Daily Mail
"A top German business leader today called for his country to quit the euro and join richer northern neighbours in a currency block instead. Hans-Olaf Henkel, the well-respected former head of the country’s main business federation, said his earlier support for the euro was ‘the biggest professional mistake I ever made’.He called on Germany, Austria, Finland and the Netherlands to quit the euro – ditching struggling economies such as Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy - and set up a new currency of their own."
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Column - How Gillard tried to kill a story
Andrew Bolt,Herald Sun (Australia)
"The Prime Minister overstepped the line when she called the chairman and CEO of News Limited, John Hartigan. Calls that look like an attempt at censorship have many sinister overtones, with threats of inquiries and forced sales left hanging in the air. And I ask her: What are you so afraid of? What else would you stoop to in order to cling to power? "
"The Prime Minister overstepped the line when she called the chairman and CEO of News Limited, John Hartigan. Calls that look like an attempt at censorship have many sinister overtones, with threats of inquiries and forced sales left hanging in the air. And I ask her: What are you so afraid of? What else would you stoop to in order to cling to power? "
Prime Minister Julia Gillard's hand overplayed
Andrew Bolt,Herald Sun (Australia)
"....This, then, is how news can be kept from the public.
Not being able to report on what I consider improper pressure by a desperate Prime Minister to kill a story meant I could not report fairly on the political scene as I saw it. I could not do my job, and I consulted friends about resigning. I am now told that News Limited was just being cautious while it checked its legal position. Hartigan told me: "At no stage is my job to stop stories getting into papers."
No, it was the Australian Prime Minister who, in my opinion, tried to do that."
-----------------------
Bolt column is up (Catallaxy Files)
"....This, then, is how news can be kept from the public.
Not being able to report on what I consider improper pressure by a desperate Prime Minister to kill a story meant I could not report fairly on the political scene as I saw it. I could not do my job, and I consulted friends about resigning. I am now told that News Limited was just being cautious while it checked its legal position. Hartigan told me: "At no stage is my job to stop stories getting into papers."
No, it was the Australian Prime Minister who, in my opinion, tried to do that."
-----------------------
Bolt column is up (Catallaxy Files)
Saturday, 27 August 2011
A tip on something that may force Gillard to resign
Andrew Bolt,Herald Sun (Australia)
"On Monday, I’m tipping, a witness with a statutory declaration will come forward and implicate Julia Gillard directly in another scandal involving the misuse of union funds. Gillard herself is not accused of any misbehaviour at all. I do not make that claim, and do not hold that belief. But her judgment - and that of at least one of her ministers - will come under severe question. She will seem compromised. It could be the last straw for Gillard’s leadership.
At the moment I am not at liberty to reveal the contents of the stat dec before me. I suspect a friend of mine in the media will be authorised to release it first. I will let you know when and where.
UPDATE
Michael Smith of 2UE has read out from this statutory declaration, drawn up by Bob Kernohan, the former president of the Australian Workers Union, in August last year. To honor my deal with the author, who will speak to Smith on Monday’s show, I believe, I will publish only those parts which Michael has already read out or paraphrased: ..."
"On Monday, I’m tipping, a witness with a statutory declaration will come forward and implicate Julia Gillard directly in another scandal involving the misuse of union funds. Gillard herself is not accused of any misbehaviour at all. I do not make that claim, and do not hold that belief. But her judgment - and that of at least one of her ministers - will come under severe question. She will seem compromised. It could be the last straw for Gillard’s leadership.
At the moment I am not at liberty to reveal the contents of the stat dec before me. I suspect a friend of mine in the media will be authorised to release it first. I will let you know when and where.
UPDATE
Michael Smith of 2UE has read out from this statutory declaration, drawn up by Bob Kernohan, the former president of the Australian Workers Union, in August last year. To honor my deal with the author, who will speak to Smith on Monday’s show, I believe, I will publish only those parts which Michael has already read out or paraphrased: ..."
Brothelgate has Labor on the Ropes!
Climate Common Sense
"The story has more twists and turns than a Le Carre spy story and today's Australian has no less than eight articles on the scandal as the relentless pressure on Labor continues as the details unfold."
"The story has more twists and turns than a Le Carre spy story and today's Australian has no less than eight articles on the scandal as the relentless pressure on Labor continues as the details unfold."
