This is Nottingham Bloggers

So long....

Lobbydog — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:13:00 +0000

Dear Readers,

Thanks for supporting this blog over the last few years. Writing it has been an absolute pleasure, though the time has come to shut this particular site down.

You can still follow me on twitter @Lobbydog, or you can subscribe to me at Facebook, Joe Watts (Lobbydog), and soon read my new blog at the Eastern Daily Press website where I am now Political Editor.

If you are looking for Notts content please go to www.thisisnottingham.co.uk

It’s been entertaining, see you on the other side.[more]

Battle of the speeches

Lobbydog — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:27:00 +0000

When the press notice came through this morning that Ed Miliband would be giving a speech on Thursday on “fairness in tough times” there was something about it that smelt a bit fusty.

I couldn’t put my finger on it till I glanced over at my diary and realised what it was. The Labour Leader’s speech, timed to begin at 6pm, will take place at exactly the same time as a speech by his one-time-mentor turned nemeses – Maurice Glasman.

It was Lord Glasman, once described as a father-figure for Miliband, who soiled the Labour Leader’s January by writing an article claiming he had “no strategy, no narrative and little direction.”

I’ll be tweeting from the Glasman speech on Thursday and if he says anything interesting I’d wager it is he, and not Miliband, who gets more column inches on Friday morning.[more]

David Miliband suggests Coalition unemployment policy may have some merit

Lobbydog — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:04:00 +0000

Earlier on we had a briefing with David Miliband who has been touting the proposals for tackling youth unemployment from a commission which he chaired.

In his opening spiel he said: “In terms of reforming the welfare state we’re saying that if you’re unemployed, if you’re on the Work Programme for a year you should automatically get a part time job guarantee – part time so that you can spend the rest of the time looking for work.

“We say that if you’re unemployed or on the Work Programme for two years you need to be in a long term subsidised job.”

The Work Programme is the Coalition’s flagship back-to-work policy, which sees contractors tasked to find jobs for the unemployed.

[more]

Boom and Bust - the definitive explanation

Lobbydog — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:57:00 +0000

At the Press Gallery Lunch earlier The Guardian’s Michael White and Ed Balls had a conversation about the claim that Labour had abolished Boom and Bust, and it led to the most, shall we say, meticulous explanation of it that I have heard. It follows here…

Michael White: Whenever Gordon Brown said, as he so often did, ‘no more boom and bust’, some of us GCSE economists flinched because we knew that couldn’t possibly be true. We thought it couldn’t be right. What did you think?

Ed Balls: I think, economist or not, the power of retrospection is a great power.

MW: No. That’s the chairman’s cheap joke, come on, what did you think at the time?

EB: Since 2008 there have been many people who have written columns that said in retrospect that phrase about ‘boom and bust’ shouldn’t have been used. But I certa[more]

Cameron's speech is, er, more about "setting tone"...

Lobbydog — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:08:00 +0000

There was a rather distracting Union Jack poster behind the PM as he gave his speech on capitalism just now – it almost meant I missed the new thing in his speech which was thoroughly tucked away.

The talk was the latest move in a bid to wrestle the lucrative “responsible capitalism” territory away from Ed Miliband. It’s been riling the Tories that the Labour Leader has been going round saying he started the debate on the issue in his conference speech last September.

And so to show that actually the Tories were talking about it first, Cameron claimed his party set the ground for this debate years ago, and just to make sure Eddie couldn’t trump him again he went as far back as Disraeli and Pitt, before Labour even existed.

Most of the rest of the speech was doing that thing that the Tories do quite often, where they choose a theme an[more]

Footage of Commons debate on EU veto...

Lobbydog — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:47:00 +0000

If you didn't catch it yesterday...

Uploaded on to Youtube by TAofMoridura[more]

Preview of tomorrow's column...

Lobbydog — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:55:00 +0000

Here is a section of tomorrow's column in the Stoke Sentinel, buy the paper in the morning to get the full thwack...

Eddie suspected this all made the PM look a little like a loony right-winger, or at least like a PM kowtowing to a bunch of loony right-wingers on his backbenches.

But instead of stating it outright he asked what moderate pro-EU Tory peer Lord Heseltine had said on the issue.

The comment induced a hail of laughter from the rather mean righties on the Tory benches who see grandee Heseltine, nicknamed Tarzan in-part because of his wild hair, as a figure of fun.

“Oh, Oh, Oh,” said Ed managing to bend his mouth into such a perfect circle that it could have been used to mint a one pound coin.

“Oh Mr Speaker, oh how significant,” he continued. “That’s what they think of Lord Heseltine now in the Tory[more]

Clegg answers questions on his absence at EU debate

Lobbydog — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:02:00 +0000

For those of you that missed here are the DPM's words after he missed the debate on the EU statement:

DPM: The coalition government is here to stay. On Europe, what I’m going to do is this – build bridges, re-engage, and make sure that the British voice is heard at the top table in Europe. Why? Not for the sake of the EU as a whole, because I think that is the right thing for jobs in this country, for growth in this country and for the livelihoods of millions of families in this country because that’s what I care about most.

