Labour should campaign on AV
Andy Burnham says “It would be a recipe for chaos and confusion if Labour candidates were also supporting AV in their literature.” He’s wrong – the party should campaign for AV.
Right-Wing Watch
Lord Lawson cherry picks data to spread climate change denial
At an International Policy Network seminar this week, Lord Giddens and Lord Lawson, chairman of the climate change-sceptics Global Warming Policy Foundation, once more rolled out the familiar climate change sceptic argument that there has been no global warming so far this century.
Housing benefit cuts: Just how desperate is the secretive DWP?
When government ministers resort to briefing what purports to be new statistical evidence on important policy issues to selected lobby journalists rather than making it available to the public, it is clear indication that they are unsure of their ground. The Department for Work and Pensions has been a hotbed of this sort of quasi-official briefing for several months, as has been pointed out here and by FullFact.
Woolas represents toxic Labour: but he shouldn’t be barred from standing again
The Woolas case raise an interesting question for the Labour party: if the electorate become hostile to civil liberties, should we? Michael Harris examines the issue.
Teflon Teather’s u-turn in the sky
The curbing of emissions from aviation is an important issue for any government. Not only does aviation stimulate the economy, the market mechanisms often advocated to curb such emissions can impact negatively both on those hoping to fly as well as those economies dependent on the transportation of tourists… The Liberal Democrats were acutely aware of this when pledging to scrap the air passenger duty (APD) during the election as a means of protecting Caribbean voters.
Coalition’s “transparency trailblazer” Pickles refuses FoI request
The Coalition’s self-appointed champion of governmental transparency, Eric Pickles, has been criticised for failing to release information over potentially defamatory comments made about chair of the Electoral Commission, Jenny Watson, who his Department of Community and Local Government (DCLG) accused of building her “career on incompetence” and “milking the taxpayer”.
Boris takes aim at Cameron with talk of “Kosovo-style social cleansing”
London’s Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson today criticised the coalition government’s plans for housing benefit, labelling it a “Kosovo-style social cleansing of London”. Johnson’s criticisms mark another dispute in the space of a week between the London Mayor and the prime minister – after David Cameron vowed to block any moves for London estuary airport.
Police: We did not advise Cable to pull out of Oxford visit
The police have contradicted Vince Cable’s claim that they advised him to pull out of a visit to Oxford University today – what would have been the first ministerial visit to Oxford since the publication of the Browne Review into higher education funding. More than 12,000 students had signed up on Facebook to protest the Browne Review this afternoon.
Tory deal with the SNP “ludicrous”
A spokesman for the SNP has said: “There is no possibility whatsoever of a coalition deal with the Tories at Holyrood now or in the future… To suggest a deal is possible is simply ludicrous and reveals that the Tories still don’t understand how deeply opposed the vast majority of Scots are to what they represent.”
How the CSR broke coalition pledges on crime, transport, terrorism and energy
Apart from the poorest being hit hardest as a percentage of income and the weak British economy being severely strained, it is equally appalling how many pledges made by the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have been simply brushed under the carpet throughout the months – and the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) laid them bare.