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BLOGS
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Peter Kellner
:Cameron's EU Tactics Backfire
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Deborah Jack
:End Homophobia to Reduce HIV
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Philip Mansbridge
:G8 or Too Late: Obama, Cameron and G8 Heads Must Tackle Ivory Poaching Crisis Now
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European Parliament Web Team
:Homophobia: One-In-Four LGBT People Victim of Violence or Threats in the Last Five Years
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Neil Durkin
:A Week's Delay Should Suffice: Is the UK Still Dragging Its Feet on Guantánamo?
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If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Now that Osbornomics has failed even by its own parameters, and the right of the party and traditional Tories have had it with the both of them, Cameron has to Do Something. That Something is a new strategy which takes a little bit from here and a little bit from there. Mostly from there: America and Australia. Osborne in his latest big speech refers to "the British People" - a Tea Party tactic. By calling your supporters "the British People" you imply that your opponents aren't. Fox News does this with its "the American People" jibe all the time.
The UK is not a favoured destination for Romanians and Bulgarians, with Spain, Italy and Germany more attractive to prospective migrants. However, there is still considerable uncertainty, since migration is highly dependent on economic, political and social factors in sending and potential host countries.
I am the first person to stand up and bang the drum for Newbury - we're a great market town with a great sense of community. We're above average in almost every respect - most notably in employment and affluence, yet still we seem to be letting our young people down by failing to provide them with the education they so badly deserve.
A third Pakistani school has been attacked in an escalating wave of violence by Taliban militants determined to stamp out the provision of girls' education. Two out of the three classrooms of an all-girls school in Zalim Kalan in the Bannu Province were the latest school buildings to be destroyed...
Younger siblings always want what the elder has; this is a common dynamic, universally observed to be part of family life. It starts with a glance at big brother's more exciting toys and games and finding them more attractive.
What are nuclear weapons? Cold War relics? Necessary evils? Indiscriminate bombs? The ultimate insurance policy? The answer of course depends on your personal outlook. But here's another way of putting it: for the UK, nuclear weapons are over £100billion of taxpayers' money.
From the wailing and rending of garments following David Miliband's resignation as an MP this week, you could be forgiven for expecting a state funeral to be held in the coming days. If this is how we're going to treat someone who was never Prime Minister, never Leader of the Opposition, and held one of the three great offices of state for less than three years, then Malcolm Rifkind will be absolutely delighted. Perhaps it's time to put things in a bit of perspective.
Our contention, sharpened by years of research and global consultation, is two-fold: first, world leaders have failed to make democracy fit to tackle the environmental and social threats facing humanity; second, and despite the lot of them, democracy remains the only hope to tackle those threats.
For all the government's tough talk of protecting the NHS, £2.2bn from the NHS budget was handed back to the Treasury in last week's budget. Ministers have let care standards slip as they obsess over an unnecessary reorganisation that's taken £3bn out of patient care when the frontline is making unprecedented savings.
Over the last month we've seen Britain's big three political parties trip over each other as they bid to out-Farage one another in their rhetoric on immigration.
Yesterday Andy Burnham stood before Parliament and, with incredible chutzpah, accused the government of failing to fully respond to the Francis report. This is, lest we forget, the report that he never wanted, about the NHS trust he so catastrophically recommended for Foundation Trust status.
For me, and all his close friends, this is a moment of great sadness and sense of loss that he and Louise will not be round the corner on a Sunday evening for a cup of coffee, glass of wine or bowl of spaghetti bolognese. He has been one of the most significant figures in Labour politics for the last twenty years and so much of what Labour has achieved David has played a part in.
In many ways, I am unsurprised to see David Miliband leave and move on to pastures new at the IRC. Despite his calls for a renewal of the left, it never came. Or more accurately, it came in the shape as a morph into Blue Labour. The centre has shifted. In fact, it has shifted so far to the right that any sensible person will begin to lose their bearings.
In August last year, I wrote an op-ed for the International Herald Tribune calling for Western powers to arm the Syrian insurgents. Over six months later, the case is even more compelling than before.
Judging by the packed out audiences that have been turning out to hear him speak as the bedroom tax fast approaches, Sheridan's return to active politics in Scotland is not only welcome, it is long overdue.
I am sure you of all people do not need to be reminded that people claiming JSA or any other benefit to which they are entitled are not criminals, that jobcentre staff and benefits advisors are not their parole officers, and that the nation's benefits system was brought into being after a hard fought struggle by previous generations of trade unionists and working class men and women in this country to ensure a minimum of protection and justice for working people in periods of economic turbulence, ill health or any other crisis which might occur in their lives.
