All-purpose news and politics thread

[king mob]

Essentially Greece has voted for banruptcy, poverty and a generation or more of lost opportunities.

They're getting that regardless of a democratic vote.

[king mob]

David Cameron and the Tories are now changing their tune after four or five days of 'fuck off you prole cunts'' to 'ah well, I understand ''

David Cameron has admitted he needs to prove himself to voters and said he understands the message from the local elections "loud and clear".

The prime minister said excuses about midterm blues were not enough to explain the party's dire performance at the polls. Echoing the chancellor, George Osborne, Cameron pledged to "focus on what matters". He promised to do more to help hard-working people who "want to get on and play by the rules".

In an article for the Telegraph, he wrote: "My reaction to last week's local election results is straightforward: I get the message, loud and clear. I know that the familiar excuses – low turnout, midterm blues – aren't enough. Even the difficulties of our economic situation and the tough but necessary decisions the government has had to take cannot fully explain the results.

"The message people are sending is this: focus on what matters, deliver what you promise – and prove yourself in the process. I get it."

Cameron said voters wanted to know that the coalition was "not just a bunch of accountants". "When people think about the economy they don't see it through the dry numbers of the deficit figures, trade balances or inflation forecasts – but instead the things that make the difference between a life that's worth living and a daily grind that drags them down."

Osborne signalled that the government would stall plans to reform the House of Lords as the Conservative leadership attempts to halt the increasingly bitter public attacks from their own ranks. The chancellor said introducing elections for peers was not a priority.

Osborne dismissed the most vocal backbench critic, Nadine Dorries, as a serial rebel after she warned that Cameron could be ousted by Christmas. The respected veteran Lord Ryder, John Major's former chief whip, warned Cameron he would not be "the master of his own destiny for very much longer" if he failed to "take a grip".

Another Tory, Brian Binley, said the verdict at the ballot box was a major setback for the party. The former minister Tim Yeo said it was not too late to push Lords reform to the "bottom of the queue" as the coalition finalises its legislative programme for next week's Queen's speech.

But Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, signalled he was determined to press ahead ahead with the changes. He said his party's radicalism was needed as much as ever and called on the coalition to get on with the reforms rather than becoming "tied up in knots".

"The first two years of the coalition were a rescue mission for the economy. The second half has to be about reform," he wrote in the Guardian.

Lord's reform is set to be included in Wednesday's speech, but not all bills are published in detail on the day. Some are put out to consultation. The government has yet to respond to the findings of a joint committee on the proposals, which were set out last year in a draft bill, making it unlikely it would press ahead with releasing detailed plans.

Osborne said the Tories were committed to looking at the issue. He told the BBC: "I think what people are saying is: 'Focus on the things that really matter, focus on the economy and on education and welfare. Focus on those things, don't get distracted by too many other issues.'"

On gay marriage, another divisive issue for the party, the chancellor said he was "personally in favour" but there had never been plans to bring forward a bill this week.

He confirmed he was pushing ahead with plans for a bill on banking reform, which is aimed at ensuring the state is not forced into any more bailouts. The new legislative programme will include a crime, communications and court bill containing plans for a specific drug-driving offence. Other bills are expected to focus on helping the "striving classes", including plans for pension and employment reforms.

The former minister John Redwood, one of a number of Conservative MPs contributing alternative proposals for the Queen's speech on ConservativeHome, said the government needed to concentrate on the economy.

He called for measures to give consumers a better deal when buying water and energy and dealing with the banks, and said Cameron would have to set out a more distinctive Conservative vision as the next general election approaches.

"When we get nearer the general election there will need to be a very strong Conservative offering which will be very different from the Liberal Democrat one," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. "A lot of us want a Conservative government in due course because we want, for example, to tackle the mighty problem of Europe.

"We understand that our partners in the coalition like a lot of European laws and regulations and want more of them and we don't. In the meantime we need to do what we can to get this economy growing more quickly because the austerity so far has been visited on the private sector."

Redwood warned against pushing forward with plans for Lords reform without a proper political consensus. "It would be quite silly, I think, to go ahead with a premature set of proposals that didn't have the consent of enough parliamentarians in both houses," he said. "If they would like to reform the Lords and there is a case for reforming the Lords, it's work in progress and they ought to take it away and try and get an agreed version before legislating."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...ocal-elections

[Iangould]

They're getting that regardless of a democratic vote.

