency workers, I think we have to look at this very carefully. Sometimes you find if you pile on extra rights and obligations, you just end up with fewer people in jobs," he said. "I think we have got to ask ourselves a pretty simple question: if we want more jobs, are we making it easier or more difficult to employ someone?" The shadow treasury minister, Angela Eagle, has claimed many of the suggestions on the website are drivel: "Sterilising the poor, reopening the workhouses, asking single parents who can't finance their children to terminate the pregnancy, benefit claimants to work in sweatshops and immigrants to be moved out of cities". And when do they start?
There was a minor protest outside against the cuts.
Thursday, 5 August 2010
The time to organise resistance is now
"We reject these cuts as simply malicious ideological vandalism, hitting the most vulnerable the hardest. Join us in the fight", writes Tony Benn.
"It is time to organise a broad movement of active resistance to the Con-Dem government's budget intentions. They plan the most savage spending cuts since the 1930s, which will wreck the lives of millions by devastating our jobs, pay, pensions, NHS, education, transport, postal and other services. The government claims the cuts are unavoidable because the welfare state has been too generous. This is nonsense. Ordinary people are being forced to pay for the bankers' profligacy.
The £11bn welfare cuts, rise in VAT to 20%, and 25% reductions across government departments target the most vulnerable – disabled people, single parents, those on housing benefit, black and other ethnic minority communities, students, migrant workers, LGBT people and pensioners. Women are expected to bear 75% of the burden. The poorest will be hit six times harder than the richest. Internal Treasury documents estimate 1.3 million job losses in public and private sectors.
We reject this malicious vandalism and resolve to campaign for a radical alternative, with the level of determination shown by trade unionists and social movements in Greece and other European countries. This government of millionaires says "we're all in it together" and "there is no alternative". But, for the wealthy, corporation tax is being cut, the bank levy is a pittance, and top salaries and bonuses have already been restored to pre-crash levels.
An alternative budget would place the banks under democratic control, and raise revenue by increasing tax for the rich, plugging tax loopholes, withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, abolishing the nuclear "deterrent" by cancelling the Trident replacement. An alternative strategy could use these resources to: support welfare; develop homes, schools, and hospitals; and foster a green approach to public spending – investing in renewable energy and public transport, thereby creating a million jobs.
We commit ourselves to:
• Oppose cuts and privatisation in our workplaces, community and welfare services.
• Fight rising unemployment and support organisations of unemployed people.
• Develop and support an alternative programme for economic and social recovery.
• Oppose all proposals to "solve" the crisis through racism and other forms of scapegoating.
• Liaise closely with similar opposition movements in other countries.
• Organise information, meetings, conferences, marches and demonstrations.
• Support the development of a national co-ordinating coalition of resistance.
We urge those who support this statement to attend the Organising Conference on 27 November 2010 (10am-5pm), at Camden Centre, Town Hall, London, WC1H 9JE."
Signed: Tony Benn (and 75 others listed here)
the facebook page
the blog
The sound of silence
Don't you just hate it when Coalition Crescent is this quiet? It's like the calm before the storm. What are they up to? What do they have hidden up their sleeves?
The Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, has hinted that profit-making companies will be allowed to run new "free schools" in England, set up by parents outside of local authority supervision. The Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, has set in motion the "denationalisation" of the National Health Service by handing over the budget for hospital care to family doctors, and encouraging hospitals to attract more private patients from home and abroad. The Secretary for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, has launched an assault on the benefits system, including swingeing cuts to housing benefit that threaten to make hundreds of thousands of poor families homeless.
A whole raft of announcements and cuts in the first one hundred days then ... that's it, we forget about them? We wait for the economy to start picking up, people start finding jobs again and before you know it their five years is up, the election is called, we think 'oh, they weren't that bad' and they're back in for another term.
Surely we're not that naive.
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Coalition Crescent
The first in a new series recalling the daily comings and goings of the nation's favourite household.
So Cameron goes to Birmingham and comes out with a whole pile of shit that slowly makes its way back to London. First off we discover that he thinks council houses should be allocated on fixed-term deals rather than being granted automatically "for life", claiming that this would allow people to move on if their circumstances changed.
BBC News
BBC News
Getting a bit hot under the collar - that happens when you lie, apparently
Then Cameron dashes any hopes we may have had of public sector funding levels being restored once the budget deficit has been addressed by saying he expects staff to find new ways of working to deliver services on less money.
the Guardian
the Guardian
Then, as part of his 'PM Direct' question and answer sessions (don't forget the guy's a former PR merchant, he can lie anywhere), Cameron promises that there will be ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ following the immediate spending cuts which are needed to tackle the record deficit. The only trouble is it's covered in shit.
the Telegraph
the Telegraph
Where does this guy get off? Not until the train's safely back in London, as it happens.
