7.30pm ToryDiary: George Osborne's video response... You're £110 worse off because of this Budget
CentreRight selections:
- Louise Bagshawe believes that Cameron "destroyed" Brown in responding to the Budget. She also thinks it "astounding" that Ed Balls says "so what" to the fact Britons are up to our necks in tax.
- Conor Burns asks: Will Britain allow gay teenager to hang in Iran?
4.25pm ToryDiary:
3.30pm CentreRight: Jill Kirby laments the Charity Commission's endangering of our world class independent schools
ToryDiary: David Cameron's response to Budget... The Prime Minister who got us into this mess cannot possibly be the man to get us out of this mess
ToryDiary: Cameron presses Brown on Darfur and votes of conscience in the pre-Budget PMQs
11.15am CentreRight: Greg Hands MP notes mounting problems with Germany's political system (and sees it as a warning against PR).
10.15am Parliament: William Hague won't commit on post-ratification strategy but says he favours some legislative action to affirm supremacy of Parliament
LondonMayor: What should the next Mayor do in his first 100 days?
Platform: Jonathan Sheppard, formerly of the Royal Mail's Corporate Affairs Dept, offers his perspective on post office closures
CentreRight: Alan Mendoza looks at Mauritian democracy and Alex Deane isn't surprised that illegal immigrants put on a train by police didn't show up at their destination
Labour's failure to prepare for tough times
"After being badly burnt a number of times in predicting downturns that did not materialise, the Tories are being shrewder now. In warning about the credit crunch and falling disposable incomes, Mr Osborne has concentrated on Labour’s failure to prepare for tougher times. The loose fiscal policy of past years has resulted in a sizeable budget deficit – larger than in other countries. So Mr Darling does not have the freedom of manoeuvre of other finance ministers to cut taxes or raise spending." - Peter Riddell in the Times
"Alistair Darling has bowed to growing worries over rising living costs before
his first Budget today by delaying for six months the 2p rise in petrol duty
due on April 1.
Despite signals over the weekend that he would go ahead with the increase,
record oil prices and a determined last-ditch campaign by the motoring
organisations have persuaded him to show consumers that he is aware of their
concerns" - Times
Recession fears reduce Darling's options - Guardian
Extreme child poverty on the increase
"There has been an increase in the number of families living in extreme poverty, according to figures obtained by the Conservatives. Statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions showed that the number of households living on less than 40 per cent of the average income increased to 1.8 million households in 2005/06, up from 1.4 million in 1998/99." - ePolitix
Academic excellence is a red flag for Labour
"The recommendations of the Charity Commission, which require
independent schools to justify their charitable status by making
extensive contributions to the state sector, seem intended to imply
that private schools are not at present prepared to do this, and that
they are thus wilfully maintaining social segregation... By acting as an instrument of the Government's education policy, the
commission is certainly stepping beyond the bounds of its appropriate
function." - Telegraph leader
All schools should be independent - Anthony Seldon in the Telegraph
Citizenship oaths
"Perhaps we could have our children pledge allegiance to a national motto. So thick and fast and inchoate tumble the ideas about Britishness from the Government that the ridiculous no longer seems impossible. It is easy to poke fun - too easy, perhaps. For the very debate about what it means to be a British citizen, long a particular passion of Gordon Brown, brutally illustrates the ever-decreasing circle that new Labour has become." - Alice Miles in the Times
"Lord Goldsmith's proposals for flags and national days and citizenship oaths are almost a Left-wing parody of how Right-wingers are meant to think. Labour is an unconvincing latecomer to patriotism and, as such, it tends to go for the most ham-fisted and ham-acted variety." - Dan Hannan in the Telegraph
Scots criticise oath of allegiance idea - Times
Norovirus hits three wards at Mancroft hospital
"When a Tory peer launched a stinging attack on the "grubby and drunken"
nurses he encountered in the NHS, the hospital employing them defended
them to the hilt. But yesterday it had to defend its standards once more as it dealt with its third disease outbreak in five months." - Mail
Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary...
