Thursday 30 August 2012

One in four babies delivered in England and Wales hospitals are to foreign-born mothers - and this is where they all come from

Daily Mail
"Most came from Poland, India and Pakistan with a total of 184,000 children born in these circumstances in NHS hospitals
The overall 25.5% rate revealed today is the highest since records began in 1969
In London in 2011 56.7% of new mums were originally from outside the UK Newham in London has a rate of 77%, the lowest levels were in the north-east of England
Net migration is still at more than 200,000, official figures show, much higher than the Government's 2015 target of under 100,000

Wednesday 29 August 2012

Fox News Outs The Navy SEAL Who Wrote An Anonymous Book On The Bin Laden Raid

BI
"Fox News obtained and released the identity of the author of the controversial new book "No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden," due to come out on the anniversary of 9/11."

Australian dollar flying high, but for how long?

ABC
"I see clear signs that the investment pipeline in Australia is starting to weaken and the peak for resource company capital expenditure could be seen some time in 2013. I see signs that rates may need to be cut further in Australia. I see some promising signs that Europe is finally getting on top of the issues it faces. I see signs that demand for the Australian dollar may be becoming sated.
A story I like to tell about this demand for the Australian dollar surrounds the Japanese household and a character I have followed for many years now, Mrs Watanabe. She is the holder of the Japanese purse strings, she represents the Japanese housewives who deal in foreign exchange. Mrs Watanabe is the one that calls the shots on the incredible wealth held within the Japanese household. She is the one that buys and sell financial assets. She is the one often that moves financial markets in Tokyo. What is often not fully appreciated is the sheer size of the purse she controls. According to BoJ data, the Japanese household has an incredible ¥1575tn of financial assets ($AU19tn) with 49 per cent of this sitting in currency and deposits earning close to zero interest. What Mrs Watanabe does with this money moves markets."

Monday 20 August 2012

Obama 'cancelled missions to kill bin Laden THREE TIMES after getting cold feet - until Hillary Clinton stepped in', claims explosive new book

Daily Mail
"Barack Obama cancelled three operations to kill Osama bin Laden before finally going ahead with the mission at the insistence of Hillary Clinton, according to a new book. The explosive allegation is contained in an expose by journalist Rich Miniter, who argues that the White House’s carefully-crafted narrative of Obama as a decisive leader who dispatched the al-Qaeda leader despite the doubts of advisers is a myth. Leading from Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him will be published on Tuesday."

Sunday 19 August 2012

Forget QE, what the UK needs is a better transport system

Telegraph
" These three tailwinds – easy money, cheap imports and strong confidence – are no longer available to support growth in Western economies. We cannot wish these conditions back into place. Nor is it sustainable to create a new set of tailwinds based on continual injections of monetary and fiscal stimulus.
It was right to loosen monetary policy and allow public deficits to rise in the depths of the financial crisis in 2008-9. But public finances now need to be put on a more sustainable footing. And when interest rates have already been reduced to rock-bottom levels, additional injections of money through quantitative easing (QE) are likely to have little impact and may even be counter-productive.
To support growth in the current climate, we need to develop a new set of supply-side policies, aimed at helping our economy adjust to the “new normal” world. These policies should focus on improving the underlying competitiveness of our economy by relieving burdens on business, removing barriers to job creation, investing in skills and an efficient transport infrastructure and making the UK an attractive location for investment. That helps to ensure the UK is well-placed to tap into the areas of opportunity in the world economy – such as the continued rapid development of Asia and other emerging market economies and the possibilities created by new technology."

Wednesday 15 August 2012

The case against Europe: MEP Daniel Hannan reveals the disturbing contempt for democracy at the heart of the EU

Daily Mail
"Over 13 years as an MEP, Daniel Hannan has witnessed first hand how Brussels works. Now he has written a forensic analysis of why it’s rotten to the core. His devastating critique should be required reading for every politician."

Tuesday 14 August 2012

Insight - that Aboriginality show

The Black Steam Train
"What I did witness was an amazing display. I watched young, white identifiers roundly proclaim their connection to, and knowledge of, their 'culture', then turn around not five minutes later and abuse Aboriginal culture by speaking over an Elder. I don't know what this mystical 'culture' is that these identifiers are on about, but if they were hoping to display an innate understanding of Aboriginal culture that night, then they missed the mark by a mile.
Once upon a time, the paler activists were an asset to the Aboriginal cause. Now, they have become a liability. Sprouting bullshit such as 'our white skin is a result of the rape of the colonisers', they are no longer laughable and tolerable in small doses - they are promoting a view of life that just continues to perpetuate the victim mentality and does their cause no favours. When you point out to them that their identifying side of the family have continued to choose to marry white people willingly for longer than their living lifetime, and not as part of some forced assimilation program, you will be met with astonishment or indignation. They don't like the facts getting in the way of a good catchphrase, and it is this sort of lazy indignation that has to go."

