Chancellor outlines proposals to keep London as a global financial centre without risking the rest of the UK economy The chancellor, George Osborne, has set out plans to tackle the “British dilemma”, saying the country needed a settlement with the City that would keep London as a global financial centre without putting the rest of the economy at risk. Adopting a conciliatory approach to bankers in his Mansion House address, the chancellor sought to draw a line under the financial crisis by announcing the sale of Northern Rock – the Newcastle-based lender nationalised after becoming the centre of the first run on a high street bank in almost 150 years. There was speculation that the government may have to sell the bank for a loss. “Images of the queues outside Northern Rock branches were a symbol of all that went wrong, and its chaotic collapse did great damage to Britain’s international reputation,” the chancellor said. “Its return now to the private sector would help to rebuild that reputation.” Osborne said the economy was “on the mend” after the deep recession of 2008-09 but warned that the weakness of the financial sector together with the crisis in the eurozone and softness in the US economy was putting a brake on UK growth. Announcing his support for plans to ringfence high-street banking operations and the toughening up of City regulation under the Bank of England, the chancellor said the country was “within touching distance” of a “new settlement” with finance. “If we achieve it, then we will have answered the British dilemma – and put our country on the path to prosperity. I want the City of London to be a thriving centre of enterprise, more interested in serving its customers than in what government might do to it next. Resolving the British dilemma is the way to do that.” Sir Mervyn King, who will chair the first meeting of the Financial Policy Committee on Thursday – the body set up by Osborne to make sure banks do not take excessive risks en masse – also warned that the City cannot be “allowed to benefit from an unsustainable dependence on the UK taxpayer”. King added: “To allow that would be unfair to millions of people, not here tonight, who are now bearing the costs of the financial crisis. It is precisely because we do want to be an international banking centre with assets a multiple of annual UK GDP that we have to find a solution to the ‘too important to fail’ problem.” Buoyed by unemployment figures showing the biggest quarterly drop in the jobless total in 10 years, Osborne said: “Output is growing. Stability has returned. Britain is on the mend. But it is taking time.” He said the economy faced the problem of unwinding debts built up over a decade. “Of all the major economies in the world, Britain’s was the most over-borrowed. Our families were more in debt than any other in the G7. Our house-price bubble was bigger than America’s. Our government deficit higher than that of Greece.” He added that the financial system, which helped fuel the boom in the middle of the previous decade, was now responsible for holding the economy back. During the past 18 months, when the economy grew by 2.5%, the financial sector contracted by 4%. “Take the financial sector out of the equation, and economic growth in the rest of the economy during the recovery has actually been above its average rate of the last two decades. Put the financial sector into the equation, and economic growth has been below trend.” The chancellor said he was working on plans to ensure that the taxpayer was no longer “first on the hook” in the event that things went wrong in the City. But as he threw his weight behind the interim report of the Independent Commission on Banking under Sir John Vickers, he faced criticism for not waiting for the final recommendations due out on 12 September. The Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oakeshott said “we can’t rule out” that a full break-up of the banks might need to be considered by the time of the final report. The banking commission was a key part of the coalition agreement signed last year, and will report back to the chancellor and the business secretary, Vince Cable, who has called for a full separation of “casino” investment banks and high street lenders. Osborne said he would publish outlining draft legislation on Thursday that would give him power to close down the Financial Services Authority and put an end to the tripartite system of regulation involving the Treasury, the Bank and the FSA. “As a global financial centre that generates hundreds of thousands of jobs, a successful banking and financial services industry is clearly in our national economic interests. But we cannot afford to let it pose a risk to the stability and prosperity of the nation’s entire economy. “We should strive for global success in financial services, but that success should not come at an unacceptably high price.” George Osborne Economic policy Financial crisis Recession Economic growth (GDP) Financial sector Northern Rock Mervyn King Larry Elliott Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Labour leader urges prime minister to meet charities to discus cuts that will hit cancer patients David Cameron was urged to meet cancer charities after he insisted he would press ahead with welfare reforms that will see thousands of seriously ill people lose up to £100 in benefits as part of a wider cost-cutting measure. Cameron appeared to be only half-aware of the proposal contained in the welfare bill, and voted through the Commons on Wednesday night, when he was challenged at prime minister’s questions by the Labour leader, Ed Miliband. Cameron accused Miliband of raising the issue as a smokescreen to justify his decision to vote against the welfare bill. Miliband hit back, saying Cameron should apologise to cancer patients for dismissing their concerns, and insisted