Pensiveness is mood of the day for Tories October 3, 2010 POLITICAL EDITOR THIS shouldn’t be an annus horribilis for the Tories. For the first time in 13 years, their leader will address the party conference as Prime Minister. The long slog of opposition is, at last, over. And yet things are not quite right. Maybe the party should have gone to Brighton or Bournemouth this [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 24, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES QATAR KEEN TO BID FOR CHRISTIE’S AUCTION HOUSE Qatar is eyeing Christie’s, the auction house, as part of its plans to establish itself as a leading cultural destination in the Gulf. Although Christie’s has yet to receive a formal approach, Qatar’s emir, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, told the Financial Times in an interview [...]
Middle class benefits set to be slashed as cuts begin October 3, 2010 THE Prime Minister yesterday hinted that “middle class” benefits like child support could be scaled back to pay for the biggest overhaul of the welfare state in 40 years. David Cameron signalled that some universal payouts wouldn’t be “affordable” if the government pursues root-and-branch reform of the benefits system. Cameron’s comments come after the Treasury [...]
School building scheme halted July 5, 2010 EDUCATION secretary Michael Gove today confirmed a freeze of the schools building programme as part of his proposed £3.5bn cuts to education spending. The plans will mean that 715 building projects are not carried out and 123 academy schemes are to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, hitting mostly marginal constituencies. Gove called the Building [...]
Gove defends school plans July 19, 2010 MICHAEL Gove, education secretary, yesterday pressed ahead with plans to allow state schools to become academies next autumn, despite claims he was railroading the legislation through parliament. Gove said the plans, which will allow schools to be free from local authority control, would “inject dynamism” into a schools system that has been in “decline” under [...]
David Miliband: The least bad option August 31, 2010 ONE of the stories of the summer has been just how far the Labour party is moving to the left, as its leadership candidates appeal to grassroot members and trade unionists angry at the perceived betrayals of the Blair years. With the coalition’s honeymoon long since over, and the Lib Dems’ popularity in freefall, who [...]
Doctors set to hold NHS cash July 12, 2010 THE new coalition government, seeking to cut a record Budget deficit, announced a radical shake-up of its sprawling health service yesterday. The reorganisation of the world’s largest public healthcare system will see family doctors take charge of the lion’s share of a £110bn healthcare budget. Losing out will be thousands of managers in the National [...]
Miliband the elder is Labour’s best chance July 27, 2010 POLITICAL EDITOR THERE are few things duller than a Labour leadership contest. The five rivals have been travelling the length and breadth of the country, delivering exactly the same stump speech at a never-ending series of hustings. It’s a running joke among the contenders that they know each other’s scripts off by heart, not just [...]
BAD TEMPERS AND CHICKEN WINGS IN OBAMA’S ECONOMIC HOTHOUSE August 10, 2010 WHEN Christina Romer, Chair of the US Council of Economic Advisors, quit her role suddenly last week, speculation was rife that she had been forced out due to fighting with colleague Lawrence Summers. Summers is director of the National Economic Council and before his role as coordinator of US economic policy, he was president of [...]
GUARDIAN DRAGS ITS HEELS OVER RENEWING HAY SPONSORSHIP DEAL August 11, 2010 WHAT with an enthusiastic push into online investment, a string of ill-advised private equity deals and a move to swanky new offices at Kings Cross, it appears more traditional stalwarts of the Guardian’s extra-curricular programme could be coming under threat. A little bird tells The Capitalist that the newspaper’s long-standing sponsorship of the Hay literary [...]