Go and read some economic history. Compared to Germany in the 1920's or Argentina,what the Greeks have experienced so far is nothing.

A disorderly exit from the Euro and a new default, which this vote makes much more likely, will precipitate something far worse than what has happened to fate.

Unless you agree with Golden Dawn that the current crisis was all manufactured by The Jews.

[Iangould]

In case people think I'm exaggerating: to date Greece has experienced a fall in GDP of around 10%. During the Asian Economic Crisis of the 1990's, affected countries experienced falls in GDP of between 34% and 83% and interests rates rose to between 34 and 65%.

[Iangould]

Charming. US banks are forcing some homeowners to take out insurance policies with insurers of the bank's choice at rates way above the market - and collecting commissions from the insurers for doing so.

link

[Paradox]

More proof that an unregulated free market is the answer to all our problems.

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeazy!

[cactusmaac]

I know nothing. Is Hollande's win a good thing?

It is if you're a realtor in London looking to sell houses to French tax exiles.

[the4thpip]

It is if you're a realtor in London looking to sell houses to French tax exiles.

Nobody in France speaks enough English to leave the country.

[matthewaos]

So, I'm from Greece and I am going to say this: FINALY after years of bad choises the people here did a smart move and didn't vote for the two parties that have made this place a garbage bin. Things are sure uncertain, but I have hope that we can have a goverment that will renegotiate with the imf, so things may look better than what they are. I'm not sure what they are telling you on your news, but I realised that the whole world is shocked by what we've done, and that makes me a little proud. Only thing that makes me feel the other way around is that the neo nazis are in the parliament. Probably those who voted for them did not care to honour the memory of their fathers and grand fathers.

[Matt Algren]

Never mind. Wasting my fingers typing about it.

[matthewaos]

What the-- PASOK is not a socialist party! If I say I am astronaut but I am not acting like one would that make me one?

[USArmyParatrooper]

There's no rolling back of gay rights at the federal level because Obama opposes such efforts, but at the state level it's happening in spades. Republican nominees for President, including Romney, were tripping over themselves declaring who would most roll back those rights by doing such things as defending DOMA and reinstating DADT.

They were talking about the "walking back" on NPR today as well, and I'll look into it further when I get home, but at first glance I don't see it. It appears to me the statement was more trying to defend against the "flip flop" angle, especially the part where he says Obama has "evolved" on this issue after meeting with same sex couples.

First, there is no "rolling back" of rights that are not currently recognized. Federally, gay and lesbian Americans do not have the same rights as straight Americans in regard to marriage. This is a fact.

Recognizing the right to privacy that all Americans enjoy under our Constitution is important. The decision to marry, not civil-unionize or domestic-partner, in equal terms as straight people do is fundamental, and the president does not publicly support it. This morning, the Vice-President did support the right of gay and lesbians to marry in America. Less than an hour later, his office and the White House said that he did not.

I understand that the distinction between marriage and other terminology seems trivial to some, but it is not. In New Jersey, for example, they have found that corporations use the "separate but equal" terminology of civil unions to deny health insurance for partners of lesbians and gays, but if those same partners were married using the same terminology as their straight counterparts, their health insurance eligibility would not even be questioned. In Washington, 2009's "Everything But Marriage" law is being replaced with full equality this year (currently waiting for anti-gays to get a petition together to challenge it) because "domestic partnership" is inadequate and leaves holes in coverage.

And yes, when David Axelrod fires off a statement less than an hour after the vice-president says something on a Sunday morning, it's panic. Those of us paying attention to this sort of thing are very aware of how gingerly the Obama Administration and the Obama Campaign treat the subject of equal rights in marriage. His walking back of the veep's statement is as expected as it is disappointing.

[Gryphon]

Charming. US banks are forcing some homeowners to take out insurance policies with insurers of the bank's choice at rates way above the market - and collecting commissions from the insurers for doing so.

link

Have they honestly learned nothing?

[Slam_Bradley]

Have they honestly learned nothing?

They've learned that there isn't the political will to regulate them and that the bail-out will inevitably be forthcoming.

[the4thpip]

Looks like the leaders of the two strongest parties to come out of the Greek elections have declined to try and form a government out of this mess.

Looks like they might just hold elections until the electorate stops being petulant and trying to shock people. I wonder how much another round of elections will cost?