Cameron did not seem to be aware of the detailed measure in the bill even though it has been raised for months in parliament and the media. Showing an attention to detail and more spirit than in last week’s disastrous prime minister’s questions, Miliband’s performance cheered his backbenchers and quelled mutterings about his leadership. Complex changes to eligibility for Employment Support Allowance for some groups could result in as many as 7,000 cancer patients losing up to £94 a week in sickness benefit, the Macmillan cancer charity has claimed. The government is proposing to limit to 12 months the length of time someone placed in the Employment Support Allowance work-related activity group can receive ESA without being means-tested. Anyone put into the work-related group is deemed to be fit for some work. The means testing threshold is so low that a cancer patient could lose all ESA benefit if his or her partner earns more than £7,500 per year. Critics claim the proposal means cancer victims would lose benefits a year after chemotherapy if they were deemed to be fit for work. In the Commons Miliband challenged Cameron: “When the prime minister signed off his welfare bill, did he know that it would make 7,000 cancer patients worse off by as much as £94 a week?” Miliband insisted: “These are people who have worked hard all their lives, who have done the right thing, who have paid their taxes and when they are in need, the prime minister is taking money away from them,” he said. He told Cameron to “pause, listen and reflect” on welfare plans in the same way that he had on health reforms. Cameron responded: “All we see here is a Labour party desperate not to support welfare reform and trying to find an excuse to get off supporting welfare reform.” Labour’s criticism of the bill stemmed from Miliband’s “weak leadership of a divided party”, he said. An unusually animated Miliband described the comments as “an absolute disgrace, to describe talking about cancer patients in this country as a smokescreen”. Disability groups have been lobbying on the impact of the reforms on cancer victims for months including a letter from 29 charities to the Guardian in March. On Wednesday the Disability Consortium welcomed the way in which the issue had been raised by Miliband. Liam Byrne, the shadow work and pensions secretary, urged Cameron to meet the cancer charities so he could understand their concerns: “I would urge the prime minister even at this late stage, to sit down with Macmillan, charities and campaign groups to see if we can find a way to sort this out.” In practice a climbdown is likely when the bill reaches the Lords. Overall the changes to ESA eligibility are designed to save £1.2bn annually net, with cancer patients forming a tiny part of that saving. Downing Street said the 7,000 figure cited by Macmillan was a guesstimate, and insisted the reform would go ahead, claiming there was nothing wrong in reducing benefit from someone deemed to be fit for work a year after completing chemotherapy. Labour has proposed the benefit is retained for as long as two years. Chris Grayling, the employment minister, came under pressure in a round of TV interviews when he admitted that he did not know how many cancer patients would suffer. He insisted: “The reality is we have increased the money we provide, the number of people who are going through cancer treatment who receive support from the state who receive unconditional welfare support.” “I don’t recognise the 7,000 figure. Anything in that respect is pure guesswork and estimation.” Ciarán Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “We want people who have paid into the system before becoming ill to receive ESA for as long as they are unable to work. We will be very disappointed if the government fail to make these changes. “If the government wants a benefits system which is ‘fairer’ they must not penalise cancer patients.” Welfare Ed Miliband David Cameron PMQs House of Commons Cancer Health Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Undercover police officer raises questions about decision to charge just 26 of the environmental activists arrested before power station protest Mark Kennedy , the undercover police officer who infiltrated environmental campaign groups, has offered to co-operate with an independent inquiry into aspects of his deployment, hinting he has potentially explosive information surrounding the prosecution of activists accused of planning to break into a power station. Kennedy, who spent seven years undercover, was among 114 activists who were arrested by Nottinghamshire police two years ago during a gathering at a school, hours before some of them planned to occupy Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station. Only 26 activists were ever charged with conspiring to commit trespass. The other 87 campaigners arrested were eventually released without charge, leading some to suspect that individuals were singled out for a malicious or political prosecution. In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live , Kennedy said the inquiry into the controversy should be expanded to consider how police and prosecutors selected those who were charged. The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer announced the independent inquiry last week , two days after the Guardian revealed the Crown Prosecution Service was suspected of misleading courts over the collapse of a trial against six of the activists. A retired judge is expected to investigate allegations that prosecutors suppressed surveillance tapes secretly recorded at the school by Kennedy which may have exonerated the activists. Kennedy said the inquiry – which is the eighth official investigation into the controversy surrounding undercover police officers – should go further. “If I can contribute to the independent inquiry, then I have