Heron's Eye 27/10/08

Political hypocrisy - don't you hate it? 27/10/08
Michael White analyses the Machiavellian positions that politicians take to appear honest and compares it with historical politicians from the past. [Guardian]

Tories face call to repay Rothschild £1m loan
“The Conservative party faced demands last night to repay a huge loan from a member of the Rothschild banking family made through a company set up with the sole purpose of protecting her anonymity.” [Guardian]

Survey shows George Osborne affair has tarnished Tories 27/10/08
Deborah Summers on how the Oleg Deripaska affair appears to have impacted on the Conservative part’s image. [Guardian]

Darling 'misguided' on recession strategy 27/10/08
“A group of economists has attacked the government's Keynesian strategy to spend its way out of the recession as "misguided and discredited". Further big increases in public-sector spending would make the state's role so dominant it would stunt the private sector's recovery, they say in a letter in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph.”[Guardian]

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Grimsdale's Ire: 10/08/08

Pressure grows on Met boss after fresh claims of racism
Sir Ian Blair's leadership of Scotland Yard looked increasingly fragile last night as Britain's most senior Asian police officer announced that he was launching a legal claim against the Metropolitan Police over allegations of racial discrimination. [Guardian]

Call for Bill of Rights on homes and health
Britons should be guaranteed a legal right to a decent standard of living, health and housing under a Bill of Rights, according to a report by an influential group of parliamentarians. [Guardian]

Coal plant protesters injured in skirmishes with police
Protesters battled with police yesterday but failed to shut down Kingsnorth coal plant as the climax of the week-long climate camp ended with a series of skirmishes. [Guardian]

Capital charmer
Decca Aitkenhead interviews Boris Johnson following his first one hundred days in office as the Mayor of London. [Guardian]

Untested drugs offer cancer hope
Thousands of terminally ill cancer patients are to be offered the chance to take experimental drugs that may extend their life by months or even years, The Observer can reveal. [Guardian]

Warning over backlash in bail hostel row
The government has been accused of a 'shocking lack of consultation' over its plans to open hundreds of bail units in residential areas despite fierce opposition from councils. [Guardian]

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Heron's Eye: 01/08/08

MPs ordered to pay back money used for 'propaganda'

Five were ordered to repay funds, including three Plaid Cymru MPs, Elfyn Llwyd, Hywel Williams and leader Adam Price, who were each required to give back more than £5,000, and Sidiq Khan, a Government whip, and Malcolm Bruce, Liberal Democrat MP for Gordon, who returned £500.

Separately, Derek Conway, the disgraced former Conservative MP, was asked to return £13,161 after overpaying his student son for working in his office. [Telegraph]

That golden age? It never happened, except in the minds of pessimists

Mark Lawson on how the golden ages of Britain envisaged by commentators are often distorted and difficult to return to. [Guardian]

Blame the rich for feeding the drug industry

Melanie Reid on the hypocrisy within drugs prosecution based on income. [Times]

Clegg Does Realpolitik, Ends Policy of "Equi-Distance"

Guido on the Liberal Democrats positioning themselves to take advantage of anticipated Labour weaknesses in the next general election. [GuyFalkes]

Election spending: Labour shrugs off Electoral Commission reservations

The government today insisted its plans to curb spending outside of an election period – widely seen as an attempt to outmanoeuvre Conservative donor Lord Ashcroft — would not be derailed by the Electoral Commission's "strong reservations" about its proposed reforms. [Guardian]

Scottish Labour leadership: three MSPs line up to replace Alexander

Former Holyrood health minister Andy Kerr will today launch his bid for the Scottish leadership of the Labour party as nominations close at noon for what is widely expected to be a three horse race.

The leadership and deputy leadership contests were triggered by the resignation of Wendy Alexander, who quit five weeks ago in a row over donations to her leadership campaign last year.

Kerr, the MSP for East Kilbride, will launch his campaign just an hour before the noon deadline.

Cathy Jamieson, who stood down as deputy leader to pitch for the top job, and the finance spokesman, Iain Gray, have already launched their bids. [Guardian]

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