Here are the five things you need to know on Thursday 13 February 2014...
1) IS THE GOVERNMENT HIDING ITS PRO-EU STUDY?
Whoops! It turns out the EU isn't so bad after all - according to the government's own internally-commissioned studies. That wasn't the answer they were supposed to produce, of course. From the FT:
"Downing Street will today release official reports concluding that the balance of powers between Westminster and Brussels in key policy areas is broadly correct. The eight Whitehall studies find that Britain's EU membership has bolstered trade, created wealth and brought benefits in areas from legal co-operation to the growth of football's Premier League - not the answers eurosceptics want to hear. So Number 10 has ordered a low-key release for the reports, which include a strong endorsement of the commercial advantages of Britain's EU membership, fearing they might provoke another row with anti-Brussels Tory MPs."
The Guardian's report on the reports adds:
"David Cameron was accused of using the floods to 'drown embarrassing news' after the government announced it is publishing a raft of reports on Britain's relationship with the EU, one of which concludes that the single market is vital to the UK economy. In one of the most eye-catching findings of the eight volumes, easyJet says it would not exist were it not for the EU's single market."
2) DAVEY VS THE CLIMATE CHANGE DENIERS
As David Cameron prepares to chair the first Cabinet committee on flooding today, and reiterates his offer of £5,000 to households affected by the floods, his Lib Dem energy secretary Ed Davey is set to launch an attack on climate change deniers (sorry, sceptics), many of whom are members of the Conservative Party - in a speech to the IPPR, the BBC reports Davey will say:
"From the right, fringes of the Conservative Party and UKIP are parroting the arguments of the most discredited climate change deniers, seizing on any anomaly in the climate data to attempt to discredit the whole. This is undermining public trust in the scientific evidence for climate change, overwhelming though it is. This type of climate change-denying, conservatism is wilfully ignorant, head-in-the-sand, nimby-ist conservatism."
Ouch.
3) FORWARD GUIDANCE, THE SEQUEL
Good news for borrowers and businesses - no rate rises this side of the general election. My HuffPost colleague Asa Bennett reports from yesterday's Bank of England press conference:
"Mark Carney has radically overhauled the Bank of England's flagship forward guidance policy, dropping the 7% unemployment threshold as a target at which Bank officials would start considering raising interest rates. This comes as the falling unemployment rate, which slipped to 7.1% in December, blew a hole in the credibility of the Bank's forward guidance as policymakers were repeatedly forced to insist that interest rates would not need to rise in the near future. In response to a question from HuffPostUK, Carney said: "The objective is not to have forward guidance forever. The objective is to have a recovery that moves into sustainable and balanced expansion."... Despite the Bank upgrading its growth forecast for 2014 to 3.4% from 2.9%, Carney warned that the recovery 'as yet is neither balanced nor sustainable'."
Asa adds:
"Policymakers will now assess whether to raise interest rates on four factors: how robustly wages were growing, how quickly productivity recovers in the economy, the sustainability of the recovery and how it decides to wind down its quantitative easing programme, which has so far injected £375bn into the economy in stimulus. However, the Bank stressed that Britain's economy was too weak for interest rates to rise in the near future, which would mean millions of borrowers would not suffer a rise in mortgage repayments."
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR...
Watch this video of Samuel Jackson blast a US news anchor for confusing him with fellow black actor Laurence Fishburne.
4) IS OSBORNE A BULLY?
On this occasion, I'm not so sure. From the Mirror:
"George Osborne was accused of bullying after warning that an independent Scotland risks losing the pound. In a speech in Edinburgh today, the Chancellor will say: 'I want Scotland to keep the pound and the economic security it brings. I hope passionately the people of Scotland choose to stay within our family of nations.' But Scotland's Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: 'People won't take kindly on the Westminster establishment ganging up to bully Scotland in the decision we're being asked to take on the referendum.'"
I think it's a fair point from Osborne, and not just from Osborne but from his Lib Dem and Labour counterparts, Danny Alexander and Ed Balls. It just happens to make life difficult for the Yes campaign - hence the SNP's bullying jibe.
5) BORIS VS CLOONEY
The mayor of London has decided to take on one of the world's best-known actors - from the Telegraph:
"Boris Johnson has hit back at Hollywood star George Clooney for suggesting London should return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. The capital's mayor was angered by Clooney calling for the 2,500-year-old sculptures to be returned to Athens while publicising his new film, Monuments Men, which tells how artworks stolen by the Nazis were rescued and returned to their owners. The Mayor said: 'Someone urgently needs to restore George Clooney's marbles. Here he is plugging a film about looted Nazi art without realising that Goring himself had plans to plunder the British Museum. And where were the Nazis going to send the Elgin marbles? To Athens! This Clooney is advocating nothing less than the Hitlerian agenda for London's cultural treasures. He should stuff the Hollywood script and stick to history.'"
