UK Politics Mega-thread - Page 11

On August 06 2013 19:56 KwarK wrote:
It's a non story, they're never going to get it and nobody wants them to get it, not the Brits, not the residents, not even the Spaniards. Politicians shit stir like high school girls.

Broadcaster Stephen Fry has urged David Cameron to support moves to strip Russia of the 2014 Winter Olympics because of its new anti-gay laws.

In an open letter to the PM, the International Olympic Committee and London 2012's Lord Coe, he said Russia was "making scapegoats of gay people".

The government said it was working closely with organisers to ensure the Games were free from discrimination.

In Russia, it is illegal to give under-18s information about homosexuality.

'Honest commitment'
In Mr Fry's letter, which was published on his website, he compared the situation to the decision to hold the 1936 games in Nazi Germany.

He urged International Olympics Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge and his fellow committee members to "take a firm stance on behalf of the shared humanity it is supposed to represent".

A Conservative MP says he is "shocked" after learning of the extreme views of a right-wing group for whom he was a guest of honour.

Jacob Rees-Mogg addressed a Traditional Britain dinner earlier this year. But after a string of offensive Facebook postings emerged, he said he "entirely disassociated" himself from the Tory group.

It comes after an investigation by the Liberal Conspiracy blog, which found internet posts calling for Doreen Lawrence, who was recently admitted to the House of Lords, to leave the country.

Labour's Shadow Business Secretary, Chuka Umunna, was referred to as a 'Nigerian', Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi as 'foreign' and a win for the French Front National was reportedly described as 'excellent'.

Ukip MEP Godfrey Bloom was dubbed a "legend" for his "bongo bongo land" comments on foreign aid.

Traditional Britain said it was "disappointed" Rees-Mogg had been "frightened by these media smears" and admitted some of its Facebook posts were "provocative".

Food banks across Britain are being inundated with requests for emergency meals as families struggle to feed their children through the school holidays.

The Trussell Trust, which runs the country’s largest network of food banks, says this is the busiest summer it has ever experienced, with some of its branches seeing double the number of requests for emergency parcels since the start of the holidays.

Parents whose children ordinarily receive free school lunches are among those struggling the most, as they now have to find an extra meal every day. The trust says the situation is worse than last summer because of rising food prices – which despite falling slightly in the latest Government figures are more than 4 per cent higher than last year – and the impact of the Coalition’s welfare changes that were launched in April.

A lag in data collection means that complete national statistics are not yet available, but snapshot figures from 18 food banks around the country show that all have seen demand rise during the summer break. In Grantham, Lincolnshire, for example, the food bank gave parcels to 219 people in July, a 61 per cent increase on the previous month. In Redcar, Teesside, the increase from June to July was 71 per cent, while Dundee’s food bank gave out 538 food parcels in July, a 43 per cent increase on June.

Spain may take its row over Gibraltar to the United Nations, according to reports in Spanish newspaper El Pais.

According to the paper, the country's foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo is scheduled to travel to Buenos Aires to meet his Argentinian counterpart, Hector Timerman, next month.

During this meeting, the paper says, Spain will also explore the possibility with Argentina of a "united front" at the UN, concerning Gibraltar and the Falklands.

Argentina is immersed in its own dispute with Britain over the sovereignty of the Falklands, which Britain has ruled since 1833.

On August 12 2013 06:52 KwarK wrote:
It's just total non news. There is no chance of a middle ground ever being reached here, nor for any escalation to force.

Britain's big six energy companies have enjoyed a £3.3 billion windfall in profits over the last three years, Labour has claimed.

Shadow energy and climate change secretary Caroline Flint has criticised David Cameron's government for failing to reform the "broken" energy market at a time when families are struggling with a "cost of living crisis".

Writing on The Huffington Post UK she said: "David Cameron is so out of touch that he doesn't think the energy companies are responsible for rising bills - he thinks households are to blame.

"That's why he spends so much time tinkering will tariffs and telling people to switch around. What he's actually saying is that it's down to you. You're on your own."

Flint added: "People in Britain know that, rather than never having had it so good as the Tories try to tell them, rising energy bills are one of the main reasons they are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet and are having to make their money stretch further all the time."

Commuters in England face an average 4.1% rise in regulated rail fares - including season tickets - next year.

Ministers say the rises will pay for investment in the rail network.

Trade unions organised protests at stations around the country and called for the rail network to be returned to public ownership.

Labour said those travelling on busy lines could be "clobbered" with rises of up to 9.1% as train companies add extra increases to some tickets.

Regulated fares are those the government controls, and include season tickets, "anytime" single tickets around major cities, and off-peak inter-city return tickets.