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Immigration soared by 20% last year - making a mockery of Government pledge to bring it DOWN
Daily Mail
"The number of people migrating to the UK soared by more than 20 per cent last year, according to official figures released today. The rise from 198,000 in 2009 to 239,000 last year flys in the face of the Government's pledge to bring net migration down to just tens of thousands by 2015.Net migration is the difference of those arriving and leaving the country in 12-month period. Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the campaign group Migration Watch UK, said: 'These figures lay bare the legacy of the Labour government."
"The number of people migrating to the UK soared by more than 20 per cent last year, according to official figures released today. The rise from 198,000 in 2009 to 239,000 last year flys in the face of the Government's pledge to bring net migration down to just tens of thousands by 2015.Net migration is the difference of those arriving and leaving the country in 12-month period. Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the campaign group Migration Watch UK, said: 'These figures lay bare the legacy of the Labour government."
Monday, 22 August 2011
Still no apologies as Mr Blair rewrites history (again) and denies any blame for Britain's social ills
Daily Mail
"..At the very least, so any competent interviewer would have suggested, Tony Blair and New Labour failed to address the social ills that lay behind the unprecedentedly extensive civil unrest. In fact, I would go further, and argue that they did not merely allow problems to fester but, as a result of several short-sighted political decisions, contrived to make them worse. .....More damagingly still, during those boom years Mr Blair and, both as Chancellor and later as Prime Minister, Mr Brown failed to get members of the so-called underclass into work. Nearly all the 1.67 million jobs created between 1997 and 2010 went to new immigrants. These people were often deemed by employers to be better skilled or more employable than members of the indigenous underclass. It has been plausibly alleged that New Labour at least partly encouraged mass immigration in the hope of building up its electoral base, most first-generation immigrants being inclined to vote Labour. ...Reading his article, one gets the impression that he is scarcely any longer of this world, but poised in some stateless limbo unconnected with the rest of us.
As he has brazenly rewritten the history of why we went to war against Iraq, so he disowns any responsibility for what has happened to our society, even though he was Prime Minister for ten years. Of course, no one could sensibly maintain that the entire country is in the grip of a moral decline, and of course by no means all the causes for what has gone wrong can be laid at New Labour’s door. But that there is an immense problem no one could sensibly doubt. Hearing Tony Blair’s unself-critical voice again, I am relieved that he is not going to be called upon to put it right."
"..At the very least, so any competent interviewer would have suggested, Tony Blair and New Labour failed to address the social ills that lay behind the unprecedentedly extensive civil unrest. In fact, I would go further, and argue that they did not merely allow problems to fester but, as a result of several short-sighted political decisions, contrived to make them worse. .....More damagingly still, during those boom years Mr Blair and, both as Chancellor and later as Prime Minister, Mr Brown failed to get members of the so-called underclass into work. Nearly all the 1.67 million jobs created between 1997 and 2010 went to new immigrants. These people were often deemed by employers to be better skilled or more employable than members of the indigenous underclass. It has been plausibly alleged that New Labour at least partly encouraged mass immigration in the hope of building up its electoral base, most first-generation immigrants being inclined to vote Labour. ...Reading his article, one gets the impression that he is scarcely any longer of this world, but poised in some stateless limbo unconnected with the rest of us.
As he has brazenly rewritten the history of why we went to war against Iraq, so he disowns any responsibility for what has happened to our society, even though he was Prime Minister for ten years. Of course, no one could sensibly maintain that the entire country is in the grip of a moral decline, and of course by no means all the causes for what has gone wrong can be laid at New Labour’s door. But that there is an immense problem no one could sensibly doubt. Hearing Tony Blair’s unself-critical voice again, I am relieved that he is not going to be called upon to put it right."
Friday, 19 August 2011
J K Rowling - part IV
Who Do You Think You Are? JK Rowling: Harry Potter and the riddle of the invisible author, review (Telegraph)
"There was – and I’ve noticed this before – an ever-present air of mild anxiety about her; even when she smiles, it’s an anxious-looking smile: her mouth seems to want to turn down at the corners. She came across a bit like a favourite teacher from primary school (as a matter of fact, she did use to teach). Imagine if Miss Honey, the lovely but downtrodden teacher in Roald Dahl’s Matilda, had become a multimillionaire author. .......So in the end we know lots about JK Rowling’s ancestors but still not much about her. The truth remains hidden. Unless of course the truth is that she’s simply a pleasant, courteous, fairly ordinary woman with a preternatural flair for writing stories. Which I reluctantly suppose is possible."
