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Teatime newslinks for Thursday 22nd December 2011

DAVID CAMERON'S NEW YEAR MESSAGE TO TORY MPS

Key points:

  • "We are delivering for Conservatives in government"
  • "The big decisions taken show "Conservative values and beliefs shining through": aspiration (many will be delighted to hear him use that word), belief in low taxes, discipline in schools, the importance of small business, and in particular his 'no' to the EU.""
  • "We came together in the national interest, and we must stay together in the national interest."
  • "The eyes of the world will be upon us, and we must ensure they see a country that is open, strong, confident and moving forward to a better future"

More at Benedict Brogan's blog.

THIRD QUARTER GROWTH BOUNCES BACK
  • "Britain’s output in the three months to September was unexpectedly revised up on Thursday, but this largely reflects the fact that economic growth in the second quarter is now believed to have been zero. The Office for National Statistics said the economy expanded by 0.6 per cent in the third quarter, up from an initial estimate of 0.5 per cent." - FT (£)
  • "The truth is we’re bumping along the bottom, flatlining, after a severe recession and now facing a material risk of a further recession over the end of 2011 and into 2012 caused mainly by the economic fallout of the eurozone crisis. So while this morning’s GDP figures are nice enough, they’re more cod’s roe than caviar." - Damian Reece for the Telegraph
  • US GDP growth revised down for third quarter but jobless claims fall - Daily Telegraph

EUROZONE CRISIS

  • "Prime Minister Mario Monti’s emergency budget plan won final approval in Parliament today as Italy struggles to tame surging borrowing costs before facing 53 billion euros ($69 billion) in debt repayments early next year." - Business Week
  • "Greece’s creditors are resisting pressure from the International Monetary Fund to accept bigger losses on holdings of the indebted nation’s government bonds, said three people with direct knowledge of the discussions." - Bloomberg
  • "European and US equity benchmarks are higher in a generally mixed market, where investors are still absorbing the implications of the European Central Bank’s half a trillion euro cheap loan splurge." - FT (£)

OTHER TORY & POLITICAL NEWS

  • Nazi-themed stag party attended by Tory MP prompts French inquiry - Guardian
  • "The Iranian government has blocked access to the UK embassy website from within Iran, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague says." - BBC
  • At least 63 killed in co-ordinated Baghdad attacks - BBC
  • "Arab League delegates travelled to Syria on Thursday to arrange the deployment of foreign monitors under a plan aimed at ending the regime's nine-month-old crackdown on dissent." - Daily Telegraph
  • The Obama administration’s top 10 foolish quotes of 2011 - Nile Gardiner

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