Easter Sunday 2008

ToryDiary: Tories appoint former MEP as envoy to Britain's union movement

Anthony Makara on Platform: Britain imports too much

The Events guide has been updated.

PlayPolitical: Bill Clinton hopes for Hillary-McCain general election

Tim Montgomerie on CentreRight: A God that never gives up on us

Godless Britain?

"Look at the paintings of the Crucifixion by the great Flemish Masters such as Hieronymus Bosch and you will see, baying or sneering at Golgotha, exactly the same snarling, contorted, heedless faces you find on the drunken streets of our country. These artists were trying to tell us that, if we reject the idea of absolute unchanging goodness, we will become like that mob, and part of it." - Peter Hitchens in the Mail on Sunday

George Osborne: America's superior response to the credit crisis

"The contrast between the responses of the US authorities and the British Government could not be starker. In America, the attitude is: we will do whatever it takes. Here, our hapless Chancellor boasts about his "do nothing" Budget.  The activity and leadership being shown on the other side of the Atlantic is the exact opposite of the lack of leadership and dithering being shown by Gordon Brown's Government.  Look at the decisive way the Bear Stearns crisis was dealt with, compared with the chronic delay and indecision displayed over Northern Rock. Bear Stearns was a huge investment bank with $10 trillion of outstanding commitments with other institutions." - The Shadow Chancellor in The Sunday Telegraph

Charles Clarke MP: Labour's majority will disappear if 7,417 Britons vote differently next time

"A former cabinet minister has circulated a “doomsday list” of Labour MPs at risk of losing their seats if fewer than 7,500 voters switch sides.  Charles Clarke, the former home secretary, warns that because of boundary changes the party needs to lose only 24 seats, predominantly in London and the southeast, to be stripped of its overall majority." - The Sunday Times

A PDF of the Clarke memo.

"Scottish Labour is facing a major split amid fresh demands that it swing to the left in order to prevent future electoral disaster.  A coordinated campaign will be staged at this week's party conference in Aviemore, with left-wingers demanding that Gordon Brown and Scottish party leader Wendy Alexander ditch the Blairite policies of New Labour and return to old-fashioned Socialism." - Scotland on Sunday

Boris V Livingstone: All Tory MPs ordered to campaign

The Sunday Times overviews the mayoral race: "One activist said the “Back Boris” campaign is now being run so rigidly that workers must fill in time sheets listing their time spent electioneering each day.  “The mood has changed dramatically,” he said. “Before, it was: ‘We can win this’. But with the polls so strong, now it is felt we’ll look like incompetent idiots if we don’t win.”  Caroline Spelman, the Tory chairman, has written to all 194 MPs and prospective candidates telling them to spend five days campaigning for Johnson."

Gordon Brown is scared of losing London - Matthew d'Ancona in The Sunday Telegraph

Eric Pickles condemns secret council tax revaluation

"Millions of homes face higher council tax bills after being logged as having off-street parking or a pleasant view, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.  Ministers have admitted that Government inspectors are building a secret database that will eventually cover all 23 million homes in England...  Last night, Eric Pickles, the Conservative local government spokesman, said: "This is new evidence of the Government's great council tax cover-up. Ministers' claims that the revaluation in England was postponed have been completely shredded. "Every home is being sized up, and every home improvement or sign of a nice neighbourhood is slowly being photographed, catalogued and taxed by Gordon Brown's inspectors. Families face soaring bills for the crime of living in a nice neighbourhood. Only Labour would think of taxing people for looking out of their windows." - Sunday Telegraph

Tories want driving ban to begin after offenders have served any related prison sentence - BBC

Cormac Murphy O'Connor joins calls for free vote on Embryology vote - BBC | Sky Video

Blair had a Jesus complex, says his former chief of staff - Independent on Sunday

Gordon Brown urged to curtail "moonlighting" by part-time MPs - Independent on Sunday

On this day in 1991 John Major launched the Citizens Charter - BBC

General Petraeus on progress in Iraq

"Violence overall is down about 60 per cent on last year. Al-Qa'eda is on the run, its former allies among Iraq's Sunni Muslims having turned against it. Iran-backed Shia Muslim militias are on a voluntary ceasefire, thanks to the cowing of their al-Qa'eda enemies. And most importantly, many ordinary Iraqis finally feel like things might be turning the corner." - Sunday Telegraph

Watch Telegraph interview.

John Howard's successor looks to emulate David Cameron - The Australian

And finally...

David Cameron thwarts Hazel Blears' attempts to stop him being photographed outside the Salford Lads Club, immortalised by The Smiths - Sunday Times

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary...

Comments

[Dontmakemelaugh]

George Osborne in today's Telegraph:

"The contrast between the responses of the US authorities and the British Government could not be starker. In America, the attitude is: we will do whatever it takes. Here, our hapless Chancellor boasts about his "do nothing" Budget. The activity and leadership being shown on the other side of the Atlantic is the exact opposite of the lack of leadership and dithering being shown by Gordon Brown's Government".

So true, Mr Osborne, but why not give credit where credit is due.
The view you have expressed in the article was previously and recently propounded by John Redwood. The suggestion of the raising dramatically the IHT threshold was also first made by him. Can Osborn think for himself or is he John Redwood's parrot.
It would appear that the esteem in which Hef of the Telegraph has of John Redwood compared to the Shadow Chancer is the correct one.
Let us have credit where credit is due (there isn't too much credit to go round).
Perhaps he has acknowledged John Redwood as the originator in today's Telegraph - I will not be reading his peace because I read it first on John Redwood's blog.

