Thursday 24th July 2008
1am Louise Bagshawe on CentreRight: Have the SNP won Glasgow East?
10pm Nile Gardiner on CentreRight is underwhelmed by Barack in Berlin
PlayPolitical videos: Sky News reports on David Cameron's lost bike and David Cameron on helping people get through the credit crunch
12.30pm ToryDiary: Introducing ConservativeVault.com - a wiki for all things Conservative, such as:
- Hague's foreign policy
- Questions to ask your council
- Timeline of Boris' mayoralty
- How Cameron won the leadership
...and, with your help much, much more! Can you add to the summaries of Conservative Party policies?
ToryDiary: The Conservative AND Unionist Party
Stephen Crabb MP on Platform: My colleagues on the international development committee are wrong to back talks with Hamas
CentreRight: Graeme Archer on sectarian Scottish politics
Local people should be able to veto lap dancing clubs
"Lap dancing bars, featuring naked or nearly naked women, are licensed in the same way as a pub or coffee shop, giving locals little grounds for opposing the establishment of a club in their community. But the Conservatives will say that local authorities should be able to determine whether any plan for a new lap dancing club "is appropriate in a certain area"." - Telegraph
Cameron's bike is stolen ahead of holiday in witch-cursed cottage
"The jinxed Tory leader was "stunned" when it vanished from outside his local Tesco in West London. Onlooker Gary Yankee, 38, said: "He must have been looking around for about five minutes as if he couldn't believe it had gone. He just kept on saying... 'But I locked it'."... Mr Cameron, 41, wife Samantha and children Ivan, Nancy and Arthur are staying in a cottage which has been linked to FOUR deaths after it was reputedly cursed by an angry white witch 400 years ago." - Mirror
By-election day
"Scottish Labour officials believe they will narrowly win today's Glasgow East byelection but with a dramatically reduced majority after a fiercely-fought campaign by the Scottish National party." - Guardian
Boris says Crossrail won't take cash from tube upgrade
"London mayor Boris Johnson warned yesterday that the £16bn Crossrail
line must not take priority over a £30bn upgrade of the capital's tube
network, amid concerns over the level of public funding required to
cover both transport projects." - Guardian
Alan Johnson criticises "Chingford meets Notting Hill" lecturing
"The health secretary, Alan Johnson, last night called for a national movement to combat obesity, arguing that it did not help the overweight to be told their problems were all their own fault." - Guardian
Apprenticeship proposals
"Business welcomed a £1.4bn ($2.8bn) Tory plan on Wednesday to create 100,000 more apprenticeships and shake up further education, but warned about the impact of the proposal to finance the initiative by diverting funding from training... The Tories asserted there was a correlation between the growth in “Neets” – people not in education, employment or training – and social breakdown, arguing people with a job were more likely to be able to hold down a relationship." - FT
> Launch of the Skills Green Paper
Congratulations Steve
"Steve Hilton, the architect of the Tory revival and David Cameron's right-hand man, has quietly married his long-term girlfriend, Rachel Whetsone, after their vicar talked them into it just a few days earlier." - Telegraph
Where are Labour's attack dogs?
"David Cameron has had the freedom to roam around without any credible Labour figure responding. Dig beneath the surface and the Conservatives are vulnerable on several fronts, as their more astute MPs realise. For some reason, Brown has chosen not to dig. Most cabinet reshuffles change nothing. If Brown gets them right the changes could make a difference for the better." - Steve Richards in the Independent
Beckett tipped for Cabinet comeback - Times
Brown to consider banning MPs' second jobs
"Support is growing among ministers for curbs on the traditional right of MPs to top up their £61,000-a-year salary with outside earnings after it emerged that 66 per cent of Tory MPs, 37 per cent of Liberal Democrats but only 19 per cent of Labour MPs have other jobs." - Independent
Pre-school choice - Telegraph leader
The Church agonises over trivial internal issues whilst a child dies
of hunger every five seconds - Archbishop John Sentamu in the Times
Married Tory councillor suspended over public toilet sex act - Sun
Obama is not The One, nor is he a Reagan for our times - Iain Martin in the Telegraph
Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary and visit PoliticsHome.com for breaking political news and views throughout the day.
