Toronto Film Festival Dispatch: Cheap Shots Abound in ‘Sarah Palin? You Betcha!’
September 12, 2011 No Comment
It might be impossible to make a good documentary about Sarah Palin. The former Alaska governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee is a politician who inspires heights of both devotion and disgust. There is no middle ground when it comes to Palin and, for filmmakers, that results in either sycophancy or assault. For example, we all
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Labour leader risks angry response in TUC speech from some public sector leaders but will defend historic links with party The Labour leader Ed Miliband will on Tuesday urge union leaders not to rush into premature strikes over government plans to cut their members’ pensions, as he warns unions in the private sector they risk irrelevance unless they can recruit more members. His remarks in a speech to the TUC annual conference in London will anger some leaders of public sector unions not affiliated to the party, following his disavowal of the strike action they mounted in June. Miliband knows he faces an acutely difficult political challenge if he disowns strike ballots organised by the main unions affiliated to the party such as Unite and Unison. He is already locked in talks on reforming the union role inside the party, which are due to come to a head next week. Those big unions are likely to call ballots on industrial action if talks with government fail at the end of next month. Miliband will defend Labour’s historic link with the unions, saying: “Of course, there are times when you and I will disagree. You will speak your mind. And so will I.” He will claim the union party link “is secure enough, mature enough, to deal with disagreement”. His draft speech says: “The relationship between party and unions is not about romance or nostalgia. It is about respect and shared values. It is a relationship in which we listen to each other when we disagree. And we always know that what unites us is greater than what divides us.” He will praise moderate “unions that stand up for their members”, including those at car plants who negotiated with management and “made some sacrifices” to secure jobs. But he will distance himself from the heavy union rhetoric of mass civil resistance against the cuts by saying: “The reality is that, away from the headlines, the new offer you are already making to members is about getting on, not getting even. “The challenge for unions is this: to recognise that Britain needs to raise its game if we are to meet the challenges of the future and to get private sector employers in the new economy to recognise that you are relevant to that future.” He will remind them that just 15% of the private sector workforce are members of trade unions. Ahead of his leader’s speech, the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, accused the government of seeking to provoke a strike and praised the responsible approach of Unison general secretary Dave Prentis. Asked if Labour would support fresh co-ordinated public sector strikes, Balls told the BBC: “We will urge the government to negotiate. Of course, you can never say in advance that there is never a justified strike, that would be ridiculous, but what we have got is a government trying to provoke confrontation. “I think there will be millions of people, including millions of people who will lose on their pensions, men and women in their 50s, who will say, if I am treated deeply unfairly I am going to act, but that is the wrong way to make these kind of changes in our country.” Miliband’s speech will call for a new, more balanced economy and say that Labour would have had to make tough spending decisions if it had returned to government. He will acknowledge that the last government did not spend every penny wisely, and will echo the call by Balls for a plan B to get the economy growing again. Len McCluskey, the new Unite general secretary, claimed Miliband was trying to break free from the “uber-Blairites” that still existed in his shadow cabinet. He said: “I don’t want him to say that strikes are wrong, I want him to say that he understands. If he can’t come out in favour of the strike, he certainly should understand the resentment and the fear that people have.” Miliband’s opposition to the June strikes had been had been “100% wrong”. He added: “He’s taken over a Labour party, he wants to quell the dissidents of his own ranks in the shadow cabinet and in other arenas who are uber-Blairites who are still trying to snap at him, and he has to navigate his way through what is a coalition of ideas, including the trade unions.” On the economy, Miliband will claim Britain is at “a fork in the road”. He will say: “Unless we are willing to challenge many of the assumptions on which economic policy has been based for a generation, we will fail the next generation.” He will argue that “financial services are important to Britain and will continue to be so, but unless we broaden our economic base and introduce reforms to tackle irresponsibility of bankers, we will be exposed to crisis as we were in 2007. “While jobs must be our priority, we must ensure they are decent jobs at decent wages and opportunities are extended to all our young people. We need to reward entrepreneurship and wealth creation, but if we just shrug our shoulders about inequality – not just between the top and the bottom, but for the squeezed middle too – it will cause further problems for both our society and our economy.” Ed Miliband Trade unions TUC Labour Hélène Mulholland Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Clambering exhausted but triumphant from the water, the comic actor has completed his epic eight-day, 140-mile journey Having conquered a gippy stomach, painful