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Tuesday News Review

12/04/2011, 06:37:27 AM

Interim recommendations on banking reform

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats avoided an immediate row over the future of Britain’s banks yesterday as they both welcomed the interim report of the Independent Commission on Banking. Before last year’s general election, the Liberal Democrats favoured the total separation of the banks’ high street and investment banking arms. Although the Vickers commission stopped short of proposing that, Liberal Democrat ministers admitted privately they were unlikely to persuade George Osborne and David Cameron to go further than yesterday’s blueprint. The challenge now for Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, who has led the charge for complete separation, will be to prevent Sir John Vickers’ plan being watered down – either by the Commission in its final report in September or by the Government refusing to implement the interim report in full. Battle has been postponed until the autumn. – the Independent

Banks breathed a sigh of relief yesterday as the Government’s Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) stopped short of proposing radical measures to increase stability and competition in the sector. Presenting what he called “moderate” interim recommendations on banking reform, Sir John Vickers, the ICB chairman, denied his team had gone soft. “I absolutely reject any notion that we bottled it. These are absolutely far-reaching reforms. In the modern history of UK banking, if these reforms were implemented I think this could be absolutely transformative.” The banks have been lobbying hard in the run-up to the ICB’s proposals. Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered have said they could move their headquarters outside Britain if the proposals cost them too much money. Sir John said there had been “no ear bending” by politicians to tone down the proposals, but he pointed out that the ICB’s remit was to consider keeping Britain competitive for business and the impact on tax and spending. – the Independent

Cameron under attack from Oxford

David Cameron has raised hackles at Oxford University with a comment about its numbers of black students. Speaking at a PM Direct event in North Yorkshire, he said: “I saw figures the other day that showed that only one black person went to Oxford last year. I think that is disgraceful. We have got to do better than that.” But Oxford accused Cameron of quoting an “inaccurate and highly misleading” figure. The university’s admissions figures for 2009 show that just one “black Caribbean” candidate was accepted for undergraduate study, out of 27 black students in that year’s intake. Last autumn, seven black Caribbean candidates were accepted and there were a total of 20 black students in this year’s intake. Downing Street later acknowledged that the prime minister was not specific enough in his wording, but stood by the broader argument over Oxford and race. A spokesperson said: “The wider wider point he was making was that it is not acceptable for universities like Oxford to have so few students coming from black and minority ethnic groups.” – the Guardian

Clegg warned of being wiped out at local elections

The former Liberal Democrat leader of Liverpool City Council has urged Nick Clegg to end the Coalition Government and regain the party’s independence. Warren Bradley, now opposition leader of the Lib Dems at the council, wrote in a confidential letter that Mr Clegg should pull out before “it disappears into the annals of history”. He warned in an email seen by the BBC that Lib Dem councillors were at risk of losing seats in local elections on May 5. Mr Bradley, who led the council for five years until May 2010 and is also a firefighter, said: “The boil is about to come to a head and burst (probably on election night).” In the e-mail marked “In Confidence – Private”, he said: “Many other long serving councillors could be defeated not because of their record, but because of your record and the perception of what we as Liberal Democrats now are.” Mr Bradley has previously warned that the Coalition’s cuts could result in the Liberal Democrats being wiped out in the North within five years. – the Telegraph

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Monday News Review

11/04/2011, 07:00:11 AM

54% of NHS workforce cuts will be frontline staff

The RCN has been gathering evidence about the number of posts under threat in the NHS for nearly a year. It believes there are now 40,000 posts which could close in the next three years, a rise from 27,000 at the end of last year. Most of these will not be redundancies as the NHS tends to rely on natural turnover from people retiring or changing jobs. As part of its latest research, the RCN took an in-depth look at 21 trusts to see what sort of posts were being targeted. It showed that 54% of about 10,000 job cuts were clinical and, in total, more than a tenth of the nursing workforce could be lost in these areas. The union also said it had found examples of services being closed, including rehab centres, detox units and talking therapies. RCN general secretary Peter Carter said: “Clinical staff are the lifeblood of the NHS and it is haemorrhaging at an alarming rate. Many trusts are not being transparent by admitting the proportion of clinical jobs being list. “From our research we now know the truth – the majority of job losses are front-line clinical jobs, the jobs that matter to patients.” – BBC

