'LOSING CONTROL'
20 May 2013
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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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The calls for banking reform are growing. About time. The big crash was more than five years ago. Since then we've had Libor rate-fixing, bonuses for failed financiers, massive fines for malpractices by leading banks, mis-sold PPI, interest rate swaps, fraud, money-laundering and tax dodging. Scandal after scandal. Are we mugs or masochists? Why do we put up with it? The rot has got to stop.
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If David Cameron expected voters to respect him for firming up his commitment to a referendum on the European Union, YouGov’s latest polling for The Times will disappoint him. Most Britons, including a majority of those who voted Conservative in 2010, think he is acting out of tactical calculation rather than because he feels deeply about the issue.
My argument was that all of the likely election outcomes in 2015, the least likely was an overall Tory victory that would enable him to remain in Downing Street. Now, though, I'm beginning to think his downfall could come even sooner.
Police officers are sometimes accused of being self-interested but few care more about justice for victims and families than the officers who put their own safety on the line to ensure that offenders are brought to justice.
In the midst of three growing scandals, Wednesday's White House Press Briefing could mark a fundamental change in the relationship between the Obama Administration and The White House Press Corps.
For many of us, rape often remains invisible. It is not acknowledged, discussed or even prosecuted. Yet for survivors, it is a traumatic, life-changing event. Whether the assailant is unknown or even if he is a partner, survivors need support. Being in a relationship does not mean that sexual rights are void.
Late last night I was at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to attend a crucial gathering of Ambassadors and embassy officials from dozens of different nations. A few short weeks ago, the United Nations agreed to adopt the world's first international arms trade treaty. This treaty has the potential to stem the flow of weapons to conflicts; conflicts where thousands of people are killed, injured, raped, and forced to flee from their homes.
Don't agree with the title? Well you are not alone, as neither do I. But student equality rights group, Student Rights, believes segregation of men and women is a cause for deep concern in University events. But not in toilets, or in society. In particular in Muslim university events.
Today is important. Not only because there are flagrant human rights abuses, but also because those of us that wander have lost and will continue to lose. Those of us that are first generation might have experienced visits or the scattered memories of our parents, but that loss, that inability to return, is one that will continue to be passed through generations.
With a rising number of Conservatives calling for a referendum before 2017 and the unlikely chances of this happening given that their coalition partners do not agree, the Europe question is going to be argued and debated for some time to come.
It is often said that voter turnout is highly dependent on a closely fought election at which a lot is at stake. A global economic crisis, declining living standards, and an unpopular coalition government surely provide the essential ingredients for a high participation general election in 2015? But the latest results from the Hansard Society's 10th Audit of Political Engagement suggest the contrary.
I never thought I'd say this, but I think the rise of Ukip is overall a very positive development in British politics. Why? Because the British people see in Mr Farage a person who understands them. In Ukip they see a movement that stands apart from the fossils in Westminster. And for the first time since 1997 when Blair swept into power, there is a sense that things could be different...The problem is that the political parties that dominate British politics all end up saying roughly the same thing. There might be rhetorical differences, but ultimately they are singing from the same hymn sheet.
Ordinary immigrants coming into the UK did not invent numerous devious ways of lending and re-lending useless loans to get rich people even richer which we now know led to the banking collapse and the near ruining of our economy - but you would think they did the way people are piling in.
One year ago, Change.org launched in the UK. It's grown more than we could ever have predicted. Using the incredible power of storytelling and the shareability that social media offers, individuals who have never considered themselves campaigners or identified as 'political' are challenging the institutions that govern their communities, cities regions and countries.
Today the issue of economic justice is among the most polarizing and provocative we have. Watching the arguments for and against is often like bloodsport. Is the level of inequality an accurate measure of a country's success? Are bankers or socialists the enemy?
It is baffling how immigration has changed the game in British politics these days. There are more fundamentally important issues facing British society, most notably a stalled economy that has the country on the edge of a triple-dip recession. Yet, the immigration threat, and the supposed ills it has unleashed on Britain, has gripped the public imagination.
For the Prime Minister to insist that "we would require the agreement of our coalition partners" could be seen as placing politics above principle - an advertisement for self-imposed weakness. The opportunity for David Cameron is visibly to put the country before the coalition. The Prime Minister should offer them an ultimatum.
All the pre-briefing about the Queen's Speech suggested that its centrepiece, its pièce de résistance, would be a new immigration bill. Trumpets sounded. The drum roll played. But by the time the Queen had returned to Buckingham Palace and sent the Crown back to the Tower of London, the government confessed that all they had come up with was a set of three measures that they are considering putting into a Bill that will not even be ready for presenting to parliament until the autumn.
For me it was a speech that showed that after three years in coalition our resolve to do what is right for this country has not left us, and whilst a Queen's Speech is not the place for economic and fiscal policy, it also showed that we are still committed to our central task.
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Cameron's EU Tactics Backfire
Peter Kellner, 17.05.2013
End Homophobia to Reduce HIV
Deborah Jack, 17.05.2013
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