Rabbi compares ‘vilification’ of Travellers to the discrimination Jews faced in the first half of the 20th century Members of the Jewish community were due to visit Dale Farm Travellers’ camp on Sunday to offer their support to 400 people facing eviction from the green belt site in Essex. On Friday a UN committee called on the government to suspend the “immature and unwise” eviction, saying it would “disproportionately affect the lives of the Gypsy and Traveller families, particularly women, children and older people”. The camp has also received support from Franciscan monks, who last week blessed the site, as well as Anglican and Catholic bishops. Rabbi Janet Burden said: “People may not be aware that the Travellers, along with the Gypsies and a limited number of other groups with similar lifestyle patterns, are officially recognised as ethnic minorities, just like our own Jewish community. As such, they deserve protection under European human rights law.” Burden compared the “vilification” of Travellers to the discrimination Jews faced in the first half of the 20th century. “The language used clearly echoes the rhetoric of antisemitism,” she said. “If you don’t believe this, have a look at the website jewify.org for examples of newspaper articles which substitute the word Jew for Gypsy or Traveller. The results are quite chilling. I believe that the obligation to protect this ethnic minority’s way of life is a human rights issue that, in this particular and unusual case, may need to trump the planning law designed to protect the green belt.” Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, warned last week that there was a great risk of human rights violations if the eviction went ahead. “If they go ahead with the eviction that would be very immature and unwise,” Hammarberg said. “The only way to do this is for the government or the authority in Basildon to appoint people who have trust on both sides to find an agreed solution.” Tony Ball, leader of Basildon council, has repeatedly defended the eviction saying the proposals have been tested through the courts. “Everyone is entitled to their views,” he said last week. “I’m clear that the overwhelming majority of residents of Basildon and in the country support what Basildon council are doing. Local authorities are expected to uphold the law.” Camp residents said representatives from the UN would be visiting the site on 14 September. Jenny Clapham said the growing support for the campaign had given people a boost, but residents were aware they faced an uphill battle to remain on the site. “There is a very serious mood in the camp about the challenges we face if we are going to win this and overturn the eviction decision,” she said. Dale Farm Roma, Gypsies and Travellers Judaism Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk
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The Washington Post promoted Michael Moore's latest book in Sunday's Outlook section. Justin Moyer's promotional piece was headlined “We read so you don't have to,” but it reads like a cover blurb. He called him a “reliable liberal gadfly,” which is apparently what the Post calls someone who thinks Cuba had a lot to teach the United States. Just “liberal”? Moyer plugged the book, “to be released later this month to a nation always ready to laud or excoriate him.” The “highlights” begin with Moore threatening the safety of Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer: On Fox News's Bill Hemmer: Moore was at the 2004 Democratic National Convention when the news anchor, then at CNN, told him on air that he’d “heard people say they wish Michael Moore were dead.” Moore took umbrage and dropped the hammer on Hemmer. “You made my death seem acceptable ,” he says he said off-camera. “I want you to think about your actions if anything ever happens to me. Don’t think my family won’t come after you, because they will.” One can bet that Moore doesn't tell the whole story of that interview. Does he mention Hemmer prefaced that by saying others think he's the greatest living American? The interview came on Monday morning of the Democratic convention in Boston, on July 26, 2004. Moore was probably furious because Hemmer didn't bow and pay him homage. Instead, Hemmer seemed to challenge his grasp on the facts, and we're not talking about Moore claiming George W. Bush would be beaten by John Kerry: HEMMER: That is a clip from the movie by the filmmaker Michael Moore, “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Over the weekend, it went over $100 million at the box office, which is astounding for a documentary. All this coming, though, on the heels, just days after the 9/11 Commission put out its report and contradicted one of the central themes and one of the points that was made in that film about Osama bin Laden's family living and working here in the U.S. and how they were given transportation out of the