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Cabinet correspondence
The prime minister and his deputy have written to cabinet colleagues to remind them that reducing the deficit is the "most urgent issue facing Britain". Here is the full text of the letter:
Dear colleague,
In the weeks ahead you will be engaging in vital negotiations with the Treasury about the Spending Review, with important decisions to be made to deal with the legacy of the previous government and restore health to the public finances and confidence to our economy. In that context we thought it would be helpful to remind you of the discussions held at our cabinet meeting at Chequers just over a week ago - and the conclusions we reached about the central purpose that will guide all our decisions as a government.
Deficit reduction and continuing to ensure economic recovery is the most urgent issue facing Britain. We agreed that, as we deliver this, our government's purpose is to make two major shifts in our political and national life:
The first is a radical redistribution of power from government to communities and people, to reverse decades of over-centralisation. Almost all our plans involve giving individuals, families and communities more control over their lives - whether that's through opening new schools, giving locally elected councillors a say over local NHS services or holding local police to account. The importance of this approach cannot be overstated. It underpins our attitude to public service reform. It animates our plans for genuine localism. It explains our focus on government transparency. If we are true to this purpose then the people of this country will feel a new sense of power and responsibility in their daily lives.
The second fundamental change is that this government, unlike previous governments, will govern for the long term. That's why we are prepared to take the difficult decisions necessary to equip Britain for long-term success. This approach not only underpins our commitment to safeguarding our environment for future generations and to restoring transparency and accountability to our politics, it must also underpin everything we do in the spending review. That means welfare reform that will get people off benefits and into work; effective support for children in the crucial early years to provide them with a fair chance in life; tackling the blight of youth unemployment and long-term investment in our infrastructure to build a competitive and sustainable economy for the future. These should be our priorities, not the short term gimmicks, top down dictats and wasteful subsidies of the past.
So this is the purpose of our government, in one sentence: putting power in the hands of communities and individuals and equipping Britain for long-term success. Over the course of the Spending Review we need you to ensure that this purpose is felt across your departments. Whatever the options on the table, whatever the decision to be made, the same questions must be asked: will it put more power in people's hands? And will it equip Britain for long-term success?
Finally we want to thank you for your hard work and commitment to this coalition. It's been an intense and at times tough twelve weeks - we hope you get a good summer break.
The swans will sing when the jackdaws are silent.
Trade unions plan 'autumn of discontent'
Britain faces an autumn of discontent as trade unions threaten a campaign of national strikes over spending cuts, pay and pensions in the public sector. Civil servants, teachers and health and transport workers face calls to join a national day of action on 20 October, the day the chancellor, George Osborne, is to disclose details of a spending review designed to cut public spending by £83bn. A further day of marches and demonstrations is planned for 23 October, aswell as a series of strike days during the autumn as unions gear up to fight an expected 600,000 public sector job losses.
As the leaves fall, the unions rise
Motions tabled for the Trade Union Congress (TUC) conference in Manchester next month call for co-ordinated action by unions including the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), Unison, the National Union of Teachers, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU). Unison, Britain's biggest public sector trade union with 1.3 million members, has called on unions to join a Europe-wide day of action in September. It said the TUC should back the European Trade Union Confederation's planned European Day of Action on 29 September, which will include a rally in Brussels timed to coincide with a meeting of European Union finance ministers.
Meanwhile the RMT is also warning the government against any further changes to trade union law which would prompt strike action. The RMT said the TUC conference would be the launchpad for a co-ordinated fight against the cuts. "Our defence must be built on generalised strike action and community resistance," said the RMT general secretary, Bob Crow (above), predicting the biggest public mobilisation since the anti-poll tax riots of 1990. The prime minister, David Cameron, who is likely to be on paternity leave during the TUC conference, has declined an invitation to address the congress.
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Clegg criticised for bulldozing voting reform legislation through Commons
A committee of MPs has attacked as "inadequate" the time it has been given to look into political reform bills due to be voted on in September. The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee said it "regrets" the timetable set out for legislation covering the voting reform referendum, fixed-term parliaments and a cut in the number of MPs. In a one-page report it noted Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg had described the Bill as "fundamental to this House and to our democracy". But it said there were only two sitting days in the Commons between the Bill being introduced and the second reading debate and vote.
In a letter to Mr Clegg, committee chairman Graham Allen, a Labour MP, contrasted this with the timetable for House of Lords reform "where a draft bill will be published before the end of the year, which will then be subject to full pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint select committee over several months before a bill is formally presented to Parliament". He added: "On what principle can you justify this different treatment of legislation affecting the two Houses? I have made every effort to adjust the committee's schedule to meet the government's legislative timetable, and I have written to you twice, on 25 June and 6 July, to try to find a window, however small, within which some reasonable level of committee scrutiny of the government's bills could take place."
