Good Friday 2008

Midnight CentreRight: Nick Robinson attacks Jeremy Paxman's handling of the news

3.15pm ToryDiary: Cameron apologises for cycling offences

1pm Louise Bagshawe on CentreRight: Are Catholics welcome in Labour?

ToryDiary: The shadow cabinet versus the cabinet in parliament

"The ‘Curse Of The Favourite’ has struck several times in recent years.  When you are out in front and people know who you are, all eyes are focussed on you, every move you make is analysed then re-analysed, every speech you make is carefully picked through by your opponents, and - most importantly - every mistake you make is magnified a hundred times."

Tom Richmond on Platform: The curse of the favourite

LondonMayor: All fourteen candidates for London Mayor

Robert Halfon at CentreRight: Nelson Mandila collected me from the airport

ePolitix readers think hung parliament is most likely outcome of next election - ePolitix.com

Derek Conway will not be prosecuted because of arcane Commons' expenses system

"The Metropolitan Police has said it could not investigate the affair because Westminster did not have a system to account for MPs' expenses properly.  It said the Crown Prosecution Service advised such a situation would "undermine the viability of any criminal investigation leading to a prosecution"." - BBC

Sinn Fein newspaper columnist attacks Gerry Adams for allowing parts of his constituency to become no-go areas - Guardian

Brown praises Livingstone as "inspirational" mayor - BBC

Beckham would be a better PM than Brown says survey of Britishness - Sky

Tom Watson MP tells Commons that Downing Street needs "urgent" overhaul - Independent

Britain's first car-sharing motorway lane is opened - Independent

"Britain's first motorway car-sharing lane opened yesterday ... only to be promptly abused by lone drivers.  As vehicles crawled along in congestion, frustrated motorists broke ranks to sail along the free-flowing passenger-only lane linking the M606 and M62." - Daily Mail

Freedom of religious belief

"Who would have thought we would live to see the Bishop of Hereford fined £47,000 and made to attend a re-education course because he refused to employ a practising homosexual in his diocese's youth services? How long before I am carted from the pulpit to the nick for preaching that sodomy is not morally equivalent to Christian marriage?" - Rev Peter Mullen in The Telegraph

How McCain would be different

"Apart from adopting a more practical, less ideological approach to the war on terror, Mr McCain has indicated he would be prepared to be more conciliatory on other key international issues, such as the threat posed by global warming. After meeting Mr Brown, Mr McCain declared that he was confident "we can reach a global agreement that would include China and India. It's a compelling issue for the world's environment and I am committed to it.  Mr McCain has also made reassuring noises about another source of disquiet between the US and Europe, namely Guantanamo, which he insists must be closed and an international understanding reached on "the disposition of dangerous detainees under our control" - Con Coughlin in The Telegraph

In an interview with The Sun John McCain praises Prince Harry.

Yesterday's CentreRight on McCain's meetings with Cameron and Brown.

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

Comments

[Richard]

Yesterday's news - I've just caught up, sorry to be so slow on this. I have searched for comments about the vote of Post Office closures, there doesn't seem to be much around.

Is nobody else outraged at the hypocrisy of Labour MPs and ministers?

On the one hand they campaign against closure and then vote in favour!!!

Name and shame them!!
Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary;
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary;
Geoff Hoon, the Chief Whip.
Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary;
Tessa Jowell, the Olympics minister;
John Denham, the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills,
Paul Murphy, the Welsh Secretary,

Do there people have no shame! How their constituents must feel betrayed by these Januses.

[Paul Kennedy]

Add 2 more to the list:

Helen Jones MP Warrington North

Helen Southworth MP Warrington South

[Rod Sellers]

The labour MP's who campaigned to keep Post offices open and then abstained on vote are equally culpable - in a cowardly way even more so. Sally Keeble Northampton North is a classic example. Star of countless photo ops outside threatened branches and then abstains. Nauseating.

[Dave B]

"Brown? If he has not done so, he should read the indispensable Sir John Colville’s diaries of his time in Number 10. The amusing passages on Churchill’s refusal for many years to move aside for a cabinet heavyweight who thought he was due the top job might ring the odd bell.

Colville describes the night of his farewell dinner in Downing Street with the Queen, Eden and others. After the guests had departed Number 10, the diarist Colville went upstairs with Winston and records the scene.