More than half of the NHS posts being axed in spending cuts are those of doctors, nurses and midwives, it has emerged. The Royal College of Nursing has warned that hospital wards are becoming unsafe as there are just not enough frontline workers to look after patients or prevent the spread of infection. There are also fears that nurses are so overworked they are unable to carry out their most basic duties of care such attending to the needs of the vulnerable elderly. The latest estimates suggest that at least 40,000 posts at hospitals and health trusts will be lost over the next four years as the NHS tries to make billions of pounds of efficiency savings. New figures published by RCN ahead of its annual conference in Liverpool show that 46 per cent of these are nursing posts. A further 8 per cent involve doctors, midwives and other clinicians – meaning 54 per cent of posts cut are frontline workers. These findings sharply contradict the Government’s claim that any job losses in the NHS will involve bureacrats and backroom staff– so patient safety will not be affected. – the Daily Mail (more…)

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Sunday News Review

10/04/2011, 09:15:26 AM

Cable and Osborne clash on banking reform

An interim report by a five-member banking commission, headed by Sir John Vickers, is expected to recommend a series of measures to protect banks’ key functions at times of crisis. The moves are likely to cost banks an extra £5billion but are set to be supported by George Osborne, the Chancellor. However, the recommendations will be contested by Liberal Democrat cabinet ministers including Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, exposing a clear fault line at the top of the government. Mr Cable has in the past called for the big banks such as HSBC, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland to be completely split up into retail and investment arms- and Sir John’s report does not go as far as this. A senior Lib Dem source attempted to distance his party from the findings ahead of Monday’s publication of the commission’s interim report. – the Telegraph

Will Cameron capitulate and rush a reshuffle?

Calls for a reshuffle will have a willing echo chamber in the media: many a blog, news story, TV piece to camera outside Number 10, radio discussion or commentary can be fashioned from debating the misadventures of hapless minister X and contrasting them with the promising prospects of confident minister Y. For those ministers marked with the black spot, this threatens a very unhappy period until the blade falls on their necks or they find themselves reprieved. For those politicians tipped for ascent, this will be a very nervous period until the call comes through inviting them to Number 10 or the phone fails to ring. Rumours of an imminent cull will be fed by those Conservative and Lib Dem MPs who think that their outstanding talents are not being sufficiently recognised in the current ministerial rankings. Those tantalised by the prospect of promotion will find it hard not to encourage journalists to propagate the case for “fresh faces” to reinvigorate the government. If reshuffle speculation gets intense enough, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The prime minister eventually feels compelled to have a reshuffle for no better reason than fear of looking like a wimp if he doesn’t. – the Observer

News of the World apologises, kind of…

What was News International thinking when it released its statement of its intention to apologise on Friday? Getting an apology out of the News of the World has never been easy. Normally, after weeks of front-page splashes and sensational headlines, a tiny, mealy-mouthed apology appears in what feels like the gardening section. So the surprise announcement by News International that it had “decided to approach some civil litigants with an unreserved apology” raised the question of whether such apologies were also going to be in the usual house style. There are some serious qualifications to this “unreserved apology”. It is limited only to voicemail interception during the years 2004-2006. There is no admission or apology for anybody who believes that they were intercepted before that. To discover the full extent of interception before 2004 and after 2006, the civil actions and the latest Met investigation will have to keep pushing forward. In the excitement of receiving any admission whatsoever from News International, we could overlook just how narrow it is. – Independent

Labour’s top team are bezzie “mates”

In a magazine interview last week that has already achieved notoriety, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, said David Cameron was not a personal friend. Does Mr Miliband regard Mr Balls, recently described by the Prime Minister as “the most annoying person in modern politics “as a “mate”? “Absolutely. I think he is a brilliant shadow chancellor and our relationship will be a foundation for the next Labour government because we know each other well and we admire each other.” The Labour leader also insists the pair will not be subject to the same damaging psychodrama as their predecessors as Labour opposition leader and shadow chancellor, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. “We had front-row seats at the Blair-Brown movie and we are not about to repeat it.” – the Telegraph

Nurses to warn of cuts danger

Nurse leaders will warn this week that poor morale and job cuts threaten to derail the government’s reform programme of the NHS in England. The issues will be key themes of the Royal College of Nursing’s annual conference in Liverpool. RCN leader Peter Carter has said nurses were being pushed to the limit, working extra hard to keep services going. A Department of Health spokesman said an extra £11.5bn of funding was being ploughed into the NHS. The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, is not expected to give a speech at the conference but will meet delegates. It is understood he is attending the conference as part of the government’s “listening exercise” over its shake-up of the health service. Dr Carter told the BBC he accepted the NHS had to save billions of pounds over the next four years but said it was wrong to cut front line staff. “We are seeing not just nurses, but cleaners, doctors and speech therapists’ posts being cut. That is the reality,” he said. – BBC

