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Tory assembly members in politically motivated walk out

By Tom Copley / @tomcopley Yesterday, tube station staff across London walked out on strike over proposed job cuts. Tory Mayor Boris Johnson condemned the strike action as “politically motivated”. Yet today his colleagues on the London Assembly chose to take their own politically motivated walk out in order to stifle debate on the issue at the GLA. The RMT/TSSA joint strike action was sparked by the Mayor’s proposal to cut 800 ticket office and gateline staff from tube stations....
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Naked gerrymandering

By Chris Williamson MP On Monday evening the ConDem coalition secured the second reading of its gerrymandering Parliamentary Voting and Constituencies Bill, that will reduce the number of constituences and introduce AV. It passed its second reading even though most of the Tory MPs who spoke in the debate opposed it. In his rather ham-fisted speech introducing the bill, the deputy prime minister tried to reassure the House of Commons that the bill was “not an attempt to gerrymander”. Who...
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The missing millions

By Emily Thornberry MP Nick Clegg says the Constitutional Reform bill which had its second reading in parliament yesterday is the “biggest shake-up of our democracy since 1832". Well, I shudder to think that the cloak of radicalism – and the great cause of electoral reform – is being wrapped around a sectarian piece of legislation that ignores 11,000 of my constituents. Over 77,000 adults live in Islington South and Finsbury. But under Nick Clegg’s constitutional reforms, when the Boundary...
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Ed Balls 'Britain's new political hero': 8 in the morning - September 7th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk * Mary Riddell says that Ed Balls has the power to make or break Labour. * Phone hacking enquiry was cancelled "to avoid upsetting police". * Tony Blair drawn into phone hacking row after speaking with police. * Labour looks for "revenge" in phone hacking debate. * And a new parliamentary enquiry looms over Coulson. * The Independent profiles Ralph Miliband. * Four in ten Lib Dem voters wouldn't vote for the party again. *...
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Broken promises and the betrayal of outer London

By Simon Fletcher / @fletchersimon One of the defining features of Boris Johnson’s mayoralty is his long list of broken promises, from his commitment to chair the police authority to his promise to deliver the central London cycle hire scheme at no cost to the tax payer. A second defining feature is his betrayal of outer London. These two characteristics are combined today into one unpleasant cocktail as Londoners prepare for strike disruption to tube services. Tube workers from both...
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The wrong approach to reforming civil service redundancy

By Gregg McClymont MP Parliament returns this week, and the coalition smash and grab continues. Doubtless, their opportunistic marriage of electoral reform with constituency gerrymandering will dominate the headlines. But an important element of their assault on the public sector will also be carried forward. The Civil Service Compensation Scheme has a long and complex history - a system of legal entitlements to payments to individuals who lose their jobs through compulsory or voluntary redundancy, which cannot be changed for...
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Special advisers: A useful and welcome part of Whitehall

The Paul Richards column I have spared a moment to look up from my copy of "A Journey", the fastest-selling autobiography of all time, to consider the plight of Christopher Myers. Myers was, very briefly, a special adviser to the foreign secretary William Hague. He resigned this week after Paul Staines reported on his blog that he and Hague had shared a hotel bedroom. Hague has denied any impropriety, but the young man has had to go anyway. I feel...
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Gove is being given the bums rush by schools

By Richard Watts / @richardwatts01 Thirty two. That’s the total number of new academies opening today under the government’s so-called "school’s revolution". There are around 20,000 schools in the country so a massive 0.16% of schools have joined Mr Gove’s brave new world. It is an understatement to say that this paltry number will be a disappointment to hapless Education Secretary Michael Gove, who has said that he wants to see academies become “the norm” for every school in England....
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An economic and political death match?

The Labour movement column By Anthony Painter History never repeats itself; at best it sometimes rhymes. So said Mark Twain and in immediate defiance of this dictum, the quote has been repeated over and over. So one more time is neither here nor there. It is not too extravagant a guess to suppose that this sentiment is applicable to economic history. And there are two predominant versions of economic history out there in the political market place. One is articulated...
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David Miliband attacks coalition over human trafficking

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk David Miliband has today criticised the government for opting out of the EU directive against human trafficking and the sex trade, accusing the Tories of "putting Tory animosity towards the EU above the safety of people who are trafficked into prostitution". Speaking this afternoon, David said: "You simply cannot combat trafficking in human beings, and the sex trade operating within the European Union, without cooperation at an EU level. Co-operation cannot be haphazard, and cannot...
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The choice? Heating or eating

