Nick Clegg and the Lib Dem leadership came away relatively unscathed from the conference at Liverpool. Delegates staged a symbolic revolt over the controversial 'free schools' issue but the real test will come at Birmingham next year when the cuts have started to bite and the AV referendum may well have been lost.
Clegg's speech was short, sober and restrained and was designed to reassure anxious delegates. It largely achieved that objective. Many of them are councillors who have experienced coalition arrangements in local government and hence are familiar with the constraints and opportunities they offer.
If the Lib Dems had not entered a coalition and forced a second election they would have suffered at the polls. As it is, they have shown they are prepared to accept the responsibilities of government. Whether they will be given any electoral credit for that is another matter.
To those who believe the Lib Dems should have entered a coalition with Labour, Clegg said that Labour had ordered the invasion of Iraq, run roughshod over Britain's civil liberties and brought the country to the bank of bankruptcy.
Clegg had one decent joke about New Labour authors: 'Never in the field of political memoirs has so much been written by so few about so little.'
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Monday, 20 September 2010
A Crooked Sixpence
I greatly enjoyed a novel written by investigative journalist Murray Sayle called A Crooked Sixpence. which was published in 1960. I still have my copy on my shelves. It was an often amusing exposé of Sunday tabloid journalism, probably with a slight period flavour today.
Reading his obituary in The Times today, I learnt that the editor of The People where Sayle had worked had taken exception to the novel. Sayle was sued for libel and all copies were pulped.
As I recall I was given mine by a media contact who wanted to warn me about the seamier side of journalism and dissuade me from it as a career.
Reading his obituary in The Times today, I learnt that the editor of The People where Sayle had worked had taken exception to the novel. Sayle was sued for libel and all copies were pulped.
As I recall I was given mine by a media contact who wanted to warn me about the seamier side of journalism and dissuade me from it as a career.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Asking the right questions
A Populus poll in The Times earlier this week read like bad news for the Coalition Government's deficit reduction strategy, but legitimate doubts have now been raised about the appropriateness of the questions: Poll
One thing that needs to be borne in mind is that setting a target for deficit reduction is one thing and achieving it is another. So Labour's halving target could have turned out to be a 30 per cent reduction in practice and the Coalition's target may well fall short at around 80 per cent over the lifetime of a Parliament.
One thing that needs to be borne in mind is that setting a target for deficit reduction is one thing and achieving it is another. So Labour's halving target could have turned out to be a 30 per cent reduction in practice and the Coalition's target may well fall short at around 80 per cent over the lifetime of a Parliament.
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
The era of cheap undies is over
So proclaimed The Sun this morning and they are right. Cotton prices have gone up by 45 per cent and this is likely to feed into a price rise of 5 to 8 per cent in the shops next year according to Next.
The latest CPI figures show inflation at a stubborn 3.1 per cent, down from its April peak, but well above the Bank of England 2 per cent target. Food prices in particular have risen, as well as clothes. With supply and demand pressures on food staples, some are predicting a double digit rise in food prices by the end of the year.
This has a number of implications for government policy. There is likely to be more resistance to a public sector pay freeze if real incomes are being eroded by inflation, particularly on basic items like food and clothes. It would also affect the cost of providing the state pension.
The latest CPI figures show inflation at a stubborn 3.1 per cent, down from its April peak, but well above the Bank of England 2 per cent target. Food prices in particular have risen, as well as clothes. With supply and demand pressures on food staples, some are predicting a double digit rise in food prices by the end of the year.
This has a number of implications for government policy. There is likely to be more resistance to a public sector pay freeze if real incomes are being eroded by inflation, particularly on basic items like food and clothes. It would also affect the cost of providing the state pension.
Monday, 13 September 2010
The conference season is under way
The pace of politics is quickening in the run up to the vitally important Comprehensive Spending Review. This week we have the TUC Congress and this will be followed by the Liberal Democrats, suddenly a more significant event on the political calendar.
On the radio this morning one public sector trade union leader said that not one public sector job should go. This shows a complete disconnect with reality. Even under a Labour Government there would have been public sector job cuts.
According to the June budget, we are already spending £44 billion on debt interest. This is more than we spend on defence (£40bn) or public order (£35bn). It represents a substantial opportunity cost. If the deficit was not cut, interest rates would go up, the UK's credit rating would decline and we would be spending even more on interest.
The BBC's Nick Robinson made a journey down the A1 last week in which he talked to members of the public about spending cuts. People found it far easier to say what they wouldn't cut than what they would. Overseas aid was mentioned, but this is a small proportion of the total budget.
