Teatime newslinks for Thursday 24th November 2011

PUBLIC SECTOR STRIKES:

• WATCH: Danny Alexander: Planned strikes are "going to have a significant impact on our economy", costing £500m
• "Ministers have clashed with union chiefs over claims next week's public sector strikes could cost the UK £500m and lead to job losses. Downing Street has stood by the claim, saying it is a "fact" that closed schools will stop many parents going to work, which has an impact on "output"." - BBC
• "Civil servants have been asked to man ports and airports during the public sector strike planned for next Wednesday, it has emerged." - Daily Telegraph
• The unions would be mad NOT to strike - The Telegraph's Dan Hodges

UNEMPLOYMENT

• "Official figures show almost 1.2 million people aged 16 to 24 are classed as “NEET” – not in education, employment or training – as school-leavers continue to bear the brunt of job shortages in the downturn." - Daily Telegraph
• Columnist Anthony Browne: The government needs a powerful message that it is giving special help to the unemployed: an employers' NI holiday would fit the bill
• "Concern about unemployment rises to highest level this century" - latest from Ipsos Mori

EUROZONE CRISIS

• Columnist Andrew Lilico: The €uro: A remarkably sustained exercise in Really Not Getting It
• "The leaders of Germany and France on Thursday pledged to press ahead with greater fiscal union among the members of the eurozone as they seek to stem the sovereign debt crisis engulfing the single currency. Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy said they would propose over the next few days modifications to the treaties to improve eurozone governance and ensure greater integration and convergence among the 17 countries of the currency bloc." - FT (registration may be required)
• "Euro bonds are “not needed and not appropriate,” Merkel said today at a press conference with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Strasbourg, France." - Bloomberg
• "The European Central Bank is considering offering longer-term loans to commercial banks that are having trouble securing funding in private markets, as officials scramble to keep the debt crisis from freezing new lending." - WSJ Europe
• "If you want proof that the Eurozone's sovereign debt woes are fundamentally about the governance of the single currency ... financial markets would rather lend to the UK. Because the UK's not in the Eurozone, and because everyone knows the UK's central bank isn't going to let anything crazy happen or get into any wild games of chicken. " - Matt Yglesias
• "concern about Europe/EU is now highest in over six years (though mentioned by fewer than one in ten)" - Ipsos Mori

ED MILIBAND'S ECONOMY SPEECH

• "Labour leader Ed Miliband has said that the government's economic strategy is locking Britain into a "vicious cycle on the deficit". In a speech in London, he said next week's autumn statement will show their plan "has failed" and confirm a further rise in borrowing" - BBC
• "...the Labour leader described Tuesday’s statement as marking “a crucial moment in the economic course of our country”, one in which the public learn “the biggest economic gamble in a generation has failed”." - LeftFootForward
• "...the risk for the Tories is that Ed Miliband successfully turns himself into the tribune of the squeezed middle" - The Spectator's James Forsyth

OTHER TORY & POLITICAL NEWS

• "Nick Clegg says banks and football clubs must do more to end the "racial ceiling" and offer equal opportunities to the UK's ethnic minorities." - BBC
• DECC given extra £200m for Green Deal energy-saving scheme - FT Westminster
• "Labour have accused ministers of making "outrageous and outlandish" comments about the disabled and the feeding the comments to the media." - BBC
• Senior backbencher: 10 Downing Street intervened "to rewrite e-petition fuel duty motion" - PoliticalScrapbook
• Nick Gibb MP on Comment: The Education Act will help free teachers from bureaucracy and restore discipline to classrooms
• Local government: Will there really be any Conservative councils putting up Council Tax next year?
• Who will be Labour’s candidate in Feltham and Heston? - LabourList set out the potential candidates