country. Who better to ask about all this than the filmmaker himself, Michael Moore, our guest now here in Boston on the floor of the FleetCenter. Good morning to you. MICHAEL MOORE, FILMMAKER: Good morning, Bill. How are you doing? HEMMER: Who are you going to vote — I'm fine, thank you. Who do you vote for on November 2? MOORE: Well, you don't vote for George W. Bush, that's for sure. HEMMER: Do you vote for John Kerry or do you vote for Ralph Nader? MOORE: Well, you don't vote for Ralph Nader either. What was my last choice? (LAUGHTER) HEMMER: What explains why your film has made $100 million? MOORE: I think it's because the American people, for the last four years, feel like they haven't been told the whole truth. And both from the White House and the media not doing its job, especially with this war, and the early days before the war, and when the war started. Too much of the media was a cheerleader instead of doing the real job of asking the hard questions, demanding the evidence. And so people have come to this movie to — to see the things that they haven't seen in much of the mainstream media. HEMMER: And in that movie — you heard in my lead in to you about the 9/11 report. Have you seen that report, 600 pages in length? MOORE: Yes. Yes. HEMMER: Have you read the whole thing? MOORE: No, I have not. HEMMER: Well, you have the executive summary, a couple of the other pages, I'm certain. MOORE: Right. I have the CliffsNotes. HEMMER: In the book itself, it contradicts one of the themes… MOORE: Yes. HEMMER: … that you make in your film about the Osama bin Laden family essentially given special treatment out of the country. MOORE: Right. HEMMER: And the implication in the film is that the White House directed that. MOORE: Yes. HEMMER: Your reaction of them saying that simply was not the case? MOORE: Yes. Well, I disagree with the commission. I think there's a lot of evidence to show that they were given special treatment. They were moved to the front of the line. Just the story in “The Washington Post” on Thursday that — that said that the actual plane that was used to fly the bin Ladens out of the country was the same plane the White House uses to fly you guys around in the White House Press Corps. There are so many things that have not — Senator Lautenberg, Senator Dorgan, as you showed there in the clip, there's still a lot of unanswered questions. And I think that — I hope further investigations will — will bring this out. HEMMER: Allow me to go back to the report. This they say specifically… MOORE: Yes. HEMMER: … on the screen for our viewers. “The commission concludes there is no evidence of political intervention in any of the nine chartered flights that left between September 14 and September 24. They also say the bin Laden family left September 20th after the civilian flight ban was lifted. Commercial airliners were flying again on that day. Twenty-two of 26 people interviewed. That's more they say than would have been interviewed had they all left separately on commercial flights. Take that. MOORE: And then again, “The Washington Post,” doing a great job, points out that one of the bin Ladens that left was the roommate of Osama's nephew who was one of the founders of WAMY, whose offices were raided last month. They're considered a potential terrorist organization. And yet — and yet here's the roommate of the person who was the founder of this on that flight. There are still many, many unanswered questions. And of the 142, or now they say 160 Saudis, as you said, only, what, 20-some were… HEMMER: Twenty-two of 26. MOORE: Out of the bin Ladens. But then there's 142 members of the Saudi royal family who were allowed to leave without being interviewed. And the report says that. I think that's wrong. If — listen, if 15 of the 19 hijackers had been from North Korea, do you think we just would have let 142 North Koreans leave the country as soon as the air space opened up? I don't think so HEMMER: Let's move away from that. I've heard people say Michael Moore is the greatest living American. MOORE: Oh, who are those people? HEMMER: I've heard people say they wish Michael Moore were dead. MOORE: Oh, well. Jeez, who would say that? HEMMER: How do you take in the reaction that you are getting? And there is no one who is neutral after they see your film. MOORE: Well, there's a — there's that minority of Republicans and right-wingers who are upset, because they know their days of numbered. I'd be upset, too, if I were them. You know, they've only got a few more months left in charge. And so they're all running around, all saying crazy things like that. HEMMER: The DNC did not invite you here, is that right? MOORE: The Congressional Black Caucus invited me here, yes. Yes. HEMMER: Enjoy your week. MOORE: Those black congressmen, you know. HEMMER: Thanks for your time. Michael Moore, the filmmaker from “Fahrenheit 9/11.” MOORE: Right. Thank you very much.