wetsuit rash and fear of swans, the comic actor David Walliams clambered exhausted but triumphant from the water in London on Monday after completing his epic charity swim along 140 miles of the river Thames. The Little Britain star’s Sport Relief Big Splash Challenge took eight days, during which his 110,738 strokes burned off an estimated 65,574 calories and raised £1,093,325 – and counting – as he ended his journey early on Monday evening . Crowds gathered along the river’s banks, their cheers buoying him through the final strokes of his 15 miles from Teddington Lock to Westminster bridge. The tidal stretch was always destined to be toughest leg of the challenge, even without the remnants of hurricane Katia licking the water and whipping up strong gusts. As he stepped from the river, with hundreds chanting “David, David” he told the crowd: “I’ve just swum the length of the Thames. I feel quite tired.” Asked what his lowest point was, he replied: “Feeling like my arse was going to explode.” During a celebrity reception, including the comics Lenny Henry and Miranda Hart and the actor Barbara Windsor, Walliams was presented with a pint of Thames water as a memento. “Norovirus in a bottle,” quipped Henry. The Olympians Sir Steve Redgrave and swimmer Mark Foster draped him in a union flag as he was welcome by a guard of honour. Not since a disorientated juvenile northern bottlenose whale took a wrong turn and ended up in the city in 2006 has an object afloat in the murky Thames attracted quite so much attention as the sight of Walliams’s capped head and muscular forearms powering his way to the finish line. “Come on David,” yelled supporters, their admiration in no small way enhanced by Walliams’s determination to continue despite unappealing news on day two that torrential rain had forced Thames Water to dump 500,000 cubic metres of sewage into the very waters he would be swimming through. “We’re not public health experts, but I wouldn’t recommend swimming in it,” said Thames Water’s Richard Aylard, shortly after Walliams had been informed of this unexpected development. Swallowing Thames water – with the attendant risks of contracting E coli , salmonella and hepatitis – is not desirable but proved unvoidable for a front-crawl swimmer who reached speeds of up to three miles an hour. Then there’s the risk of Weil’s disease, carried by rat urine and which last year claimed the life of the Olympic rower Andy Holmes. Despite a battery of inoculations and precautionary antibiotics, Walliams was almost sunk after succumbing to Thames Tummy two days after pushing off from the Cotswold town of Lechlade, the start of his journey. “Perhaps best not to go into further details,” he cautioned during one rest stop after divulging he was suffering diarrhoea, vomiting and low energy levels. Illness was a serious threat to the swim. Instead of refuelling with carbohydrate-heavy foods such as pasta, fish and chips, pizza and porridge he was managing to keep down only toast, flat cola and some glucose tablets. But supported throughout by his Dutch model wife Lara Stone, 27, he battled on with legions of wellwishers lining his route, armed with sugary treats and homemade cakes to build up his stamina. “I am very proud,” said Lara, kissing him in front of the crowd. The actor admitted that the challenge was a lot harder than he had envisaged and at times he feared he had “bitten off more than he could chew”. “I used to like swimming” he joked. As well as the intense physical strain the swim was also psychologically demanding, he said, sending him “slightly loopy” at times. “You’re alone with your thoughts for a very long time. Sometimes 11 or 12 hours. I sometimes had slightly delusional thoughts, paranoid thoughts. I kept thinking someone was going to drop a brick on me from a bridge. I don’t know why”. The actor has been overwhelmed by the support he has received. “It’s been amazing and the public have been fantastic because you know the weather hasn’t been great but people have been out to cheer me on,” he said, just before setting off from Kew Bridge on Monday afternoon.His rescue of the pet labrador Vinny, who was struggling to get out of the river near Cookham Lock in Berkshire, further augmented his hero status, prompting Walliams’s mother Kathleen to pronounce him “a sort of nation’s sweetheart”. “I’m very very proud of him,” she said. “Saving the dog. That was great,” he said. “The British public love dogs.” He was also grateful because the incident kept up the media coverage. Having survived without being menaced by swans – “when they’re coming towards you, fluffing their wings and hissing when you’re in the water, it’s quite scary” – Walliams is now likely to hang up his trunks. He has already swum the Straits of Gibraltar and the Channel, as well as cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats, all for charity, leading his friend and stalwart swim supporter, the comedian Jimmy Carr, to comment he was “turning charitable endeavour into a personality disorder”. The actor confesses he is uncertain what compels him. “I must be a masochist,” he has said. But, at the lowest points, he focused on why he was doing it. He would conjure up the image of a 12-year-old orphan, called Philip, whom he met living in a centre in Kenya funded by Sport Relief, and who wants to be a pilot. “He’s living in the most desperate circumstances, yet he still has great aspirations. I think about him and not wanting to let him down,” he said. Supporters can sponsor Walliams at http://www.sportrelief.com/walliams David Walliams Television Swimming Fitness Swimming Rivers Caroline Davies guardian.co.uk
