Author: |Posted: 8:52 pm on 30/09/09
Category: Faisal Islam on Economics
When they can pull themselves away from their framed copies of The Sun, the close of the Labour party conference offers the Conservatives some clear choices on economic policy and the banker bonuses.
Despite the Chancellor’s impressive deal with Britain’s top five banks, there are senior voices in the government who wanted to go much further.
Author: |Posted: 7:12 pm on 30/09/09
Category: Gary Gibbon on Politics
The IFS has helped me out with a bit of rough, heavily caveated number-crunching based on what Gordon Brown said yesterday about cuts.
Yes, he didn’t say much, but he did say he wanted to protect rises in the minimum wage, rises in child tax credits, hospitals, schools and police numbers. And he said he would get the international aid budget to the target of 0.7 per cent of GDP.
Just factor in a few of those commitments – freezing the schools and NHS budgets (the closest we can get to a “hospitals” budget), growing the aid budget – and other budgets would have to be squeezed by something like 6 per cent a year or nearly 18 per cent over three years. read more
Author: |Posted: 6:44 pm on 30/09/09
Category: Gary Gibbon on Politics
The main five British banks will be doling out some jumbo bonuses after Christmas.
What’s changed today is that the Chancellor met the main British banks’ remuneration bosses first thing this morning at the Treasury and the banks said they would abide by the G20 rules which the government intends to bring into law in 2010.
So the bonuses will appear in the bankers’ Christmas stockings – just wait for the truly hideous headlines – but full payment will be deferred for something like three years and only paid across when it’s clear they weren’t short-term evaporating profits. read more
Author: |Posted: 6:41 pm on 30/09/09
Category: World News Blog
Dozens of journalists have descended on Geneva for what’s expected to be the most futile diplomatic encounter of the year.
The Iranian nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, is to meet what some call the P5+1 and others the E3+3. That means the permanent five of the UN Security Council plus Germany, or – if you’d rather – three European countries (France, UK, Germany) + China, Russia and the USA.
Author: |Posted: 6:00 pm on 30/09/09
Category: World News Blog
As if Obama doesn’t already have enough on his plate – healthcare reform is still stalled in the Congress, direct talks with Iran are starting tomorrow and a complete review of US strategy in Afghanistan is underway – now the great battle of over climate has officially begun in Washington. And this one is likely to make all the fights over bailouts and healthcare look like childs play. read more
Author: |Posted: 11:40 am on 30/09/09
Category: Snowblog
The Sun’s associate editor, Trevor Kavanagh has confirmed that Rupert Murdoch was central to the Sun’s decision to switch horses in British politics.
Should we care? read more
Author: |Posted: 9:24 am on 30/09/09
Category: Gary Gibbon on Politics
The Sun’s declaration of support for David Cameron is a carefully timed missile aimed at knocking out any possible positive impact that the PM’s speech might have had – in short, doing its best to ensure that this Murdoch paper is where it always wants to be, on the winning side.
No.10 could see that a Cameron endorsement was coming down the tracks but coming last night, with lethal timing, lethal intent, it really hurt. You could see some of that on the Prime Minister’s face in a couple of his breakfast round of interviews on TV this morning, but he was also being harried quite a bit – actually, more than I can remember seeing in UK politics in recent times.
Author: |Posted: 6:51 pm on 29/09/09
Category: World News Blog
Najibullah Zazi has appeared in court in New York to plead not guilty to conspiring to use wepons of mass destruction. He is accused of being part of what is generally considered to be the most serious terrorism case inside the US since 9/11.
Authorities say it bears many similarities to the 7/7 London attacks, and could have resulted in significant loss of life if the plot hadn’t been disrupted.
Author: |Posted: 3:48 pm on 29/09/09
Category: Gary Gibbon on Politics
You know things aren’t tickety boo when a leader’s speech opens and closes with a plea not to give up. Think big and fight hard, Gordon Brown said.
The fight will follow, did he think big?
New defining policies in an age of little cash are difficult and this speech underlines that. It also comes at the end of a Parliament so promises are mostly manifesto ones not Queen’s Speech 2009 ones. read more
Author: |Posted: 3:35 pm on 29/09/09
Category: World News Blog
On Thursday negotiators will gather in Geneva for the first direct talks that have included American and Iranian diplomats for 30 years. It’s an important moment at a dangerous time, and the White House will obviously be watching very carefully what happens.
But it won’t be the European meeting that really has them biting their fingernails in the West Wing. That one takes place in Copenhagen on Friday when the IOC announces which city will host the 2016 summer Olympics – the next ones after London.
