The commentators                    27-11-14

...on European finances

The only way that the EU could rebuild the economy of Europe is by proposing its own abolition. On every economic front, Brussels has proved to be a catastrophe. It has strangled enterprise and fuelled mass unemployment on an epic scale through its imposition of excessive red tape and taxes on businesses. Its fixation with the green agenda has drastically pushed up energy costs and made European firms increasingly uncompetitive on the global stage.
- Leo McKinstrey, Daily Express
Simon Jenkins
Abandon helicopters. Use bombers. Bomb Germany, France, Italy, Greece, the entire eurozone. Bomb them with banknotes, cash, anything to boost demand. The money must go straight to households, not to banks. Banks have had their day and miserably failed to spend. From now on they get nothing. Five years after the financial crash it is nearly unbelievable that the eurozone’s lords and masters now confront renewed recession. They seem inert before deflation, subflation, lowflation or whatever lets them avoid the word “scandal”.
- Simon Jenkins, The Guardian
The past four years have shown how politicians have limited control over their fiscal destiny. There is little the coalition could have done about stagnant wages, a spike in commodity prices or the eurozone crisis, all of which impeded deficit reduction. But deliberate choices also played a part. Freezes of fuel duty and generous cuts to corporate and income taxes increased by billions of pounds the scale of the cuts now needed. Britain has no need for a balanced budget law. What would really bolster George Osborne’s credibility is an admission that taxes will have to rise.
- Financial Times

...and on politics

Heavy-duty populism in Britain seems to have coalesced around two issues, which it may seem bizarre to discuss together: immigration and child sexual abuse. Last month Ukip campaigned in South Yorkshire on the claim that Labour, through political correctness, had allowed grooming by Pakistani men. And there is a real crossover observable between vocal Ukip support and a belief that there is indeed a massive cover-up of establishment paedophilia.
- David Aaronovitch, The Times (ei's Commentariat of the Year)
There are plenty who take issue with Google's trajectory. Whether it becomes News Corp and its papers to question other businesses that are dominant in their markets, that want to drive competitors to the wall or that don't pay their fair share of taxes is for others to debate...
There is a big issue here to be tackled journalistically, but it requires an overarching approach and heavy investment in personnel and money - and those are resources in short supply. And who can look at the entire question of privacy, personal security and surveillance without being accused of having a vested interest? .
- Editor's blog 
Tuesday 25 November  The Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards were announced at a breakfast ceremony this morning. David Aaronovitch was named Commentariat of the Year and his newspaper, The Times, won the award for the best comment pages. Stevie Spring, who led the judges, made it a hat-trick for the Times by choosing Melanie Reid for the chairman's award.
The FT, Guardian, Mail and Sunday Times each picked up two awards. SubScribe was also among the winners. You can see the full list of awards here. A video of the presentations will be posted online later. 
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Comment digest courtesy of
Editorial Intelligence
Rochester
November 26
David Mellor
November 25
Lewis Hamilton
November 24
British politics
Cameron at G20

November 21
British politics
November 20 
British politics
November 19 
British politics
November 18
British politics
November 17
British politics
Ed Miliband
November 14
Labour and Ed Miliband
November 13
Forex-rigging scandal
November 12
British politics
November 11
The Labour Party
November 10
Ed Miliband
Branson crash




November 7
British politics
November 6
Midterms and UK politics
November 5
British politics
November 4
British politics
November 3
Space tourism
Picture


October 31
British politics
October 30
Immigration
October 29
Immigration
October 28
British politics
October 27
British politics
Picture
October 24
NHS
October 23
British politics
October 22
Ukip
October 21
Britain and EU
October 20
British politics
October 17
Lord Freud
October 16
British politics
October 15
British politics
October 14
British politics
October 13
British politics
Picture


October 10
Isis and UK politics
October 9
British politics
October 8
British politics
October 7
LibDem conference
October 6
British politics
David Cameron





October 3
Party conferences
October 2
Cameron's speech
October 1
Conservative conference
September 30
Conservative conference
September 29
Conservative conference
September 26
War on Isis
September 25
Labour conference
September 24
Miliband's speech
September 23
Labour conference
September 22
Referendum fallout