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Somali pirates suspected of taking woman hostage after her husband was shot dead during robbery The Kenyan military has joined the search for a British woman who was kidnapped after gunmen shot dead her husband at a beach resort in the east African country. The Foreign Office , which has refused to release or confirm the couple’s names for fear of endangering the abducted woman, is continuing to call on her captors to release her. The two Britons, both thought to be in their 50s, were the only guests staying at the sprawling and secluded Kiwayu Safari Village, close to the Kenyan border with Somalia , when the attack happened in the early hours of Sunday morning. Kenyan police are not sure whether the raid was the work of pirates or the Somali Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab . Shortly after midnight on Sunday, at least five gunmen arrived at the beach by speedboat and stormed the couple’s palm-thatched hut, thought to be the furthest from the hotel’s reception. After ordering the Britons to hand over their valuables, the attackers shot the husband and bundled his wife into a speedboat. She has not been seen since and her kidnappers have yet to make a ransom demand. Eric Kiraithe, a Kenyan police spokesman, said the police and the military were now combing the area. The beach, which is usually empty except for a scattering of guests, was swarming with helicopters, police officers and armed guards on Monday afternoon. Guards had been told not to let anyone into the crime scene or to speak to journalists without police permission. Many hotel owners and locals on nearby Lamu island said they had often thought that the resort – only an hour by boat from the Somali border – was vulnerable. “On Lamu, we have always known they were in a more risky position but we never thought an attack like this would happen,” said hotel owner Muhidin Athman. “It’s going to have a bad effect on everyone working in the area.” The search for the missing woman is being carried out by air, boat and road and has been widened to include a 300‑mile (500km) area along the coast and up to the border with Somalia. It has not yet stretched over the border into Somalia, an area described by the Kenyan authorities as lawless and under the control of militant Islamists. Kenyan police have mentioned both Somali pirates and Islamist terrorists as possible perpetrators but are not ruling out local bandits or robbers. Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said it would have been very easy for the attackers to get into the couple’s hut because it had a cloth door. He told a press conference it was possible that the husband had “resisted”, which may have been why he was shot. He said that if the attackers were hoping for a ransom for the wife, it was likely they would get in contact. The FCO has deployed a consular team from the high commission in Nairobi and is working with the Kenyan authorities to secure the missing woman’s release. It has also repeated its warning against “all but essential travel to within 30km of Kenya’s border with Somalia” and reminded travellers that two western nuns and three aid workers were kidnapped in the area between November 2008 and July 2009.The Kiwayu Safari Village, which was opened in 1973, has taken its website offline . A brief statement reads: “Sorry the website is unavailable due to the tragic events. Our thoughts and prayers are with the affected family.” Kenya Africa Somalia Sam Jones guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Another week, another day for Eleanor Clift to get ganged up on as the lonely representative of the “left” on PBS’s The McLaughlin Group . This week one of the topics was Gov. Rick Perry’s statement during the GOP debate that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme . Naturally, Mort Zuckerman, Pat Buchanan and Rich Lowry all came to his defense. ZUCKERMAN: Yes, well you know there was a cartoon in The New Yorker and somebody was asking Bernie Madoff, “What was your inspiration?” He said “Social Security.” I’m not making that up. Okay, so that’s in fact what you have in Social Security is we all know, you have millions of people who are going to be beneficiaries over the next several decades, and the funding still isn’t there. And nobody’s being willing to address this, either by postponing the age at which you get it. So in one sense it is clearly a false basis for the financial structure of it. After McLaughlin chimes in and claims the money is not going to be there for young people as well and who also calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme, then we get treated to Pat Buchanan with yet more fearmongering. BUCHANAN: But John, there is no trust fund. They say, look at the trust fund out in Virginia, they borrowed it and spent it. There’s an IOU out there. He’s telling the honest, though, hard truth! Is is smart politically? Romney is stomping all over him for having said it. After some back and forth over whether Perry made a political mistake with what he said, we get this from the National Review contributor and Sarah Palin fan-boy, Rich Lowry. LOWRY: The Ponzi language is not what’s most dangerous to him. If he goes into a general election saying it’s a failure and unconstitutional, then it will be hard to defend. But no one believes in the financing of Social Security over the long term. But it is a mistake for Romney to take this on now. Late in the segment, Eleanor Clift finally got a chance to weigh in and talked about lifting the cap on taxable income to shore up the funding and the difficulties those who do manual labor would have with increasing the retirement age. Of course they all had a good laugh when she mentioned, heaven forbid, any of them possibly having to pay more in taxes. Heaven forbid any of these overpaid rich white men should think they might have to participate in some “shared sacrifice.”