We await Clooney's response...
PUBLIC OPINION WATCH
From the Sun/YouGov poll:
Labour 39
Conservatives 32
Ukip 13
Lib Dems 8
That would give Labour a majority of 86.
900 WORDS OR MORE
Peter Oborne, writing in the Telegraph, says: "Yes, the floods are awful, but we must keep a sense of proportion."
Tim Montgomerie, writing in the Times, says: "Bureaucrats and politicians must look over their shoulders in case the TaxPayers' Alliance has them in their sights."
Mary Dejevsky, writing in the Independent, says: "No more US interventionism. No more Washington
as the world's policeman. What's wrong with that?"
Got something you want to share? Please send any stories/tips/quotes/pix/plugs/gossip to Mehdi Hasan (mehdi.hasan@huffingtonpost.com) or Ned Simons (ned.simons@huffingtonpost.com). You can also follow us on Twitter: @mehdirhasan, @nedsimons and @huffpostukpol
'RECONSIDER THESE REDUNDANCIES' BLOG POSTS
Mehdi Hasan: Why Is Climate Change Denier Owen Paterson Still in His Job?
Swathes of England are underwater, thanks to rain and flooding that has been linked by the Met Office to climate change. Yet our environment secretary, of all people, is a climate change denier who ignores the science and has slashed the number of people in his department working on preparing the UK for the impacts of climate change. For how long will David Cameron continue to have confidence in Owen Paterson?
Ruth Fox: Tuned In or Turned Off? Public Attitudes to PMQs
In principle, the public recognise that PMQs is an important part of the democratic process because of the opportunity to hold the government to account. But PMQs in practice alienates, angers and frustrates...
Neil Durkin: Twelve Years a Guantánamo Slave
Well, not exactly a slave, but a slave of the Guantánamo system. I'm talking about Shaker Aamer, the former UK resident who is still - still - marooned at the notorious US detention centre in the Caribbean almost exactly 12 years after being taken there during the height of George W Bush's frenzied and law-breaking "war on terror".
Diane Abbott: Terrorism and Citizenship
In the debate the Home Secretary claimed that the whole point of the measure to make it easier to remove certain people from the UK. However she was unable to explain how she was going to remove people whom she had rendered stateless and so would have no passport.
Professor John Gaffney: Ed Miliband's Leadership Rests on Personality Politics
What a lot of observers are missing, supporters and "Milibashers" alike, is that the measures Miliband has announced are forming a narrative of leadership in the Labour Party... Miliband has spent the past three years having his credibility as a future prime minister questioned, and he's only just now mounting a concerted challenge to this hostile narrative.
MOST POPULARON HUFFINGTONPOST.CO.UKON TWITTER
FUNDRAISER FOR CEMB: AFFECTIONATE TRIBUTE TO MARLENE DIETRICH
Date: Thursday 27 February 2014; Time: 19:30-21:45
Venue: Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
Join Terry Sanderson as he explores the extraordinary life and career of one of the 20th century's great entertainers. Using generous extracts from her films, he'll examine her fantastic Hollywood career, and then accessing rare archive material, will look at her heroic war time efforts against the Nazis. The show culminates with a complete showing on the big screen of her famous one-woman show with which she toured the world. Accompanied by Burt Bacharach and his orchestra, this is Dietrich at her peak. The event is a fundraiser for the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and coincides with LGBT history month. Tickets can be purchased here: www.secularism.org.uk/tickets.html
SECOND KAFIR COMEDY NIGHT HOSTED BY MAHA
Date: Monday 10 March 2014
Time: 19:00-21:00
Venue: The George, 213 Strand, London WC2R 1AP (nearest Tube: Temple)
Open mic comedy for interested kuffar starts at 8pm. Look, we know it's not easy defending yourself constantly against a religious mob. So take a break from the forums and let out the frustration with a laugh. If you've got some steam to let off, this is your night to do it. RSVP at exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com. But don't laugh too much, Hell awaits us all later.*
Entry: £3; £1 unwaged.
* "Let them laugh a little: much will they weep: a recompense for the (evil) that they do" (Surah At-Taubah 9:82).