some confidence that those questions which are being raised might be answered,” he said. “I would be interested in seeing what the decision-making process was to [charge] those 26 people out of the 114,” he said. “That would be quite interesting. I think that is an important question that needs to be asked.” Asked if he had a “private theory” as to why only 26 were charged, Kennedy said he did have information that he would convey to the senior judicial figure running the inquiry. In another interview, Kennedy suggested that police planned to “fit up” the activists involved in the Ratcliffe protest. “There was a plan that, this time around, instead of charging people for the usual offences like trespassing and minor criminal damage, which involves going to a magistrates’ court and getting a conditional discharge or a small fine, they were going to set them up with conspiracy charges which were far more serious,” he said. Rebecca Quinn, who was one of the 114 but was not charged and is involved in the campaign group No Police Spies , said: “Kennedy implies that the 26 who were charged were not selected based on the evidence, but potentially something more political, taking us into very disturbing territory indeed. Any truly independent inquiry would have to look into this aspect of the case.” The trial of the six campaigners, who denied conspiring to break into the power station, was abandoned in January after defence lawyers began requesting disclosure about Kennedy’s operation. The CPS told the court that “previously unavailable information” that could assist the defence had come to light just two days earlier. The supposedly new information is now known to be a transcript of Kennedy’s secret recordings, which police say was handed over to prosecutors more than a year earlier. Kennedy said he was “quite surprised” at the CPS claim to only have become aware of the transcript in January, saying he believes they would have known about his deployment 18 months earlier. The other 20 activists who were charged accepted they planned to break into the power station, but told a jury they were acting to prevent massive carbon emissions. They were convicted in December, but are now challenging the verdicts at the court of appeal. Mark Kennedy Activism Police Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
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Tank columns sent north to quell opposition cities while the president sends envoys to Turkey and hints at reform Thousands of civilians fled in panic as tank columns pushed into the north-west of Syria in an expanding military campaign against the protest movement. It came as Bashar al-Assad sent envoys to Turkey for talks, and also as the president prepared to deliver a televised speech promising reforms. Reports from Ma’arat al-Numan, on the road between Damascus and Aleppo, described armoured vehicles advancing while troops were deployed by helicopter, as loudspeakers on mosques broadcasting warnings. It was a similar story in the east, on the Iraqi border near Deir al-Zor and around Albu Kamal, where mass protests began last week. In the capital, thousands turned out for loyalist rallies as a pro-government website reported that the president was to address the nation on constitutional changes “within the coming hours”. Assad has spoken twice to the nation since the uprising began, but both times his intervention was seen as too little and too late. The president has not been seen in public since 19 May, but he is thought to be firmly in charge, while his brother, Maher, is overseeing military operations. The Syriasteps website reported that the constitutional changes to be mentioned by Assad could involve article eight, which guarantees the supremacy of the ruling Ba’ath party. In London and other western capitals, diplomats said that a UN resolution condemning Syria could be tabled with the support of 11 of the 15 members of the security council, challenging Russia and China to veto it. Efforts were focusing on Brazil, South Africa and India, which have voiced reservations about a resolution drafted by Britain, France, Germany and Portugal. In stark contrast to international action on Libya, the UN has so far failed to condemn the violence in Syria, in which an estimated 1,300 people have been killed in three months. The UN’s high commissioner for human rights repeated that Syrian security forces have used executions, mass arrests and torture to repress pro-democracy protests. Pressure was mounting on Damascus from neighbouring Turkey, where Syria’s foreign minister, Walid al-Muallim, and Hassan Turkmani, Assad’s national security adviser, were holding emergency consultations. Britain and the US have been urging Turkey to get tougher. The once close relationship between the neighbours has been tested by the thousands of refugees crossing the border into Turkey, fleeing Syrian forces in the Jisr al-Shughour area. Turkey’s tone has sharpened, with prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaking of Syrian “savagery”. Ankara’s concerns are over the spreading of unrest to Kurdish areas of Syria, and in preventing a new wave of refugees. In Damascus, streets were packed and traffic blocked as crowds headed to the main highway in the upper-class neighbourhood of Mezze for a pro-Assad rally. Text messages had been sent earlier in the week to alert people to join. Many seemed eager to be there, underlining the huge divide between those for and against the regime. Young boys sat on top of cars holding up portraits of Assad on placards, lorries carrying groups of people waving national flags beeped their horns, and women old and young wearing T-shirts featuring Assad’s face over the Syrian flag rushed towards the highway. Chants of “we will die for you Bashar” and “God, Syria, Bashar – that’s all!” rang out. In stark contrast to what