Category: this week in politics
This week in politics – part 2: US presidential special
| August 20, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under international, this week in politics |
The US Presidential election had its first major event last week, the Ames Straw Poll. This is the first Republican event, where candidates can attract support from the electorate and, if successful, it can help a candidate bring significant donations in, attract attention and support from the media, and support from voters nationally. It takes place in the state of Iowa and involves a dinner for high paying guests, whose money goes to the Republic State Committee, but also a vote that anyone over 16.5 years of age and who is a resident of Iowa can vote in for a fee of $30. Some candidates such as Michele Bachman paid her own supporters’ entry fees to vote in the poll.… more
This week in politics – part 1
| August 19, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under this week in politics |
The riots began on August 6th in Tottenham following the shooting of a suspected drug dealer Mark Duggan by armed police. The family then went to the police station to ask to speak to a senior policeman, and after being refused they were joined by three hundred people from the community. A peaceful march degenerated into riots which eventually claimed five lives. Three of the five were protecting the shops in the community when they were tragically killed. Although there were widespread riots in London, there were also riots in Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol as well as smaller riots in some towns such as Gloucester. The bulk of them happened in poorer areas where unemployment is high, particularly youth… more
This week in politics
| July 29, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under this week in politics |
The top international news that has been developing over the last week has been the challenge of raising America’s debt limit. It hit $14.3tr on March 16th this year, and government spending has been covered since then by the federal pensions pot which will need replenishing. Congress must approve a raise or America can’t borrow any more money which would stop defence payments, social security payments and interest on their debt; this would be a debt default and lead to higher interest rates on their debt in the future as well as global financial problems. Raising the debt limit used to be a common occurrence that passed easily but with the Tea Party having extensive influence in the House of Representatives,… more
This week in politics
| July 22, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under this week in politics |
The news of the week was The News of the World again: Murdoch Jr and Sr appeared in front of the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport this week, but what grabbed the headlines weren’t their answers, but the man pictured below who put shaving foam in the face of Rupert Murdoch. There is a link to the clip here - this is the best bit of the hearing. Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch followed PR advice they had been given, appearing sincere; “This is the most humble day of my life” is what Rupert Murdoch ‘claimed’ at the start of the hearing. They followed legal advice and didn’t incriminate themselves; Rupert repeatedly claimed he was a hands-off owner of… more
This week in politics
| July 15, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under this week in politics |
I will start off with the story that has dominated the papers over the last week; phone hacking. The questions got bigger this week with Rupert Murdoch being forced to drop his BSkyB bid and News Corp as a result losing £2.6bn in value. It was finally released officially that phone hacking was not just a “rogue reporter”, but a widespread problem among the News of the World “journalists”. It was also revealed that The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun “blagged” the personal financial details of Gordon Brown and got hold of records indicating his son’s illness was held in private medical records. What do all these news agencies have in common? Rupert Murdoch. This time last week I was cut off from… more
This week in politics
| July 4, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under this week in politics |
I would first like to apologise for the belatedness of this article, it was supposed to come out at the weekend but unfortunately this one is late. This Week in Politics will be released at the weekend with a brief roundup of the week’s major news. Next week’s edition will also be late due to me being away for the weekend. The biggest story of this week was the general strike on Thursday 30th June. As many of you will know, this had been rumbling along for a while and the NUT (National Union of Teachers), ATL (Association of Teachers and Lecturers) and UCU (University and College Union) all balloted over three weeks ago for strikes. The funniest element of this ongoing story happened… more
A week is a long time in politics
| March 12, 2011 | Posted by Tom Wooldridge under this week in politics |
The week started with Iain Duncan Smith announcing changes to the state pension that don’t penalize savers; these will give a flat rate to everyone, no matter how rich or poor they are. This plan has advantages, such as that savers will no longer be penalised against, however it will surely cost more as the pensioners that get less now will get more money, and I thought the government had “inherited a problem from the previous government”? This reform isn’t too controversial, but then it wouldn’t be since many pensioners are Tory voters and age doesn’t always mean wisdom. This means the government won’t be passing anything that would hinder them electorally in the future and therefore the average Tory… more