Continue reading …Police arrest man in connection with attack that left third woman with serious injuries at house in Thame A man has been arrested after two women were murdered and another left in a serious condition after being attacked in a house in the early hours of Sunday. Officers were called to Ireton Court in Thame, Oxfordshire, at 2.20am where two women were found with fatal injuries, Thames Valley police said. A third was taken to hospital but her condition is not thought to be life-threatening. A man was arrested on suspicion of murder shortly afterwards and he was being questioned at Abingdon police station. A police spokesman nobody else was being sought for questioning. Police and forensic investigators were at the scene of the murder on Sunday as neighbours spoke of their shock. One Ireton Court resident, who did not want to be named, said: “All the police have told us is that it’s a major incident. Neighbours are saying it is a domestic … I heard a helicopter flying overheard but I presumed there had been a car accident. It had its searchlight on and, thinking about it now, they must have been looking for someone. People haven’t been allowed to take their cars out and that’s all I know.” The ages of the victims have not been released. Crime Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk
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Former IMF chief faces uncertain political future after New York prosecutors drop charges of sexually assaultinghotel maid Dominique Strauss-Kahn has returned to France for the first time since attempted rape accusations by a New York hotel maid dashed the former International Monetary Fund chief’s chances for the French presidency. New York prosecutors dropped their case against Strauss-Kahn because of questions about the maid’s credibility, but the affair cost him his IMF job and exposed his personal life to worldwide scrutiny. On Sunday, smiling and waving silently, Strauss-Kahn stepped off an Air France flight at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport to face an uncertain political future. Four months ago, he was the favourite to beat Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s presidential elections, but few now expect Strauss-Kahn to make a swift return to French politics His wife, respected former TV personality Anne Sinclair, was at his side, beaming widely. Riot police protected him and the area. The two then drove to one of their homes, on Paris’ Place des Vosges. The crush of reporters was so thick that they had trouble reaching and opening the front door. Strauss-Kahn’s supporters have eagerly awaited his return after three months of legal drama in the US that they saw as unfairly hostile to him. “I’m moved, I always believed in his innocence. I wanted very much for this to be over,” Michelle Sabban, a fellow Socialist party member, told i-Tele television. The last time he tried to take an Air France flight out of JFK, Strauss-Kahn was pulled out of first class by police investigating claims that hours earlier, Strauss-Kahn had forced the maid to perform oral sex and tried to rape her. He quit his job, spent almost a week in jail, then under six weeks of house arrest and nearly two more months barred from leaving the country before prosecutors dropped the case last month, saying they no longer trusted the maid, Guinean immigrant Nafissatou Diallo. Diallo is continuing to press her claims in a civil case. Strauss-Kahn denies the allegations. Strauss-Kahn faces another attempted rape investigation in France due to accusations by French novelist Tristane Banon. He calls the claim “imaginary.” Banon’s mother, Anne Mansouret, told the Associated Press that Strauss-Kahn’s return “is a good thing for my daughter’s complaint because he will have to answer to police.” Banon says she didn’t file a complaint after the 2003 incident because her mother, a regional Socialist official, urged her not to. Mansouret, who has said she regrets that decision, called it “profoundly indecent” that Strauss-Kahn’s homecoming was like that of a “star.” The Socialists are now embroiled in a fierce campaign to choose their candidate for the April and May presidential elections. The frontrunners, while relieved that the New York case was dropped, are not keen for Strauss-Kahn to play a role in the campaign. The eloquent economist and former French finance minister has retained hi popularity in France. One belted out an ode to Strauss-Kahn in a performance at the Paris airport Sunday morning, accompanied by a Verdi opera played on a portable stereo, before police officers asked him to stop. “Dominique! Dominique!,” shouted Gregoire Vandevelde, who said he was a former student of Strauss-Kahn’s at a prestigious economic institute. “I support him completely,” Vandevelde said. “He is extremely brilliant, full of humor and very competent, warm with his students.” Dominique Strauss-Kahn IMF France Europe New York United States guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Bill O’Reilly Brings on Rep. Allen West to Attack the Congressional Black Caucus