happens at anti-regime demonstrations, police cordoned off the road and vendors sold flags, adding to a party mood. Ambulances and buses were nearby. “We love out president, he’s smart and does what’s best, which outsiders don’t understand,” said one man, in a sign that by using the rhetoric of outside threats, from both “armed gangs” and hostile governments, Syria’s government has succeeded in rallying some to its side. “We have security here,” said another. “Even the Iraqi refugees are telling us not to go down this route of protests.” State TV carried non-stop coverage of the rally, interviewing participants young and old, and showing off the unfurling of a national flag more than 2 kilometres long stretching down the length of the highway. Pro-Assad rallies have increased in the last week, especially in front of the French and Turkish embassies to protest their governments’ angry condemnations of the crackdown. While a fair amount of orchestration goes into such rallies, the president clearly does retain support, both among those who are convinced armed gangs are roving the country and those who know there are protests but are against them. Syria Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Bashar Al-Assad Protest Ian Black guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Rick Perry on His Unpopularity in Texas: ‘A Prophet is Generally Not Loved in Their Hometown’
June 15, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Given a lot of Republican’s unhappiness with the current field of candidates for the GOP presidential nomination, as Karoli already pointed out , it looks like Governor “Good-Hair” Rick Perry of Texas is considering throwing his hat in the ring. During his first interview since hinting that he might be willing to run, Fox’s Neil Cavuto asked Perry about his unpopularity in his home state. As Think Progress noted, he got a rather bizarre answer out of him — Perry: Texans Don’t Like Me Because ‘A Prophet Is…Not Loved In Their Hometown’ : In his first national TV interview since presidential rumors surfaced, Perry answered Fox News’ Neil Cavuto question about why he’s so unpopular in his home state by suggesting he’s a “prophet”: CAVUTO: You have kind of like the Chris Christie phenomenon: very popular outside your state, still popular but not nearly as popular within your state. There are even Tea Party groups within your state who like you but don’t love you. What do you say? PERRY: I say that a prophet is generally not loved in their hometown . That’s both Biblical and practical. As they wrote in their post and as we’ve been following here at C&L as well , there’s a long list of reasons Texas voters might not be too thrilled with Perry. As the state’s longest serving governor in history, Perry has faced persistently low approval ratings as he’s pushed through a radical right-wing agenda that has left Texas with a record budget deficit, the third highest poverty rate in the country, and the highest percentage of uninsured residents in the country. As Think Progress has documented, Perry has a history of ducking tough questions by invoking religion, and has suggested in the past that he’s just implementing God’s will on Earth through his irresponsible governance. Perry may be answering Republicans’ prayers if he enters the race, but it’s still pretty self-aggrandizing to call himself a prophet.
Continue reading …MSNBC’s Bashir Distorts Gingrich’s Stance on NASA, Leaves Out Obama Ditched Moon Program
June 15, 2011 No CommentOn his June 15 program, MSNBC's Martin Bashir misled viewers with claims that GOP presidential candidates, including and especially Newt Gingrich, were dead set on “grounding NASA.” Yet not once did Bashir remind viewers it was President Obama who has been criticized by Apollo program veterans for ditching the agency's project to send missions back to the moon. “Coming up, Newt Gingrich likes Tiffany diamonds but not manned space flight,” Bashir teased viewers before a commercial break at 3:10 p.m. Eastern. “Why do he and the other GOP candidates want to ground NASA?” he added. “Next, Newt Gingrich and other GOP candidates want to ground NASA. The latest salvo in a concerted war on science?” Bashir provocatively asked on the way out to commercial break at 3:25 p.m., echoing a favored meme of MSNBC hosts that Republicans are anti-science. Back from commercial break at 3:30, Bashir noted that aired a clip of President John F. Kennedy from May 25, 1961, laying out his goal for the U.S. to reach the moon by the end of the decade. “Now I ask you to contrast that with what Newt Gingrich said at Monday's debate,” Bashir snarled, showing a clip of Gingrich lamenting “bureaucracy after bureaucracy” and “failure after failure” in NASA's work since the moon landings of the late '60s and early '70s. “Of course we now know how Mr. Gingrich likes to spend his money, but in difficult times, how much can America spend on space exploration?” Bashir
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In what has to be the most unimaginative scandal name ever, “Weinergate North” has afflicted Canada with its sleazy Tweets. While the fallout of Anthony Weiner’s inappropriate messaging is still happening, we’re getting word that Canadian Conservative political candidate, George Lepp, has also had some lewd internet action of his own — a photo of
