Week of Nov 25 – Dec 1 – US Daily Review

Read Time:4 Minute, 32 Second

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

11-30-14

Centres of excellence

The UK has several universities in the top ranks of world academic achievement. Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial London and other leading London establishments provide homes to some of the greatest world scientists and thinkers.

Redistribution of wealth only breeds resentment among voters

Unfair Labour policy

11-29-14

Why don’t we hear about the beneficial side of climate change?

Two headlines on successive days speak volumes about the scaremongering which is endemic in the way in which learned bodies disseminate information on climate science. Yesterday, the Royal Society published a report, Resilience to Extreme Weather, predicting that by 2090 four billion people around the world each year will be subjected to heatwave events, with dire consequences for the health of older people.

David Cameron on immigration

“Immigration has to be properly controlled. Net migration needs to be brought down radically from hundreds of thousands a year, to just tens of thousands”. He reported good progress in curbing non EU migration and went on ” Now what we need is to work across government so that our immigration policy is factored into our benefits system, our health system and our housing system”. He wanted to stop Britain being a “soft touch”.

Tory backbenchers talk out ‘revenge evictions’ bill

Fridays in the House of Commons Chamber are rarely edifying experiences, and today a number of MPs and campaigners are very exercised that two backbenchers managed to talk out a private members’ bill which claimed to give tenants better protection against so-called ‘revenge evictions’. These evictions are when a tenant complains about the leaking bath or mouldy wall and finds themselves being turfed out by their landlord.

Inside Westminster

11-28-14

Immigration 1) Cameron’s speech – a struggle in a trap of his own devising

Yes, there is a plan on welfare restrictions. But no, there is nothing much on border control. Expectations have been raised that have thus not been met.

The X-rated Fraser Nelson

What greeted me when I accessed his Channel 4 documentary on How the Rich get Richer.

Tories give Mark Reckless ‘worst office in Parliament’

Earlier this year Zac Goldsmith complained that he had been given the ‘the worst office of any MP in Parliament’ as punishment for his disparaging remarks about the coalition. Now word reaches Mr S that the accolade of worst office has been passed to Mark Reckless following his defection to Ukip in the Rochester by-election.

If Mitchell hadn’t sued…

…he would be back in the Cabinet. His decision to do so set the scene for a personal tragedy.

11-27-14

The end of the Union?

The Smith Commission’s proposals suggest that Scotland’s referendum hasn’t settled the independence debate for a generation – as unionists hoped.

Why should Scottish MPs come to Westminster to impose a higher rate of Income Tax on England than the Scottish Parliament places on Scotland?

The announcement by the Smith Commission that Scotland should in future decide her own Income Tax is an important moment in the evolution of the United Kingdom.

11-26-14

May and Javid. A tale of two future Conservative leaders?

The Home Secretary signalled intent, and her every move is thus pored over. Meanwhile, the Culture Secretary is quietly getting on with his job.

Cheaper energy

I have often spoken up for cheaper energy. It is time to do so again, as businesses tell me that the UK – and the rest of the EU – is no longer competitive on energy prices. Much energy intensive business is at risk as the EU gas and electricity prices for industry are more than twice the level of US ones. Assembly manufacture is also damaged by high energy prices, as energy can be a more expensive cost than labour in a modern automated factory.

Andrew Gimson’s PMQs sketch: white van man becomes the arbiter of politics

We got Shakespeare driving a white van, or at least commenting on one, but he was trumped by an MP who actually has white vans in his family.

11-25-14

Owen Paterson’s speech

Owen Paterson made an interesting speech yesterday. He was right to say the UK has no wish to pursue the political union being created on the continent, and right to say our future must lie outside the federalising treaties, as many of us have been arguing for years.

Ukip and the hard-Left are both blinded by Tory hatred

The Left’s rhetoric has become as toxic as that of the hard-Right

Labour leadership frontrunner Jim Murphy set to back full income tax-raising powers for Holyrood

In a speech today, the East Renfrewshire MP will throw his weight behind full income tax powers for the Scottish Parliament.

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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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sparkhurst

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