.....So the ultra private Mrs J Murray, aka J K Rowling, aka Joanne Rowling breaks cover. Well almost. If you are a fan of Roald Dahl’s Matilda you may notice a similarity with HP1. Is Mrs J Murray, aka J K Rowling, aka Joanne Rowling a fan too ? I think she is rather more than that....
Part 1 Here, Part 2 Here,Part 3 Here
"There was – and I’ve noticed this before – an ever-present air of mild anxiety about her; even when she smiles, it’s an anxious-looking smile: her mouth seems to want to turn down at the corners. She came across a bit like a favourite teacher from primary school (as a matter of fact, she did use to teach). Imagine if Miss Honey, the lovely but downtrodden teacher in Roald Dahl’s Matilda, had become a multimillionaire author. .......So in the end we know lots about JK Rowling’s ancestors but still not much about her. The truth remains hidden. Unless of course the truth is that she’s simply a pleasant, courteous, fairly ordinary woman with a preternatural flair for writing stories. Which I reluctantly suppose is possible."
.....So the ultra private Mrs J Murray, aka J K Rowling, aka Joanne Rowling breaks cover. Well almost. If you are a fan of Roald Dahl’s Matilda you may notice a similarity with HP1. Is Mrs J Murray, aka J K Rowling, aka Joanne Rowling a fan too ? I think she is rather more than that....
Part 1 Here, Part 2 Here,Part 3 Here
£62bn lost on City's worst day for 3 years as bank fears spark panic on the markets
Daily Mail
Analysts tell of markets hit by a 'tidal wave of selling'
German index plummets by 5.8 per cent
French stock market falls 5.5 per cent
Dow Jones Industrial Average 3.9 per cent down
Morgan Stanley warns U.S. and eurozone 'dangerously close to recession'
Analysts tell of markets hit by a 'tidal wave of selling'
German index plummets by 5.8 per cent
French stock market falls 5.5 per cent
Dow Jones Industrial Average 3.9 per cent down
Morgan Stanley warns U.S. and eurozone 'dangerously close to recession'
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Britain's future (and his own) rests on Mr Cameron dismantling the pernicious Human Rights Act
Daily Mail
"One crucial test of this government’s good intentions is whether, as Mr Cameron intimated yesterday, it will get to grips with the Human Rights Act. He said it was ‘working to develop a way through the morass by looking at creating our own Bill of Rights’, before adding that ‘we will be using our own chairmanship of the Council of Europe to seek agreement to important operational changes to the European Convention on Human Rights’.
"One crucial test of this government’s good intentions is whether, as Mr Cameron intimated yesterday, it will get to grips with the Human Rights Act. He said it was ‘working to develop a way through the morass by looking at creating our own Bill of Rights’, before adding that ‘we will be using our own chairmanship of the Council of Europe to seek agreement to important operational changes to the European Convention on Human Rights’.
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Paper money
Catallaxy Files
"Paper money backed only by credulity marks its 40th anniversary this week. But as the world endures yet more economic turmoil, and the European Central Bank prepares a team for the money printing Olympics in Washington DC, celebrations should be subdued."
"Paper money backed only by credulity marks its 40th anniversary this week. But as the world endures yet more economic turmoil, and the European Central Bank prepares a team for the money printing Olympics in Washington DC, celebrations should be subdued."
Sunday, 14 August 2011
ECB is euroland's last hope as bail-out machinery fails to resolve crisis
Telegraph
"The leaders of Germany and France have three bad choices as they decide whether to save EMU this week, or pretend to do so. .....The path of least resistance for Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday is surely to force the ECB to change course, by treaty power if necessary.
Or kiss goodbye to the Kanzleramt, the Elysee, and monetary union."
"The leaders of Germany and France have three bad choices as they decide whether to save EMU this week, or pretend to do so. .....The path of least resistance for Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday is surely to force the ECB to change course, by treaty power if necessary.
Or kiss goodbye to the Kanzleramt, the Elysee, and monetary union."
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