Another popular candidate was 'welfare' and this is certainly a big ticket item. Child benefit may be stopped at 16 and the age at which people become eligible for the winter fuel allowance may be raised. In this way some dent may be made in the £194bn spent on 'social protection'.
On the radio this morning one public sector trade union leader said that not one public sector job should go. This shows a complete disconnect with reality. Even under a Labour Government there would have been public sector job cuts.
According to the June budget, we are already spending £44 billion on debt interest. This is more than we spend on defence (£40bn) or public order (£35bn). It represents a substantial opportunity cost. If the deficit was not cut, interest rates would go up, the UK's credit rating would decline and we would be spending even more on interest.
The BBC's Nick Robinson made a journey down the A1 last week in which he talked to members of the public about spending cuts. People found it far easier to say what they wouldn't cut than what they would. Overseas aid was mentioned, but this is a small proportion of the total budget.
Another popular candidate was 'welfare' and this is certainly a big ticket item. Child benefit may be stopped at 16 and the age at which people become eligible for the winter fuel allowance may be raised. In this way some dent may be made in the £194bn spent on 'social protection'.
Friday, 3 September 2010
The Biden-Clegg relationship
Washington DC: One of the interesting by-products of the Coalition Government is the relationship that has developed between Deputy PM Nick Clegg and US Vice-President Joe Biden.
Within minutes of Clegg's appointment, Biden was on the phone to deliver his congratulations. They have been video conferencing and when Nick Clegg comes to the UN later in the month he will spend two hours in Washington with his opposite number.
The vice-presidency in the US has come a long way since it was described by one incumbent as worth a 'pitcher of warm spit'. Vice-President Mondale described the role as 'You die, I fly' in reference to his role as an attendee at state funerals.
The role of deputy prime minister has no constitutional foundation and does not always exist but it has had some distinguished incumbents such as Rab Butler and Michael Heseltine.
Within minutes of Clegg's appointment, Biden was on the phone to deliver his congratulations. They have been video conferencing and when Nick Clegg comes to the UN later in the month he will spend two hours in Washington with his opposite number.
The vice-presidency in the US has come a long way since it was described by one incumbent as worth a 'pitcher of warm spit'. Vice-President Mondale described the role as 'You die, I fly' in reference to his role as an attendee at state funerals.
The role of deputy prime minister has no constitutional foundation and does not always exist but it has had some distinguished incumbents such as Rab Butler and Michael Heseltine.
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Discuss with Facebook friends
Washington DC: This is a British politics blog, but occasionally it is interesting to make comments on the politics of other countries when visiting them. Yesterday evening I watched President Obama give a presidential address, ostensibly on the departure of combat troops from Iraq in what he called 'an age without surrender ceremonies'. Watching it just a couple of miles from where it was given in the Oval Office made it seem different.
It was a little to odd to see, while the President was in full flow, a message flash across the bottom of the screen 'Discuss with Facebook Friends' at the website of the station concerned. The address was preceded by an advert for carpets and then some commentary which said that the speech could not have been made without the efforts of President George W. Bush, said apparently without irony. The President was actually quite generous to his predecessor whilst pointing out his disagreements with him.
In many ways the speech sounded like an election broadcast before the mid-terms to me. There was quite a lot on the economy and the need to 'strengthen our middle class', a phrase that would be taboo in Britain. There were also quite a few rhetorical clichés such as describing Iraq as 'the cradle of civilisation'.
It is sobering to think that this has been one of America's longest wars and also one of its more controversial as the President admitted. The entanglement in Afganistgan may be even be more difficult to pull out of whilst being able to make any kind of claim to success.
Prime ministerial broadcasts were very much in vogue in the 1970s when Ted Heath was always declaring states of emergency and lecturing the nation in gloomy and wooden tones, much good that it did him.
It was a little to odd to see, while the President was in full flow, a message flash across the bottom of the screen 'Discuss with Facebook Friends' at the website of the station concerned. The address was preceded by an advert for carpets and then some commentary which said that the speech could not have been made without the efforts of President George W. Bush, said apparently without irony. The President was actually quite generous to his predecessor whilst pointing out his disagreements with him.
In many ways the speech sounded like an election broadcast before the mid-terms to me. There was quite a lot on the economy and the need to 'strengthen our middle class', a phrase that would be taboo in Britain. There were also quite a few rhetorical clichés such as describing Iraq as 'the cradle of civilisation'.
It is sobering to think that this has been one of America's longest wars and also one of its more controversial as the President admitted. The entanglement in Afganistgan may be even be more difficult to pull out of whilst being able to make any kind of claim to success.
Prime ministerial broadcasts were very much in vogue in the 1970s when Ted Heath was always declaring states of emergency and lecturing the nation in gloomy and wooden tones, much good that it did him.
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