By Chris Watt As the ConDem coalition reaches 100 days in office, we learn that their welfare review will look at abolishing winter fuel payments for all pensioner households. This policy, introduced by Labour, deserves to be defended; its abolition would be misguided for two fundamental reasons. Firstly, the idea is to reduce the cost of the system, but the universal system is cheap and simple to administer. Making it means-tested would involve a massive increase in the bureaucratic cost...
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50 mistakes in 100 days (46-50)

By Howard Dawber Over 100 days ago, Britain woke up to a new coalition government. In that time they have already displayed extraordinary economic illiteracy and are beginning to champion a dangerous mix of cruelty and cheerful incompetence, perhaps already worse than any government in living memory. Here are the final five of the top 50 things they have done wrong ... so far... 46. CUTTING EXTENSION OF FREE SCHOOL MEALS The coalition is planning to stop the proposed roll-out...
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50 mistakes in 100 days (31-35)

By Howard Dawber Over 100 days ago, Britain woke up to a new coalition government. In that time they have already displayed extraordinary economic illiteracy and are beginning to champion a dangerous mix of cruelty and cheerful incompetence, perhaps already worse than any government in living memory. Here are the numbers thirty-one to thirty-five of the top 50 things they have done wrong ... so far... 31. ABOLISHING THE AUDIT COMMISSION The Audit Commission was set up by the last...
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50 mistakes in 100 days (26-30)

By Howard Dawber Over 100 days ago, Britain woke up to a new coalition government. In that time they have already displayed extraordinary economic illiteracy and are beginning to champion a dangerous mix of cruelty and cheerful incompetence, perhaps already worse than any government in living memory. Here are the numbers twenty-six to thirty of the top 50 things they have done wrong ... so far... 26. GERRYMANDERING ON A MASSIVE SCALE Perhaps wounded by their failure to win the...
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Dear Lib Dem Voter: 8 in the morning - August 24th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk * Ed Miliband pledges "once-in-a-generation" realignment of politics in letter to Lib Dem voters. * Neil Kinnock has written for the Mirror, explaining why he's backing Ed Miliband. * Labour has launched a campaign to defend the success of ASBOs. * Clegg tells Cameron that middle class benefits may have to go. * The General Secretary of Welsh Labour is to step down. * David Miliband wins the Edinburgh East primary. * The Tories have...
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Human rights and the Tories

By James Valentine Yet again the Tories’ cuts agenda seems to have an ulterior motive. The weekend story that the FCO Annual Report on Human Rights is to be axed has not being denied by William Hague. David Miliband has been quick to issue a statement condemning the proposed cut and the Guardian suggests that his previous contacts in the FCO must have confirmed the reality of the threat. The Report on Human Rights was one of Labour's best innovations....
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50 mistakes in 100 days (21-25)

By Howard Dawber Over 100 days ago, Britain woke up to a new coalition government. In that time they have already displayed extraordinary economic illiteracy and are beginning to champion a dangerous mix of cruelty and cheerful incompetence, perhaps already worse than any government in living memory. Here are the numbers twenty-one to twenty-five of the top 50 things they have done wrong ... so far... 21. SLASHING DEFENCE BUDGET TWICE OVER - WHILE WE ARE STILL AT WAR In...
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Fairness doesn't mean social mobility Nick

By Rebecca Hickman There is a new test in town for measuring the social justness quotient of the policy solutions preached most dogmatically by New Labour over the past decade: have they been continued by a coalition government that seems with every new announcement to be seeking either to outflank Thatcher or test the credulity of the nation? In this context, sirens should be wailing in the war-rooms of Labour’s leadership candidates after Nick Clegg’s speech this week signalling the...
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50 mistakes in 100 days (16-20)

By Howard Dawber Over 100 days ago, Britain woke up to a new coalition government. In that time they have already displayed extraordinary economic illiteracy and are beginning to champion a dangerous mix of cruelty and cheerful incompetence, perhaps already worse than any government in living memory. Here are the numbers sixteen to twenty of the top 50 things they have done wrong ... so far... 16. NO NEW RUNWAYS FOR GATWICK, STANSTED OR HEATHROW The ConDems have decided to...
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Opportunist oppositionalism?

By Darrell Goodliffe According to whispers emanating from the Westminster village Charles Kennedy, along with possibly four or five others is ready to cross the floor and defect to Labour. I am a little weary of this because this rumour has been going ever since the coalition government started. Kennedy is obviously unhappy but its still a big step from that to actually defecting. What will probably be key is whether he has any hope of changing things or feels...
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