Gordon Brown heckler - different camera angle

A Hyper-Inflationary Great Depression Is Coming

ShadowStats' John Williams has done his math and believes his numbers tell the truth. He explains why the U.S. is in a depression and why a "Hyper-Inflationary Great Depression" is now unavoidable. John also shares why he selects gold as a metal for asset conversion in this exclusive interview with The Gold Report. more...

Party revellers rescued from lift

More than 80 emergency service personnel were called out to rescue six stag party revellers who plummeted 100ft in a hotel lift accident, police have said.

More...

30,000 Anti-Global Warming Scientists Can’t Be Wrong

Nature Magazine, the academic journal that introduced the world to X-rays, DNA double helix, wave nature of particles, pulsars, and more recently the human genome, is set to publish a paper in June that shows atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is responsible for only 5-10% of observed warming on Earth.

As explained by the paper’s author Professor Jyrki Kauppinen, “The climate is warming, yes, but not because of greenhouse gases.”

For the preeminent scientific journal in the world to publish Kauppinen’s work shows conclusively that Al Gore’s much touted “scientific consensus” supporting human-caused global warming is a myth. more...

Meet the mid-ranking civil servant working on IT projects who rakes in £500,000 a year - three times more than the PM

Beaming with delight, this is Ben Grinnell, a mid-ranking civil servant who is supposed to help keep our borders safe.

If he looks pleased with himself, he has every cause to be after being paid around £500,000 of public money last year - more than treble the salary of Gordon Brown.

Mr Grinnell joined the UK Border Agency in September 2007 as an IT consultant and was given responsibility in leading projects including Labour's notorious plans for national identity cards. more...

The EU's "Wise Men" Report

With a 9 May deadline fast approaching for the EU's 'group of wise men' to submit its report on the challenges facing Europe until 2030, EurActiv has gained an insight into the team's secretive work over the past 18 months.

After an initial period of hesitation over how to communicate, Felipe González, chair of the 'wise men group', told his team that he had chosen "privacy, not secrecy" as a working method.

In practice, little information – if any – has emerged from the 15 meetings the group has held since its launch in October 2008. In the meantime, González himself has made very few comments and rejected all interview requests.

Read More...

EXTEND & PRETEND

Source

Blears confirms illegal immigrant worked on campaign

Former Cabinet minister Hazel Blears today confirmed that an illegal immigrant had been working as a volunteer on her election campaign.

The Labour MP for Salford said she instructed the woman to leave her campaign and reported her case to the Borders Agency as soon as she learnt of her immigration status yesterday.

Ms Blears said neither she nor any other election candidate was in a position to vet all the individuals who volunteer to help during a campaign. more...

Even the staff of the benefits office tell young people they are better off on benefits

Digby Jones has stirred up interest in welfare benefits by comments made in a Panorama programme being screened tonight at 8.30pm. (Looks worth watching.)

Digby Jones, who was trade minister in 2007-08, made his comments after being introduced to two men in Swindon for a television programme about the young unemployed.

One of the pair, who were from middle-class families, told Jones that he and his girlfriend were paid about £12,000 a year in jobseeker’s allowance and housing benefit, and there was no reason for them to look for work. This is equivalent to a gross income of £15,000-£16,000.

Filmed for the BBC’s Panorama programme to be shown tomorrow, Jones said to the two, called Ben and Tim: “If I was watching this I’d throw something at the TV and say ‘Get off your backsides and work’ and we should cut all your benefits and starve you into going back to work.”

(This was from The Times online)

He apparently has said that in fact his idea is not to starve them but, on the contrary to give them food stamps but nothing else if they refuse three job offers.

This led to a phone-in on Radio 5 Live where a TUC representative said there were no jobs. However later in the day I was asked to comment on BBC Radio Wales and was fascinated by the comments of another contributor called James Hall. He works with the unemployed in Wales. more...