"He sat on his bed, still wearing his garter, order of merit and knee breeches. For several minutes he did not speak. Then suddenly he stared at me with vehemence: 'I don't believe Anthony can do it.' His prophecies have often tended to be borne out by events." " Iain Martin, Telegraph

[Dave B]

"It’s one thing to slap extra taxes on alcohol – that is a discretionary purchase. But most people regard their cars as essential and the cost of running them has now rocketed, courtesy of Messrs Brown and Darling.

When he was Chancellor Mr Brown became adept at the introduction of stealth taxes because he knew that up-front rises anger voters. And when they are as eye-watering as this, that anger turns to fury.

The car tax hikes could well prove the tipping point for this government, the moment an over-taxed electorate said “enough”." David Hughes, Telegraph

[Dontmakemelaugh]

There are times when we are so surprised by something completely unexpected that after becoming aware of its content we mentally clench our fist in acknowledgement, like a tennis player making an unbelievable difficult passing shot, and mutters, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
For me today was one of those days. It is this headline in the Telegraph followed by the author’s bitter article that brought my attention to the fore:

Without Christianity, our society is doomed

By Peter Mullen

Now I do not profess to be a regular churchgoer, but like many others, if asked if I had a religion I would reply, “Yes, CoE – a Christian”. I recognize that society must have a set of moral rules if it is to flourish and Christianity supplies them, even if is sometimes ignored or found to be inconvenient by all and sundry. And I know, despite what the atheists (they have their own gods) tell us and point their fingers at parts of history, I know that Christianity, despite the failings of fevered, fanatical misinterpretation by some of its followers has been a force for good, really is a religion of peace and is an inherent part of our culture which affects our lives without us being cognizant of it. It is I repeat part of our CULTURE. It is rooted in our psyche.

It was sad, therefore, to read the article by Dr Mullen and instantly recognize what had happened to Britain and have to agree. Here is just one paragraph, but read it all:

“The authority of Parliament is a joke in an age ruled by spin and the Prime Minister's gang of party interest. New Labour has created its own client state out of millions on benefits and 800,000 new civil servants, bribed by the sort of job security and pension entitlements long vanished in the private sector. Public services are near collapse - try getting anywhere by road or rail this holiday weekend. The NHS is a disgrace. "State education" is an oxymoron. The Government loses our national records and lately there have been convictions for vote rigging”.

Bearing in mind that Dr Mullen is a man of the cloth and not a politician, such outspoken political incorrectness after the foolish mumblings of Williams the archbishop of Canterbury and his regard for sharia law is a welcomed if rare event from the Church. What brought the good Dr to write this article was an attack by three Muslim youths on a fifty-year-old colleague and fellow priest in his own churchyard. This leads him also to say:

“Urgent though it is, the threat from a murderous jihad is not the worst we have to face at Easter 2008. Any civilisation has a hope of defending itself against even the most ruthless enemy so long as it preserves the integrity of its own culture and traditions. But for 40 years our governments in Britain have done nothing but undermine the essential quality of our way of life. Those elected to defend the realm have destroyed it. The shepherds are hirelings”.

How very true and that is when I said,” Yes! Yes! Yes. I regret to say the Conservative Party has done its share of destruction in the past and it fills me with despair knowing what Cameron has voted for. He is wetter that a Monsoon month in Bangladesh.
Read the whole of Dr Mullen’s article and weep, but at least someone is waking up. The link is in the main body.
Vote Tory? Why? I don't think so. The Tories have had enough chances and are obsessed with money, but not our culture, which is just as important.

[Tony Makara]

South Wales Echo:

"The Tories have promised tough new measures to make the unemployed in South Wales’ Valleys get work."

I agree that all the unemployed should be able to work. However where are the Conservative plans for job creation? Now I know how to put over a million back to work, but I've yet to see any job-creation programme from either Chris Grayling or David Cameron. All posturing and tough-talk about tackling the benefit mountain is pointless without the jobs to take people off benefit. That is at least 1.6 million jobs for those on JSA plus the 200,000 who are expected to move from Incapacity to JSA. So where are the jobs coming from? Otherwise these people are going to remain on benefit.

[Rod Sellers]

Very well expressed post by 'Dontmakemelaugh'

Rev Peter Mullens article is bang on the button. 'Representatives of the people' of all political parties have abused the power loaned to them.

They have systematically dismantled a cultural framework that over the generations, saw this nation through wind and fire. Now we are drifting without an anchor and destined for the breakers yard.