[david smith]

See David Cameron's said his daughter looks like she's "fallen out of a council flat" because she was so scruffy - according to a paper review on Sky just now !

[Peter W]

A link to the above found via Google: http://tinylink.com/?TpvwA2eb7Y

[david smith]

re Cameron and council houses, I can't make that link work. But I found it here....

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/sunday/2008/03/23/tory-leader-david-cameron-at-centre-of-a-political-storm-98487-20360074/

[michael mcgough]

More trouble for Betie Ahern as some of his own TDs start rebelling after recent evidence to the Mahon Tribunal.As more sterling cash events emerge the 12th June Lisbon referendum will most certainly become a vote to oust Ahern and a NO vote is likely.Pehaps they'll bring forward appointment of the new EU President to do the job for irish voters.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/fianna
fail--tds--to-see--cowen-over--aherns-fate-
1325402.html

[Andrew Simms]

Pickles striles again. Eric is undoubtedly the usung hero of the Shdow Cabinet. Yet another front page. Fantastic work from the Tory's Yorkshire Terrier.

[Crunchy Con]

Good news - Italy's most prominent Muslim, and critic of Islamic extremis, was baptised as a Catholic by the Pope today!

http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/03/christ-is-risen-in-the-west.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080322/ap_on_re_eu/pope_muslim_convert

[James Maskell]

Ive had the council flat remark thrown at me when I was younger and I didnt object too much, since it was actually pretty appropriate. Interesting that the Mirror is the paper covering the council flat line, talking about how horrible and upper class it is to talk like that, and yet they are the ones who regularly point out his upper class background as if its something wrong to be born into that background. If Cameron has done anything heinous, the Mirror is just as guilty of the same crime.

Of course the real reason these non stories about Cameron are brought up is because the Government are ripping themselves apart over the HFE Bill, a far more important issue. Incidentally, Brown is a muppet for not allowing a free vote on this Bill.

[Patsy Sergeant]

This is not about council houses, but it is about schools!

Small article in the S.Times today stating that - 'The new head of Britain's biggest teaching union has called for the private education system to be nationalised. !!!
'Bill Greenshields,'- (no connection to the stamps, I suppose)- 'incoming president of the NUT, aid such a move would improve state education and make it fairer.' !!!!!!!

Here we go Shirley Williams all over again!

But more seriously, with Balls putting in his own three-pennath of ideas this last week, one could be forgiven that this new 'idea' is not so much Mr. Greenshields idea, but the more typical sideways leak of an impending policy idea by the esteemed 'man at the top' !!!

I love the moronic simplicity of "nationalise private schools" and wow!, just like that "state schools will be better, and fairer".

This is labour-speak for, well we have thrown all this money at education (goodness knows where it all went) and it has done very little good, so lets try another 'bright' idea, make the private sector rotate teachers, or rotate pupils, or forcibly exchange whole schools!!!

It is so obvious that given the slimey envy of members of this government, of that section of society that wants AND DOES, work hard, both producing taxes (for Brown), and hopefully enough money to give their children the BEST education they can - because THEY CARE ---- those same members cannot abide this large group, and it is so much easier to gradually grind the whole group into a socialist straight-jacket (well that is what they would like to do), than to REALLY MAKE AN EFFORT TO FIND OUT WHERE THEY ARE GOING WRONG IN STATE EDUCATION!

[Pete]

The Sky News paper review referred to above was really balanced: a chippy labour woman MP and a chippy lib dem woman MP.

[Yet Another Anon]

The new head of Britain's biggest teaching union has called for the private education system to be nationalised. !!!
'Bill Greenshields,'- (no connection to the stamps, I suppose)- 'incoming president of the NUT, aid such a move would improve state education and make it fairer.' !!!!!!!
Nuts by name and nuts by nature, it is time to crush the Trade Unions once and for all!

[Dontmakemelaugh]

I see that the self-appointed guardian of Conservative holy grail principles is at it again in the Mail. Whilst I agree with his continual angst about the declining social fabric of Britain I have little sympathy with his usual "they lied about about Iraq" syndrome and being called a warmonger directly or indirectly. I have done my own research, read, digested and will not be persuaded by the cry of "lying". All those that want to believe it - well that's their opinion and good luck, but for those of us that don't, we are not warmongers and I do not believe Bush, Blair or John McCain are either: the overthrow of Saddam was sooner or later going to be a no option necessity.

If I remember correctly the Mail during the 1930's (I stand to be corrected if wrong, but I don't think I am) the Mail was against rearmament, thought Hitler was misunderstood and probably designated Churchill a warmonger. If that was the case then the word appeasement is fair to describe its position then and now.

It seems we have inherited the wrong Hitchens.

[Dontmakeme laugh]

The Australian Newspaper reports:

BRENDAN Nelson has been having a close look at Britain’s Conservative leader David Cameron and he mostly likes what he sees.
"It’s quite impressive what he’s been doing,” the Opposition Leader tells Inquirer. “I don’t intend to take our party as far to the Left as that but I am looking very closely at what he is doing.”

Praise for Cameron, but not all Aussies are convinced about Nelson, judging by this in the comment section that Nelson isn't going "as far Left as that" ......

Comment section:

"Kermit likes Miss Piggy too....when its strategically convenient".

Seems like the world is full of cynics?