Week of Mar 24 – Mar 30

Read Time:6 Minute, 35 Second

By Steve Parkhurst, Senior Editor,  USDR.

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

3-30-15

A warning to other Commons candidates – don’t get eaten by the system

My work with whistleblowers in this Parliament, especially those who work in the NHS, has helped to taught me that integrity is more important than institutions.

Does Greece have a little list?

3-29-15

No one is talking about our utterly mad energy policy

All the major parties are signed up to the policy set in train by Ed Miliband’s Climate Change Act. They don’t know what they are doing

Of Mugs and Men: Labour is right about immigration but it can’t articulate it

The advertising of an anti-immigration “LabourMugs” offended Left and Right. But, actually, the party is right to address the issue

As polling day looms, Labour is thinking about life after Ed Miliband

Labour is not acting much like a party that expects to win the election. It is focused on who will replace its leader

3-28-15

The plot to disappear Ukip (it’s working)

The establishment would just like Nigel Farage to go away — and they’re working on getting their wish

Ed Miliband is peddling a lie about his volte-face on Syria

The Labour leader’s behaviour in the summer of 2013 is the perfect of example of how innapropriate a PM he would make

We name the key marginals in which housing is a vital issue for the Conservatives – and the other parties

St Austell & Newquay, Hampstead & Kilburn, Great Yarmouth…what Shelter found, using Lord Ashcroft’s polling as the basis for our research.

Can you live on a zero hours contract?

This is one of the sillier questions in modern politics. All sensible parties and politicians want people to have well paid jobs. We all recognise you need a decent income to meet all the household bills, and all main parties support a range of top up benefits to help those in low paid employment. No party recommends outlawing all zero hours contracts, as for some people and for some tasks these might make sense. All do agree that they cannot be used to break minimum wage laws, nor does working under such a contract render you ineligible for top up benefits and other state financial support.

3-27-15

A mis-formed villain who seized power through treachery is today to be solemnly buried

I refer, of course, to the funeral of Richard III. But some MPs, not all of them Tories, have a different committal in mind.

Battle For Number 10 was a hard-fought preview of the election campaign

Election TV debate: David Cameron vs Ed Miliband – who was the winner?

Dan Hodges, Janet Daley, James Kirkup, Mary Riddell and Tim Stanley give their verdicts

The work of an MP – as local advocate

3-26-15

There will be plenty of jockeying for the leadership when the PM steps down but the battle starts now

Ukip’s angry, left-behind voters are not going away

Nigel Farage draws his support from financially struggling white people who have completely lost faith in the political system. They’re anxious about the future, angry about inequality, and they will still be here after May 7

Alex Salmond says SNP will back Labour unconditionally

“Would you like a glass of pink champagne?” asks Alex Salmond at 3.30pm, sounding very much like a man settling down for the afternoon. It’s Monday and Scotland’s former First Minister has cause to celebrate. He spent the previous day musing on television about the price he’d demand for the SNP supporting Ed Miliband in the House of Commons, and his thoughts dominate the front pages of the newspapers.

Philip Pullman: children need the freedom to take risks

The pressure on children to succeed in exams is an awful imprisonment and means many are missing out on the freedom to explore

A mis-formed villain who seized power through treachery is today to be solemnly buried

I refer, of course, to the funeral of Richard III. But some MPs, not all of them Tories, have a different committal in mind.

3-25-15

By 2020, the Conservative Party leader will be… not who you expect

James Kirkup says that none of David Cameron’s chosen successors will actually succeed him — if he makes it to 2020

Cameron and Miliband: paralysed by Salmond, like rabbits at the approach of a weasel

The former SNP leader’s rebuttal of any federalist offer from the Conservatives, as championed by this site, has a deadly purpose to it.

IRA suspects face fresh probes as Government annuls amnesties

Also: Sturgeon faces revolt over all-women shortlists; unionist pact in four Northern Irish constituencies; and AMs introduce new Welsh language measures.

Is there any future for fracking in Britain?

The head of an industry-backed study says it is a “big if” as to whether shale gas extraction will take off in Britain

Euro 2 billion to help Greece

3-24-15

Driving ban on half Paris motorists after air pollution briefly tops Shanghai

Even-numbered number plates were told to stay off Paris roads and public transport is free on Monday in bid to cut harmful smog

David Cameron’s term limit is an admission of weakness and a tactic to maximise the Tory vote

The message is now clearer and louder: Vote Dave, Get Boris

At best, Cameron’s kitchen interview is a waste of precious campaigning time

It won’t change any voters’ minds about the General Election. But it lays some mantraps for the Prime Minister if he gets a second term.

We don’t like coalitions – but we may have to get used to them

The PM has shown a rare skill in keeping the Government together over the past five years

A jobs miracle is happening in Britain, thanks to tax cuts. Why don’t the Tories say so?

If a jobs boom also creates demand for immigrants, it is apparently too embarrassing to mention

– – – – – –

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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