Week of June 9 – 15

Read Time:6 Minute, 18 Second

By Steve Parkhurst, Senior Editor, USDR.

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

6-15-15

Jeremy Corbyn proves the lunatic wing of the Labour Party is still calling the shots

It might be good for Labour if he wins. Maybe then the Left will finally get it

Helping families – the missing link in Cameron’s aspiration policy

He wants to do it. But the means are lacking. The first in a five-part series this week on ConservativeHome.

6-14-15

Labour’s losers make a worthless opposition

Labour’s essential problem is that there isn’t the need for a workers’ party any more. Britain is now a centre-Right country, comrades

Education, education, education – but this time for all pupils

We need to revive technical training, writes Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham

This EU pantomime is not what the voters asked for

The Tories have so much to do at home – from NHS reform to fixing the schools system – but they are distracted by a sideshow with Europe

We can put gap-year students like Eleanor Hawkins to better use by making them volunteer at home

A year of voluntary work should be a compulsory part of further education

6-13-15

Tower Hamlets, Britain’s worst political slum, has just rejoined the democratic world

Finally, this great London borough can move on from Lutfur Rahman

Mary Creagh drops out of Labour leadership contest

Mary Creagh has announced she is withdrawing from the Labour leadership contest. The shadow international development secretary has explained in tomorrow’s Guardian that she is quitting the race but won’t be backing another candidate. Given that Creagh had just seven MPs openly backing her — with only a rumoured handful still in the shadows — it was increasingly clear over the last week that she wouldn’t get the 35 names she needs to get on the ballot paper.

Bad news for Labour – first impressions count

If its new intake of MPs is anything to go by, the party’s talent-pool problem is only going to get worse

Why is Germany so weak in European negotiations?

Angela Merkel is a skilful politician who has stayed at the top of German politics for a long time. This is not the same thing as a strong Germany. She inherited a tradition of making compromises for the Euro and the EU, and has made many more as the contradictions and tensions of the Euro scheme have come to the fore. Judging by what Germany has done on a whole range of “red lines”, we must conclude that Germany does give in to pressure if the cohesion of the Eurozone or the EU is under attack.

Labour’s left and right wings want Jeremy Corbyn on the ballot paper

Jeremy Corbyn is adding some unlikely excitement to the Labour leadership contest. Although he does not have enough MPs yet to make it onto the ballot paper — he needs another 16 nominations at the time of writing — there is still a sense he might make it into race.

6-12-15

Austerity at home, profligacy abroad

A target enshrined in law has resulted in a dysfunctional system that fails the neediest

A flashback to those days when the sun always shone and things could only get better

More money for the EU

Yesterday the Commons passed another EU Finance Bill. UK voters will have to pay more tax to send a bit more money to the EU as a result. The Minister assured us it would have been a lot more if the UK had not cut the EU budget, and if the UK had no rebate.

6-11-15

Making deficits illegal won’t fix anything if voters still want high spending

George Osborne needs to convince the public that his ideas are good for the country. The protests against austerity suggest he has a long way to go

In Osborne’s debt

Yes, the deficit’s still there and debt has risen. But Osborne’s latest scheme is a reminder that the Party owes him a lot – and it will help shift Britain’s culture rightwards.

Updated: 2015 Labour leadership contest — who’s backing who

The Labour leadership contest is in full swing, with Labour MPs announcing who will they be backing to be the next leader. Under new rules, each candidate requires the backing of 35 MPs to make it into the ballot paper.

Is the Labour party having a nervous breakdown?

Neither the leadership candidates nor party grandees give cause for much hope. Depressingly, current squabbles sound like the noise before more defeat

Britain has the second worst record in Western Europe on infant mortality, but the solution could be in a simple checklist

All staff need to do is follow 29 tasks that must be carried out for every birth

In May the poorest areas of Glasgow voted against Labour for the first time in 100 years – they must have been outraged at their plans to get rid of non-doms

6-10-15

Labour has a problem. His name is David Miliband

The brother of Ed is hinting at a return to British politics. If that happens, Labour’s current leadership candidates will be in for a rough ride

Zac to stand. Or maybe not.

His ballot of his constituents, presumably funded by the Goldsmith millions, is an intriguing exercise in Direct Democracy.

Daily catch-up: Labour’s needless defeat – where is the anger?

The Labour leadership candidates were asked to give yes or no answers yesterday, and two of them failed to do so

Time to end the war on banks?

The UK and Germany both have large economies with certain strong sectors. Germany flourishes with a strong car industry. The UK flourishes with a strong financial sector.

Foges voices growing Tory dissatisfaction with the “bedroom tax”

The Prime Minister’s former speechwriter is far from the only one who worries the policy isn’t working well in practice.

Turkey’s people have acted to prevent an autocratic nightmare

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s election failure was a self-inflicted wound. He lost the silent ‘moral’ majority vote through one erratic move after another

6-9-15

Those who want to stay in the EU should impose a tax to pay for it

Many people who want us to stay in the EU also like higher levels of public spending and more government. That is why they support EU membership, as it brings both in a package UK voters cannot influence much and cannot control or veto. The large gross and net contribution to the EU budget is one of the reasons this country continues to live beyond its means and runs a large deficit.

Better for Cameron to give Ministers freedom on Europe now than be forced to do it later

On the renegotiation and referendum, the Prime Minister should meet his critics halfway. And they should meet him him halfway in return.

True localism needs financial devolution, too

Labour MPs want Mayors to gain the power to run up debts. Tories want greater local fiscal autonomy. They’re both right.

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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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