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Saturday News Review

09/04/2011, 09:00:04 AM

News International admits liability over phone hacking

Rupert Murdoch’s News International has issued a public apology to eight victims of phone hacking, including the actor Sienna Miller and former culture secretary Tessa Jowell, and admitted for the first time that the practice was rife at the News of the World. In a move likely to cost the company many millions of pounds, it said it would offer compensation to some of the 24 high-profile figures who have started legal proceedings against the paper in the high court for breach of privacy. It also admitted its previous investigations into hacking had not been “sufficiently robust”. The unprecedented statement of contrition is a remarkable volte face for the country’s most powerful news organisation that was claiming until the start of this year, in the face of growing evidence to the contrary, that hacking was the work of a single reporter. – the Guardian

News International’s admission that it was responsible for the hacking of the phones of public figures ranging from a former member of the Cabinet to a Hollywood actress represents a seismic moment for the management of Britain’s biggest newspaper publisher, reverberating all the way back to Rupert Murdoch. The acceptance of liability on a grand scale has implications which stretch across the Atlantic to the heart of News Corporation. Why, Mr Murdoch will surely ask himself, didn’t he take a personal grip of this situation before it reached such a pass? At Dow Jones & Co, the publishers of Mr Murdoch’s prized Wall Street Journal, the chief executive Les Hinton might ask himself why, as executive chairman of News International (NI) throughout the period in question, he presided over an organisation responsible for such behaviour, but told MPs that “there was never any evidence delivered to me” suggesting that phone hacking went beyond Clive Goodman, the royal editor of the News of the World jailed in January 2007. – the Independent

The biggest question is for the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who was poised to wave through News Corporation’s bid for full ownership and control of BSkyB, thereby creating the largest and most powerful media company Britain has ever seen. It is now apparent his predecessor as culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, had her phone hacked. Imagine if a bank had hired investigators to hack the chancellor of the exchequer’s phone. It is difficult to imagine that Mr Hunt could possibly allow the bid to go through in the circumstances when so many unanswered questions hang over the company and where so many documents have yet to be revealed. Only a full judicial inquiry can now answer the many unresolved issues. – the Guardian

Now George’s business buddies make U-turn on growth

Some of the UK’s most prominent business leaders, including individuals who gave their personal stamp of approval to the chancellor’s aggressive spending cuts, have said they have growing concerns about the state of the economy, warning of weak growth and rising inflation ahead. Archie Norman, the former Tory MP who now chairs ITV, said the government’s growth targets were too optimistic. The former Asda boss Andy Bond, Carphone Warehouse founder Charles Dunstone, Tory peer Lord Wolfson, who runs Next, and Yell chairman Bob Wigley predicted tough times ahead as soaring inflation dents consumer spending power, although they continue to support George Osborne‘s austerity strategy. Bond expressed doubt about the ability of the private sector to create as many jobs as hoped. “I don’t think the private sector is going to be able to pick up the slack in this climate,” he said. Bond, who ran the UK’s second largest supermarket chain for five years, forecast a two-year “retail recession” earlier this week. He was one of 35 bosses who signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph six months ago supporting George Osborne’s plan to slash the deficit and arguing that businesses “should be more than capable of generating additional jobs to replace those lost in the public sector”.- the Guardian

Clegg to make AV plea

Nick Clegg is to compare proposed changes to the system for electing MPs to giving women the vote and lowering the voting age to 18. The Lib Dem leader will say arguments against the alternative vote (AV) will look as “nonsensical” in the future as those against female suffrage now do. But one senior Labour politician said his reading of history was “dodgy” and the current first-past-the-post system had “stood the test of time”. Voters will be asked whether to retain first-past-the-post or switch to the alternative vote – where voters can rank candidates in order of preference – in the UK-wide poll. Putting the case for AV in a speech in London, Mr Clegg will say it is a “very British reform” and represents an “evolution” of the existing system. Referring to the series of legislative steps which extended the voting franchise in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, he will say a switch to AV would fit into a pattern of constitutional change “by instalments”. – the BBC

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Friday News Review

08/04/2011, 06:56:05 AM

U-turn to fill MOD black hole

David Cameron is poised for another humiliating U-turn as the crisis in Libya forces him to rethink the Government’s savage defence cuts. Chancellor George Osborne has been shamed into finding an extra £250million to prevent more equipment and troops being scrapped while British forces are in action. Military chiefs are pushing him to go much further and undo some of the brutal austerity measures already inflicted on the armed forces in last autumn’s defence review. One senior commander said the debate is “live” and that the Prime Minister “is very much part of it”. Reversing defence cuts would the latest in a long line of about-turns by Mr Cameron. Ending free school milk, axing books for young children, cutting school sport, scrapping NHS Direct, selling off Britain’s forests and bringing in anonymity for suspected rapists are among the policies that have been dropped. – Daily Mirror

