Wednesday 14th March 2007
The latest ConservativeHome survey is now online. In addition to the
regular tracker questions there are questions on green taxation, family
policy, House of Lords reform and the Patrick Mercer episode.
3.30pm Interviews update: Any questions for Francis Maude?
1:30pm Seats and Candidates update: Welsh Assembly constituency candidates
12:40am ToryDiary update: Both opposition leaders focus on Trident at PMQs
BLOGS
- The great Adam Smith
- Save on council tax with the Tories if you greenify your home
- Edward Heath's dying wish is refused by local Tories
CF Diary: Two conservative movement training opportunities
Seats and Candidates: Diana Coad selected for Slough
MOVING TO THE RIGHT
"Hot news! David Cameron has changed his hair. Until recently he parted it on the left. Now, suddenly, he parts it on the right. What can this mean? According to Hair Part Theory (Google it) a parting on the left draws attention to masculine attributes, whereas a parting on the right highlights the feminine. A PR man as canny as Cameron would surely know this. In which case, why the switch?" - Hugo Rifkind in the Times
ADAM SMITH ON £20 NOTES
"Surely the Adam Smith Institute should lead a boycott of anything made in Third World sweatshops, until the 12-year-old machinists are given a week off, a free pass for art galleries and a six-pack of their choice. He certainly wouldn't recognise the insatiable greed of modern business, in which nothing is assumed to have any value unless it makes a profit. If someone turned up on Dragons' Den, saying they needed a few grand because they'd love to set up a home for destitute sick people, the panel would go: "How dare you waste our time? This crackpot scheme's going to lose money hand over fist."" - Mark Steel in the Independent
GREEN SCHEMES MUST BE TAX-NEUTRAL
"What voters fear is stealth taxes disguised as green taxes. That is why the Liberal Democrats' "polluter pays" package last autumn was tax-neutral. So is Mr Cameron's. So - in theory - are Labour's road pricing pipedreams. No wonder Mr Brown's speech on Monday invoked money-saving incentives, help with home insulation and those pesky lightbulbs. That sets off fewer alarm bells." - Michael White in the Guardian
BLAIR WORKS HIS CHARM
"Tony Blair has forged a special bond with the Rev Ian Paisley, the DUP leader who holds the future of the Northern Ireland peace process in his hands, by discussing their common interest in and commitment to Christianity. Spearheading a government charm offensive to win round the one time Presbyterian firebrand, the two men have been swapping religious textbooks over the past year." - Guardian
FACE-TO-FACE JUSTICE
"Cherie Booth will call today for a huge expansion of face-to-face justice, in which offenders meet their victims and apologise for their crimes. The wife of the Prime Minister will give warning that sending people to jail does not alter their long-term attitudes and behaviour. The jail system is facing an overcrowding crisis and courts in England and Wales are being put on standby to hold prisoners in cells overnight." - Times
ARGENTINA PUSHING FOR UN INVOLVEMENT IN FALKLANDS
"Argentina has been calling for Britain to return the Falklands for the past 174 years, and the subject has been symbolic of the very identity of the Argentines. Barely any has even a flicker of doubt that the Falkland Islands are rightfully theirs and part of their very identity. In a country deeply divided on nearly every other issue, waking up the so-called sentimiento Malvinas is a sure vote-winner. So, while avoiding glorifying the military, who have remained in disgrace since the Falklands fiasco, Argentina is likely to beat the drum heavily on the Malvinas in coming weeks." - Telegraph
ARMY JEWEL IN A POLITICALLY CORRECT PLASTIC CROWN
"The first thing to be said about David Cameron's
sacking of Colonel Mercer is that it has removed from his Shadow
Cabinet the one member with a record which clearly demonstrates a right
- other than the gift of the gab - to be there. For commanding a battalion in the British Army today is about the best
possible proof of leadership qualities and to drop this genuine jewel
in an otherwise plastic crown, for misplaced reasons of political
correctness, reveals a yellow streak in Mr Cameron which not only true
blue Tories will despise." - Peregrine Worsthorne in the FirstPost
DO WE HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO REPLACE TRIDENT?
"Of the four practical options the Government considered to replace the
present nuclear deterrent, they chose a submarine-based system similar
to the present one, equipped with the Trident D5. For a number of
reasons, the new submarines would be built in Britain, and it is here
that the problems arise. In engineering terms, the construction of
nuclear-powered submarines carrying ballistic missiles presents
technological problems as complex and demanding as those involved in
putting a man on the Moon." - Lord Chalfont in the Telegraph
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