Why organic farming might not be quite such a good idea

You'll have noted that we're all supposed to chow down on only organic food now I suppose? It's better for the environment, better for us and better for the food itself we are told. That there are a number of contradictions in the story seems not to bother people all that much. If we're not to use "artificial" fertlisers that means requiring rather more animals around for their dung, something which seems to militate against the idea that we should be eating less meat and anyway, what about methane emissions and the atmosphere?

That organic farming requires much more land is also true: there is no way that the UK could feed its current population by such methods and "self-sufficiency" is something the same sort of people promote as well. more...

MELTDOWN BRITAIN: DEBTS ALL FOLKS...

It’s the elephant in the room as we lurch towards another election - IMF-style austerity cuts in the UK. In order to bail the banks out of their self-induced crisis, the UK government directly spent £50bn from tax revenue income in 2008, not to mention the hundreds of billions of pounds of support committed since to prop up the whole sorry system.

Not that any of these selfless acts of charity stopped bank bosses handing out giant bonuses to themselves last year of course - a whacking £6bn in total - with the wholly taxpayer-owned RBS handing out £1bn in ‘reward’ bonuses. more...

Conspiracies abound as Stone of Destiny ‘stolen’

MYSTERY SURROUNDS the attempted theft of one of Scotland’s most iconic artefacts from its historic Perthshire resting place.

Tayside Police were called to Scone Palace on Thursday after an eagle-eyed member of staff noticed the replica Stone of Destiny had been removed from its plinth—and replaced with a larger stone. more...

Malcolm Rifkind: 'Kick Labour out over military policies'

SIR Malcolm Rifkind yesterday launched the Tories' armed forces manifesto for Scotland, telling voters Labour deserved to be removed from office for their treatment of the military. more...

Bikers stage petrol price protest

Hundreds of bikers are expected to bring traffic to a standstill in a mass protest at the record price of petrol.Demonstrators claim the May 1st "May-Hem" protest on roads and motorways around Manchester will be the biggest ever held, and although police say there has been no indication of how many bikers will take part they warn there could be "significant delays" to other motorists.Past protests in the last two years have seen hundreds of bikers take over sections of motorways, travelling en mass at 25mph,More

First flight from Baghdad to London in 20 years ends in farce with plane impounded

The first flight from Baghdad to London in 20 years has ended in farce with the plane impounded at Gatwick airport after Kuwait went to the High Court demanding £780 million for planes stolen by Saddam Hussein.More

RBS chief (on £3½m) admits salaries are 'astonishingly high'

THE chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland has admitted that bankers' pay is "astonishingly high."

Sir Philip Hampton conceded that it was difficult to defend the gap between what most people earned and the salaries in the banking sector. However, he said that if banks did not remunerate their "top people", they would lose them to other companies.

In the run-up to the General Election, politicians across the board have called for caps on bankers' bonuses. more...

Gordon Brown rules out VAT rise as key ally deserts

GORDON Brown played what may be his final card in Labour's embattled election campaign last night, as he pledged not to raise VAT if elected on 6 May.

Amid fears in the Labour camp that they are heading for a historic defeat on Thursday, the Prime Minister went further than previously to declare bluntly that he would not be increasing the tax on goods. Asked directly by Jeremy Paxman in a BBC interview last night if VAT would go up under a fourth Labour government, he replied: "It's a no." more...

BOOS FOR ED BALLS ON SOAPBOX

ED Balls was jeered and booed by fed-up voters in his own constituency during a humiliating pre-election showdown yesterday. more...

Financial Debt Cancer Spreading In Europe

After months of trying numerous public relations gimmicks to calm market fears of a debt collapse in Greece, (downplaying the magnitude, giving assurances of EU backing, and making token reforms, etc), nothing has worked. Instead justifiable fears are spreading to Portugal and Spain. Either the monetary union will begin to unravel or a bailout will be initiated--which is technically not legal within current EU treaty law. Speculation is high that despite the legal prohibitions the IMF and the European Central Bank (backed by some sleight-of-hand-lending by the US Federal Reserve) will engineer a bailout. The global Powers That Be (PTB) will never tolerate the disintegration of the EU monetary union, a major stepping stone in the New World Order. more...

