The Convention on Modern Liberty

Takes place on saturday 28 February. We should all attend.

See the website for more details.

There are some excellent speakers.

The Abolition of Freedom Act 2009

NuLabour are no doubt proud of this trail of destruction.

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Bankrupt Britain

ConservativeHome yesterday published a report entitled "Bankrupt Britain". The report by Malcolm Offord - a City fund manager with 21 years experience and an adviser to the Centre for Social Justice - paints a devastating picture of the UK government's finances. The Sunday Times covered the report - Britain faces £100bn cut in spending according to 'Bankrupt Britain' report - and you can read a full PDF here.

It could be a long road to recovery.

The Berlusconi bribe

Yet more sleaze associated with New Labour. This time it results in 4 and a half years. By an Italian Court of all places!

The Times reports:

David Mills, the estranged husband of Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister, was given a jail sentence today for accepting a bribe of $600,000 (at the time £350,000) from Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, to give false evidence on his behalf in corruption trials.

Judge Nicoletta Gandus sentenced Mills to four years and six months in jail and ordered him to pay legal costs of €25,000 (£22,000), though Mills hopes to avoid prison by stringing out the appeals process.

Throughout the trial Mills exercised his right under Italian law not to appear in person and he was not in court to hear the verdict.

See more here

The Draper Tapes

IPSOS Poll: Rogue or Trend

Either way its good news.

Ministry of Justice

Have a look at what they do. Its a real mix and a lot. Surely prisons dominates it all. Still the department may give the smaller bits within it a bigger voice at the cabinet table than they had previously. Apparently the judges quite like the new arrangements which is intereting given the level of anger when the new department was created.

Flash Gordon

He looks tired, the vultures are circling, the media delirious, the economy disastrous, unemployment growing etc etc. Surely Brown has decided to hang on until the last minute (ie mid 2010) for an election. He should, he will lose. Woolworths woman doesnt like him that is certain.

The Bankers say sorry (sort of)

I am not sure what the politicians thought they could achieve other than publicly telling off the bankers and getting them to say sorry. The lot above have all left and are retired millionaires. It must be hell.

In any event the former bankers spent the weekend with PR advisors who cunningly told them to be contrite. (Genius).

Now Crosby has quit as Deputy of the FSA. Good move or push. He would have dominated the headlines for days. However it means the story moves closer to No.10 and means the press will go and attack other former senior bankers who are now doing qaungo jobs. (I know you ahve no sympathy for them and neither do I).

Still just what can the politicians do to get the bankers back? Stop the bonuses. It would feel good but would it be good? i dont know but the future is not as bright for bankers as it once was.

Transport: Tory Trains

Here is a brief summary of the eight key planks of what she is saying the Conservatives would do with regard to the railways:

•A high speed rail line linking London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds - to dramatically improve journey times;
•Creating a "passenger champion" - a powerful consumer-facing regulator;
•A reformed Network Rail - with a new supervisory board, giving passengers a stronger voice;
•Better cooperation between track and train - strengthening and extending the duties placed on Network Rail to work closely with train service providers;
•Longer and better franchises - with 15-20 year franchises being made the norm to give greater certainty and to encourage investment in new capacity;
•Innovation in Rail Improvements - with funding for smaller scale capacity enhancements being made contestable and opened up to other providers;
•Ending Whitehall meddling - radically scaling back the detailed involvement of the Government in areas such as timetabling and buying new rolling stock; and
•A moratorium on building on disused rail paths - conserving any disused railway lines still in public ownership to keep alive the prospect of reopening these lines in the future.
Theresa Villiers hailed the plans as a providing both a long-term vision for the railways and practical solutions to passengers' everyday concerns:

“By building a new high speed line connecting London, Birmingham Manchester and Leeds, the Conservatives will take a major step forward in transforming the UK’s transport infrastructure. But we also recognise the need to tackle the issues that plague out existing railways and which Labour continue to ignore. We will put passengers first by introducing a Passenger Champion with a mandate to hold Network Rail and train franchise operators to account when they fail.

“After twelve years of disappointment under a Labour Government people know the only way to see Britain’s railways improve is through a change of Government. Our rail review shows the Conservatives have forward looking ideas to make the changes people want to see.”

Click here to download the pdf of the full rail review, Getting the Best for Passengers.

The Government are outlining their strategy today. The Tories outline doesnt look bad nor does it look radical.

The Polls

Well the latest set end with a jump for the Lib Dems. Overall Gordon Brown and co and in decline again and the dead cat bounceover (even then they were 5% behind). Its all over for Labour isnt it?

A Recipe for disaster

Zimbabwe update 2: Is this going to work - No

The BBC has a good website covering it all. There is this even better independent website.

The Zimbabwe Situation - News update

Zimbabwe's NEW Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, has vowed to stabilise the country's shattered economy and end political violence. Wel congratulations to Morgan. He has taken a huge risk. I would imagine that Mugabe will try and stop everything Morgan and co do to imporve the country and then blame it on Morgan.

Mugabe has brought in opponents before and then destroyed them.

It is a big big risk for the MDC. I think the international community will sit back and wait to see if anything has in fact changed before ploughing money in.

Mugabe lives on. Bummer.

BJ4BW - ONS states the facts

Brown and co. won't like this and nor should they. It is tricky. we do have millions of brits working in Europe and elsewhere. Thats difficult to explain to the unemployed who see Europeans coming in to do jobs in their local community.

Its all highlighted in the Times;

The UK’s official statistician weighed into the debate about foreign workers yesterday by highlighting the growing numbers of immigrants getting jobs while the British workforce declines.

On the day that figures showed the number of people unemployed at a 12-year high, the Office for National Statistics chose to reveal that the number of foreign workers increased by 175,000 to 2.4 million last year while the number of British workers fell by 234,000 to 27 million.

More here

Boris Blunder - Minor Incident

According to the Evening Standard Boris Johnson launched a furious F-word attack against a senior MP in a telephone call.

The Mayor of London also accused Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the all-party Commons home affairs committee, of "bullshit", say sources.

The two men clashed over the accuracy of evidence given by Mr Johnson over when he first spoke to Tory leader David Cameron about the arrest of shadow immigration minister Damian Green during a police leak inquiry.

The Mayor used the F-word 10 times, according to minutes of their conversation allegedly taken and later circulated to committee members.

However, Mr Johnson's aides said he had used the F-word no more than two or three times. They also stressed that the Mayor had regarded the talks as private.

- This will all be very annoying for Boris because it keeps the spat going in the media and takes away from more important questions that the Home Affairs Select Committee should be covering. Clever, if cheeky, of Vaz. It does show Boris doesnt like him, but then there are few politico's who do.

Bloggers Rule

Obama Calls On HuffPo from AlleyInsider on Vimeo.

This does seem to be the first time the blogosphere has been favoured over the printed press. Tough question too.

Hmmmm

Tim Shipman has an intersting story in tomorrow's Sunday Telegraph. Here's the start of it:



"American spy chiefs have told the President that the CIA has launched a vast spying operation in the UK to prevent a repeat of the 9/11 attacks being launched from Britain.



They believe that a British-born Pakistani extremist entering the US under the visa waiver programme is the most likely source of another terrorist spectacular on American soil.

Intelligence briefings for Mr Obama have detailed a dramatic escalation in American espionage in Britain.