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Home secretary chooses candidate favoured by Tories to lead UK’s biggest police force, ignoring advice from experts Bernard Hogan-Howe was appointed as commissioner of the Metropolitan police on Monday after the home secretary, Theresa May, ignored recommendations from two official panels that the government critic Sir Hugh Orde should get the job. May hailed the new commissioner as a “tough, single-minded crime fighter”. Hogan-Howe, the former chief constable of Merseyside police, said: “It is my intention to build on public trust in the Metropolitan police service and lead a service that criminals will fear and staff will be proud to work for.” Final interviews for the £260,000-a-year Scotland Yard job were conducted on Monday morning by May and Boris Johnson, the London mayor. They picked Hogan-Howe to become the most senior officer in British policing ahead of three other police chiefs: Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers; Tim Godwin, the acting Met commissioner; and Stephen House, chief constable of Strathclyde police. The Guardian has learned that two official panels that formed part of the selection process, and who interviewed the four candidates, had both assessed Orde as the best choice. However, his public criticism of the government’s proposed radical reforms of policing is thought to have cost him the job. The first panel to reach a conclusion was convened by the Home Office and comprised top civil servants and experts. It was chaired by Helen Ghosh, who serves as permanent secretary at the Home Office, and met on Friday 2 September. Last Tuesday, a special panel of the Metropolitan police authority (MPA) met and also ranked Orde as best for the job, placing Hogan-Howe second. In the last two searches for a Met commissioner, in 2005 and 2009, the home secretary has accepted the panel’s recommendations. By law, the selection of the Met commissioner is the responsibility of the home secretary, who merely has to have “regard” for the views of the mayor and the MPA. Minutes after the appointment, a senior source with close knowledge of the Met claimed there were doubts about the appointment. “You have to hope he is successful. But it is a risky appointment. As commissioner, you have to build a team; he does not have that reputation, he believes he is always right,” he said. “He polarises opinion. The Met is not Merseyside.” The source added that Hogan-Howe’s known closeness to the Conservatives meant “the appointment was a political choice; he has been cosying up to the Conservatives. The Met will remain in turmoil”. But an experienced senior officer said Hogan-Howe had impressed since becoming temporary commissioner, telling junior officers what he wanted in “jargon-free and clear language.” Another added: “He is a bright bloke, very able with a good range of experience. He is a moderniser, committed to diversity. It’s a good choice.” When Sir Paul Stephenson resigned in July amid the phone-hacking scandal, May inserted Hogan-Howe into the Met as acting deputy commissioner. Hogan-Howe, who led the Merseyside force from 2004 to 2009, had left the police service to work for Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, where part of his brief was monitoring the Met. He therefore had to be sworn in as a constable, a requirement of holding such high office. Johnson said Hogan-Howe had cut crime by 40% in three years while in Merseyside and had an excellent record in tackling gangs. The mayor said: “Bernard Hogan-Howe has made it clear that this will be a new more transparent era for the Met, making the police more accountable to the public. ” The new commissioner will face a daunting set of challenges. The mayor demanded quick results ahead of his battle for re-election next May against Labour’s Ken Livingstone and former Met deputy assistant commissioner, Brian Paddick, standing for the Liberal Democrats, where policing will be a key issue. Johnson said: “I believe the public will begin to notice a number of positive changes over the next few months.” Ironically, Hogan-Howe in part owes the job to Orde, who managed to persuade the home secretary to oppose Downing Street’s plan to bring in Bill Bratton, the former US police chief, to run the Met. As relations between top officers and the Conservatives plunged to an all-time low, Orde criticised the government over plans for elected crime commissioners, funding cuts and its response to the August riots. He also dismissed the prime minister’s idea that the Met could be run by a foreign police chief as “stupid”. Hogan-Howe had applied for the commissioner’s job in 2009, but failed to make the shortlist, when the final two candidates were Orde and Stephenson. The change of government helped his cause this time around. Supporters say he is pragmatic about the need to listen to politicians. Critics are less kind. Stephenson and the Tory mayor’s team clashed over the British tradition that police chiefs have “operational independence”. Hogan-Howe will be expected by his peers in policing to preserve that principle while needing to keep politicians placated. He becomes the third Met commissioner in three years. Under Johnson’s administration, first Sir Ian Blair and then Stephenson resigned. The new commissioner also faces the challenge of next year’s Olympics in London, knitting together his top team and motivating his own rank-and-file officers, and dealing with large budget cuts while trying to cut crime. Metropolitan police London Police Theresa May guardian.co.uk