Labour on course for worst poll result in 92 years as support crashes to just 24%

Labour is braced for its most disastrous election showing since 1918 as the Cabinet prepares to tell Gordon Brown to quit next week.

A Daily Mail poll reveals Labour support has crashed to 24 per cent following the Prime Minister's 'bigot' gaffe and his lacklustre performance in the final TV debate.

But it provides cold comfort for David Cameron - putting his party on 33 per cent, just one ahead of the Liberal Democrats. more...

Press freedom falls around the world

There are bright spots regarding press freedom, but there's been an overall decline for eight straight years, according to a new report. Other political and social freedoms may be waning, too.

The glory days of global press freedom appear to be long past, with a Washington-based freedom watchdog organization finding that a retrenchment of press freedoms continued in 2009. more...

The Next Empire

All across Africa, new tracks are being laid, highways built,ports deepened, commercial contracts signed—all on an unprecedented scale, and led by China, whose appetite for commodities seems insatiable. Do China’s grand designs promise the transformation,at last, of a star-crossed continent? Or merely its exploitation? The author travels deep into the heart of Africa, searching for answers. more...

Tories urged to call in IMF for audit of UK’s debts if they win election

The Conservatives have been urged to consider the "nuclear option" of calling in the International Monetary Fund to examine the full extent of Britain's debts if they win the election.

The Tories should invite the IMF to provide blunt advice about how to cut the scale of the budget deficit, leaving the party able, if necessary, to row back on unaffordable promises to safeguard spending and cut taxes, according to senior bankers and economists. more...

Bang goes the dream of real change. Is it them, or us?

Let me be wrong. All that anger at bankers and MPs is set to fizzle out in the most dispiriting stasis: the election of Cameron. more...

Blogosphere power at work?

The Angry Exile, upside down correspondent.

This morning I noticed that this year old story in The Australian on the 'soft totalitarianism' of modern Britain, which has had a permanent link on my sidebar for ages, is suddenly the 8th most read article. How come, wonders I. Could it be that the news of Gordon Brown's 'bigot' gaff and the talk of the TV debates has generated a renewed interest in what's going on in the old country among British expats and Aussies of British descent? That was certainly my first thought, but then I over at Leg-iron's blog I noticed that his blogging on the Australian federal government's plan to de-brand tobacco packaging had attracted this comment.

It's a shame there aren't more writers like this bloke in both countries: Thought police muscle up in Britain

Since it made the most read list during the night while most here would have been asleep I'm now wondering if Leg-iron, his smoky drinky blog and readership, and an anonymous commenter gave it a boost, especially as two hours later it's no longer on the list. I'll never know but I hope so, because I still feel that it's an article everyone in Britain should read before they put an X on a bit of paper this coming Thursday. There might well be nobody on most people's ballot papers who wants to do something about it but that's not going to change unless many moree become aware of the creeping influence of the real life Thought Police and are prepared to shout:

"Enough!"

Reykjavík on the Thames: Hard Times Ahead for Britain

The UK had another debate last night, and the polls shows the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in a surprisingly close race, with Labour under Gordon Brown continuing to slip. We will be looking for more polls (not connected in any way to Mr. Rupert Murdoch thank you) over the weekend after yesterday's televised debates.

The election seems likely to result in a 'hung Parliament' with no clear majority for any party, suggesting the possibility of a coalition government.

As a reminder to American readers, most of whom do not even know that the Brits are holding an election or how their governments are formed, the Liberal Democrats would be considered the 'reform party' in this election, what the Yanks would call a 'third party.'

And to put an edge on it, the New Stateman reports that Mervyn King suggests that the coming austerity to be imposed on UK citizens to support the City Banks will ensure that the next party in power will not be elected again for many many years. more...