September 3, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media As I already mentioned in my post on Mary Matalin defending race-baiting Glenn Beck on Blitzer’s show this week, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Andre Carson, recently made some remarks that have had these so-called “tea partiers” up in arms. And naturally, the talking heads over at Fox have been making hay of the Congressman’s remarks as well. While I agree with Donna Brazile who said that using that level of inflammatory rhetoric is not necessarily useful to the debate over whether we’ve seen a horrendous level of racism and just out and out disrespect towards our first bi-racial president and race-baiting whether it be towards African Americans, Hispanics, members of the Muslim community or a number of other groups from this so-called “tea party” and those who want to attach themselves to that label in the Congress, anyone at Fox or the likes of Allen West have absolutely no ground to stand on when it comes to criticizing anyone else for overheated rhetoric or flame throwing. So pot, meet kettle with Bill O’Reilly’s interview of Allen West on this Thursday’s O’Reilly Factor. News Hounds summed up the hypocrisy pretty well in their post here — O’Reilly Trots Out Allen West To Attack Congressional Black Caucus’ Rhetoric : Fox News’ utter hypocrisy on the subject of inflammatory rhetoric was on display (again) last night as Bill O’Reilly trotted out Rep. Allen West to disparage discuss the Congressional Black Caucus’ comments about the Tea Party. Yes, that’s the same Allen West who called Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz “the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the US House of Representatives” and refused to apologize . That’s also the same guy who called himself the “modern-day Harriet Tubman” leading blacks from the plantation of Democrats. That Allen West was who “fair and balanced” Fox News thought an appropriate person to serve as an analyst for the supposedly inflammatory comments of Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus. I’m sure it didn’t hurt West that O’Reilly, himself, had cheered on West’s attacks on Wasserman Schultz. Yet O’Reilly was up in arms over Rep. Andre Carson’s comments saying that some Tea Party members of Congress would “love to see you and me… hanging on a tree.” OK, so I’ll agree it was inflammatory and maybe not the wisest choice of words. But why is this a major topic of discussion on Fox News, if not as an excuse to attack the Congressional Black Caucus? It’s not exactly significant to the economy, unemployment or even the 2012 election. And it’s not as if Fox News ever pays attention to anything else Rep. Carson says or does. O’Reilly reiterated his request that West get back with any response to his letter because “this is an important story.” Why is this important if you’re not out to get the CBC? Full transcript via Fox : BILL O’REILLY, HOST: Now for the top story tonight: the Congressional Black Caucus in big trouble. The group is comprised of 43 congresspeople, all African-American, who promote policies favorable to their constituencies. The CBC generally dislikes the Tea Party, but now some of the rhetoric is getting out of hand. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) REP. ANDRE CARSON, D-IND.: Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second-class citizens. Some of them in Congress right now of this Tea Party Movement would love to see you and me, I’m sorry, hanging on a tree. (END AUDIO CLIP) O’REILLY: Now, using violent imagery with racial overtones to attack a political group is absolutely un-American. But Mr. Carson is unrepentant. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CARSON: I stand on the truth of what I spoke. My intentions weren’t to hurt anyone or any group. (END VIDEO CLIP) O’REILLY: Joining us now from South Florida, Congressman Allen West, a Republican and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. So Congressman, I understand you wrote a letter to the leader of the CBC, Congressman Cleaver. What did it say? REP. ALLEN WEST, R-FLA.: Well, basically it made reference to the comments of my colleague, Congressman Carson, as well as the comments of Congresswoman Maxine Waters, where she was telling the Tea Party to go to hell. And I don’t think that we need that type of incendiary talk coming out there. And I think that it’s a reflection that when you look at the almost 17 percent unemployment rate in the black community, 40 percent unemployment among black teens, the high incarceration rates, that we are not seeing them go at the failure of the policies of the Obama administration but rather they are trying to demonize and attack the Tea Party movement as a scapegoat for these failures. O’REILLY: Now, did Congressman Cleaver respond to your letter? WEST: Well, what we have gotten so far is that he will wait to respond later. He feels that he is right now too engaged with this job fair. So I will look forward to speaking with Congressman Cleaver when we return back to Washington, D.C. if I don’t hear something from him prior to that. Because I believe… O’REILLY: All right, would you do us a favor? And when he — when he gets back to you, would you let us know right away so we can be fair to Cleaver and see if he’s going to take action against Carson and Maxine Waters? WEST: Yes. O’REILLY: Now, here is my theory about why this is happening, and I put forth this last night. When a guy like Carson and Maxine Waters speaks in these terms, they’re always speaking to the choir, to people who are anti-Tea Party, mostly Democrats, mostly liberals, who love Barack Obama. That’s their forum here. And I believe that the CBC and other pro-Obama people are very worried that African-Americans aren’t going to turn out next year to vote as they did in 2008. And this is — these tactics are being used to demonize Mr. Obama’s opposition so that it gins up the turnout. That’s what I think is behind this. WEST: No, you’re absolutely correct and you talked about it early in your “Talking Points” when you read the statistics as far as the general approval or the opinion of the Tea Party. This is nothing but one of the tactics. I believe it’s Rule Number 13 out of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals,” where