By Steve Parkhurst, Senior Editor, USDR.
Looking at the news and opinion out of London each day.
11-30-15
Bombing Syria is not the whole solution – but it’s a good start
Isil’s territory is a breeding ground of hate, spreading spores of terror over the web to infect the world
The Autumn Statement in perspective
I was asked to write a response to the Autumn Statement by a leading national newspaper. I dropped everything on Friday morning and wrote the required number of words to their deadline, but they did not publish it
11-29-15
If Tories won’t radically reduce the size of the state, what’s the point of them?
George Osborne could be acting decisively to ensure our economic security – but he is far more interested in short-term political gain
Dan Jarvis wants Jeremy Corbyn’s job, but he can’t be involved in any coup to overthrow the Labour leader
Labour may yet have their Bobby Ewing
Charles Moore’s Notes: cheap trickery in the Economist’s assisted dying campaign
Because, it says, of its ‘liberal values and respect for human dignity’, the Economist has put out a film about Emily, a 24-year-old Belgian woman, who wants assisted dying. She is physically healthy, and comes, the film assures us, from a happy family. She has suffered from severe depression since childhood, however.
Who is rich? The distorting problems caused by very high London home prices.
Many readers will know that I wanted quicker fixes of the main banks balance sheets and capacity to lend, rather than Quantitative easing. I wanted the illiquid or damaged banks to have to sell off assets and raise additional capital so they were stronger sooner. The advocates of QE are now able to claim that there has been no great general inflation so far as a result of their money printing, because credit was badly damaged by the crash and remained very tight owing to the tough regulation of the banks thereafter.
11-28-15
‘I was tossed out of the tribe’: climate scientist Judith Curry interviewed
For engaging with sceptics, and discussing uncertainties in projections frankly, this Georgia professor is branded a heretic
25 years on, Thatcher’s legacy is stronger than ever
Thatcherism has spread around the world causing global poverty to plummet.
11-27-15
Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet must make it clear: either he resigns, or they do
Labour MPs can’t go on sitting quietly, pretending to back a leader they clearly do not. They need to be brave if they want to save their party
It’s time to smash the whole welfare system
George Osborne’s Autumn Statement, with its backtracking on the slashing of tax credits, leaves a huge question hanging over 21st-century Britain: who has the cojones to do something about the destructive culture of welfarism? Anybody? It seems not. Both the supposedly small-state right and the apparently pro-work left have become bizarrely reluctant to address the spread of the autonomy-sapping welfare state into more people’s lives.
Ken Livingstone blaming Tony Blair for 7/7 tragically trashes his own 2005 response
The former London Mayor sullies the memory of his dignified reaction to the bombings he now describes as a ‘protest against our invasion of Iraq’
The Conservative Party, its young activists – and a failure in the duty of care
The Clarkegate allegations have revealed flawed accountability structures and failures of confidentiality – exacerbated by a fixation with the short-term.
Sorting out the balance of payments
The UK has been running a substantial deficit on its balance of payments with overseas countries for some time. The Office of Budget Responsibility has good news for us on this deficit. It forecasts that it will fall from over 5% of our National Income in 2014, to around 4% this year, 3% next year and then to around 2.5% thereafter. It points out the deterioration up to 2014 was caused by a weaker income balance, and suggests that going forward returns on UK investment abroad will pick up again.
11-26-15
Paying for a care home: a new answer to the problem
The Money Lab: making the wrong decisions about paying for a care home is all too easy – and could cost your family hundreds of thousands of pounds
George Osborne: We’ll ensure London remains the greatest city on the planet
More money for housing, transport, schools and the city’s cultural hotspots, plus an ‘Olympicopolis’ at Stratford
11-25-15
How to defeat Islamic State – and yes, it may mean British boots on the ground
To have a hope of defeating Isil in Syria, David Cameron needs to be ready to deploy British troops – and make some difficult political decisions
The main obstacle to a deal between the rival Leave campaigns is Arron Banks himself
The key Eurosceptic donors who will fund the anti-EU campaign do not feel they can work with him. Will he step aside to aid the cause?
Autumn Statement: Why George Osborne can ignore the scaremongering and keep cutting, in two charts
Critics have lined up to warn about the impact of his latest round of austerity, but the public has learned to deal with it
11-24-15
Tomorrow, Osborne must pass the surplus test
He has succeeded in boosting recovery, but failed to eliminate the deficit. Now he must prove his determination to fix that roof – whether the sun is shining or not.
George Osborne is about to run into a heap of trouble
Spending cuts could end Britain’s membership of the EU
Labour must choose between its members and the country
The Corbyn cultists are going on a magical mystery tour which can only end one way. MPs need to wake up and defy this mindless cult
The SNP’s independence plans have been exposed as delusional – when will they come clean?
Sturgeon and Swinney must stop relying on Salmond’s belligerent and baseless assertions.
Now 66% of Labour members think Corbyn is doing well, will Blairite MPs stop attacking him from the inside?
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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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