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	<title>Westminster Blog</title>
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	<description>Jim Pickard and Alex Barker share the latest news and gossip from the UK's political scene</description>
	<pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:35:00 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Europe’s computer-dating system malfunctions</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ft/westminster/~3/klaH2yG7s5M/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2009/11/europes-computer-dating-system-malfunctions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:35:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>FT</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/?p=13266</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[From Gideon Rachman&#8217;s blog
By Gideon Rachman 
If the answer is Herman Van Rompuy and Cathy Ashton, what the hell was the question? Europe’s choices for its new “president” and “foreign minister” are like the result of some sort of computer-dating programme that has gone badly wrong. If you fed in all the criteria for the [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Cathy Ashton: 10 things to know</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ft/westminster/~3/4bCB2fIrOho/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2009/11/cathy-ashton-10-things-you-may-not-need-to-know/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:49:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Barker</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/?p=13186</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Cathy Ashton is Europe&#8217;s new foreign policy supremo. Even friends are stunned that someone so low key could have been elevated to such a high profile job. To date she has served as EU trade commissioner, leader of the Lords, and as a junior justice and education minister. Here are 10 more details about her:
&#8211; [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Gove on “Jordan Balls”</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ft/westminster/~3/gcack3DGrZA/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2009/11/gove-on-jordan-balls/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:52:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Barker</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/?p=13161</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve watched a very entertaining Commons exchange between Michael Gove and Ed Balls. This is Gove&#8217;s take on Balls requesting a big real terms increase in his budget:
He&#8217;s the Katie Price of public spending, the Jordan of this government
All he&#8217;s interested in is being on the front pages, so he&#8217;s massively inflated what he&#8217;s got [...]]]></description>
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		<title>The rabbit: four guarantees but no price tag</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ft/westminster/~3/Bua2AwE0O2M/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2009/11/the-rabbit-four-guarantees-but-no-price-tag/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:13:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Barker</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/?p=13121</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, for those of you who missed it, Gordon Brown&#8217;s mangy fluffy rabbit turned out to be a clutch of &#8220;guarantees&#8221; for young jobseekers.
There was a &#8220;January guarantee&#8221;, which he said was better than the &#8220;September guarantee&#8221;. Then there was a &#8220;one day guarantee&#8221; (which sounds dangerously like telling some that that they will get [...]]]></description>
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		<title>FT video: UK general election starting gun fired</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ft/westminster/~3/sZIE15NBVVQ/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2009/11/ft-video-uk-general-election-starting-gun-fired/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:13:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>FT</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Elections]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/?p=13086</guid>
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		<title>Wait for Brown’s new rabbit</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ft/westminster/~3/E3tbBmloGaw/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2009/11/wait-for-browns-new-rabbit/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:29:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Barker</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Gordon Brown]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[UK economy]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/?p=13071</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Brace yourselves. Somewhere in Downing Street, a mangy fluffy rabbit is being lovingly groomed, ready for Gordon Brown to proudly present it to the Commons, less than an hour from now.
It is a Brown trick so old he probably picked it up in Scottish student politics. Last year, you may remember the prime minister looked [...]]]></description>
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		<title>No state visit from the Vatican?</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ft/westminster/~3/qT1p9RnHwEs/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2009/11/no-state-visit-from-the-vatican/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:52:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Barker</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/?p=13026</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is one interesting omission from the Queen&#8217;s Speech: the Pope.
This was going to be the day when the Queen would tell parliament that she had invited the Pontiff for a state visit next year. But there was no mention, suggesting his visit may well be on the same &#8220;pastoral basis&#8221; as Pope John Paul [...]]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>The Queen’s Speech</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ft/westminster/~3/g9plzy-6hh0/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2009/11/the-queens-speech/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:42:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Barker</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/?p=13011</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Her Majesty is about to speak, setting out the agenda for the final legislative period before the election. The most important bill is likely to be on financial services, which you can read about here and here. Just remember as we listen to the Queen that some of the bills may well not pass: with [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Miliband’s new admirer</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ft/westminster/~3/AEDRVS4ePKY/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2009/11/milibands-new-admirer/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:41:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Barker</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/?p=13001</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Who is Hillary Clinton&#8217;s &#8220;favourite new colleague&#8221;? Just take a look at this passage from a long profile of Clinton in Vogue that includes a gushing quote on the &#8220;vital and attractive&#8221; David Miliband:
When I mentioned to her over lunch that I had spoken with him, she lit up. &#8220;Oh, my God!&#8221; I joked that [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Further Reading</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ft/westminster/~3/jKUmVnTuCCo/</link>
		<comments>http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2009/11/further-reading-35/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:38:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Barker</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/?p=12991</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Treasury baffled by Ed Balls&#8217; request for an extra 2.6bn
Vince Cable calls for windfall tax and pushes one more pin in the Banker voodoo doll
Gordon Brown prepares to streamline Whitehall but rejects idea to merge Foreign Office and Defence
Rachel Sylvester on Mum power
Paul Waugh looks at Jeremy Paxman&#8217;s ties to the Turnip Taliban
]]></description>
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