Asked whether his not being there was a greater distraction:

DPM: The PM and I clearly do not agree on the outcome of the summit last week. I made it very clear that I think isolation in Europe when we are one against 26 is potentially a bad thing for jobs, a bad thing for growth and a bad thing for the l[more]

Odds on collapse of Euro

Lobbydog — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:43:00 +0000

William Hill is now offering odds of 3/1 that the Euro will cease to exist as a currency by the end of 2012, and 2/9 that it will survive.

The book-keeper have also slashed odds for the UK pulling out of the European Union before the next General Election from 33/1 to 20/1.

But it has also seen money for a 2012 General Election as punters speculate that the Coalition could split over Europe. Hills have cut odds on a 2012 election from 5/1 to 4/1.[more]

How will Cam be treated back in the UK?

Lobbydog — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:52:00 +0000

A couple of days ago the main story of the EU summit was how the nations would save the Euro, but this morning it has changed to Britain’s veto and the future of the EU.

That is even more so since our erstwhile allies in rejecting a deal, Hungary, the Czech Rep, and Sweden are all now looking to sign the “inter-governmental accord” leaving us in our very own group of one.

That has suited France and Germany who have removed the UK as a potential barrier from blocking their goals. One Labour MP also suggested to me this morning that Cameron had been deliberately hostile to a deal in order to paint himself as a blueblooded eurosceptic before a potential election.

Either way both Labour and Tory MPs that I’ve chatted with, both anti and pro EU, appear off-the-record to be agreeing on one thing – whatever deal the other 26 nations come up[more]

Clegg on the eurozone

Lobbydog — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:33:00 +0000

These are the latest quotes from Clegg on the eurozone crisis. Despite him saying he is "hand in glove" with David Cameron - which sounds a bit creepy by the way - on the issue of financial regulation, it doesn't quite feel that way. He points out that he is not asking for "exceptional" treatment for the City.

Deputy Prime Minister, what do you hope will come out of tomorrow’s meeting on the Eurozone?

Well, what I want to see, and what this whole Coalition Government wants to see, on all sides of the Coalition, is that we do the right thing for the country as a whole, in the national interest. What does that mean? It means firstly that we of course must play our bit in making sure that the Eurozone sorts itself out, because that’s good for our economy, it’s good for jobs and growth in Britain. And secondly, we must do everything we can to av[more]

European charades

Lobbydog — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:47:00 +0000

When I spoke to senior people at the Department for Transport earlier this year there was complete befuddlement over how the French and Germans managed to give almost all their major train-manufacture contracts to firms in their home countries without breaking EU rules to prevent protectionism.

As far as the British could see they were following exactly the same procurement process yet they were helpless to stop big deals often going to foreign firms – causing consternation and political problems at home when industries dependent on Government work lost contracts. Remember Thameslink?

Anyway the Government spent the summer studying how the French and Germans get away with it and [more]

PMQs - 'Weak, left wing and irresponsible' becomes new catchphrase

Lobbydog — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:37:00 +0000

It’s not often I see Ed Miliband smile in the House of Commons. I mean a proper smile – open mouthed with teeth showing in absolute delight.

But David Cameron’s comment that he came into politics to improve people’s welfare was enough to force one on to his face, and on to that of his dramatics chum’s face Ed Balls.

It appears to me that Leader Ed has been taking some lessons of the other Ed on how to act while not speaking at PMQs. Widow twanky would have proud of Balls’ gurn when a question was asked by Jacob Rees-Mogg MP – a man who was written by PG Woodhouse rather than born. Indeed watching the Eds contort their faces as the Prime Minister spoke today was much more entertaining than listening to the PM try and bat away questions.

That might also be because PMQs was a bit banal after the hype of the Autumn Statement yesterday. Even[more]

Leveson Inquiry witnesses

Lobbydog — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:52:00 +0000

Here is the list of witnesses at the phone-hacking inquiry next week:

Monday 21st November
Bob Dowler
Sally Dowler
Hugh Grant
Graham Shear
Joan Smith

Tuesday 22nd November
Steve Coogan
Mary-Ellen Field
Garry Flitcroft
Margaret Watson

Wednesday 23rd November
Sheryl Gascoigne
Mark Lewis
Gerry McCann
Tom Rowland

Thursday 24th November
HJK
Sienna Miller
Max Mosley
JK Rowling
Mark Thomson

Monday 28th November
Charlotte Church
Anne Diamond
Ian Hurst
Chris Jefferies
Jane Winter[more]

Cameron's letter to Sepp Blatter

Lobbydog — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:49:00 +0000

This just in - David Cameron's letter to FIFA chief (verbatim) over the poppy ban...

Dear Sepp

I know that you are aware of the importance of Remembrance Sunday in the United Kingdom, when we pay tribute those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in times of war.

We fully understand, and respect, FIFA’s rules on its member nations not adorning their shirts with ‘commercial’, ‘political’, or ‘religious’ symbols or messages. However, wearing a poppy is an almost universal symbol throughout the United Kingdom - people from all backgrounds and walks of life across the country join together in doing this as an act of national remembrance, to commemorate those who gave their lives in the service of their country. I can assure you that there are no political connotations whatsoever to wearing a poppy.

You will have seen the[more]