you pick a target, you freeze it, you isolate it and you begin to attack it. And I think that’s one of the important things that they want to try to do. O’REILLY: Right. There’s no doubt that that’s what’s going on here. Now, I’m curious, are you the only Republican in the CBC? WEST: Yes, I am. O’REILLY: OK, now… WEST: But without being Republican or Democrat, I think that this type of rhetoric has no place in the political discourse. O’REILLY: And I think — I think 99 percent of Americans would agree with you. I haven’t heard anybody justifying Congressman Carson’s — anybody sane justifying his remarks. But when you guys meet, do you ever discuss what you just said? That for decades, more than decades, for hundreds of years, the African-American community has not — has not prospered despite massive amounts of government spending, massive interventions by the federal government, things aren’t improving, maybe there is another way. Have — do you — do you ever discuss that or are you shouted down and it’s no, we want more, we want more, we want more? WEST: Well, that’s one of the important parts, I think, in joining the Congressional Black Caucus, so that you can bring that different perspective. When you look at the history of the black community with the Democratic Party, you see slavery, you see segregation, you see the Jim Crow laws, you see secession and now you see socialism, which is really not beneficial to the black community. And we already talked about those unemployment statistics. You’re seeing the second and third generations of welfare ever since we had the great society programs and even Daniel Patrick Moynihan once gave warning to some of the policies that we were going to see implemented in the black community with the destruction of the black family. So I think it’s an important time right now that we objectively assess some of the social statistics that we see occurring in the black community. O’REILLY: All right. Thank you very much, Congressman. Let us know what Congressman Cleaver… WEST: Thanks. O’REILLY: …says it to you because this is an important story. And we appreciate your time very much tonight. WEST: Absolutely. And one final note here. If Allen West decides to leave the Congressional Black Caucus over this matter, the rest of them should tell him not to let the door hit him in the ass on the way out. Allen West has decided to join a party that has nothing but utter disdain for the working class and the poor and doesn’t even try to hide it these days. The loss of West from that caucus would mean nothing other than there’s one less member that never had the interests of the African American community at heart in the first place, unless of course anyone believes eliminating our social safety nets and giving more tax cuts to rich people is looking out for them.
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Médecins Sans Frontières executive says charities must admit that much of the country can’t be helped The head of an international medical charity has called on aid agencies to stop presenting a misleading picture of the famine in Somalia and admit that helping the worst-affected people is almost impossible. The international president of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Dr Unni Karunakara, returned from Somalia last week and said that, even though there was chronic malnutrition and drought across east Africa, hardly any agencies were able to work inside war-torn Somalia, where the picture was “profoundly distressing”. He condemned other organisations and the media for “glossing over” the reality in order to convince people that simply giving money for food was the answer. According to Karunakara, agencies have been able to provide medical and nutritional care for tens of thousands in camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, which have been receiving huge numbers of refugees from Somalia. But trying to access those in the “epicentre” of the disaster has been slow and difficult. “We may have to live with the reality that we may never be able to reach the communities most in need of help,” he said. Karunakara said that the use of phrases such as “famine in the Horn of Africa” or “worst drought in 60 years” obscured the “man-made” factors that had created the crisis and wrongly implied that the solution was simply to find the money to ship enough food to the region. He described Mogadishu, the Somali capital, as dotted with plastic sheets supported by twigs, sheltering groups of weak and starving people who had walked in from the worst-affected areas in southern and central Somalia. “I met a woman who had left her home with her husband and seven children to walk to Mogadishu and had arrived after five days with only four children,” he said. “MSF is constantly being forced to make tough choices in deploying or expanding our activities, in sticking to our principles of neutrality with the daily realities of people going without healthcare, without food. Our staff face being shot. But glossing over the man-made causes of hunger and starvation in the region and the great difficulties in addressing them will not help resolve the crisis. Aid agencies are being impeded in the area. “MSF has been working in Somalia for 20 years, and we know that if we are struggling then others will not be able to work at all. The reality on the ground is that there are serious difficulties that affect our abilities to respond to need.” He said charities needed to start treating the public “like adults”. He went on: “There is a con, there is an unrealistic expectation being peddled that you give your £50 and suddenly those people are going to have