Thursday, 9 August 2007

The Poliblogs 9th August 2007

Nine months to force a referendum

William Hague, according to The Daily Mail is warning that once MPs return from Parliament's summer recess they will have only nine working days to debate the treaty before it is signed off by Brown in October.

EU Referendum

Tory policy crisis

Blogging will be light today, but word in that there is some trouble brewing with the Tory policy commission on economic competitiveness.

The author, John Redwood, is seen as an enormous liability, and publication has been pushed back from next week to September.

Ridiculous Politics

Gordon's Election Wind-Up

He's at it again. Gordon Brown is winding up the Conservatives once more about calling a snap election, this time by appointing another Labour Party election supremo.

Adam Boulton

Inconsistent messages - date of next General Election

Am I alone in wondering how the Gordon Brown constitutional reform debate can be squared with increasing speculation of an 'early' General Election?

Peter Kenyon

One-Trick Brown

Ask yourself, would Blair have come back from his summer holiday in Barbados because of an outbreak of foot and mouth? My feeling is probably not. Gordon Brown on the other hand, interrupted a short break in Dorset.

UBCF

Mark Oaten: Abolish all the prisons

Mark Oaten is back in the news thanks to his taking part in the BBC Radio 4 programme Hecklers. The first broadcast was at 8 p.m. this evening, but you can catch the repeat at 10.15 p.m. on Saturday 11 August.

The idea of Hecklers is that someone puts forward an unpopular argument in front of a live audience. According to the BBC website, Oaten's case is that we should demolish all our prisons and replace them with education and training centres, mental health facilities and drug rehabilitation units.

Liberal England

SNP demands for 9% of Broadcasting budget will cause a backlash

The SNP wants 9% of the BBC's budget to be spent in Scotland, and is looking at plans to draw up a Scottish Broadcasting Corporation to rival the BBC. This SNP plan is ludicrous in the extreme and will only cause a backlash.

Norfolk Blogger

Is Chris Grayling the man to restore Tory fortunes?

Go into Google, type in “Chris Grayling MP”, click on the “news” search button and the above is what you get. A whole series of references to attacks that he has made on the government which might not be commanding the big headlines at the moment but, I am told, are starting to irritate the Labour hierarchy.

For the 46 year old Epsom MP and shadow work and pension secretary is fast developing a reputation for digging out the stories where the government is weak and then going for it. For if anybody on the Tory front bench is going to inflict damage then it will be Grayling.

Political Betting

High Court finds against Electoral Commission

The High Court has found partially in favour of UKIP and against the Electoral Commission in UKIP’s appeal against the Electoral Commission’s ruling that it should hand over a £367k donation to the Treasury.

Wonko’s World

The EU Treaty.

Kate Eames ponders "Who's afraid of the public making an informed choice?" in relation to the EU.

The government doesn't want the public to believe the opponents of the new EU treaty or anyone who thinks a referendum is necessary. This treaty is vitally different, they tell us, because it is not a 'Constitution' and all mention of such a status has been removed. The symbolism has gone but the body remains.

18 Doughty Street

Hidden Costs of 2012: Construction Inflation to Cost £4 billion

The TaxPayers' Alliance 2012 Watchdog is publishing new research showing how the 2012 Olympics will add almost £4 billion to construction inflation in London and the South East between now and the start of the Games in five years time.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance

Fair games

To date, China would win no medals for human rights. But as the countdown to the Beijing Olympics continues, there are at least some hopeful signs.

Menzies Campbell

Boris is just a symptom

It's not just Boris Johnson who will have a job persuading ethnic minority voters to back him. David Cameron has his work cut out.

Vanessa Walters

Boris is best for London

Ignore the anti-Johnson agitprop. He is a shrewd man, and would make a better mayor than Ken

Max Hastings

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