The results from a couple of tomorrow’s opinion polls have hit the good ol’ information superhighway, and they’ll make pretty disappointing reading for Brown & Co. The first – a ComRes poll for the Independent – puts the Tories on 40 percent (down 1); Labour on 31 percent (up 2); and the Lib Dems on
Difficult times call for different messages. And that’s what the new Immigration Minister, Phil Woolas, seems to be offering as he tells today’s Times: “This Government isn’t going to allow the population to go up to 70 million. There has to be a balance between the number of people coming in and the number of
You’ve got to hand it to the Brownite spin operation – for once, their bludgeoning approach seems to be working. The terms they’ve coined, and which are repeated ad nauseum by Labour figures – “Global financial problem which started in America”; “We’re meeting with world leaders”; and even that “Whatever it takes” chestnut – really
A hundred chorus girls sashaying through a Busby Berkeley musical. Bugs Bunny munching nonchalantly on a carrot. Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone in Hollywood’s greatest swordfight (‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ or ‘Captain Blood’ — take your pick). Bette Davis pulling the trigger in ‘Deception’. James Cagney smashing a grapefruit into a moll’s face. Alex
At close of play, the FTSE was down a hefty 8.85 percent – putting it below the 4000 mark, and sealing what has been the worst week for the index since 1987. No.s 10 and 11 will be praying furiously for a change in the tide. As I wrote earlier, the longer this market slump goes on, the more their
Alistair Darling’s refusal to guarantee the savings of those councils and other bodies which have money tied up in Icelandic banks could have some particularly nasty side effects. Writes the Times: “…The Times learnt that some town halls were considering withdrawing all their cash from private institutions and putting it into more secure Government bonds.
Is this the sound of Brown changing his story? Seems to me he’s deploying a slightly different version of his “I’m trying to get other world leaders to follow my lead” theme. Here’s what he said in a BBC interview earlier, explaining why the fruits of his financial labours will only start showing up in
The former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier today for his “important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts.” He’s worked towards resolving disputes in regions including the Balkans, East Timor, Iraq and Northern Ireland.
It’s down, down, down for the markets – and how. The Dow Jones closed down by 7.33 percent; Nasdaq down 5.47 percent; and the Nikkei down 9.62 percent. Whilst the DAX is currently down by 9.25 percent, and our very own FTSE has plummeted by 7.34 percent. What’s more, three-month LIBOR rates – the rates at which
There is something unnerving about seeing Gordon Brown smile so much on television. Yesterday he saddled the British public with more debt than any peacetime Prime Minister – taking a massive gamble with money the public haven’t even earned yet. What’s he got to smile about? Well he believes that he has finally moulded the
The most impressive moment in yesterday’s PMQ’s came courtesy of an unlikely source – Nick Clegg. The Lib Dem leader generally toed the “we’ll cooperate with the Government” line, but he also stirred in a punchy addendum: that some of the money Brown’s splashing around might be better spent on reducing the tax burden for low-income earners. I happen to agree with him, but
As Vince Cable pointed out yesterday, events sure are fast-moving. The latest is that over 20 councils have cash sunk in troubled Icelandic banks. And that’s aside from organisations such as Transport for London, which – according to Boris – has £40 million at stake here. Accordingly, the various heads of these local bodies are
The Tories tried to make political capital out of the International Monetary Fund’s latest growth forecasts in today’s PMQs. You can see them on page 2 of this pdf. What’s so significant about them? Well, they’re pretty gloomy for starters – they put the UK’s economic growth at only 1.0 percent for 2008, and -0.1
1157, Peter Hoskin: Welcome to Coffee House’s live blog of the first PMQs of this Parliamentary session (you can watch it here). Expect a lot of back-and-forth about the £50 billion bailout, all in a spirit of aggressive cooperation. And stay tuned for Fraser’s detailed report later. 1204, PH: Here we go… 1204, PH: Brown confirms
You can watch Brown’s statement on the bailout here. It’s full of the usual reminders about “global problems” which “started in America”, and platitudes about “fresh and innovative intervention” and “long-term challenges”. But, to be honest, this is an arena in which Brown thrives. His dour bank manager shtick lends itself to talk about liquidity, assets and guarantees. The question now
What to make of Brown and Darling’s £50 billion rescue plan for the banks? As with so much during this financial crisis, there’s a distinct air of uncertainty around it. There are potential upsides: it should help restore some degree of confidence in the banking system, help banks lend to each other, and stabilise the markets. But
Hold the front pages. Brown’s just called a “crisis meeting” with Alistair Darling, Mervyn King and Adair Turner, the head of the Financial Services Authority – three people he should be (and is?) in round-the-clock contact with anyway. Of course, our PM’s been milking this financial crisis for every drop of its theatrical worth all along – few
Prepare for the next round of one of Westminster’s favourite parlour games of the past few months: “Will Alistair Darling get the sack?” After all, our Chancellor’s hardly excelled himself over the past few days — his statement to the Commons yesterday was less-than-inspiring and did nothing to reassure the markets, whilst his behind-the-scenes work
Having finally caught onto what the banks want, it seems that Alistair Darling is going to dance to their tune and speed up plans for a recapitalisation package. According to the Standard, around £50 billion could be pumped into the sector “within days”. Sure, the dither-o-meter has just receded a notch. But now comes the separate
Yesterday, I suspected that Alistair Darling’s obfuscating language meant that HMT didn’t really have a clue about how to deal with the market turmoil. But the hope was that, behind the confused – and confusing – rhetoric, there lay substantive action. It would seem not, if the reports of the Chancellor’s meeting with bank officials