“This is about taking union money”

Quadrant Online (Australia)
"As a matter of public importance, we provide here the transcript of Alan Jones’ 15-minute interview on Sydney Radio 2GB on Friday August 10 with Michael Smith on the four-year relationship of Julia Gillard with Bruce Wilson, who allegedly misappropriated union funds. This follows a previous interview of Smith by Jones on July 20. Both transcripts are by Tony Thomas."

Saturday 11 August 2012

£5bn a year saved, £4bn a week borrowed

Christopher Booker,Telegraph
" It was rash of Francis Maude, described in one report as “the Cabinet minister in charge of savings”, to boast that the Government has “slashed a staggering £5.5 billion” off our public spending in a year. What Mr Maude didn’t tell us, of course, any more than does the “cuts”-obsessed BBC, is that in recent months the Government has been having to borrow up to £4.5 billion every week just to cover its ever-rising deficit. If our “minister in charge of saving” could save £5.5 billion a week instead of a year, he might have something to boast about, and we might believe that his Government was actually getting spending under control. But as yet there is no more sign of that happening than there is of the BBC telling us that we are now having to borrow up to £180 a week for every household in the land."

Friday 10 August 2012

Deepening Euro crisis could force Britain out of the EU for ever, says leading investment bank

Daily Mail
"But many analysts and businesses believe Britain would benefit from leaving the EU and forging new partnerships with emerging economies around the world such as Asia, the Americas and Africa. Others favour a looser relationship with Brussels. ‘A referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU seems to be becoming a more realistic prospect,’ said Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at consultancy Capital Economics. ‘We think that concerns about the economic disruption if the UK were to leave are overdone. In fact, the economy could end up better off.’ The Nomura report - part of its ‘Issues which keep me awake at night’ series - dubbed a British exit from the EU ‘Brixit’. It was written by London-based analyst Alastair Newton, an-ex British diplomat and former head of Mr Blair’s G7 team."

Thursday 9 August 2012

It starts: first Asian bank mulls British exit from the EU

Telegraph
"So we have a new term: BRIXIT. Japan's biggest bank Nomura has issued an 11-page study evaluating the likelihood that the UK will leave the European Union entirely or partly. Events could accelerate as soon as this autumn if eurozone woes force the Government to commit to a firm date for a BRIXIT referendum."

Wednesday 8 August 2012

Google paid just £6million in taxes in Britain despite raking in £395million in revenue

Daily Mail
"Despite bringing in a huge £395 million in UK revenue last year, internet giant Google only paid back £6 million in tax to the Government, it was revealed today. The search company's tax affairs are again under the spotlight after its executive chairman Eric Schmidt admitted they 'could pay more tax' in Britain but do not have to. It is understood Google has managed to reduce its tax burden by funneling its turnover through Ireland, allowing them to pay corporation tax at a rate of 12.5% rather than the 20% in the UK. According to documents filed with Companies House, in total it handed over £6.09 million in corporation tax to the Treasury in that period. But it is an improvement on 2010, when the company only paid £935,000 of tax and had until this year only paid tax totalling £8 million since 2004. Mr Schmidt has previously poked fun at UK tax laws, adding that that's why Google 'love Britain'.

Monday 6 August 2012

London 2012: This shameless bid to promote Brand Beckham

Daily Mail
"On the very day we were celebrating our first gold medals, with Helen Glover and Heather Stanning rowing so courageously and Bradley Wiggins cycling into the history books, a sporting has-been was busy trying to hog the limelight with a stunt as tacky as it was cynical. Step forward, David Beckham. Never mind that he wasn’t even good enough to be selected for Team GB. Three giant posters of him posing in his undies were projected on to the white cliffs of Dover, apparently to welcome Olympic visitors arriving in Britain.I’m afraid, for my money, our ‘Olympic ambassador’ is a vain, vacuous and greedy expat egotist who cheated on his wife and now makes millions from promoting underwear. Contrast him to our real sporting heroes — men and women who make little money but have spent years selflessly and modestly training for the pride of their country. ....Most British athletes this week have asked what they can do for their country. Shamelessly, Beckham seems only to be asking what his country can do for him."

Thursday 2 August 2012

ECB should prepare for the end of the eurozone as we know it

IEA
" Commenting on Mario Draghi's statements on the euro, Philip Booth, Editorial and Programme Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:



 “The ECB is burying its head in the sand in the latest pledges to support the euro. Instead, it should be contemplating the orderly end of the euro as a single currency across the eurozone and - where necessary - an orderly default on EU government debt.

 
"The head of the ECB has said that he will do 'whatever it takes' within the ECB's mandate to preserve the euro and that high yields on some government bonds were 'unacceptable'. The ECB appears to want to effectively underwrite the government debt of highly indebted nations by printing money. This policy can only succeed in its own terms if the action is substantial enough to create enormous inflation in the indebted countries. If this happens, the euro as a sound, non-inflationary currency is dead and bond yields throughout the eurozone will be on the rise again."