Week of May 15 – May 21

Read Time:6 Minute, 39 Second

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

5-21-12

Britain must embrace 30pc tax revolution to boost growth

It is time for Britain to make a vital choice. Our economy is stagnant, with unemployment at horrendous levels, crippled by excessive public spending and a punitive tax system. There are two options.

And at the G8 summit, world leaders issue strong message calling for stimulus to encourage growth

A Single Income Tax would be fairer, more transparent and would spur economic growth

Ken Livingstone once wrote that everyone “should pay tax at the same rate on their earnings and all other income”. For all our differences, I agree. If you earn the same amount as a shareholder collecting a dividend or as a plumber fixing someone’s central heating you should pay the same amount in tax.

5-20-12

Only 51% of Tories support withdrawal from the European Union – and 26% would consider voting UKIP

A poll for tomorrow’s Sunday Mirror/Independent on Sunday, conducted by ComRes, reveals an important fact: Tory voters are not strongly united behind withdrawal from the European Union.

Alistair Renshaw: Retrospective taxation that forces people into bankruptcy is morally repugnant

The American statesman and senator from Massachusetts Daniel Webster once wrote that an unlimited power to impose tax involves, necessarily, the power to destroy.

Bashing the poor still thrives unabashed

Holyrood witchfinders never rest from finding new ways to persecute those in poverty

The rich have to recycle their money

In any relatively free society some people will earn more than others, some will save and invest more and more wisely than others, some will be richer than others. The system only works if a way is found to use the surplus the rich generate for themselves to assist those who are not so lucky or successful.

5-19-12

Lib Dem nuclear re-think ahead of NATO

Menzies Campbell’s calls to re-think Trident will cheer the party following, but is coalition partner David Cameron listening?

Europe finally awakes from its utopian dream

A defiant Angela Merkel is doing no more than defending the interests of her own electorate.

British economy may ‘never quite recover’ from a severe Euro collapse

Britain’s economy may suffer “permanent” damage and “never quite get back up” if the euro collapses in a chaotic way, the Government’s chief economic forecaster has said.

Even Fred Goodwin is a far more sensible chap than Clegg, Heseltine and the other €uro-fanatics

There are no ifs, buts or maybes. The European single currency was a crazy idea. It could only have worked if the peoples of the Eurozone had been ready to form a single state. As they were not, it was bound to fail.

A senior Conservative said about George Osborne, ‘We’ll kill him.’ The metaphor is in regular use

5-18-12

Turn off your iPad, David Cameron, and start dealing with Britain’s debt

The Prime Minister David Cameron talks about fiscal sanity but is borrowing like a drunken Keynesian.

The 1922 and 2012

The Tories must avoid the deeply divisive quarrelling of the 1990s.

The civil service is not a punchbag for ministers

Politically inspired civil service bashing is naive, and counterproductive to the process of reform

The NDAA’s section 1021 coup d’etat foiled

One brave judge is all that lay between us and a law that would have given the president power to detain US citizens indefinitely

Cameron not for turning on the economy

As events point to a Greek exit from the euro, David Cameron has pledged to stick to ‘Plan A’ on the economy

There has been some negative comment about the Prime Minister taking his wife Samantha out to dinner earlier this week. Bafflingly, their “date night”, involving a “swanky meal” was juxtaposed with William Hague’s comments that the British need to work harder.

5-17-12

Britain must make ready for the storm as clueless Europe tears itself apart

Once every half century or so, Europe “tears itself apart” in an orgy of self-destructive national tribalism. It happens just like clockwork.

Merkel’s real fear is that an exit from the Euro will be good for Greece

Francois Hollande, the Euro-fanatical new French president, must have wondered whether, like some unfortunate mortal in Greek mythology, he had angered the gods.

Eurozone break-up will be traumatic but is now inevitable

It is good to see Sir Mervyn King and David Cameron both being a little more open about the possibility of a Greek default. We need realism, not delusion, from our central bankers and politicians; and it is looking more likely by the day that Greece will elect a rabidly anti-austerity government next month, default on its debts and exit the euro.

Andrew Lilico: Greek €uro membership – It’s about time to put Frank Sinatra on the record player

Barring an extraordinary and improbable last-minute capitulation by the Germans, the Greeks are going to leave the euro, sooner rather than later.

Pickles replaces “one in, one out” regulation rule with “one in, two out”

The Communities and Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, has pledged that his department will exceed the Government’s requirement on red tape, the “one-in, one-out” rule.

5-16-12

William Hague promises to ‘argue relentlessly’ to boost UK business

Foreign Secretary William Hague will promise to “argue relentlessly” for free trade around the world in an effort to boost the UK economy.

David Cameron: Eurozone should ‘make up or break up’

David Cameron has told eurozone countries they must choose whether to “make up” or “break up” in his bleakest warning so far on the debt crisis.

Battle for the 1922 exposes Conservative frustrations and divisions

Have you heard? Apparently the 301 are trying to take over the 1922?

Sorry Nick Clegg – social mobility and austerity just don’t mix

To claim social mobility as your guiding principle yet ignore income inequality is not serious policy-making

Ed Miliband’s new policy chief backs a vote on Europe

Ed Miliband’s new policy chief is backing demands for an “immediate” referendum on whether Britain should leave the European Union.

Electoral fraud – the Government is locking the back door while leaving the front door wide open

Paul Goodman’s recent ConHome article was absolutely right: the Government mustn’t park the problem of electoral fraud just because Boris won the Mayoral election. As has been consistently raised by the indefatigable Cllr Peter Golds, Britain’s electoral system is wide open to fraud.

5-15-12

Britain: Still two nations in 2012

If you didn’t catch Neil O’Brien’s thought-provoking report for the Daily Telegraph last week, here’s another chance.

John Baron MP: A prize awaits the Prime Minister if he seizes the moment over the Eurozone Crisis

The Eurozone crisis continues to unfold.  The economic news goes from bad to worse. Furthermore, with the ink hardly dry on the fiscal compact treaty, many countries are already in breach of the EU’s debt limits.

MPs warning of medicine shortage

Patients in England are suffering from shortages of some medicines, according to the All Party Pharmacy Group of MPs.

It’s austerity all right – but not of the kind we actually need

IT has long been a theme of this column that the government and its critics alike have exaggerated the extent of the government’s belt-tightening. The coalition is doing this to try and reassure the bond markets while seeking to minimise the hit to the public sector; the opposition because it wants to blame the recession on “the cuts.”

Cllr Ralph Baldwin: Why I am joining the Conservative Party

Cllr Ralph Baldwin of Barking and Dagenham Council announces his decision to join the Conservative Party

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