The Prime Minister is “actively engaged” in a reassessment of Britain’s military capabilities and planned reductions in equipment and manpower, sources have disclosed. The rethink has raised hopes that some of the cuts to military aircraft and ships in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) could be postponed or even reversed. Insiders said it was not too late for a change of mind on the decision to cut the number of RAF Tornados and scrap surveillance planes. Some Royal Navy frigates could also be spared, or have their retirement delayed. In the first sign of compromise on defence cuts, Mr Cameron has ordered the Treasury to give the Ministry of Defence a reprieve on its overspent 2011-12 budget. The £800 million climbdown will spare the Armed Forces further cuts this year. Senior government figures admitted that the Libyan conflict has raised questions about the wisdom of cuts that will leave Britain facing a “dip” in its military capabilities for several years. “The debate is live. The Prime Minister is very much part of it. There’s a lot of objective thinking going on,” said a senior defence source. – Daily Telegraph

We really are all in this together

If she was expecting a lavish treat, she was in for a sore surprise. Mindful of how a luxury holiday would appear amid massive public spending cuts, David and Samantha Cameron flew to Spain with budget airline Ryanair to celebrate her 40th birthday. And despite their wealth, they stayed in a ‘mid-market’ hotel. No special treatment: A fellow passenger took this photograph of the couple in the departure lounge ahead of the Ryanair flight from Stansted airport to Malaga, in southern Spain, on Wednesday afternoon A fellow passenger took a photograph of the couple in the departure lounge ahead of the flight from Stansted airport to Malaga, in southern Spain, on Wednesday afternoon. They will fly home today. – Daily Mail

They could have been any other couple waiting to catch their flight. But it was the Prime Minister and his wife who were spotted waiting along with everyone else to fly with low-cost airline Ryanair from Stansted Airport to Granada in Spain. David Cameron whisked his wife away without their three children on a flight for a short break to mark her impending 40th birthday. Mrs Cameron does not reach the milestone age until later this month, but the couple took the start of the Easter recess to spend some time together. It is the first time the couple have been abroad on holiday since Mr Cameron became Prime Minister last May. – the Scotsman

Hollow words over interns

Is it business as usual for Liberal Democrat MPs advertising for interns days after Nick Clegg said he’d stamp out the practice of unpaid work? That could certainly be the charge. The office of John Leech MP told one prospective intern that they wouldn’t get paid because the new rules only apply to Whitehall and the party’s Cowley Street HQ, not MPs, according to the group Intern Aware. Party figures admit that yes, this is technically the case, they can’t tell their MPs what to do as they fall under the remit of Ipsa, the expenses watchdog. Leaders can’t tell their MPs what to do? That may be news to some. Clegg also seemed to think he could on Tuesday, when he said: “I’ve announced that in my capacity as leader of the Liberal Democrats that we now have put an end to that system within the Lib Dem Parliamentary party. From now on, all internships should be properly advertised, they should be subject to a meritocratic process and people should be properly supported and remunerated. Lunch costs, travel costs and so on.” – Sky News

Just days after Nick Clegg made an earnest pledge to improve expenses for the Liberal Democrats’ army of unpaid interns, The Capitalist was amused to see three job ads for internships at the party on the Work for an MP (w4mp) website offering barely a cup of tea. The “short volunteer opportunity” to work in the offices of Greg Mulholland, MP for the Leeds North West, offers no financial reward at all, while the internship at the offices of Bradford East’s MP David Ward says “some expenses” can be met “by agreement”. And a school-leaver helping out on the local campaign trail for the Lewes Liberal Democrats would presumably want a roof over their head at the end of the working day – but lodgings for the lucky candidate are only “possibly” an option “if required”. In a jargon-filled display of passing the buck, the party said it could only directly manage internships at the central Cowley Street HQ. – City AM

Where have all the Lib Dems gone?

The Liberal democrats face a double blow at next month’s council elections, when they will field fewer candidates than usual and could be the main victims of a Labour recovery. More than 9,000 seats are up for grabs, about 5,000 of which are held by the Conservatives, 1,800 the Liberal Democrats, 1,600 by Labour and 800 by other parties and independents. Figures from town halls yesterday showed that the Lib Dems have candidates to put up in only 59 per cent of the seats, down from 64 per cent when they were last fought four years ago. The biggest falls appear to be in the south-east and north-west, both down about 10 per cent. Labour will contest 72 per cent – up from 60 per cent last time. The increase reflects a drive to fight back in the south, where the party did badly at last year’s general election. The Tories will field candidates in 93 per cent of the seats next month, up from 88 per cent in 2007. – the Independent