EVENING DRINKS WITH LAWYER ANA GONZALEZ ON APOSTASY AND ASYLUM
Date: Monday 28 April 2014
Time: 18:30-20:00
Venue: The George, 213 Strand, London (nearest Tube: Temple)
Ana Gonzalez, a lawyer of a well-respected law firm which has represented a number of apostate asylum claimants and CEMB members will speak about the right to asylum and apostasy. No need for RSVP.
Entry: £3; £1 unwaged.
2014 CONFERENCE ON THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT, SECULARISM AND CIVIL RIGHTS
Date: Saturday-Sunday 11-12 October 2014
Venue: The Tower Hotel, St Katharine's Way, London E1W 1LD
www.secularconference.com
Don't miss 2014's historic conference. Register now to get the special early bird rates. Purchase your tickets today!
Join notable secularists for a two-day international conference on the Religious-Right, Secularism and Civil Rights during 11-12 October 2014 at the Tower Hotel in London.
Speakers/Acts include British Philosopher A C Grayling; Tunisian Academic Amel Grami; Activist Amina Sboui; Activist Bahram Soroush; Writer and Journalist Caroline Fourest; Charlie Klendjian, Chair of Lawyers Secular Society; LSE Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights Chetan Bhatt; Student Activist Chris Moos; Yemeni Activist and Academic Elham Manea; Iranian Secular Society Founder Fariborz Pooya; Women Living Under Muslim Laws International Director Fatou Sow; Centre for Secular Space Director Gita Sahgal; Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq Spokesperson Houzan Mahmoud; Afghan Rights Activist Horia Mosadiq; Imad Habib Iddine, Founder of Council of Ex-Muslims of Morocco; FEMEN spokesperson Inna Schevchenko; Writer Julie Bindel; Blogger Kacem El Ghazzali; Writer Karima Bennoune; Comedian Kate Smurthwaite; Writer Kenan Malik; Co-Founder of Ex-Muslims of North America Kiran Opal; LCP Dance Theatre; Filmmaker Lila Ghobady; Lino Veljak, Croatian Activist; Lawyer Maha Kamal; Algerian Secularism is a Woman's Issue Founder Marieme Helie Lucas; Campaigner Maryam Namazie; head of International Committee against Execution and Stoning Mina Ahadi; Tunisian Filmmaker Nadia El-Fani; Spokesperson for Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain Nahla Mahmoud; Secularist Nina Sankari; Campaigner Peter Tatchell; Pragna Patel, Director of Southall Black Sisters; Franco-Syrian Politician Randa Kassis; Academic Rumy Hassan; Singer/Songwriter Shelley Segal; Author Siba Shakib; Women in Black Coordinator Stasa Zajovic; Survivors Voice Europe co-Founder Sue Cox; Taj Hargey, chair of Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford; Founder of Muslim Canadian Congress Tarek Fatah; Bangladeshi Writer Taslima Nasrin; National Secular Society President Terry Sanderson; Palestinian blogger and Council of ex-Muslims of France founder Waleed Husseini and more... To see speakers' bios, click here.
The Conference will be based on interactive participation, dialogue, and regional and thematic forums. Regional forums will include Europe and North America; South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Thematic discussions will cover the Arab uprisings and revolutions; 'Sharia' and religious laws; religion and women's right; hijab and gender segregation; freedom of expression, apostasy, blasphemy and free thought; 'Islamophobia' and racism; minorities versus citizenship rights; the far-Right; honour crimes; faith schools and religious education; reproductive rights; as well as defining secular values.
On the night of 11 October 2014, participants can enjoy a delicious three-course meal in the company of our renowned speakers and a full evening entertainment package.
An International Secular Manifesto and the establishment of a united front of secularists to meet future challenges will be the final outcome of the Conference. All Conference contributions will be published in a book.
The conference is endorsed by Atheist Alliance International; Children First Now; Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain; Equal Rights Now; Fitnah; International Committee against Stoning; International Committee against Execution; International Federation of Iranian Refugees; Iran Solidarity; One Law for All; Secularism is a Women's Issue; The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science UK; and Women Living Under Muslim Laws amongst others.
For organisations or vendors wishing to books stalls, for more information or to purchase tickets, please contact Conference Organiser:
Maryam Namazie
maryamnamazie@gmail.com
To see a full list of events and speaking engagements, go to: ex-muslim.org.uk/category/events/.
To see recent media coverage: ex-muslim.org.uk/category/mediacoverage/
powered by phpList
