The Londoner

Scotland Decides - Darling V Salmond Here you can watch this debate live http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-scotland-28927917 HOME 

Scotland Independence  If the independence debate was over , we’d all be talking about the political intervention going on, writes Brian Monteith AS THE end of 2012 approaches, I am drawn to look back on the generally lamentable quality of political discourse in Scotland and ask what would we discuss if the issue of independence did not dominate the landscape so much? Sadly, it is difficult to answer this question with any excitement or anticipation because it is becoming clearer by the day that were Scotland to be independent , little would change within the existing consensus of our political elite or its corpulent supplicants that form so much of what is called our civic society. It is occasionally suggested that out of the SNP, and following the collapse of the unionist Scottish Conservatives suddenly left without a purpose, a new right-of-centre party will rise up and that Scotland will instead move towards a more ec...

What Is Wrong With British Economy ? By Sikander Hayat Well, the economic situation is pretty dire at the moment. Double dip recession & worst have visited UK with looming referendum on Scottish independence in 2014 makes matter even worse. If Scotland goes ahead & becomes an independent nation , that will take away a huge chunk of territory, prestige & oil reserves from UK . Jobs are pretty scarce where hard working people all around the country are trying to make ends meet with their limited resources. Times are hard but government is not coming up with any answers & it seems that nobody in the corridors of powers knows the answer to the troubles. Lack of demand in the economy is not being offset by the increasing exports resulting in decreased output & more people working part time waiting for the good times to come back. It seems that we need to find new markets for our products and these markets are not likely to be in Europe for next fe...

Is Scotland in Europe? The SNP doesn’t even know Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, is flying by the seat of his pants. Hardly a week goes by without another embarrassing U-turn on his claims about what independence will mean for Scotland. The SNP has had 80 years to plan for this. Yet it is increasingly clear that they are woefully underprepared for the referendum to be held in less than two years’ time. A diet of bluster is proving no substitute for the hard-headed argument needed to win over Scots’ hearts and minds. With each U-turn, Mr Salmond’s party creates a loss of confidence. No wonder the voices of dissent within its ranks are beginning to be heard. Whether it is on Scotland’s admission to the European Union, on what currency we would use, or the impact on energy supplies, the nationalists are all over the place. You might have hoped that the SNP would have thought out a credible positio...

David Cameron signs up to more joint military operations with Europe Under a deal reached in Brussels yesterday, leaders of all 27 EU countries promised to “strengthen” Europe’s ability to deploy troops “rapidly and effectively” in any future crisis. They committed to “systematically considering cooperation” across Europe whenever EU member states begin drawing up their national defence plans. Downing Street sources said the Prime Minister was “entirely happy” with the new arrangements. Britain already has a formal treaty with France for sharing defence capabilities, such aircraft carrier capacity. Government sources said the new agreement would pave the way for Britain to extend this collaboration beyond France to other countries. However, the Prime Minister immediately faced a backlash from his own Conservative MPs, who warned it was the first step to creating a European army. Th...

The gay marriage row is bringing the politics of division to a country more used to tolerance     George W Bush once declared that the problem with the French is that they have no word for “entrepreneur”. This story (told by Baroness Williams, who says she was told it by Tony Blair) was intended to ridicule the ex-president. But his overall conceit is sound: a country and its culture can be defined by its vocabulary, or lack of it. The Italians have no word for “leadership”; the Germans have no word for “small talk”; and the Eskimos have no word for “war”. Some concepts are simply alien to some cultures, which is why the British have no word for “Kulturkampf”. The practice of “culture wars” – dividing a nation into warring tribes and then exploiting that division – has been happily absent from our politics. Anyone visiting the United States during election time will watch, amazed, the bitter ...

Comparing a future independent Scotland to other places is all the rage. Visions of Scotland as a new Ireland or new Iceland have come and gone, their reputations as thriving small countries shredded by banking meltdowns and financial collapses. Comparisons with Nordic states are ongoing but sometimes require a shoehorn to make them fit. The recent ‘ Edinburgh Agreement ’, which laid the groundwork for a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014, has unleashed a fresh set of comparisons - this time between Scotland and other places with independence movements. Foremost amongst these is Quebec which is deemed to be similar to Scotland because it has already experienced independence referenda. However, the independence movement in Quebec differs from that in Scotland in at least two fundamental ways: creating a new country is not the same as restoring the independence of an old one and Scotland has no equivalent of the language issue that was so definitive in Quebec. ...