Kentucky... EXPOSED!... Whistleblowers Reveal U.S. Army Being Trained To Round Up American Citizens and Patriots!!!

In a shocking development that outstrips even the infamous MIAC report, it has emerged via whistleblowers that the U.S. Military in Kentucky is training to confront Tea Party protesters and anti-government demonstrators, who in official intelligence advisories are described as bomb-making terrorists.

On April 17, the Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, reported on a military exercise dubbed “Mangudai,” named after the special forces of Genghis Khan’s Mongol army who could fight for days without food or sleep. The Kentucky newspaper portrayed the exercise as an effort to train soldiers to battle the Taliban in Afghanistan. more...

Greece Armageddon, Financial Ebola Sweeps Through Global Bond Markets

What does the end of the bond market world look like? Something like this… more...

Be Aware of the Most Common Over-the-Counter and Prescribed Killer Drugs

It has been confirmed that correctly prescribed pharmaceuticals rank among the five highest causes of death in the USA, and that the U.S. medical system is responsible for more deaths in the USA than anything else! And what dangerous ingredient is common to both prescription painkillers and over the counter (OTC) cold remedies and painkillers?

Acetaminophen. It is in over 100 OTC pain pills and other cold remedies, including cold, cough, and fever remedies for children. more...

There’s more to climate fraud than just tax hikes

By now we know that Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) theory has been built on a mixture of hype and massaged data. Various carbon tax schemes have been put forward, even unprecedented proposals for a world wide taxation authority to be overseen by the UN. Does it follow that the primary agenda behind the fraud was implementing these new taxes, or were these proposed tax schemes secondary and part of a proclivity on the part of the state to seize any opportunity to enhance revenue? more...

Project Prevention or Project Eugenics - the campaign to sterilise addicts

Surely one of the most controversial stories of the month is the opening of a helpline for UK drug addicts by US based charity ‘Project Prevention’?

This charity offers cash incentives to female drug addicts who undergo sterilisation in order to prevent them bearing children they will not care for. more...

Income tax 'must rise by 6p'

Income tax must be raised six per cent to protect Britain from the next financial crisis, according to a report released today by a leading think tank that advises the Treasury.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said Britain would need to raise taxes gradually to cut Britain's deficit to avoid being vulnerable to the next financial crisis. more...

Eurozone faces Lehman-style meltdown

The Greek debt crisis is "threatening to overwhelm" the eurozone, said Sean O'Grady in The Independent. Last week, after another upward revision to Greece's deficit, along with Greece's formal request for €45bn aid from the EU and the IMF, Greek bond yields soared. They rocketed further this week as ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Greek debt to junk status. Greek ten-year yields have hit 10%; two-year yields have gone beyond 16%. An S&P downgrade for Portugal caused a 0.5% spike in its ten-year yield. It also boosted the interest rates on the debt of other economies that are vulnerable to a debt crisis. more...

Inventor of Mann-made global warming feels the heat

This blog’s hero of the week is Ken Cuccinelli. He’s the new Attorney General of Virginia and he’s about to launch quite possibly the most delicious and worthwhile law suit in the entire history of litigation: one that could result in Michael Mann – arch-climate-fear-promoter, comedy You Tube Star, creator of the infamous, twice-discredited Hockey Stick – being fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for alleged misuse of state grant funding. more...

Economists urge deeper cuts and higher taxes

The new government must introduce deeper spending cuts and greater tax hikes to protect the UK economy from further financial crises but only when recovery is secured, a leading think-tank has warned.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research said current plans for fiscal tightening in the March Budget were insufficient and £30bn of extra measures should be introduced, split equally between public spending cuts and tax rises. This would put the UK in a position to cope with future economic disasters but it would require actions such as a 6p rise in the national rate of income tax and a 5% reduction in public sector wages over the next five years. more...

Consortium developing world's first 'intelligent' surveillance robots

A project is underway to develop the first 'intelligent' surveillance robots in the world. The robots will feature 360° vision and have the capability to detect toxic gases, fire and water on the floor.