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George Osborne heralds year-long review into the sector as a ‘decisive moment’ to force through major changes Britain’s banks face the most radical overhaul in decades after George Osborne heralded a year-long review into the sector as a “decisive moment” to force through the first major changes to the structure of the industry since the 2008 financial crisis. Even so the reforms will take longer than expected – until 2019 – to implement and are not as draconian as some campaigners had hoped. But as he endorsed the recommendations of the independent commission on banking, chaired by Sir John Vickers, the chancellor pledged to create a “new banking system that works for Britain” after more than £65bn of taxpayer funds were used to bail out Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group during the financial crisis. Vickers, heralding his 358-page report as “far-reaching”, urged the government not to water down his package of recommendations or “pick and mix” as the coalition sets out how it will respond to the proposals by the end of the year. Chief among Vickers’ proposals is a plan to ringfence the retail arms of banks from their investment businesses in order to protect high street customers should another financial crisis occur. Campaigners had hoped that both sides of the banking business would have to be completely separated as individual companies. Under the Vickers plan, banks would also have to set aside more cash than is currently required to cushion the blow of any future crisis. The figure suggested by Vickers – 10% of risk-weighted assets – is higher than internationally-agreed 7%, but Vickers said that the “opportunity must be seized” to establish a banking system that gets taxpayers “off the hook”. He also hit out at bankers’ pay. “We’ve seen large pay packages at a time when taxpayers are on the hook for the banks,” Vickers said. “If retail deposits were not used for investment banking it would go a long way in dealing with the issue.” The proposed reforms – unveiled just days before the fourth anniversary of the run on Northern Rock and the third anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers – were announced amid further turmoil in the eurozone and fears of another crisis for major continental European banks. European stocks tumbled to two year lows, while the FTSE 100 ended 85 points at 5,129 on a volatile day of trading dominated by concern about Greece defaulting on its debt and Italy being dragged in the crisis. French banks were down sharply. Shares in Britain’s major banks gyrated and at times bucked the downward trend on relief that the Vickers’ proposals had not been tougher. But they ended lower, with the fall in the price of bailed-out RBS – regarded as one of the biggest losers from the Vickers reforms – and Lloyds taking the loss on the taxpayer stakes in the two banks to £38bn. Banking experts believe the taxpayer’s stake in RBS may now be more long-term than was expected at the time of the original bailout, because the Vickers recommendations will force chief executive Stephen Hester rewrite the loss-making bank’s strategy for recovery. Despite the scale of the investment by the taxpayer in the two banks, Osborne told MPs that “we should not confuse the interest of banks’ shareholders with those of the British taxpayer”. Criticising Labour’s record on banks, the chancellor said: “The question of how Britain is the home of successful global banks that lend to British families and businesses, but don’t have to be bailed out by the British taxpayer, should have been answered a decade ago. But it was not even asked.” He added: “Today represents a decisive moment when we take a step towards a new banking system that works for Britain.” The reform will require legislative change which is causing tension in the coalition. Senior Lib Dems want it bolted on quickly to an existing financial services bill, while the chancellor appeared to favour a separate bill. “I think it is likely, I do not want to say absolutely in this case, that we will need a separate piece of legislation specifically on some of these changes to banking but I hope that we can also use the financial services bill to also implement other key parts of this reform.” Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, called for more humility from Osborne, who had attacked him for “burdensome” regulation when Labour was in government, as he apologised for the banking crisis. “As I have said before, for the part that I and the last government played in that global regulatory failure I am deeply sorry,” said Balls, who also wants legislation pushed through in the financial services bill. A new consultation on bank reform is now expected as Osborne said “detailed work” would start immediately on reforms that Vickers estimated would cost between £4bn and £7bn annually. Legislation will be passed in this parliament. Amid criticism that the reforms were not as radical as might have been hoped for and taking longer than expected to implement, the ICB conceded that its reforms were “deliberately composed of moderate elements” but insisted “the