food to eat. Well, no. We need that £50, yes; we will spend it with integrity. But people need to understand the reality of the challenges in delivering that aid. We don’t have the right to hide it from people; we have a responsibility to engage the public with the truth.” Chronic malnutrition, said Karunakara, is not new in east Africa and needs long-term action. “The Somali people have been living in a country at war, with no government, for 20 years, with several long periods of hardship, of famine and drought. This harvest failure is just what has tipped them over the edge this time, a catastrophe made worse,” he said. A brutal war between the transitional government, which is backed by western nations and supported by African Union troops, and armed Islamist opposition groups, notably al-Shabaab, is ongoing in Somalia. Fierce clan loyalties keep independent international assistance away from many communities, meaning that Somalis are trapped between various forces, depriving them of food and healthcare for political reasons. “We face constant difficult challenges over simple things like a new nurse or getting a car,” said Karunakara. “When we need to be saving lives with a fully fledged medical response, we constantly need to be communicating with both sides in a war, reminding them what humanitarian aid is. One needs only to look at how few charities are working in Somalia.” Ian Bray, a spokesman for Oxfam, said it was unhelpful for aid agencies to be seen to be arguing with each other. “We’re being honest with donors and we have always been honest,” said Bray. “A drought is a natural occurrence; a famine is man-made. We don’t go around to people saying we have a magic wand, give us £5 and we will make Africa feed itself. We do say give us £5 and we won’t use it to give you a history of Somalia, but we will use our expertise to save lives. This is what the bargain is we make with our donors. If you support us, we will do our level best to alleviate the distress for those people in most dire need.” Aid Charities Somalia Voluntary sector Africa Tracy McVeigh guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Deadbeat Dad Rep. Joe Walsh Won’t Attend Joint Session Because It Should Be Reserved For Heads Of State
September 3, 2011 No Comment
Why MSNBC insists on giving this wingnut deadbeat dad air time to spew his hate talk is beyond me, but they did. Among the gems in this clip: Walsh thinks Obama was elected because of “white guilt,” he thinks it’s ridiculous for President Obama to call a joint session of Congress when those should be reserved for heads of state, he doesn’t know the President well enough to call him a liar but believes Obama lies, and more. Now the thing about Joe Walsh is that he’s already been banned from one MSNBC show because he’s a deadbeat dad who owes thousands in back child support. Lawrence O’Donnell will not have him back. Here’s the video: Click here to view this media Joe Walsh is just positioning himself for a future outside of Congress after he’s redistricted out of office . It’s really fine with me if he chooses not to show up next Thursday. He’s not fit to be in the same room with the President, and his district should take note.
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Former chancellor faced interference from the then PM, who wished to play down the economic risk from the banking crisis Gordon Brown repeatedly pressured Alistair Darling to change his economic forecasts almost from the outset of his premiership, it has emerged. As the former chancellor prepared to publish his memoir, Back from the Brink , former government insiders revealed the full extent of the split between the two men at the top of the Labour administration. From the autumn of 2007, as Brown agonised over whether to call a snap general election, Darling faced interference from Number 10 as he drew up his first pre-budget report, with the prime minister’s allies urging him to play down the risks of an economic slowdown in the wake of the collapse of Northern Rock. Northern Rock’s bosses blamed “extreme conditions” in the markets for the bank’s collapse, but Brown and Darling clashed over how hard the turmoil would hit the wider economy. Darling feared the impact would be severe, but Brown was determined to stick to the line that the “fundamentals” remained sound. Former insiders say Brown, who had kept Treasury officials on a tight rein during his tenure as chancellor, wanted Darling to overrule his cautious civil servants. “Gordon never understood why Alistair didn’t have the authority over his civil servants that he had,” one source told the Observer . The pre-budget report of October 2007 predicted that GDP would expand by 2% to 2.5% in 2008 as the UK shrugged off the effects of the credit crunch. In the event, it contracted by 0.1%. The relationship continued to deteriorate as the economy slid into recession. Darling was attacked by Brown’s spin doctors in the summer of 2008 after saying the world was facing the deepest economic crisis in 60 years. He later said it felt as though the “forces of hell” had been unleashed against him. By the spring the two were still at loggerheads as they struggled to formulate a response to the crisis. Darling wanted the forecasts in the 2008 budget to show the full extent of the damage to public finances of a prolonged economic slowdown, while the prime minister, who had promised to abolish boom and bust, still hoped the downturn would prove short-lived. The relationship between the two men had soured so much by the time Labour lost power that they now see little of each other. One Brown ally predicted that the former prime minister would “go berserk” over