They will communicate using wired and wireless technologies, not only with other robots, but supporting tele and videoconference with humans as well. more...

Get ready for Base Rate rises

The shock jump in inflation has led to speculation that Base Rate could rise sooner than was previously thought

It’s one of the most commonly asked questions of financial experts and economists and yet a convincing consensus still eludes them. When will interest rates rise?

With the Bank of England Base Rate having now been at its record low of 0.5% for 13 months, both borrowers and savers are keen to know when it will go up. Because go up it will, that’s about the only thing the markets are agreed on. When it will rise and how quickly is the subject of much debate. more...

Ice Age theories warming up

One of the more interesting results from recent research into climate is that for the past million years or so, the earth’s climate has shown a distinct 100,000 cycle of long ice ages punctuated by a brief, warm intergalacials. We are in one of those brief warm periods, an interglacial period that is called the Holocene.

This cycle can be seen in the temperature graph below taken from publically available Vostok ice core data. The ice cores are very long sections of ice in which ancient climates can be worked out by careful analysis of atomic isotopes of layers of ice, where each wafer thin layer represents a year. Although there are other ways to determine past climatic conditions the Vostok cores (the site is in Antarctica but run by Russian scientists) are remarkable in being a connected track of temperatures of several hundred thousand years. more...

German scientists suggest per-person carbon emission quotas

Potsdam, Germany - German scientists called Tuesday for the world to accept per-person quotas for carbon dioxide emissions to kick-start a global trading scheme where poor nations will benefit.

The Potsdam Institute for Research on Climate Effects said everyone on the globe should be allowed 5 tons of carbon per year. That is just one quarter of the average per-person emissions for a US citizen, but still far above emissions in poor nations.

The government-funded institute said the current arrangement, in which some nations have made voluntary commitments to cut emissions, would not work. The institute says the world needs an effective way to hold global warming to no more than 2 degrees. more...

Former Nazi Bank To Rule The Global Economy

The global elite has chosen the Bank For International Settlements, which financed Hitler’s war machine, to boss the financial arm of the new world order

European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet’s announcement that the Bank for International Settlements is to become the primary engine for global governance is a shocking admission given the fact that this ultra-secretive menagerie of international bankers was once controlled by top Nazis who, in collusion with global central banks, funneled money through the institution which directly financed Hitler’s war machine. more...

Dagenham white working class prepare to ditch old Labour loyalties

The Cross of St George flies from car aerials and house windows or is tattooed on people's arms and emblazoned across their backs.

Here, in the white working class heartland on the far eastern perimeter of London — where people wear their allegiances not so much on their sleeves as on their bodies — even the grannies have tattoos..............

Gordon Brown lets slip plans for new stealth tax on pensions

Hundreds of thousands of high earners saving for retirement will be hit by another stealth tax on pensions after the general election, experts claim.

They say a passing reference by Gordon Brown during the televised leaders’ debate last night reveals plans to cut tax relief currently received by more than 300,000 people. more...

The $10 Trillion Climate Fraud

Cap-And-Trade: While senators froth over Goldman Sachs and derivatives, a climate trading scheme being run out of the Chicago Climate Exchange would make Bernie Madoff blush. Its trail leads to the White House.

Lost in the recent headlines was Al Gore's appearance Monday in Denver at the annual meeting of the Council of Foundations, an association of the nation's philanthropic leaders. more...

Organ donor scam - presumed consent

Recall when the unelected Brown assumed PMship, he tried to force "presumed consent" on the populace, such that the state can take your organs, on your death, without your permission, unless you explicitly opted out.

There was such a huge outcry that the policy was dropped - or was it? The government would have us believe that the taking of people's organs without their consent was an "IT blunder".

Yeah, right.

Now, America is attempting to introduce the same policy. It is clear that this is a G20 issue - or, more accurately, a NWO issue.



What incentive does the a hospital have to keep you alive, when it can profit from the sale of your organs?