reform package is far-reaching”. It said: “Together with other reforms in train, it would put the UK banking system of 2019 on an altogether different basis from that of 2007. In many respects, however, it would be restorative of what went before in the recent past – better-capitalised, less leveraged banking more focused on the needs of savers and borrowers in the domestic economy.” Up to £2tn of assets could end up inside the ‘firewall’ – including all domestic high street banking services – as the ICB said that the aggregate balance sheets of the UK’s banks was over £6tn and that between one-sixth and one-third of these should be protected from investment banking operations. But there was caution among industry leaders about the reforms amid warnings that lending to businesses could dry up if banks are forced to hold more capital and reconfigure their businesses. CBI deputy director-general Neil Bentley said: “The UK is going it alone on ring-fencing, so the government must rigorously examine how and when to implement these proposals, otherwise it risks damaging businesses and threatening growth.” Banking reform Banking Financial sector George Osborne Ed Balls Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
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CBS's Early Show on Monday devoted two segments and a news brief to the Obama “jobs bill,” but in none of the three stories did they allow a single Republican to speak. Correspondent Bill Plante filed a report that was almost all Obama soundbites — and to make the sound of a sales job complete, it even included a clip of a TV ad from the Democratic National Committee to help push the $447 billion “stimulus” package. Plante led the 7 am Eastern hour with his report on the President's legislation, and mentioned the Republicans only in passing: “He's [Obama] been saying that both Republicans and Democrats support the kinds of ideas that he's got in this job bill. But he knows that Republicans are reluctant to embrace the kind of spending he wants. So, he's taking his case directly to the voters, as he did Friday in Richmond, Virginia.” After playing a clip from Mr. Obama's Friday speech, the CBS correspondent played up how ” the corrosively nasty debate over raising the debt ceiling soured the public , and they let members of Congress know that when they were back home.” Plante continued that “Republicans appear more conciliatory, and there are parts of the President's job plan they may endorse- a payroll tax holiday for both employees and employers, a tax credit for companies that hire unemployed veterans, and an extension of unemployment benefits may all get bipartisan agreement.” Though the journalist acknowledged the high unemployment rate and how “some Democrats are now questioning whether the President can win another term,” two out of the three remaining sound bites during the report came from the executive: OBAMA: Each single one of these proposals has been supported by Democrats and Republicans before. And so, they should be supporting them now. PLANTE: And with eyes on campaign 2012, the Democratic National Committee is out with a new ad campaign this morning. A TV spot will play in key states, to try to rally the public, and pressure the divided Congress to act. OBAMA (from DNC TV ad): They need help and they need it now. And members of Congress, it is time for us to meet our responsibilities! PLANTE: With unemployment at 9.1% and forecast to remain near there through next year, and consumer confidence taking a nose dive in August , some Democrats are now openly questioning whether the President can win another term. LARRY SABATO, POLITICAL ANALYST, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: There are three important issues in the presidential campaign- jobs, jobs, and jobs. Everything else is number four. Right after that, CBS congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes filed a report on Congress's reaction to the President's plan, but still didn't include any sound bites from Republicans: JEFF GLOR: I want to move now to Nancy Cordes- congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes on Capitol Hill. Nancy, good morning to you. The President is urging Congress to pass this bill right away. We know that probably will not happen. So what's the timetable? NANCY CORDES: Well, Jeff, over the next few weeks, you'll probably see the President and Republican leaders hashing it out, trying to come up with a plan that both sides can vote for, because Republican leaders have signaled that they're open to the President's ideas, but only if their ideas make it into the plan too. GLOR: Nancy, any indication at this point what stays and what goes? CORDES: Well, leaders have already indicated that they can probably live with some of the cornerstones of the President's plan, and that's a cut in the payroll taxes, and also, extending unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless. Where it gets trickier is infrastructure spending. You have a lot of Republicans who feel that that's just more stimulus spending. Others say it's important to repair our nation's crumbling roads. And so, what you'll probably see is some infrastructure spending- maybe not as much as what the President wants. GLOR: And then, the even bigger fight, of course, looming about how to pay for all of this. CORDES: That's right.
