Looking at the news and opinion out of London each day.
9-29-14
PM Modi asks world leaders to adopt International Yoga Day
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked the world leaders to adopt an International Yoga Day, saying that by changing lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change.
9-28-14
Breaking: Mark Reckless becomes second Tory MP to defect to Ukip
Mark Reckless has just left the Conservative Party and joined Ukip. He is announcing his defection on the stage at the party’s conference to huge cheers.
Why I am defecting to Ukip – Mark Reckless’s statement in full
Mark Reckless, Conservative MP for Rochester and Strood, announced his defection to Ukip at the party’s conference in Doncaster today.
The Reckless defection is a test of Cameron’s nerve
The future does not simply morph into a benign shape through hope. It must be made good by resilience in the face of panic – a leader learns this in conflict
Dreary climate summit was surely their saddest fiasco yet
The leaden speeches at this year’s UN climate summit shows our leaders’ gullibility
The Tories want an ethical society too
It’s not selfish to take responsibility for yourself, your family and your community
Two challenges for PM
There was not a doubt that the “Make in India” campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be a roaring success. It was a curious coincidence that China announced a “Made in China” campaign the same day to incentivise high-tech imports and research and development to boost its manufacturing sector, which has seen some slackening in recent months.
9-27-14
MPs vote for airstrikes in Iraq. Is Britain now a nation forever at war?
Parliament’s vote to endorse military action in Iraq against Isil has many implications, but one of the most striking is that Britain will remain a nation at war.
All you need to do is take a cursory glance to when they were last in power to see the potential hypocrisy
Eurosceptics must learn serious lessons from Alex Salmond’s defeat
To win a Get Out vote in an EU referendum campaign, they will need sober answers to everything, not tides of emotion
It would be almost impossible to run anything if staff only turned up when they felt like it, but they should be offered greater flexibility
Scientists got it wrong on gravitational waves. So what?
The team involved has been criticised for publishing results before they were peer reviewed. But this is what science is: debate, discussion, deliberation
9-26-14
The major parties are nevertheless watching closely: Ukip has become a real and enduring force
Cameron’s conference speeches tell the sad story of his leadership
Whatever happened to the conviction and consistency of Cameron’s early years as party leader? Nowadays, it’s hard to know what his beliefs really are.
The response to his gaffe has been scathing, but Labour’s leader should have known better
The onus is on all of us Londoners to reward those businesses who have been the outriders for this community movement
9-25-14
Waning interest in global warming by world leaders
Global warming hysteria has cost jobs and prosperity. But since the world hasn’t warmed for almost two decades it’s hardly surprising that world leaders can’t even be bothered to turn up to the latest UN climate summit.
The Commons must ask some hard questions tomorrow about bombing Iraq
When British planes fly to Iraq, will they really be doing more than “mowing the grass”?
The Scottish Catholic bishops and the Nationalists: a scandal is coming to light
9-24-14
Miliband’s dividing lines
The more we learn about Ed Miliband’s speech (to be given later this afternoon), the clearer the dividing lines that it is drawing are. The word is that Miliband will announce more money for the NHS paid for by a combination of taxes on mansions, hedge funds and big tobacco.
Three reasons why Ed Miliband’s proposed ‘Mansion Tax’ is a bad idea
Allister Heath reveals why he thinks that the ‘Mansion Tax’ proposed by Ed Miliband would be an economic disaster
The Yes movement slowly moves through the Kubler-Ross stages of grief
No-one has died. No-one has been stabbed. Someone, I suppose, may have been punched. So let’s retain some sense of perspective as we consider and try to make sense of the last few days in Scotland. It is only day five. People deal with grief at different speeds.
9-23-14
Ed Miliband: I want to be Prime Minister for a decade
Ed Miliband will announce a 10-year plan for Britain including plans to double the number of first-time buyers by building 200,000 homes a year
What’s the answer to the English Question? Have your say in our survey
Also: questions on next week’s party conference. Are you going? And if not, why not?
Federalism works in Germany but may not in Britain
A federal system needs a strong bond to hold individual elements together. Postwar Germany had that; it’s doubtful the UK does
Why I’m occupying a boarded-up east London council house
A group of local mothers are squatting next to London’s Olympic Park to tell the government we need social housing, not social cleansing
Chuka Umunna: the last disciple of New Labour’s third way
Chuka Umunna is the last disciple of the third way standing. At a Times fringe earlier, he was full of praise for centre-left European reformers such as the Italian PM Matteo Renzi and French PM Manuel Valls. Indeed, when Umunna spoke approvingly of the battle that Valls is having with his own party one sensed that it was something that Umunna would like to do himself.
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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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