Week of Apr 7 – Apr 13

Read Time:5 Minute, 23 Second

By Steve Parkhurst, Senior Editor,  USDR.

Looking at the news and opinion out of London each day.

4-12-15

General Election 2015: David Cameron’s main hope is the return of the ‘shy Tories’

They tell pollsters they agree with liberal policies – but in the privacy of the polling booth, vote differently

Where are the voices of the grown-ups in this election?

This is gesture politics, the stuff of student union debates, and the Tories are doing themselves no favours by being dragged into the fray

Compassion could be key to Cameron election victory amid politics of fear, loathing and defeatism

The Tory campaign is narrow, repressed and uninspiring and Labour’s is little better

4-11-15

Ed Miliband’s 100 days – and the first Ed Balls Budget

There will be tax rises to suit every taste. But the people he’s expecting to pay will probably just leave

Ukip is shedding voters – but it won’t win the day for David Cameron

Nigel Farage has created a modern working-class party whose long-term target is Labour

It’s time for women

This Conservative campaign is the best shot at victory. And it is too late to change it anyway. But while it shouldn’t be torn up it can certainly be tweaked.

Did Mrs Thatcher ‘do’ God? Denis thought so, and he should know, says Charles Moore

As I swink in the field of Thatcher studies, this book brings refreshment. It is a welcome and rare. Far too many writers attitudinise about Margaret Thatcher (for and against) rather than studying her. I doubt the author likes Thatcher much, but all the more credit to her that she makes a fair-minded effort to understand what she believed about God, and how she succeeded and failed in applying her beliefs.

What’s going on in Scotland

If the election in England is the political equivalent of trench warfare with Labour and the Tories inching forwards and then back, what’s going on in Scotland is a rout with the SNP driving all before it. What is remarkable is how the Nationalists are even in with a chance of winning seats such as Edinburgh South West that voted No by a more than twenty point margin.

Boris gets further in front in our next Tory leader poll of party members

He is up four points.

4-10-15

Greek climb down?

Greece decided to repay her debt owed to the IMF, after press speculation that she might not. Greece did not apparently ask Mr Putin for money. Mr Putin for his part is reported as offering to buy privatised assets in Greece, a far from helpful comment to a government elected to stop privatisation. Greece has also managed to borrow another Euro 1.14 billion this week by selling 6 month Treasury Bills. So far, so orthodox.

Let’s stop pretending Britain is top of the world

There is a conspiracy among politicians and broadcasters not to mention the really important issues facing Britain

Until Lynton Crosby answers these questions on his tax affairs, David Cameron has zero credibility on tax avoidance

There are already enough suspicions that the Tory party is the political wing of the tax avoidance industry

4-9-15

A Candidate’s Diary: Badgers, kippers and same sex marriage – though not necessarily all at the same time…

Take it all with a pinch of salt. Do your best and, cometh the hour, “treat those two imposters just the same”.

Taxing the rich

Taxing the rich is extremely popular with the main political parties. It is based on two propositions. The rich have more money to tax. Taxing the rich is popular with many who are not rich. So what could go wrong?

I don’t agree with Tony Blair on Europe. But I’ll thank him for delivering Ukip more voters

You have to be 57 years of age to have last voted on the EU, and who knows how much longer it will be if it were up to Tony

4-8-15

The NHS will have to become much more productive to survive. Not that you’d know it from this election campaign.

The inconvenient truth is this: the UK has significantly worse outcomes than many other advanced countries which deliver universal access to healthcare.

David Cameron has most to fear from the return of Tony Blair, the apex predator

Tony Blair’s sermon on Europe was intended to undermine the man who seeks his crown

The former PM is poles apart from Labour’s leader — but at least they agree on a way forward in Europe

The Bishops should have second thoughts

This Easter I have been re reading the Anglican Bishops letter for the General Election. It doesn’t make better reading the second time round. Rather it does now seem even more unfair and inaccurate  given how the economy has developed.

Note to politicians: Home ownership just isn’t a priority for young people

What they want is to funnel less of their salary into the pockets of landlords

4-7-15

General election campaign: who won the Easter weekend?

Dan Hodges looks at how each of the parties coped with the long weekend and the debate fallout

How free enterprise and innovation cut austerity

General Election 2015: Read between the lines when the parties unveil their manifestos

Principles, values and a view of the world are more important than an interminable list

Ukip is wilting in the heat of election battle — but perhaps the damage is done

Farage’s crass brand of dog-whistle politics has shamefully found an echo in all three mainstream parties

If the Conservatives win the most seats but Labour forms the Government, over half of party members think Cameron should remain Party leader

And over two in five think he should not.

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Across The Pond is edited daily by Steve Parkhurst. Steve is a political consultant, a writer at his blog as well as a Senior Editor here at US Daily Review. Follow Steve on Twitter  @SteveParkhurst

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