Thursday 30th July 2015

[rebeccariots2]

Bonnie Greer ‏@Bonn1eGreer 8m8 minutes ago London, England
#Osborne under pressure to reveal if he met #Murdoch before announcement of #BBC cuts -@Independent
pic @doncatraz

[rebeccariots2]

Tories accused of trying to push through £3.4bn tax credit cuts without a Commons vote
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/to ... gh-6168322" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Harriet Harman has accused David Cameron of trying to sneak through £3.4billion of tax credit cuts.

The acting Labour leader says the Government is looking to bypass MPs by forcing through the controversial changes without a Commons vote.

The cuts to tax credits will leave 3million families an average of £1,000 a year worse off each – a total cut of £3.4 billion.

The Government is planning to use a statutory instrument to get the measure through, meaning it will be debated in committee but not by all MPs in the main Commons chamber.

In a letter to the PM, Ms Harman writes: “Parliament needs to be able to scrutinise this measure which was not in your manifesto, and is substantial and highly controversial, and which we oppose.”...

More dodgy tactics from Cameron. What is he so afraid of that he doesn't want this to go through as part of the Welfare Bill legislation vote? I thought this cut was - according to the Tories, MSM and pollsters - popular with voters? So popular they didn't feel the need to spell it out before the election. Surely he can't be worried that people might actually start to question the fairness of a measure that leaves many workers worse off?

[LadyCentauria]

Health Committee ‏@CommonsHealth 4 hrs4 hours ago
The response from @Jeremy_Hunt to our letter on delays in implementing the cap on care costs can be found here:

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/comm ... y-2015.PDF

Oh yes I'm sure that the only reason for delaying the cap was that Local Authorities needed more time. Nothing to do with the Government not having to spend money at all. Oh no no no...

[citizenJA]

Oh lordy ... now citizen's double post has disappeared and Tubby has spoken twice instead.

This is doing my head in.

Sorry for my part in the chaos, Rebeccariots2, it wasn't intentional.

Goodnight, everyone, thank you all for your contributions here, I'm glad to know you.
love
cJA

[LadyCentauria]

Yup ... following on from TE's post. Dave's at it again ... utterly unspeakable hypocrisy.

Conflict of interest? Tories are planning to legalise bribery and corruption
http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2015/07/3 ... orruption/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Conservative Government is considering whether the public is stupid enough to accept the legalisation of bribery and corruption. And why not – some of us were stupid enough to vote David Cameron back into office, after all.
The pretext is a claim that UK businesses are finding it hard to do business overseas, so apparently it’s Johnny Foreigner’s fault for wanting backhanders before letting our goods into his country.

The government is now consulting on whether facilitation payments – money or goods paid to foreign government officials to perform or speed up their duties – should be re-legalised.

They were banned in the Coalition Government’s Bribery Act of 2011, in which the Conservative Party played a large part – meaning this will be a policy U-turn by the Tories.

Critics have pointed out that the proposed change would undermine the law in other countries along with the UK, as well as global efforts to counter corruption...

And how would that sit with the fight against 414 or 419 scams? Those are the letter and email scams offering targets large sums of money but requesting a 'fee' up front to 'facilitate' some sort of technical/legal paperwork that would then 'free up' the millions/thousands that the scammer claims they'd put into your bank account - well, you know the ones. Or will they write a tight amendment that only permits bribes to bona fide corrupt foreign government officials?

[LadyCentauria]

And this is superb too.

If Jeremy Hunt will go to A&E rather than wait for a doctor…
http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2015/07/2 ... -a-doctor/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Superb letter. Why can't we see our politicians at 3 am if we want to - and what's wrong with 24/7/365 politicians?
Excellent comment from 'lallygag26' BTL on that piece, too...

[LadyCentauria]

Is @TobyLatimer really back with us? I do hope so!