Saturday 28th October 2006

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BLOGS

ToryDiary: Lord Baker pursues quota plan for new faith schools

Donal Blaney on YourPlatform: Make the steal more expensive than it's worth

Tom Mludzinski on CF Diary: Why I became a Tory

HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT CONSERVATIVEHOME'S FORTHCOMING EVENTS GUIDE RECENTLY?

NEW BLOG OF THE WEEK

The new blog of the week is 'Watlington'.   Watlington lives at the Social Affairs Unit and blogs increasingly regularly on politics - particularly Tory politics, international affairs and also writes regular restaurant reviews.  Watlington regularly looks at UK politicians' stance on 'war on terror' issues.  Watlington's latest blog looks at Sir Ming Campbell's looming de facto endorsement of Iranian extremism, for example.  All-in-all, well worth adding to your favourites.

LIBDEMS MAY HAVE TO REPAY £2.4M

"The Liberal Democrat Party received a formal warning from an elections watchdog yesterday that it could be forced to repay £2.4 million donated by a businessman later jailed for perjury.  The onus to repay the money would technically fall on the Lib Dems' 77,000 members, who could face a bill of more than £30 each." - Telegraph

>>> Politics Show South West goes in search of LibDem women candidates.

THE TELEGRAPH DEFENDS THE MASSIVE BONUSES OF CITY TRADERS

"If a top trader is earning a hundred times the wage of a cleaner in the same institution, it is not because he is working a hundred times harder. Rather, he is keeping a fraction of the colossal sums he is earning for his firm.  Finance is a globally competitive industry, as the hundreds of thousands of foreigners working in the Square Mile will attest. In such an environment, it makes sense for banks to spend vast sums in order to secure the best available talent.  Who benefits? All of us. The City of London accounts for 10 per cent of the wealth generated in the United Kingdom, lifting the entire economy. The taxes paid by billionaire financiers fund the services that their detractors are so fond of." - Telegraph leader

GREEN NEWS

"The European commission said that, based on current measures and policies, the emissions of the EU's original 15 members will be just 0.6% below 1990 levels by 2010. The EU-15 countries are committed under the Kyoto protocol to an 8% cut on 1990 levels by 2012." - Guardian

"The Treasury report on the economic impact of global warming, by Sir Nicholas Stern, will warn that doing nothing about climate change could be up to 20 times more expensive than taking remedial action, when the economic costs of droughts, floods, hurricanes and human migration are taken into account. Its publication, with the personal backing of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, is expected to put the UK at the head of the international campaign to avert climate change." - Independent

Meanwhile a leader in The Times surveys the growing investor interest in green technologies.

>>> Missed from yesterday: David Cameron writes for The Independent on why Labour's carbon targets amount to a cop-out

OTHER NEWSLINKS

"Hilary Benn last night entered the race for his party's deputy leadership and immediately established his bid to be the "unity candidate" with the unlikely backing of the staunchly old Labour backbencher, Dennis Skinner." - Guardian

"The crisis in Darfur, a region the size of France, is deepening by the day. While Sudan's autocratic ruler, Omar al-Bashir, plays a game of political brinkmanship with the United Nations and, in particular, the US and the UK, millions of black Africans lie alone and exposed. There's been a build-up of Sudanese troops in the region over the past two months and attacks by the feared horsebacked militia, known as the Janjaweed, are on the increase." - Independent.  In a recent Spectator article Fraser Nelson mentioned the possibility of an imminent visit to Darfur by David Cameron.  Let us hope that visit happens soon and a little more attention is brought to the unfolding tragedy in Sudan.

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