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Wednesday News Review

06/04/2011, 12:00:57 AM

Tory tax bombshell

Working families face losing up to £1,560 a year from Wednesday under the coalition’s new tax and benefit regime, the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, has claimed, triggering a row with the Treasury, which said that only the richest 20% will lose out. A raft of tax and benefit measures kick in on Wednesday, the first day of the new tax year. Tax threshold increases, child benefit and working tax credits are frozen and the rate of childcare element of the working tax credit is reduced from 80% to 70% of the total costs. Balls said the reforms amounted to a “black Wednesday” for families but the Treasury insisted the increase in the personal tax allowance in particular meant only the richest would be significantly worse off. – the Guardian

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said that what he called “Black Wednesday” would hit women with children hardest of all. According to the Treasury figures, a dual-earner couple with one child and a combined income of £25,000 will be £12 a week better off, a dual-earner couple with two children on £60,000 will gain £5 a week, and a lone parent with one child on £12,500 will gain £10 a week. In contrast, a single-earner couple with no children on £170,000 will lose out to the tune of £35 a week. However Labour published figures compiled by the independent House of Commons Library which, it said, showed that a couple with three children, with each parent earning £26,000, would lose more than £1,700 a year if the VAT rise is taken into account. Mr Balls said: “Today will be a Black Wednesday for millions of families across Britain. David Cameron promised to lead the most family-friendly government ever and George Osborne said we’re all in this together,” he said. “So why are their changes to tax and benefits coming into force today hitting women harder than men and taking so much support from children, with families on low and middle incomes being hit the hardest of all?” – Press Association

Back to basics for NHS reforms

The Deputy Prime Minister would only say that he agreed with the “basic ideas” of the unpopular Health and Social Care Bill and added that the Government must now “get the details right”. He also said that some fears over the legislation would be dispelled “when we’re able to explain what’s going on”, in a further sign that senior Cabinet ministers now admit the public has little understanding of the biggest planned changes in the 63-year history of the NHS, which will see power to buy treatment handed from managers to family doctors and private companies allowed to provide most services. Mr Clegg’s forthright comments, made both in the House of Commons and to the BBC, add to the sense that the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, is being sidelined having tried to plough ahead with the Bill in the face of overwhelming opposition from the medical profession, which fears it will prove hugely disruptive at a time when the NHS is trying to save £20billion and may also lead to privatisation by the back door. – Daily Telegraph

The Liberal Democrats will demand five major changes to the Government’s flagship health reforms as the price of securing their passage through Parliament. Nick Clegg’s party is threatening to join forces with Labour to dilute the NHS and Social Care Bill unless Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, agrees to make the changes sought by the Liberal Democrats’ spring conference last month. David Cameron and Mr Clegg will press Mr Lansley to implement at least some of the Liberal Democrat ideas. But the Health Secretary is digging in against major surgery. “He sees is it as a problem of communication,” one Cabinet source said yesterday. “That is not how others see it.” – the Independent

Calamity Clegg curse strikes again

Nick Clegg was last night branded a hypocrite after attacking internships for the rich, then admitting his dad got him one with a friend’s bank. The Deputy PM said the top jobs market was rigged in favour of the privileged as he unveiled a bid to boost social mobility. But it was revealed he got unpaid work at a Finnish bank through his father Nicholas, and the Lib Dems routinely use interns. Labour’s John Mann said: “It is hypocrisy to attack interns when he enjoyed the advantages of family connections himself.” – Daily Mirror

However, it has emerged Mr Clegg secured the first of three internships after his father, Nicholas, chairman of United Trust Bank, “had a word” with a friend, who worked at a Finnish bank. The Deputy Prime Minister worked there after he left the £10,000-a-term Westminster School and before he started at Cambridge University. His spokesman said: “He had help through family connections. Someone in his family knew someone in the bank.” He con-firmed it was Mr Clegg’s father. In the Commons, former Labour minister Hazel Blears asked Mr Clegg if he had ever employed unpaid interns. The DPM replied: “As leader of the Liberal Democrats I can confirm from today we are making sure advertisements for internships are done in a manner which are name and school blind, so there’s a complete level playing field, and that proper remuneration is provided.” – Daily Herald

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Tuesday News Review

05/04/2011, 06:15:18 AM

Clegg to cut his own school tie

Nick Clegg will call for sweeping changes to internships today to try to break the ‘sharp elbowed’ middle-class stranglehold on the professions. Firms that fail to provide ‘financial support’ to interns could face investigation by HM Revenue and Customs over their compliance with the minimum wage laws. Launching the Coalition’s social mobility strategy, the Deputy Prime Minister will also warn that the ‘well-connected’ middle classes enjoy an unfair advantage in getting work experience for their children. He will argue that internships have become a closed shop in many professions. Mr Clegg will also criticise the practice of expecting interns to work for nothing, which he believes discriminates against youngsters from poorer backgrounds. – Daily Mail