[Dick Wishart]

I thought about 1.6million jobs had been filled by immigrants so the jobs are/were there, until such time as we break the welfare dependancy culture we will never achieve anything.

[Tony Makara]

Dick Wishart, don't fall for the 'immigrants-equal-welfare dependency myth'. Our massive welfare mountain is the result of 35 years of politicians doing nothing about mounting unemployment. The shift to a service sector economy has created the mass unemployment we have today. The only way out of this is to create a large manufacturing and agricultural base and have that supply our home market. While politicians continue to claim unemployment is caused by immigrants or laziness we will never solve this problem. We have to understand the cause before we can find the cure. So far all I've seen coming from both the Conservative and Labour parties are punitive measures against the jobless, measures that will not create one single job. The British economy needs to undergo a complete re-structuring if we are to ever eradicate welfare dependency. In the meantime the government of the day should create waged public works programmes to get people back into a structured working environment. This is particularly important for the young and the father-figure head of young families. I want Chris Grayling and David Cameron to be successful in getting people into work, but to do that they need to have a strategy for creating jobs, because if there are no jobs there is no work and where there is no work we have people on benefit. So jobs are the key. Wouldn't it be great if a Conservative government was able to end welfare dependency? It can be done, but it requires a radical approach. One that creates jobs.

[Matt Wright]

Tony, politicians don't create jobs in any real sense. Businesses create jobs. The role of Govt is to create the conditions in which business can thrive. Something that Brown and Blair utterly failed at.

[Tony Makara]

Matt Wright, politicians need to take a more hands-on approach over job-creation. That means, as you correctly say, setting the conditions for jobs to flourish. A start would be to support those that supply our domestic market with massive tax relief and even not taxing new firms at all until they have reached a certain size. In giving new business an opportunity to grow we will be taking the vital first steps in job creation. Unemployment has become such a problem now that government must introduce waged public works programmes and make them mandatory. Such programmes could include certificated training for the long-term unemployed. This will cost, but given the circumstances is necessary. After 35 years of doing nothing politicians now need to bite the bullet and invest in wide-scale training and structured work programmes for the long-term unemployed. This would address the skills shortage and eventually form a whole wasted generation into a skilled workforce. The business of job-creation has to be built around supplying our own market with the goods that we are currently importing. British made goods for the British market will mean British jobs and a way to end welfare dependency in our country. This is the only way to solve this. The reason I go on and on about this is because I don't want to see the next Conservative government pass up a golden opportunity for change. David Cameron has shown that he is open to radical ideas within Conservative thinking. I'm hoping that Mr Cameron will take on a more radical approach to welfare reform and job-creation.

[Yet Another Anon]

That is at least 1.6 million jobs for those on JSA plus the 200,000 who are expected to move from Incapacity to JSA.
That 1.6 million is the ILO figure for unemployment, it has nothing to do with JSA which is about half the level of those the ILO coulnt as unemployed.

Many on the ILO figure are not on benefit, it includes some wealthy people and those who for one reason or other are either ineligible for or unwilling to claim JSA, it also includes some people who would not be expected to look for work and it leaves some people out who are economically inactive.

The fact is though, that employers decide that work needs doing and employ people to do it - whether they are public or private sector the right process is that it is decided that work needs doing and people are recruited by the employers to do the work - the whole notion of job creation is looking at it the wrong way around.

[Tony Makara]

Yet Another Anon, if you want to llok at it a different way, how many, by your estimation are on benefit, and how can those people leave the benefit-loop? There is only one way, through jobs, through a completely different approach to job creation. Politicians have followed the orthodox economists advice and looked for the market to create work, it cannot, so the time has come for government to act like a government and step in to create the conditions by which jobs can be created. Much in the way that FDR did in the 1930s when he put four and a half million people back into work through work programmes. However anysuch government programmes should only be a halfway house between unemployment and full time employment in the private sector. Work programmes can alleviate unemployment immediately, however the economy needs to be re-structured to create a million plus jobs in the private sector in the long term. This is a monumental task and would require the best people in the country to come up with intitatives and strategy but it has to be done. Otherwise the benefit mountain isn't going to go away.

[Gospel of Enoch]

Credit where credit's due: Ken Livingstone IS truly inspirational: How else could you describe a man who can persuade people who would never back project Camerloon - or anything else Tory branded - in a month of Sundays to vote Boris?