the revelations. “I’m just glad I’m not the one reading out the extracts,” he said. Leaks of Darling’s book, published on the website Labour Uncut last week, also showed the bitter relationship between the chancellor and Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, who said he believed the chancellor was “not his intellectual equal”. Gordon Brown Alistair Darling Mervyn King Economic policy Bank of England Northern Rock Banking Toby Helm Heather Stewart guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Former chancellor faced interference from the then PM, who wished to play down the economic risk from the banking crisis Gordon Brown repeatedly pressured Alistair Darling to change his economic forecasts almost from the outset of his premiership, it has emerged. As the former chancellor prepared to publish his memoir, Back from the Brink , former government insiders revealed the full extent of the split between the two men at the top of the Labour administration. From the autumn of 2007, as Brown agonised over whether to call a snap general election, Darling faced interference from Number 10 as he drew up his first pre-budget report, with the prime minister’s allies urging him to play down the risks of an economic slowdown in the wake of the collapse of Northern Rock. Northern Rock’s bosses blamed “extreme conditions” in the markets for the bank’s collapse, but Brown and Darling clashed over how hard the turmoil would hit the wider economy. Darling feared the impact would be severe, but Brown was determined to stick to the line that the “fundamentals” remained sound. Former insiders say Brown, who had kept Treasury officials on a tight rein during his tenure as chancellor, wanted Darling to overrule his cautious civil servants. “Gordon never understood why Alistair didn’t have the authority over his civil servants that he had,” one source told the Observer . The pre-budget report of October 2007 predicted that GDP would expand by 2% to 2.5% in 2008 as the UK shrugged off the effects of the credit crunch. In the event, it contracted by 0.1%. The relationship continued to deteriorate as the economy slid into recession. Darling was attacked by Brown’s spin doctors in the summer of 2008 after saying the world was facing the deepest economic crisis in 60 years. He later said it felt as though the “forces of hell” had been unleashed against him. By the spring the two were still at loggerheads as they struggled to formulate a response to the crisis. Darling wanted the forecasts in the 2008 budget to show the full extent of the damage to public finances of a prolonged economic slowdown, while the prime minister, who had promised to abolish boom and bust, still hoped the downturn would prove short-lived. The relationship between the two men had soured so much by the time Labour lost power that they now see little of each other. One Brown ally predicted that the former prime minister would “go berserk” over the revelations. “I’m just glad I’m not the one reading out the extracts,” he said. Leaks of Darling’s book, published on the website Labour Uncut last week, also showed the bitter relationship between the chancellor and Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, who said he believed the chancellor was “not his intellectual equal”. Gordon Brown Alistair Darling Mervyn King Economic policy Bank of England Northern Rock Banking Toby Helm Heather Stewart guardian.co.uk
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Liberal Democrat peer in new battle over health and social care bill, while secret emails fuel privatisation fears for hospitals The future of the government’s health reforms has been plunged into fresh doubt as the Liberal Democrat peer Shirley Williams raises new concerns, and secret emails reveal plans to hand over the running of up to 20 hospitals to overseas companies. The revelations come as MPs prepare to return to Westminster on Tuesday for what promises to be a crucial stage of the flagship health and social care bill. Baroness Williams, one of the original leaders of a Lib Dem rebellion against health secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans – who appeared to have been pacified after changes were made over the summer – said she had new doubts, having re-examined the proposals. “Despite the great efforts made by Nick Clegg and Paul Burstow [the Lib Dem health minister], I still have huge concerns about the bill. The battle is far from over,” she said. Writing in Sunday’s Observer, Williams raises a series of issues that she says must be addressed. Chief among them is a legal doubt as to whether the secretary of state will any longer be bound to deliver “a comprehensive health service for the people of England, free at the point of need”. Some critics of Lansley believe the Tories are bent on a mission to privatise the NHS, gradually handing it to the private sector. They fear that moves to end the legal obligation on the secretary of state to deliver comprehensive services may be a deliberate part of the process. Concerns that ministers want more private involvement will be strengthened by details of email exchanges involving senior health officials about handing the management of 10 to 20 NHS hospitals to international private companies. The emails, which were made public following a freedom of information request and were obtained by non-profit-making investigations company Spinwatch, show that officials have been planning since late last year to bring in international companies. This is despite repeated insistences by both David Cameron and Nick Clegg that there will be no privatisation of the NHS. On 16
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