Cross-posted

Gold hits four-month high

The gold price has risen to a four-month high after Standard & Poor's, the rating agency, lowered Greece and Portugal's credit ratings, spurring demand for the metal.

The price of gold later fell back after speculation that economic growth would erode demand for the precious metal as an alternative asset.

In sterling terms, gold hit a new record of £767. more...

Debt crisis: UK banks sitting on £100bn exposure to Greece, Spain and Portugal

Shares in UK lenders slide amid fears of renewed credit crunch but French, German and Swiss most at risk from Greek default. more...

Use your finger to pay for shopping

SHOPPERS in France could soon be able to use their finger to pay for everyday shopping, in a move that aims to tackle fraud and speed up supermarket queues.

High-street bank Accord has been given permission by the French data protection authorities to start a six-month trial into the new biometric payment system.

The idea had been rejected by the Commission Nationale Informatique et Liberté on several occasions in the past because of fears that storing fingerprint data posed a privacy and security risk. more...

EURO COURT HANDS OUR BENEFITS TO TERRORISTS

FAMILIES of suspected terror­ists can claim thousands of pounds in benefits from British taxpayers, a European court ruled yesterday.

In a judgment that sparked a ­furious response, the European Court of Justice said handouts to suspects’ wives were unlikely to fund terror activities.

As a result, they can continue to claim income support, disability allowance, and child, housing and council tax benefits. And those payments should not be monitored by the Treasury. more..

Google discloses demands for censorship, user data

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Google Inc. has set up a new tool to show where it's facing the most government pressure to censor material and turn over personal information about its users.

The country-by-country breakdown released last week on Google's website marks the first time that the Internet search leader has provided such a detailed look at the censorship and data requests that it gets from regulators, courts and other government agencies. The figures, for the roughly 100 countries in which it operates, cover the final half of last year and will be updated every six months. more...

Why YouTube's Censorship Seems Dubious

I don't want to fight with YouTube. My relationship with YouTube has been one of the more fulfilling and reliable ones in my life. Hence my deep disappointment that it not only buried (rather than, as originally reported, deleted) MIA's "Born Free" video—in which American-flag-wearing troops embark on the rounding up, detaining, and killing of redheads—but also couldn't come up with some better excuse for doing so than the video's "gratuitous violence." more...

New slump is on the way, says Lush boss

we’re in for higher inflation and VAT and another economic slump, whoever wins the general election.

That’s the future according to Mark Constantine, co-founder of Lush, the handmade cosmetics company in Poole.

Speaking at the 10th anniversary of the Poole Business Women’s Lunch Club, he said: “I suspect VAT will go to 20 per cent and I expect inflation will go to much more.

“There’s going to be some other kind of drop coming in the next 18 months in the UK because the government is going to have to put some money down,” he said, referring to Britain’s £163bn deficit – the largest since the Second World War. more...

Global Warming-Tragic for Some, Lucrative for Others

The polar region extends from the Barents Sea to the Arctic Ocean and was, until recently, essentially a large expanse of ice between Norway and Russia. For four decades negotiations between the two countries about claims to the region's oil and natural gas were carried along at a slow, often static pace. However, as a result of global warming, the icecap has receded and interest in delineating clear economic zones has multiplied. The leaders of the two countries, both proud of their co-operative resolves, excitedly spoke of a joint venture into the world’s unexplored - possibly extremely lucrative - arctic seabed. The Chairman of Norway’s Ocean Research Institute, Mr Ostreng, said: “Both parties believe the disputed area contains rich deposits of mineral resources, in particular oil and gas, but they don’t know for sure. And when you don’t know for sure, you act as if the area is extremely rich. It is not easy to give up strategic resources.” On Tuesday, a delimitation line was approved, outlining the claim of each nation to the arctic territory. more...

China's Perspective: There's reason to be skeptical about global warming

Climate change has been happening on Earth ever since it was created. The Earth has undergone periods of cooling and warming even before man made his presence felt. Why does China feel it has the power to control the forces of Nature on a global scale?