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PM secured £215m worth of business deals with Moscow, but made no progress on the Alexander Litvinenko case David Cameron insisted he had not “parked” concerns about Russia’s human rights record, as he ended a one-day burst of diplomatic bridge-building by securing £215m worth of business deals with Moscow, but without making progress on the case of the murdered former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko. Cameron trod a fine line during his 22-hour visit as he pushed British business interests while raising concerns over human rights. But Downing Street believes that differences over Russia’s refusal to extradite the man Britain suspects of murdering Litvinenko in London in 2006 are so embedded that they need to be negotiated around. The foreign secretary, William Hague, also on the trip, said Britain had “met our objective in coming here and expanding working relations at the top of government, reinforcing the opportunity for jobs, and for business”. Among the deals was a lifting of a ban on imports of British beef, which has existed ever since the 1990s BSE crisis, in exchange for the UK agreeing to look into ways to expedite visa approval rates for businessmen, though this would not extend to officials. There had been “no meeting of minds” over Syria, Hague said. Russia does not agree with the UN security council that President Bashar al-Assad should leave office, and instead calls for political reform. The visit was the culmination of a year’s defrosting in Anglo-Russian relations, with Cameron granted the first face-to-face meeting in five years with Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, after a suspension of diplomacy at the highest levels caused by the Litvinenko case. Cameron and Putin discussed the economy and how much each should continue to encourage mutual trade and investment. Hague said Cameron also raised the issue of Litvinenko, who was poisoned with radioactive polonium in London, but the British government does not expect Russia to change its mind. Hague said this meant there would be “no prospect” of a resumption in counter-intelligence sharing while Litvinenko’s suspected murderer Andrei Lugovoi remains in Russia, despite the Russian ambassador to London calling for a resumption in counter-intelligence sharing this on Friday ahead of the trip. Though Cameron and Medvedev said publicly that they had agreed to disagree over Lugovoi’s extradition, Medvedev went further than before, saying: “You have to learn to respect our legal framework. I would like to remind you of article 65 of the Russian constitution says a Russian citizen can’t be extradited for legal proceedings. We should understand it and respect it. We have questions about how court decisions are come to in the UK but we are not raising these issues.” With such an emphasis on trade, the prime minister was under pressure to prove he had not “parked” concerns about human rights abuses. Referring to the Litvinenko case, Cameron said: “This is not being parked. The two governments don’t agree. We are not downplaying it in any way. We have our own position. “But I don’t think that means we should freeze the entire relationship – we need to build a relationship in our mutual interest. Both of us want to see progress. We are not parking the issue, just realising there is an arrangement that hasn’t changed.” In his speech to Moscow state university students earlier in the day, Cameron set out the British government’s position on Litvinenko. He said: “Our approach is simple and principled. When a crime is committed that is a matter for the courts, it is their job to examine the evidence impartially and to determine innocence or guilt. The accused has a right to a fair trial. “The victim and their family have a right to justice. It is the job of governments to help courts to do their work.” Cameron told the students he had carefully acknowledged how hard British businessmen found it to operate in Russia. He said: “I’ve talked to many British businesses. I have no doubt about their ambition to work in Russia … but it’s also clear that the concerns that continue to make them hold back are real. “They need to know that they can go to a court confident that a contract will be enforced objectively … and that their assets and premises won’t be unlawfully taken away from them. In the long run the rule of law is what delivers stability and security.” However, at his press conference with Cameron, Medvedev said: “It is very difficult to deal with most states on our planet because corruption is a central element that exists everywhere. The open secret to you is that corruption exists in the UK as well. It doesn’t mean we are not prepared to deal with the UK too.” Cameron’s broad aim is to “rebuild” the relationship and end the “tit-for-tat” behaviour. In a sign of a potentially lighter mood, Medvedev said that he thought Cameron could have been a “very good” KGB spy, a reference to an anecdote Cameron had told students earlier. Describing his first visit, Cameron said: “I first came to Russia