The government is aiming to reverse the growing culture of unpaid internships, which favour the wealthy and well-connected, as part of asocial mobility strategy to be launched by Nick Clegg. The national internship scheme will ask firms to pay young people doing work experience and warn they could otherwise risk a legal challenge under the national minimum wage legislation. The deputy prime minister will say that the aim is to make career progression less dependent on “who your father’s friends are”. The Conservative party chair, Lady Warsi, will announce on Tuesday that the civil service will end informal internships before 2012. They will all then be advertised on the government’s website. As one part of a many-pronged effort to narrow differences in achievement between social groups, a number of firms have been enlisted to give people without family connections experience in competitive fields of work. The government will encourage firms to use name-blank and school-blank applications. – the Guardian

HM Revenue & Customs will launch a crackdown in professions such as law and journalism where work experience is commonplace, to ensure that people are paid the national minimum wage or receive out of pocket expenses. Ministers say that many young people miss out because they lack the personal contacts or cannot afford to take an unpaid internship. They believe this is hindering efforts to close the “life chances gap” between the poor and better off. Mr Clegg will announce his moves when he issues the Government’s plans to improve social mobility and tackle child poverty. He will say: “For too long, internships have been the almost exclusive preserve of the sharp-elbowed and the well-connected. Unfair, informal internships can rig the market in favour of those who already have opportunities. We want a fair job market based on merit not networks. It should be about what you know, not who you know.” – the Independent (more…)

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Sunday News Review

03/04/2011, 07:24:55 AM

Horror returns to Northern Ireland

A 25-year-old Catholic police recruit was been killed by a booby trap car bomb at his home in Omagh, County Tyrone, on Saturday. The device exploded under 25-year-old Constable Ronan Kerr’s car outside his home in Omagh, Co Tyrone, just before 4pm. The officer had only finished his training in December. He was getting into the vehicle in the residential Highfield Close development, off the main Gortin Road, when neighbours rushed to help him, some using fire extinguishers to put out flames from the explosion. He was the second police officer to be murdered since the formation of the Police Service of Northern Ireland out of the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 2001 as part of the peace process. – Sunday Telegraph

Deadly terrorism returned to the scene of Northern Ireland’s worst atrocity yesterday after a young Catholic policeman was murdered by a car bomb in Omagh. Ronan Kerr, 25, who was was killed in the booby-trap blast outside his home as he prepared to go to work, had only just completed his training. Last night tributes were paid to PC Kerr, who represented a new generation of officers trying to repair the image of the province’s police among the Catholic community. Last night Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin Guinness is understood to have visited Mr Kerr’s family. British Prime Minister David Cameron said: ‘Those who carried out this wicked and cowardly crime will never succeed in dragging Northern Ireland back to a dark and bloody past,’ he warned. Their actions are rejected by the overwhelming majority of people from all parts of the community.’ – Mail on Sunday

Cameron humiliates Lansley over NHS reforms

Defiant Health Secretary Andrew Lansley yesterday ruled out a major u-turn in his NHS reforms – in a direct confrontation with Downing Street. He has faced a growing chorus of critics, ranging from medical organisations to MPs, and is even opposed in his own constituency. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg demanded substantial changes after a vote overwhelmingly against the plans at his Lib Dem spring conference. And PM David Cameron is now said to have accepted the need for “clarifications” on the pace and scale of the reforms. – the Sun

David Cameron will announce this week another humiliating climbdown, putting the brakes on the Government’s health reforms in a desperate attempt to rescue his reputation as a defender of the NHS. In the latest embarrassing example of the Prime Minister being forced to intervene in the policy of one of his ministers, Mr Cameron will publicly admit to mistakes in the plan by the Secretary of State, Andrew Lansley, to hand £80bn of health spending to family doctors, characterised by critics as privatisation by the back door. Mr Cameron will announce a “pause” of up to three months in the progress of the Health and Social Care Bill through Parliament, to allow for more time to reassure clinicians, patients and coalition MPs. One option being considered is a series of public meetings at which Mr Lansley would be forced to restate the case for reform in a less confrontational manner. – Independent on Sunday