"I have had no reply to either of my letters," Mr Allen continued. "Your legislative timetable has put me and my committee in an extremely difficult position. When the House agreed to establish the committee, it did so, in the words of the deputy leader of the House, 'to ensure that the House is able to scrutinise the work of the deputy prime minister'. In the case of these two bills you have denied us any adequate opportunity to conduct this scrutiny." The committee also published a letter sent to them from Mr Clegg on the day the bills were presented to Parliament in which he looks "forward to the process of scrutiny and debate over the coming months".
Shadow Justice Secretary, Jack Straw MP, said the report was "further evidence that Nick Clegg's pre-election commitment to increased openness and accountability was just empty rhetoric... Mr Clegg is attempting to hammer legislation through Parliament with the slightest of scrutiny".
Monday, 2 August 2010
Lap dancing clubs banned from recruiting in job centres
Chris Grayling, the Minister for Employment, said that jobs in the sex industry which could lead to “exploitation” would no longer be allowed. The ban will cover any job related to “direct sexual stimulation,” including strippers, web cam performers and topless bar maids, but will not cover other posts in the adult entertainment industry such as bouncers, cleaners or shop workers. Its aim is to protect unemployed people who are desperate to find work from feeling that they must consider taking jobs with which they are not comfortable.
What will he do now?
Until 2003, job centres routinely turned down advertisements for vacancies in the adult industry, but were challenged in the High Court by Ann Summers, the lingerie and sex toy shop, which successfully argued that a blanket ban was unlawful. Since then, job centres have carried adverts with only minimum restrictions. Government figures show that in 2008, job centres advertised more than 350 posts in the adult industry. They included 44 vacancies for lap dancers, 30 for adult chat line operators, eight for masseuses and eight on a topless TV channel. Other posts included "a semi nude butler,” a naked cleaner, escorts, topless bar staff and a kissogram.
Mr Grayling said: “It’s absolutely wrong that the Government advertises jobs that could support the exploitation of people. We’ve taken immediate action today to stop certain adult entertainment vacancies from being advertised through Jobcentre Plus. We shouldn't put vulnerable people in an environment where they’re exposed to these types of jobs and could feel under pressure to work in the sex industry.” The ban is being introduced on a temporary basis, before the Government brings forward legislation to impose permanent restrictions.
But some sex workers oppose the ban. A 28-year-old sex worker called “Giselle” told the BBC how she got a job as a lap dancer after seeing an advert in a job centre when she was 19. She said: "This is a job to turn to when you really need money but most establishments are run well and no one is forced into it." A recent consultation found that the public was overwhelmingly opposed to vacancies for sex work being displayed in government-run job centres. Most people also expressed concern that sex workers were vulnerable to harassment and discrimination.
Hospital trusts plan new wings and wards to cater for private patients
The Guardian claims that as Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, prepares to abolish the cap limiting the amount of income hospitals can earn from private patients, elite NHS foundation trusts are gearing themselves up to lure the wealthier, sick clients from home and abroad. The Guardian discovered the top ten hospitals were proposing to build new wings and wards to cater for private patients, set up hospitals abroad and entice medical tourists with airport-to-hospital bed services.
Mrs Beige of the Daily Mail Care Home is comforted by her "nephew"
as she is told the cost of a blue blood transfusion at Lansley Hospital
Labour says the policies give "a green light to let market forces run riot through the NHS". Andrew Burnham, the shadow health secretary, said there was "a dangerous combination of lifting the cap on treating private patients and scrapping national waiting time standards," adding: "With no limit on the amount hospitals can earn from seeing private patients, NHS patients can be made to wait. And as waits grow, people will be forced to consider paying for their care. It's the same old Tory NHS choice – wait longer or pay to go private."
Nick Clegg's blank expression provides perfect canvas for cartoonists
Channel 4 News takes a look at the effect newspaper cartoons of Nick Clegg are having on him and his party. Tee hee.
Sunday, 1 August 2010
The coalition has noted your concerns over its policies but will carry on regardless, thanks
The coalition has signalled it will not be changing any policies as a result of public feedback on its programme. No10 said it had received 9,500 comments about the coalition agreement after it invited comment on it in May. It has produced detailed responses to key concerns including school reform, immigration and the voting system. But despite no changes in policy, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander said it showed the government had "engaged" with key concerns.
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David Cameron with his policy adviser
No10 has published responses from all government departments to public responses to the landmark coalition agreement which it said covered subjects ranging from "climate change to badger culling". In explaining the government's position on the issues of most interest to people, it said departments had set out the "next steps" for meeting their policy objectives. The documents largely highlight areas where the public agrees with the direction of coalition policy but a number of sceptical comments are noted. The Department for Education noted "your concerns" about the introduction of free schools - which would allow parents and other groups to set up new state schools - but said such reforms were needed to "accelerate" educational improvement.