Recent events have made a lot of people skeptical about man-made climate change (aka global warming). These events include: more...

War with China? The Dangers of a Global Conflagration

Will the intensified conflicts between the US and China inevitably lead to a global conflagration? If recent past history is any indication the answer is a resounding yes. The most destructive wars of the 20th century were the result of confrontations between established (EIP) and rising (RIP) imperial powers. The practices and policies of the former serve as guides to the latter. more...

Salmond justifies response to Lockerbie question

Alex Salmond claimed yesterday that he had been wholly consistent when he said that the Dunblane killer Thomas Hamilton would not have been released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds in the way Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi was last year.

The First Minister was responding to accusations at First Minister’s Questions, at Holyrood, that his position on the two mass murderers was “irreconcilable and contradictory”. more...

Teachers may strike over spending cuts

Teachers in Scotland could strike for the first time in more than 20 years over cuts to education budgets.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) is to vote on whether to ballot its members over industrial action, starting with a one-day strike.

Scotland’s largest teaching union will consider a motion by its Glasgow branch at its annual conference in June. more..

Battalion is granted freedom of Perth

THE FREEDOM of the city of Perth is to be granted to a locally-based Scottish army infantry battalion next weekend.

A day of celebrations has been organised for May 8 to enable people to pay tribute to the 51st Highland, 7th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (7 SCOTS). more...

Alex Salmond pressed to divulge SNP's minimum pricing level for alcohol

Opposition parties repeatedly called on ministers to name their preferred figure during a heated First Minister's Questions.

The price is critical to the success of the policy – too low and it will be ineffective in preventing harmful drinking, too high and it will do massive damage to Scotland's drinks industry.

Scottish Labour, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives all oppose the policy, and at least one party must be won over for the plan to become law. more...

Cameron makes late bid for Scots support

SCOTTISH voters received a late appeal from Conservative leader David Cameron last night to support him on "the day of destiny", in a special party political broadcast north of the Border.

The broadcast comes as some activists have been privately grumbling about the lack of showing from Mr Cameron, who has only strayed into Scotland once since the election was called, while a new poll has suggested that the party could be facing another 1997-style wipe-out. more...

5 Terrifying Parallels Between What's Going On Now And The Great Depression

I blogged yesterday about the disaster in Greece, and its rapid spread to other European countries. Today the fish-eye is turning on countries outside of the PIIGS, including Japan, Britain . . . and us. According to the Financial Times, "The Fund has calculated that almost all advanced economies need to tighten fiscal policy significantly in the coming decade in order to stabilise debt at 60 per cent of national income by 2030 and the tightening needed in the US, Japan and the UK is just as bad as that required in Greece, Spain, Ireland and Portugal." more...

£8BN TO PAY FOR NEW LABOUR BENEFITS

LABOUR has created new welfare payments costing taxpayers more than £8billion a year – the equivalent of 2p on basic income tax.

And billions more has been added to public spending by boosting existing payments, research showed yesterday.

The new payments include help for pensioners costing about £2.5billion a year, free TV licences for the over-75s, costing £520million a year, and free bus passes, costing £1billion a year. more...

Modern Civilization: This Sucker Is Going Down

George W. Bush was onto something in the fall of 2008 when he remarked apropos of the Lehman collapse: “…this sucker could go down.”

It’s my serene conviction, by the way, that this sucker actually is going down, right now, even as I clatter away at the keys — perhaps in slow motion, so that not many other bystanders have noticed yet, and the few who have noticed are mostly too crosseyed with nausea to speak. more...

Install microchips in illegal immigrants, GOP candidate says

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

“I think we should catch ’em, we should document ’em, make sure we know where they are and where they are going,” said Pat Bertroche, an Urbandale physician. “I actually support microchipping them. I can microchip my dog so I can find it. Why can’t I microchip an illegal?