Embarrassment for the Yes campaign

The “Yes” campaign, which is supported by Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats, was severely embarrassed after it emerged that it had removed the poet Benjamin Zephaniah from leaflets destined for the home counties, while leaving him in leaflets distributed in London. Mr Zephaniah is one of six celebrities who adorn a leaflet from the “Yes” campaign calling on householders to back the Alternative Vote in a forthcoming referendum on May 5 in which people will be asked if they want to change Britain’s voting system. He appears alongside Joanna Lumley, Eddie Izzard, Colin Firth, Honor Blackman and Stephen Fry in the leaflet which was delivered in London and which is signed by Katie Ghose, chair of Yes To Fairer Votes. However, in an identical leaflet sent to other parts of the country including Sussex and Cornwall the poet is not there. Only white celebrities are featured and Mr Zephaniah is replaced by a picture of the actor Tony Robinson. – Sunday Telegraph

Clegg likes Plan B, lets hope it’s not just his music taste

For the first time last night Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg held a Q and A in a cinema. The session was hosted by Capital at the Showcase Cinema De Lux in Leicester and more than a hundred people from Leicester, Loughborough and Nottingham turned up. Capital didn’t just speak to the Deputy PM about politics though. The Deputy PM told us how much he loves Plan B‘s album, his secret passion for cartoons and his funniest moment in power so far….telling his son he wasn’t the Prime Minister. – Capital FM

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Saturday News Review

02/04/2011, 06:59:02 AM

AV campaign heats up

David Cameron has stepped up his attack on the alternative vote backed by Nick Clegg, describing the system as crazy and reminding voters that his deputy once regarded the reform as a “miserable little compromise”. He did so as the yes campaign prepared today for a celebrity-backed launch and a poster campaign beginning on Monday designed to argue the voting changes will make MPs work harder by needing to win 50% of their constituency’s support. The comedian and Labour supporter Eddie Izzard and European and world championship gold medal winner Kriss Akabusi today launch the yes campaign, with the referendum five weeks away.Other celebrities to come out in favour of the yes campaign include broadcaster Jonathan Ross, actors Nick Hoult and David Schneider, and comedian Chris Addison. – the Guardian

David Cameron last night condemned plans to scrap Britain’s historic first-past-the-post voting system as “crazy”. In his most passionate intervention yet in the electoral reform debate, Prime Minister David Cameron rubbished the proposed Alternative Vote system backed by Labour and the Lib Dems as “undemocratic” and a recipe for a “politicians’ fix”. And he risked worsening tensions within the coalition Government by mocking Nick Clegg’s switch to supporting AV. The Deputy PM had called it a “miserable little compromise” before the last election. – Daily Express

‘Miserable excuse’ of an EMA replacement

Listening to Education Secretary Michael Gove on his cut-price replacement for the education maintenance allowance, I nearly burst a blood vessel. It wasn’t so much his plans, which mean thousands of students aged 16-19 being deprived of state support, but the fact he said: “We’ve got to fix our broken education system.” What an insult to the army of teachers and students whose work and dedication over the past 13 years have seen more schools than ever labelled “outstanding”, more pupils passing five GCSEs at grades A*-C and more students going on to higher education. You haven’t done your homework Mr Gove. Go and stand in the corner. – Daily Mirror

The Government announcement this week of a £180 million bursary scheme to replace the scrapped Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) demonstrates that it is beginning to realise its mistake in cutting support for the most disadvantaged students (“Rethink in cash help for students”, Mercury, March 29). However, what the Government has offered is totally inadequate. For example, 75 per cent of students at Gateway College, in Hamilton, were eligible to receive EMA. Under the new system, they estimate that only 40 per cent will be able to receive any financial assistance. With nearly two million young people in the UK not in employment, education or training it is vital that the young people of Leicesterare given every opportunity to improve their social mobility. – Leicester Mercury

Boris Johnson has been in talks with the education secretary, Michael Gove, after calling on his Tory colleague to review the government’s policy on financial support for poor 16-19 year old students. The mayor said he fears young Londoners from low-income backgrounds could drop out of education altogether and see their life chances “radically diminished” as a result of a cut in funding. Johnson became the most senior Conservative figure to speak out against ministers’ decision to replace the £560m education maintenance allowance (EMA) budget with £180m for the new 16-19 bursaries, when he appeared on Question Time on Thursday night. – the Guardian

David ‘Keys’, sorry Willetts whips up a gender storm

Feminism has set back the cause of social mobility by decades, a senior minister has claimed. Universities Minister David Willetts said feminist policies had inadvertently halted the improvement in the life chances of working-class men and widened the gap between rich and poor. He said feminism was the ‘single biggest factor’ in the decline in social mobility since the 1960s, adding: ‘Feminism has trumped egalitarianism.’ – Daily Mail