The Cabinet Office noted that a "number of" respondents had urged a future referendum on the electoral system to offer a range of options for change including a fully proportional system. But it said the planned referendum on the alternative vote due for next May would "give people a choice" and result in a "clear yes or no" answer. Meanwhile, the Department for Business acknowledged a "large number of comments" had called for university tuition fees to be frozen or abolished entirely - the subject of an independent review and source of tension within the coalition.
The Home Office acknowledged calls from a "number of people" for immigration from other EU countries to be limited and the "strong support" for tighter restrictions on migrants' benefits. However, it said "free movement is one of the founding principles" of the EU and something British citizens enjoy and it stressed that most migrants were "expected to be self-sufficient" and were not entitled to benefits. Mr Alexander said the overall response had been "fantastic". "I hope people will see this is different, a permanent change to the way we run government and it is worthwhile engaging in this kind of process in future," he said.
The government has also published its first monthly update of progress made by departments in meeting key reform targets. The Structural Reform Plans are meant to replace "top down" targets and allow the public to monitor the government's progress on delivering its aims and pledges.
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Author Anne Rice 'quits' being a Christian over attitudes to gays and women
Anne Rice, author of Interview with a Vampire, has "quit" Christianity over the faith's "hostile" attitudes to gay rights, women and contraception. She converted to Catholicism 12 years ago but announced on her Facebook yesterday that although she remained "committed to Christ", she no longer wanted to be part of the faith. Rice was brought up Catholic but was atheist for many years until vowing at the age of 57 to dedicate her writing entirely to Christ.
On Tuesday, she posted a link on her Facebook page to a story about a US Republican-linked punk rock Christian ministry which allegedly said that Muslim countries which execute gay people are more "moral" than the US. Rice wrote: "No wonder people despise us, Christians, and think we are an ignorant and violent lot. I don't blame them. This kind of thing makes me weep. Maybe commitment to Christ means not being a Christian."
On Wednesday, she added: "For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being 'Christian' or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to 'belong' to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else. I quit being a Christian. I'm out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen."
Go, you!
David Cameron spins a worldwide web of deceit
Under Cameron the Foreign Office has become the marketing department of Great Britain Inc. He has decided that Simon Fraser, permanent secretary at the Department for Business, should be the next head of the diplomatic service and run it on commercial lines. He envisages a future when corporate hotshots and CBI bureaucrats can become Her Britannic Majesty's ambassadors to far-flung lands the better to cut deals with the natives. Labour's ethical dimension to foreign policy, such as it was, is history. Cameron tours the world not as statesman or democratic leader but as Britain's head of PR, whose job is to suck up to potential customers until they buy a nuclear reactor or Hawk jet. If alert listeners catch a direct falsehood in his sales patter, aides are on hand to explain that he "misspoke" or was misunderstood.
David Cameron, Head of PR, Great Britain Inc.
But so intent was he on securing access for British companies to the Turkish market, he lacked the courage to be a candid friend. He could not add that Turkey's progress had halted, and until it restarted, Europe cannot and should not allow it into a club whose first task was to confront the horrors of Nazism and communism the better to overcome them. He did not dare say that the supposedly "moderate" Islamist prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is disinterring all the ghouls from Turkey's past, as he grows ever more reckless in his denial of atrocity and indulgence for mass murderers.
Erdogan refuses to join the EU in supporting the charges of crimes against humanity in Darfur the International Criminal Court has levelled against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. On the contrary, he has invited the blood-soaked brute to Turkey. He has his own culturally determined, not to say historically demented, grounds for knowing Bashir is innocent. "No Muslim could perpetrate genocide," he said.
"Who now remembers the Armenians?" asked Adolf Hitler as he ordered the extermination of the Jews. Not David Cameron, who could not even remember that Britain fought Hitler alone in the Blitz as he sought to suck up to Obama by declaring that Britain was America's "junior partner" in 1940.
His wilful amnesia makes his denunciations of Pakistan seem simultaneously accurate but devious. We did not need documents on WikiLeaks to tell us that elements within the Pakistani intelligence services are on the Taliban's side. But he ought to know that the Taliban has also murdered thousands of Pakistani civilians in atrocities that the western media barely bother to cover. For Cameron to say that Pakistan was exporting terrorism without acknowledging that Pakistanis were also victims of terrorism, was simply playing to the prejudices of his Indian listeners the better to persuade them to cut deals with the throng of eager British businessmen he had brought in his wake.
Watching him tour the world, I feared that our new centre-right government thinks it can take a holiday from history and concentrate on the lucrative and agreeable business of finding new contracts for BAE and markets for Tesco instead. History has a habit of teaching people the hard way that there is no easy escape from political and moral responsibility. If you do not seek to mould the world, the world will most certainly seek to mould you.
Adapted from an article by Nick Cohen in the Observer
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