as a student on my gap year between school and university in 1985. I took the Trans-Siberian Railway from Nakhodka to Moscow and went on to the Black Sea coast. There, two Russians – speaking perfect English – turned up on a beach mostly used by foreigners. “They took me out to lunch and dinner and asked me about life in England and what I thought about politics. “When I got back I told my tutor at university and he asked me whether it was an interview. If it was, it seems I didn’t get the job! My fortunes have improved a bit since then. So have those of Russia.” He finished his speech by appearing to make a link between the two periods. “In the last 20 years Russia and Britain have both come a long way but each largely on their own. In the next 20 years I believe we can go very much further.” He ended his speech with a Russian phrase which translates as “we are stronger together”. Russia Alexander Litvinenko David Cameron Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk
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• Bash F5 or use our auto-refresher for the latest • Send your thoughts to john.ashdown@guardian.co.uk • Or get in touch via Twitter at @John_Ashdown 9.02pm: Right, he’s ready now. And out they come. Djokovic in Daz white, Nadal in what a paint company might call Pacific blue. 9.00pm: There’ll be a slight delay. Rafa is apparently “not ready”. 8.57pm: “Does your Def Leppard story give involve the drummer’s one good arm?” asks WiliamHardy on Twitter. Thankfully not. 8.53pm: Montage music has improved: we’ve just had a blast of Queens of the Stone Age. 8.47pm: A theory: The standout moment of Djokovic’s standout semi-final was on Federer’s first match point. It wasn’t the fizzing return that the Serb sent back to win the point (although that was astonishing) it was the way he turned to the crowd afterwards, arms outstretched, milking the applause, drinking in the adulation. For me, it was an example of the psychological advantage he has over Federer, Nadal and, if we’re going to generously throw him in the list, Andy Murray. Federer must be wondering how many majors he’s got left; Nadal, for different reasons, must also wonder how long his body will hold up to the rigours of the circuit; Murray has yet to win one and carries the weight of a nations’ hopes on his shoulders. All three are, in their own way, under pressure. Djokovic isn’t so encumbered – he’s already won a couple, has no injury worries, no records to break or legacies to ensure. He, more than the others, can simply go out and play. As I say, it’s just a theory, but I think there may be something to it. 8.40pm: Sporting events in New York are an absolute dream for the musical montage makers. They’re spoilt for choice . Sky just went for an upbeat dance track that repeated the words “New Yooooork, New Yoooork, New Yoooork, New Yoooork” to a kind of Eurobeat*. Didn’t recognise it. There were better options, though. *Any mention of terrible pop music sends me back to my most embarrassing moment in journalism. It involved interviewing Def Leppard backstage at Top of the Pops, getting trapped somewhere I didn’t want to be and being made to do something I didn’t want to do. If this goes to a fifth set I’ll tell you about it. Maybe. 8.22pm: Weather news: Bad news for fans of those who enjoy lengthy chats about the lack of lavatorial realism in modern cinema – it’s not raining. We should start, bang on schedule, at 9pm UK time (4pm in New York, New York) Preamble Evening all. Are you well. Good, good. Me? I’m dandy, or at least I was until I spilled most of my cuppa all over my desk. You’ll be pleased to hear that it’s all been mopped up (using, for it was closest to hand, a picture of Jussi Jaasekelainen) and that they keyboard area is clear for US Open final action. And what a final it should be. The No1 seed, No1 in the world, reigning Wimbledon champion and reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic against the No2 seed, No2 in the world, reigning French Open champion and reigning US Open champion Rafael Nadal. It’s a repeat of the 2010 final at Flushing Meadows, won by Rafael Nadal in four sets. After that victory the Spaniard went on to beat the Serb at the World Tour Finals in London, but since then it has been all one-way traffic, traffic that has left tyre-tracks on a pair of pirate pants: BAM! Djokovic wins in three sets in the Masters final at Indian Wells DOOSH!! Djokovic wins in three sets in the Masters final in Miami WHUMP!!! Djokovic wins in straight sets in the Masters final in Madrid OOF!!!! Djokovic wins in straight sets in the Masters final in Rome And, most impressively of all … KERRRR-POW!!!!! Djokovic wins in four sets in the Wimbledon final They’ve met five times in 2011, in five finals, and Djokovic has won. Every. Single. Time. That, and the fact that he got close to tennis nirvana at times in the semi-final against Roger Federer, explains why he’s odds-on favourite tonight. US Open tennis US Open 2011 Novak Djokovic Rafael Nadal Tennis John Ashdown guardian.co.uk
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