The commentators 01-08-14...on British politics
Something has gone awry in British politics. There used to be a rule that elections were decided by swing voters camped in the centre ground. That is why they were called swing voters. This time, the Tories and Ed Miliband’s Labour party are playing the ideological tunes of their core supporters. Neither leader has what you might call a governing prospectus for the next five years.
- Philip Stephens, Financial Times 
What Cameron has demonstrated this week is that for him politics is about making grand speeches. It’s not about what comes after that – the detail, the research, the impact. Only about 10,000 people will be affected by Cameron’s proposals – hardly the kind of changes the British people have repeatedly said that they want. But then, we would only be able to have a free and fair immigration system based on the needs of this country if we left the EU.
- Nigel Farage, The Independent 
The fact that the referendum is happening at all speaks to the discomfort that a significant part of the Scottish population feels at being ruled by a system it cannot influence reliably. If independence campaigners secure more than 40 per cent of the vote, the issue will not be off the table for very long – not without a further devolution of power from Westminster to Holyrood, which the main parties have publicly supported but never quite spelt out.
- Stephanie Flanders, Financial Times 
Privatisation: what is it good for? Everything. That’s what I feel like shouting at the TV and radio when I hear Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, pontificating about the supposedly dire effects of competition in the NHS. The first objection to Mr Burnham is that an NHS without private providers is unimaginable.
- John McTernan, The Times
If it is really to overturn the privatisation dogma, Labour should do more than reverse the presumption against the public sector: it should tell people that the public sector is often more efficient than the private sector.
- Ha-Joon Chang, The Guardian
|
|
July 18
Gaza July 17 Cameron's reshuffle July 16 Cameron's reshuffle July 15 Cameron's reshuffle July 14 British politics 
July 11
Public sector strikes July 10 Public sector strikes July 9 Sex abuse July 8 Sex abuse July 7 Westminster sex abuse 
|
Please sign up for SubScribe updates
(no spam, no more than one every week or two)
|
|
|