“That’s not a popular thing to say, but it’s a lot cheaper than building a fence they can tunnel under,” Bertroche said. more...

Volcano Crisis: Europe to Fast-Track Single Sky, Compensate Airlines

BRUSSELS, Belgium, April 28, 2010 (ENS) - The closure of European airspace due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland has cost the aviation industry between 1.5 billion and 2.5 billion euros (about US$1.7 billion), the European commissioner responsible for transport said Tuesday.

Vice-President Siim Kallas said, "The Commission considers that the exceptional circumstances of recent days may justify support measures to offset losses incurred," as long as compensation is granted on the basis of uniform criteria established at European level. more...

Goldman Sachs: US opens criminal investigation into fraud

US federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into whether Goldman Sachs Group Inc or its employees committed securities fraud in connection with its mortgage trading.

The investigation by the Manhattan US Attorney's Office, which is at a preliminary stage, stemmed from a referral from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Wall Street Journal reports. more...

Raise income tax by 6p in the pound, UK told

Britain should raise income taxes by 6p in the pound to make bigger inroads into its huge deficit or risk being vulnerable to the next financial crisis, according to a leading thinktank that advises the Treasury.

Current plans by the political parties to reduce spending and pay down debt would not be enough to prepare the country for a collapse like that of Lehman Brothers and a deep recession, said the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

The hard-hitting criticism of plans by all political parties to cut the deficit, and especially the reliance on "mythical" efficiency savings, came as Europe was convulsed for a second day by the aftershocks of Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade Spanish government debt. more...

Police turn up the heat with new hand-held thermal cameras that let them see in the dark

Thieves, consider yourselves warned – police can now see in the dark.

This image, taken with a thermal imaging camera, shows how officers can catch and record night-time marauders in the act.

They have been using the heat-seeking technology from helicopters for several years, but now will have a hand-held camera they can carry along on patrol. more...

Belgium bans burkas: Women who refuse to show faces to be jailed for a week under draft law

Belgium became the first European country to impose a full ban on wearing a burka last night.

Its parliament approved a draft law which states women can be jailed for hiding their faces in public.

The bill - which must be rubber-stamped by the Belgian senate - is set to become law by July. more...

Nick Clegg's fantasy finance exposed in final debate

It’s the most crucial election issue but voters learnt nothing new and neither did the markets.

True, it got a bit nastier than the previous two debates but there was precious little to inspire voters. What did come through, however, in contrast to previous debates, was Nick Clegg’s illiteracy when it comes to the subject of economics and finance. That’s a dangerous failing at times like these. more...

Rudd on taxes - a lesson too late for Gordon?

The Angry Exile, Upside Down Correspondent.

From The Age:

The federal government aims to cut the amount of tax faced by the vast majority of Australians, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.

In a key speech delivered three days before release of the long-awaited Henry tax review, Mr Rudd hinted he was also aiming to help small businesses and working families.

The review, by Treasury Secretary Ken Henry, is due to be published on Sunday when financial markets will be closed.

OECD table: How Australia ranks in tax take

The government is due to deliver its response on the same day. Speaking to the NSW Business Chamber today, Mr Rudd said the review and the 2010/2011 budget, due to be delivered on May 11, presented an opportunity to usher in a new "generation of prosperity".

"In our response to the Henry review, the government will make the tax system stronger and fairer," he told a breakfast meeting of the chamber.

"Improving the structure of the tax system by replacing inefficient taxes with more efficient ones and streamlining governments and administrations reduces complexity and makes the Australian economy more productive.

"Australia needs to respond, to remain an attractive place to invest and to do business."

Perhaps this makes him a bigot in Gordon Brown's book?

This lesson is probably - hopefully - too late for Gordon Brown who seems unlikely still to be PM this time next Friday, but it's not for the UK. Whoever is Prime Minister then could do the country a favour and start thinking along similar lines. It would mean more pain for the public sector but with £50 billion or so a year spent on quangos there's no shortage of heads to swing the axe at.