They will go up by an average of inflation - as measured by the retail prices index (RPI) for July - plus 1%.

The RPI fell from 3.3% to 3.1% in July, according to official statistics.

Youth unemployment and the amount of people without work for over two years have shot up, official figures released have shown.

Unemployment among 16-21 year olds has increased by 15,000 to 973,000 over January to March 2013.

Meanwhile, the number of people without work, classed as long-term unemployment, rose by 10,000 to 474,000, the highest since 1997.

In good news for the coalition, the number of people claiming jobseekers' allowance has fallen to its lowest level in over four years, tumbling 29,200 in July to 1.4 million, the lowest level since February 2009.

Total unemployment fell by 4,000 in the quarter leading up to June to 2.51 million. However, this coincides with economists' predictions that unemployment still stay stubbornly around 8% until 2015.

The latest unemployment figures will also attract interest after Bank of England governor Mark Carney pledged in his 'forward guidance' to start considering increasing interest rates once unemployment falls to 7%, which would require an extra 750,000 jobs to be made.

Happy days are here again, if you read the right papers. UK output grew by a mighty 0.6% between April and June this year, on top of 0.2% growth in the three months before that. “BOOMING BRITAIN HAS WOW FACTOR” boasted London’s Evening Standard.

Don’t believe the hype. This isn’t a boom. It’s barely even a convincing recovery. Only after years of stagnation, aided and abetted by George Osborne’s austerity policies, is it possible to present these feeble growth figures as something to boast about. The IMF now forecasts 0.9% growth for the year. That’s a third of the rate of the early 2000s. The economy is limping when we would normally expect it to be sprinting.

BALCOMBE, England, Aug 18 (Reuters) - British opposition to shale gas extraction flared up in the tiny village of Balcombe on Sunday as hundreds marched on an oil exploration site in protest at the drilling process known as 'fracking'.

Banner-waving men, women and children travelled in by buses and bikes to join locals in a mile-long trek, surrounded by police, towards a drilling operation run by Cuadrilla Resources in the picturesque English county of West Sussex.

Britain's government needs to win over a sceptical public if it is to stimulate a U.S.-style production boom and offset dwindling North Sea oil and gas reserves. The massive expansion of U.S. shale gas extraction has driven down energy prices and cut dependence on imports there.

"I'd like the politicians to know that they have to be more careful and consult with communities more before they allow fracking," said 35-year-old Gabriel Schucan before the march.

Groups orchestrating the protest said it would be followed by two days of "direct action" on Monday and Tuesday. Acting on police advice, Cuadrilla on Friday said it was suspending drilling due to the protests.

"Direct action speeds up the national conversation a little bit. It forces us to talk about the things we don't want to talk about," said Ben Healey, a 39-year-old environmental consultant.

Prime Minister David Cameron has been unequivocal in his support for fracking as a way to create jobs and cut energy bills. Land in the north of the country is estimated to hold enough gas to meet Britain's needs for the next 40 years.

But lawmakers in Cameron's Conservative party fear the push for more fracking could cost them votes in rural constituencies. A recent poll showed public opinion is split, with 40 percent of Britons against fracking in their area and the same proportion in favour.

Cuadrilla Chairman John Browne, a former chief executive at British Petroleum, said fracking for shale oil and gas was important for Britain's energy security.

"This is about getting domestic resources. Domestic gas is more green than imported gas, and we need to explore as much domestic resource as we can," said Lord Browne. "It's right for our energy security, and, if done safely, we should pursue it."

With natural gas imports from outside the North Sea set to surpass domestic production by 2015 Britain has been looking for new gas sources to meet rising import needs. Imports have so far mostly come from Norway and, increasingly, Qatar, but Britain risks losing out to higher-paying Asian customers in the race to secure new supplies.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood was directed by the Prime Minister to contact the Guardian about the classified material handed over by Edward Snowden, it has been reported.

The intention was to spell out the serious consequences of continuing to publish material about UK and US intelligence operations, the Independent said. Earlier, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger revealed his newspaper had destroyed a hard drive containing a copy of the secret documents under the supervision of GCHQ officers following sustained pressure from Government.

The fresh claims about Number 10's role followed earlier confirmation by Home Secretary Theresa May that she had been briefed in advance about the possible detention of David Miranda, partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, at Heathrow Airport.

The Home Office and Metropolitan Police have insisted the actions of officers at the airport were proper and Mrs May today said it was vital officers retained operational independence. And a spokesman said Number 10 was "kept abreast of the operation in the usual way" but denied any political involvement in the decision, adding: "The Government does not direct police investigations."

On August 21 2013 14:24 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
Wonder if this will come up in the PMQ's:



Source