Friday, 10 July 2015

The Week in Politics - Politics.co.uk

"Outsiders often have an insight that an insider doesn't quite have" - Diane Abbott

 
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Pick of the Week

Hello and welcome to our end of the week newsletter, with our top five most popular articles from this week, to get you through the weekend. This week we looked at:

5. Labour's response to the Budget.

With the Labour party immersed in an apparently endless leadership contest, the business of being the official opposition has gone somewhat off the boil. Their response this week to the first Conservative budget in almost two decades was notable by its timidity. Speaking to journalists after George Osborne sat down, shadow chancellor Chris Leslie was reluctant to appear to oppose almost any of the major austerity measures in the budget, insisting that the party had to "be more thoughtful in the way we don't just literally oppose everything." But rather than oppose everything, they appeared to oppose almost nothing. With the opposition absent without leave, it was left to others to tear holes out of Osborne's budget.

4. As even the Telegraph turns against immigration rules, has the Home Office finally gone too far?

The income benchmark on spousal visas was always different to other anti-immigration rules. Whenever you mentioned it to someone – even if they were instinctively quite hostile to immigration – they always expressed outrage. Probably because it's an anti-immigration rule which specifically targets Brits. Now even the Telegraph is turning against it, four years after it was introduced.

3. David Cameron: Twitter and Facebook privacy is unsustainable

This story from last week continued to grab your attention this week. The terror attacks in Tunisia. prompted much debate about how the UK government can best protect its citizens at home. Inevitably this led to renewed calls to push through the latest version of the so-called snoopers' charter. The investigatory powers bill will enable the security services to access individual's private online communications. The prime minister was asked whether the current privacy policies were "unsustainable". He replied that spooks must always be able to "get to the bottom" of online communications.

2. The British left is finally turning against the EU

The ongoing crisis in Greece has done more to further the eurosceptic cause than anything Ukip has ever done. The debate has shifted from the right-wing critique of Europe – immigration, market interference – to the left-wing one, which is of German fiscal extremism applied to powerless local communities. Are the British left now finally turning against the EU?

1. Diane Abbott: London doesn't need another white, middle-aged man as mayor.

Our most-read story this week was our report on comments by Labour London mayoral hopeful Diane Abbott, during a hustings last week. Abbott, suggested that London has been led for too long by people who look like her rival Gareth Thomas. "Gareth has said that he knows what leadership looks like," Abbott told a hustings in central London last night. "And of course what Gareth literally means is that it looks like him." It's fair to say that not all of our readers agreed with Abbott's comments.  However, with UK politicians both nationally and locally still so overwhelmingly male, pale and stale, doesn't she have a point?

 

Pick of the Week

Hello and welcome to our end of the week newsletter, with our top five most popular articles from this week, to get you through the weekend. This week we looked at:

5. Labour's response to the Budget.

With the Labour party immersed in an apparently endless leadership contest, the business of being the official opposition has gone somewhat off the boil. Their response this week to the first Conservative budget in almost two decades was notable by its timidity. Speaking to journalists after George Osborne sat down, shadow chancellor Chris Leslie was reluctant to appear to oppose almost any of the major austerity measures in the budget, insisting that the party had to "be more thoughtful in the way we don't just literally oppose everything." But rather than oppose everything, they appeared to oppose almost nothing. With the opposition absent without leave, it was left to others to tear holes out of Osborne's budget.

4. As even the Telegraph turns against immigration rules, has the Home Office finally gone too far?

The income benchmark on spousal visas was always different to other anti-immigration rules. Whenever you mentioned it to someone – even if they were instinctively quite hostile to immigration – they always expressed outrage. Probably because it's an anti-immigration rule which specifically targets Brits. Now even the Telegraph is turning against it, four years after it was introduced.

3. David Cameron: Twitter and Facebook privacy is unsustainable

This story from last week continued to grab your attention this week. The terror attacks in Tunisia. prompted much debate about how the UK government can best protect its citizens at home. Inevitably this led to renewed calls to push through the latest version of the so-called snoopers' charter. The investigatory powers bill will enable the security services to access individual's private online communications. The prime minister was asked whether the current privacy policies were "unsustainable". He replied that spooks must always be able to "get to the bottom" of online communications.

2. The British left is finally turning against the EU

The ongoing crisis in Greece has done more to further the eurosceptic cause than anything Ukip has ever done. The debate has shifted from the right-wing critique of Europe – immigration, market interference – to the left-wing one, which is of German fiscal extremism applied to powerless local communities. Are the British left now finally turning against the EU?

1. Diane Abbott: London doesn't need another white, middle-aged man as mayor.

Our most-read story this week was our report on comments by Labour London mayoral hopeful Diane Abbott, during a hustings last week. Abbott, suggested that London has been led for too long by people who look like her rival Gareth Thomas. "Gareth has said that he knows what leadership looks like," Abbott told a hustings in central London last night. "And of course what Gareth literally means is that it looks like him." It's fair to say that not all of our readers agreed with Abbott's comments.  However, with UK politicians both nationally and locally still so overwhelmingly male, pale and stale, doesn't she have a point?

 


Diane Abbott: London shouldn't have another white, middle-aged man as mayor

 

On Jul 10, 2015 03:16 pm
Hackney MP says London's governance does not reflect its diversity
Read more... »

The British left is finally turning against the EU

 

On Jul 10, 2015 03:16 pm
As Greeks go to the polls, they have finally forced the left to wake up to the political failures of the EU project
Read more... »

David Cameron: Twitter and Facebook privacy is unsustainable

 

On Jul 03, 2015 05:11 pm
Privacy of social media users 'can no longer be tolerated' in the face of international terror
Read more... »

As even the Telegraph turns against immigration rules, has the Home Office finally gone too far?

 

On Jul 10, 2015 03:15 pm
Breadth of opposition to spousal visa rules suggests this could be another Gurkhas moment
Read more... »

Labour oppose almost nothing in George Osborne's budget

 

On Jul 10, 2015 03:15 pm
Shadow chancellor refuses to oppose Osbone's harsh austerity measures
Read more... »
 



 

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