The countries with the highest levels of social mobility are those with the highest levels of gender equality. David Willetts’s claim that feminism is to blame for the decline in social mobility has caused no shortage of outrage this morning. His thesis is that middle class women, who otherwise would have been housewives, snapped up university places and well-paid jobs that could have gone to working class men. But to my eyes, there’s a basic empirical problem with his claim. All of the available data on the subject shows that the countries with the highest levels of social mobility are those with the highest levels of gender equality. The 2010Global Gender Gap Report, which ranks countries according to how well they “divide resources and opportunities amongst male and female populations”, puts Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden at the top, with Britain lagging behind in 15th place (a fact that suggests, pace Willetts, that the “feminist revolution” has some way to go). – New Statesman

Anger as NHS reforms steps up

The constituency offices of Health Secretary Andrew Lansley have been daubed with graffiti by anti-NHS reform activists. Cambridgeshire Police are investigating the incident at Hardwick last night when red paint was thrown at the building and “Hands off our NHS Tory scum” written on a wall. Protesters left a letter demanding to be treated as “patients, not consumers” and said: “We are taking action to fight this attack on the welfare state.” The incident happened as unions today stepped up protests against the Health and Social Care Bill which they say will lead to the NHS being privatised. – Daily Mirror

He still hasn’t got on that bike

Lord Tebbit insists on adding a tie to his outfit. “I can’t have a go at David Cameron and the bloody tieless and gormless lot and then not wear one in the photo.” He turned 80 on Tuesday, but he will not let his standards slip. Did the Prime Minister send him a card? “No he didn’t,” he says with an impish smile. “But then I didn’t send him one either.” He says he is more of a Conservative than David Cameron. The Big Society is just a “buzzword. It’s a logo looking for a product”. He wants to turn the party back to being nationalist and jokes that he would like it to go into coalition with the UK Independence Party. Chuckle. Lord Tebbit has written to the Prime Minister several times about issues, and while he always gets a reply, “sometimes I have had to give him a reminder to”. By contrast, when he wrote to Nick Clegg before the election — to tell him he how much he agreed with the necessity to raise the threshold of income tax — “I had a nice letter back”. As a joke I ask if he has more admiration for Mr Clegg than Mr Cameron, and am astonished when he says, “Yes, in a way, because I think he has pushed his agenda quite hard. I think Clegg is probably more politically motivated than Cameron.” Damning for them both. – Daily Telegraph

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Friday News Review

01/04/2011, 06:49:55 AM

Letwin admits country facing growth crisis

Oliver Letwin, the Prime Minister’s key policy adviser, revealed that last week’s Budget was thrashed out in reaction to the problem with growth and jobs. Labour seized on the comments and claimed Mr Letwin had “let the cat out of the bag.” Mr Letwin told the environmental audit select committee: “Leading up to the recent Budget, we took the view collectively in Cabinet that we faced an immediate national crisis in the form of less growth and jobs than we needed. And we were determined collectively to try to increase that growth and those jobs.” He said that realization “set in train” a process in which all departments tried to come up with plans to help boost growth – the results of which were seen in last week’s Budget. Angela Eagle, a shadow Treasury spokesman said: “With unemployment at a 17 year high and the economy contracting at the end of last year, there is a jobs and growth crisis in Britain. “But it’s a crisis of George Osborne’s own making and the government still seems to be in denial. “Recognising that there’s a problem is a good start. But there’s no point having crisis talks if you then decide to carry on regardless with a reckless plan that is hurting but isn’t working.” – the Telegraph

Pressure mounts on Cameron to cut Lansley loose

TORY bruiser Norman Tebbit has launched an amazing attack on the Government’s health reforms. The ex-Cabinet minister and Margaret Thatcher’s former hatchet man admitted grave concerns they could do “considerable” damage to NHS hospitals. His comments are the latest blow to David Cameron, following criticism from doctors, nurses and midwives. Lord Tebbit said Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans could bring “unfair” competition, enabling private firms to cherry pick.. He said: “It’s fine for the private sector, which doesn’t have responsibility for teaching and bringing on young surgeons, to take the straightforward and easy stuff. “But that means the public sector is then left without the base of work to subsidise the more difficult surgery and the teaching of surgeons.” – the Mirror
Protests, marches and lobbies will be held across the UK in opposition to the Government’s Health and Social Care Bill which unions believe will lead to health services being privatised. MPs will be lobbied and protests held in cities including Rotherham, Sheffield, Nottingham, Bolton, Sunderland and Winchester. Dave Prentis, general secretary of the Unison union, said: “The Government cannot afford to keep ignoring the anger of voters. We saw nearly half a million people march through London on Saturday to protest against public service cuts. “April 1 will see our members again taking action to challenge their MPs and to defend the NHS against Andrew Lansley’s privatisation plans. The Government is a lone voice for NHS privatisation and, by turning their back on the electorate, they are turning the clocks back on healthcare across the UK.” – PA (more…)