Huge sums of “fisco money” (fortunes amassed from tax cuts) are pouring into America’s mid-term elections, with one sure result likely to be yet more legislative gridlock as the country tries to steer away from economic calamity
Archive for October, 2010
Democrats poised for mid-term hit as cash floods to Republicans
By Ian Williams /Saturday, October 30th, 2010An interesting take
By Tribune Web Editor /Friday, October 29th, 2010Irwin Stelzer, the American economist and Sunday Times columnist, is no friend of the left. Peter Oborne said Mr Stelzer “stands in the same kind of relationship to Rupert Murdoch as Suslov did to Stalin” and Chris Patten admitted: “I wouldn’t sup with Irwin Stelzer if I had a spoon a yard long.” But he has an interesting take on those politicians, such as Peter Mandelson, Caroline Flint and Ben Bradshaw, who want people to sign up to Continuity New Labour. Stelzer writes: “Will Ed Miliband be able to appeal to what his elder brother and Tony Blair like to call the aspirational class? But should he? This is not 1997. The aspirations of that class have become considerably more modest: not a bigger house, but staying in work and avoiding repossession. Call it security. Ed Miliband has not killed New Labour; it died the natural death of the no longer relevant.”
Labour MEPs warn of dangers in maternity leave plan
By Kate Holman /Friday, October 29th, 2010The European Parliament’s vote in favour of increasing maternity leave to 20 weeks on full pay across the continent brought a mixed reaction last week, with Labour MEPs warning that the move could leave poorer mothers in Britain less well-off
Nobel prize-winning economists warn Osborne’s plan will create mass unemployment
By Bernard Purcell /Friday, October 29th, 2010Economists and politicians continue to argue about whether Britain is facing a double-dip recession or a “jobless recovery”
Finally, Colombia admits that 50,000 have ‘disappeared’
By Victor Figueroa-Clark /Friday, October 29th, 2010Colombia has admitted for the first time that 50,000 of its citizens have “disappeared”
Steel deal ‘could create 1,000 jobs’
By René Lavanchy /Friday, October 29th, 2010The steel giant preparing to buy Corus’ mothballed factory in the north-east of England expects to create up to 1,000 jobs when production restarts, unions said this week
A false dawn before the last hurrah?
By Tribune Editorial /Friday, October 29th, 2010Hurrah! The coalition’s medicine is working, the economy is back in growth, Britain is heading out of the woods and the credit rating agencies have delivered their critical clean bill of health.
Things, they said, could only get better – Tony Blair, Peter Mandelson, New Labour, 13 years in power and the death of a political dream
By Simon Kinnersley /Thursday, October 28th, 2010The Verdict: Did Labour Change Britain? by Polly Toynbee and David Walker
Granta, £18.99
Schools now unfit for purpose
By Ellie Reeves /Thursday, October 28th, 2010Ellie Reeves outlines the dangerous consequences of the decision to axe the school building programme