The UK's Labour opposition will fight the next election on a tough, anti-immigration platform, a senior Labour figure has revealed. Until now, Labour has been seen as the pro-immigration party. Ed Balls, the shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, told a UK political website, politics.co.uk, that Labour needs to change its tune on immigration if it is to recover seats lost at the last election. 'I think people need to know that Labour recognises we didn't get everything right and will have tough controls. That's important,' he said. Mr Balls, the second most senior member of Labour's shadow cabinet, was speaking while visiting Stevenage, a town it lost to the Conservatives in the 2010 general election. Labour strategists believe that the party has lost a great deal of support because of its support for mass immigration. A YouGov poll carried out in October 2012 suggested that Labour had lost around 4m UK votes because of its support for mass immigra...

Britain should “pare down” it relationship with the European Union then put it to a vote in a referendum, the London Mayor Boris Johnson said today. Mr Johnson said returning Britain to a “single market” relationship with the European Union was both “essential and deliverable”, but said if voters did not like it they could opt to leave the EU altogether. He said it was “high time” that the British people had a chance to vote on the issue. In the next few weeks David Cameron is expected to set out his approach to Britain’s relationship with Europe in a key note speech. He is expected to announce a referendum on Britain’s relationship with Europe after the 2015 election but is resisting calls for an in/out question. But in remarks which are unlikely to be welcomed either in Downing Street or Brussels, Mr Johnson said he believed Britain should abandon the goal of being “at the heart of Europe” and instead demand a “common sense” relationship. This would see the UK involved in...

(Reuters) - Swiss bank UBS AG is nearing a deal to settle claims some of its staff manipulated interest rates and could reach agreement with U.S. and British authorities by the end of the year, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday. UBS is expected to pay more than $450 million (279 million pounds) to settle claims some of its employees submitted false Libor rates, the New York Times reported earlier. Britain's Barclays Plc was fined $453 million in June for manipulating Libor benchmark interest rates, and remains the only bank to settle in the investigation, which led to the resignation of the bank's chairman and chief executive. U.S. and UK regulators, which released their settlements with Barclays at the same time, are working together on the UBS investigation and could release an agreement by the end of the year, although the timing could slip into next year,...

Cameron was brutally clear when he foresaw the need to intensify EU union . Such concerns may force a UK exit. As brave europhile Brits walk in fear of Brexit and Tory Eurosceptics and their UK Independence Party cousins inhale the sweet smell of success, other Europeans watch with bemusement how Britain, after decades of obstreperous membership of the European club, may finally pick up its armoured handbag and go. The recent history of Europe has accustomed us to reversals, but few have materialised as fast as this: the secession of the UK from the European Union , once a topic for post-prandial jousting, is now a hot potato on Europe’s political menu. Whether Brexit should be dreaded or welcomed as the exit of a poisonous flatmate has become a matter of serious examination in European capitals. Would British withdrawal badly weaken the economic and ideological foundations of the single market, allowing excessive statism a free rein? Would a British departure dea...

After a fairly successful Tory conference , which ended 11 days ago with a well-received speech by David Cameron , it had looked as though the Prime Minister was turning a corner. Then No 10 walked into one of its worst weeks since Mr Cameron came to power. Across a range of fronts the Government found itself on the defensive. Even when there was potentially better news for the Government, such as Home Secretary Theresa May ’s decision not to bow to American pressure to extradite the computer hacker Gary McKinnon to the United States, it was soon overshadowed by other damaging rows. How did the week unfold and what might Mr Cameron do to get on track? European row Facing calls for a referendum, Mr Cameron sought to provide some clarity on his European policy. Eurozone leaders are edging towards closer integration, for which there is little British support. But Mr Cameron says that while he wants, eventually, t...

  Andrew Mitchell has quit as government chief whip after weeks of pressure over an argument with police officers in Downing Street. The Tory MP has admitted swearing at officers in the incident but again denied calling police "plebs". He told David Cameron - who has stood by him - that "damaging publicity" meant he could no longer do his job. Former Commons leader Sir George Young will be the new chief whip, Downing Street said. Mr Mitchell's resignation is a victory for the Police Federation and Labour who have led calls for him to go. But it spells the end of a 25-year political career for the Sutton Coldfield MP, who was promoted from international development secretary to chief whip in September's cabinet reshuffle. BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson said Mr Mitchell told the prime minister about his decision in person, at Mr Cameron's country residence Chequers. The prime minister has accepted his resignation. 'Learn your pla...