Obama: Road to the Whitehouse
January 31, 2009
‘Work for benefits’ rolled out early
January 30, 2009
One hundred and fifty jobs are to be created at Social Security offices in Northern Ireland to deal with the increased numbers of unemployed people.
Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie said it was a “proactive response to the economic situation.”
- BBC News
Unreasonable doubt
January 30, 2009
Rod Blagojevich has been ousted as Illinois governor after being convicted of abusing his powers… He was charged with trying to sell the seat vacated by Barack Obama when he was elected president.
In a second vote, Mr Blagojevich was banned from holding public office in Illinois for life.
He had been arrested in December and faces a criminal trial over bribes allegedly taken during his two terms…
Senators voted 59-0 against him after an impeachment hearing, despite his claim that he had “done nothing wrong” and there was no evidence of a crime.
…other than the hours of wiretap recordings.
Only buses should be bendy
January 30, 2009
A ferry bound for Northern Ireland has returned to Stranraer in Scotland after a lorry was discovered hanging out the back of the Stena Voyager.
The vessel was not long at sea when a loud bang was heard by passengers.
“The ship then almost came to a standstill,” Peter McCrory from Dungannon told BBC News.
“However, we discovered on looking out the rear doors there was a lorry hanging out through the back, it had burst the rear doors.”
Peace in our time? [aka Moral Equivalence 102]
January 29, 2009
Proposals to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland’s Troubles could cost up to £300m, a report has said.
The plans include a £12,000 payment for families of all those killed.
Unionists and some victims’ groups have rejected the proposed payment because it would include republican and loyalist paramilitaries.
Protesters temporarily disrupted the launch, including former unionist politician Cedric Wilson and Willie Frazer from victim’s group Fair.
Lord Eames, one of the report’s authors, said it was time for a “final step out of the conflict by dealing with the legacy of the past”.
The 190-page report, which contains more than 30 recommendations, will go to the government for consideration.
- BBC News
The Channel 4 News report includes footage of Michelle Williamson, a Unionist whose parents were both killed in the 1993 Shankhill Road Bombing upbraiding Danny Bradley (brother of an IRA member killed by the British Army) at the launch of the Eames & Bradley report yesterday at the Europa Hotel in Belfast – reportedly the most bombed hotel in Europe.
The 20-Year Tallyman
January 28, 2009
The burden of UK government debt will remain above pre-crisis levels for 20 years, says the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), a think tank.
In its annual Green Budget, the IFS says that the government will need to raise taxes or cut spending by an extra £20bn to repair the public finances.
The IFS suggests the government may have to freeze public spending in 2010. And it says that taxes are likely to go up more than planned, with possible increases in VAT in the future.
- BBC News
Albert Einstein is credited with saying “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
Gordon Brown is clearly no Einstein…
UPDATE: BBC Economics Editor, Stephanie Flanders (oakily, dokily) translates from econo-geek speak here.
“If you’re looking for light relief, I recommend you take a look at the “four main goals for its management of the public finances” which Labour set itself in 1997, reprinted on page 10 of the IFS report. They’re a hoot.”
If it looks like a duck…
January 28, 2009
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has outlined a package of government support for the UK car industry potentially worth up to £2.3bn.
The package includes a scheme to unlock £1.3bn of loans from Europe for car manufacturers and major suppliers.
He said the government would also guarantee up to £1bn of further loans.
But shadow business secretary Ken Clarke said the European loans were announced last year and called the whole package “pretty small beer”.
Outlining the measures in the House of Lords, Lord Mandelson said the automotive industry was vital to British manufacturing anad at the heart of many regional economies but was “in the frontline of the downturn”…
The car industry had to change to succeed in the “new world” and had to be cleaner and greener, Lord Mandelson said.
“This industry is not a lame duck and this is no bail out,” he added.
- BBC News
Zsa Zsa loses $7 million in Madoff fraud
January 27, 2009
…according to BBC News.
Which part of ‘cease-fire’…
January 27, 2009
BBC News reports…
Israel has carried out an air attack in the Gaza Strip and launched an incursion with tanks and bulldozers across the border.
There are reports of heavy fighting near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, with many people fleeing their homes.
The incursion follows a bomb attack which killed one Israeli soldier and wounded three near the Gaza border.
It is the worst violence since Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza ended with both sides declaring ceasefires.
No group has said it carried out Tuesday’s bombing on an Israeli patrol near the border crossing of Kissufim.
Soon to be renamed Kissurassgudbai…
CEASE
verb [intrans]
come to an end: eg. the hostilities had ceased and normal life resumed
Moral Equivalence 101
January 27, 2009
The government is to be asked to pay £12,000 to the families of all those killed during the Troubles – including members of paramilitary groups.
The families of paramilitary victims, members of the security forces and civilians who were killed will all be entitled to the same amount.
The payment is expected to be recommended by the group set up to advise on how to deal with the past. The Consultative Group on the Past is to publish its report next week.
If the recommendation is accepted by the government, the cost would be an estimated £40m.
The group, co-chaired by Lord Eames and Denis Bradley, is expected to say there should be no hierarchy of victims and that everyone should be treated in the same way.
That would mean the family of the IRA Shankill bomber Thomas Begley would receive the same for his death as those of the families of the nine civilians he killed. Likewise, the families of two UVF members killed while they planted a bomb that also killed three members of the Miami Showband in 1975 will be entitled to the same payment as those of the victims.
- BBC News