Continue reading …This is a truly disturbing ad. Racist and sexist at the same time while also being able to draw on lies to fill up it’s content. I live in CA-36 so I take it personally. TPM: The election pits Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn (D) against businessman Craig Huey, a tea party Republican who’s second place finish in one of California’s first jungle primaries came as a surprise to most. The race to the July 12 runoff has fallen to the national backburner as attention shifted to the NY-26 race and a more general discussion of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R) budget plan. That could be about to change, thanks to the web ad produced by the brand-new Turn Right USA PAC, which filed its official paperwork last week. Simply put, the ad is Willie Horton on steroids. The 90-second clip accuses Hahn of being too cozy with gang criminals in the past, a charge she’s faced for a while and her campaign says has been thoroughly debunked . The spot is produced by Ladd Ehlinger, Jr., best known for his wildly popular Dale ” Don’t Give A Rip ” Peterson campaign video in the 2010 race for Alabama secretary of agriculture. Turn Right USA, the sponsor, is a brand new political action committee which only filed its paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Monday. The paperwork indicates that Turn Right USA intends to operate as a so-called “super PAC,” capable of raising funds in unlimited amount, but will not use those funds to directly support federal candidates or committees. Claude Todoroff serves as treasurer for the group, which is based in Gardena, Calif. G. Rick Marshall serves as the group’s designated agent. David Weigel writes: That got rogue conservative filmmaker Ladd Ehlinger, Jr. interested in the race again . He made a 2010 ad against Harman, in which the congresswoman had a crush on the president of Iran; he’s most famous for his ad on behalf of Dale Peterson. In California he’s done this. I can’t call it the worst ad ever because of what Republicans did to Max Cleland back in 2002. Vet Voice explains If you don’t know Max Cleland’s story, you probably think the disgusting part of that ad is equating the then-incumbent Senator with Osama bin Laden. But that is small potatoes compared to what is really going on here. I’m not a guy who is quick to anger. However, for the last six years the name Saxby Chambliss has caused my blood to boil because this is the worthless excuse for a human being that accused Max Cleland, who lost three limbs leading troops on the battlefield in Vietnam , of not having the courage to lead. Oh, and Saxby Chambliss didn’t regret the ad either. There’s something very sick about attacking a sitting Senator, who lost three limbs in Vietnam and then linking him to Osama Bin Laden as if he’s anti-American. it worked in Georgia unfortunately. This is going to be one helluva an election season because of lizard brains like Turn Right USA . The Hahn ad is just the beginning of what’s coming.
Continue reading …Selective Outrage: L.A. Times Lashes Out at Tracy Morgan, Gives Palin-H8ing Comics Pass After Pass
June 15, 2011 No Comment
To understand if a person or group is on the left or the right, look no further than what outrages them.
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Chancellor to announce ambitious plan for nationalised lender in Mansion House speech The government is to begin extricating taxpayers from their stakes in the bailed-out banks by kickstarting the sales process for Northern Rock. In his annual Mansion House speech, the chancellor is understood to be planning to tell his audience of bankers that the government hopes to find a buyer for the Newcastle-based lender by the end of the year. The City may regard this timetable as ambitious. George Osborne is expected to spell out that he regards Northern Rock – nationalised in February 2008 – as a symbol of the failure of Labour’s tripartite system of regulation, which required the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority to communicate with each other. Osborne, who is expected to force banks to ringfence their retail operations to protect taxpayers from another bailout , is also thought to be planning to announce that a draft financial services bill will be published on Thursday to allow the government to begin replacing the tripartite authorities. The FSA is to be broken up and more powers handed to the Bank of England, including a new financial policy committee which meets for the first time on Thursday with the goal of spotting systemic problems in the financial system. Osborne has decided to hang the for-sale sign over Northern Rock a fter receiving advice from UK Financial Investments , which looks after the taxpayer’s stakes in the bailed-out banks, that the time was right to find a buyer. UKFI had received the advice from its City advisers Deutsche Bank, which has concluded that a sale – rather than a stock market flotation – is the best option. A sale to a large existing name will not be permitted, but a newer player aiming to expand its branch network will be considered eligible to bid, as will building societies, which are keen to try to return Northern Rock to the mutual sector it left in 1997. Societies such as Coventry and Yorkshire have expressed an interest, while Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Money wants to table a bid for Northern Rock, as well as the 632 branches that Lloyds is selling off. But a remutualisation appears to have been ruled out. The Rock has been split into two – a “bad bank” and a “good bank” – since its nationalisation. The arm being prepared for sale is the “good bank”, Northern Rock plc, which has been stripped of the taxpayer loan that was used to prop up the collapsing institution and is funded by retail deposits. Some £1.4bn of capital was injected into the bank by the government last year and is likely to be regarded as a starting point for any bids if the taxpayer is to break even on its investment. Treasury sources have already admitted that Osborne intends to give his backing to plans that will force banks to ringfence their high street operations from riskier investment banking businesses – but fall short of a full separation. Northern Rock Banking George Osborne Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
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