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  • LFAT | Is fear the Conservatives’ best election weapon?

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    • 08:19
  • Brown will claim today we are thru recession. What? Debt is still rising, £ fall...

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    • 08:08
  • Robert Peston | Rock recovery

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    • 08:06
  • Morning Call: pick of the comment

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    • 08:00
  • Archbishop Cranmer | The Tory Trinity: the ineffable theo-political Three in One

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    • 07:56
  • Dizzy | Lord Paul to be investigated by peers for taking the piss

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    • 07:50
  • Tom | Letter to the FT (Financial Times) – Amendment 120A Digital Economy Bill

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    • 07:47
  • Next Left | Winning the battle for gay rights in Uganda

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    • 07:45
  • George Pitcher | Tory climate bores will eat each other

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    • 07:39
  • Toby Young | Is Nicolas Sarkozy's "affair" a damage-limitation exercise?

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    • 07:30
  • Gordon Brown to warn economic 'storm' not yet over

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    • 07:30
  • Back on the bus

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    • 07:29
  • Dizzy | How Politics Works: Lesson Three

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    • 07:24
  • BBC R4 Today confirms Michael Gove was right and Ed Balls wrong in spat over poo...

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    • 07:18
  • Douglas Murray | Europe is not failing its Muslims. But Islam has failed Europe

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    • 07:02
  • ConservativeHome | Alan Duncan MP: How a Conservative Government would not only reform prisons but ...

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    • 07:00
  • Richard blogger | NHS more productive than private healthcare

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    • 07:00
  • Ben Bradshaw | The Tories' dangerous antics in Northern Ireland reveal Cameron's weakness and b...

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    • 06:59
  • Jon Snow | Israel, India, and tea for my daughter

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    • 06:57
  • Mike Smithson | Hung Parliament? Punters not convinced

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    • 06:06
  • John Redwood | Have the Conservatives changed enough?

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    • 06:00
  • Daniel Hannan | European Parliament set to vote for a Tobin Tax

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    • 05:34
  • Richard | A multiple of insanity

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    • 02:17
  • Steve Bell | Are you missing me? David Cameron tempts George Bush out of retirement

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    • 00:55
  • guidofawkes | Staggering Hypocrisy

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    • 00:01
  • Neil O'Brien | The Renewal of Government

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    • 00:01
  • Ben Bradshaw | Exeter wins overwhelming support in a Commons vote tonight for its bid for unita...

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    • 23:08
  • Bob Geldof | Bob Geldof | My rage at this World Service calumny

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    • 23:00
  • Mike Smithson | All parties take a hit with Harris

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    • 22:56
  • FactCheck | New on FactCheck: Is violent crime going up or down? http://bit.ly/b3dZde

  • Final discussions on manifesto at parliamentary party this evening

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    • 22:29
  • Paul Waugh | Looks like poor old @edvaizey is in trouble for his candour/conjecture again. ht...

  • Does Cam's 'glutinous consensus' hide his real right-wing views?

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    • 22:22
  • #GameON RT @BenCooper86 After a couple of weeks at & above 6% this is the third ...

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    • 22:16
  • Lack-of-Coverage Rebuttal Service

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    • 22:09
  • Anthony Wells | YouGov daily figures – 36/32/20

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    • 22:06
  • Labour's Lord Ashcroft

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    • 22:01
  • Michael White | Dangerous dogs – a bone of contention since 1839

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    • 22:00
  • ConservativeHome | Tory lead down to 4% in YouGov/Sun tracker

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    • 21:59
  • Mike Smithson | Big boost for Nick Clegg in the daily poll

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    • 21:59
  • Iain Dale | @arusbridger What a pity your journalists got so many things wrong in their arti...

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    • 21:31
  • Stephen Glenn | Ulster [Unionists] Say No!

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    • 21:31
  • Iain Dale | Just been to a great @totalpolitics & @policyreviewtv launch event at Altitude. ...

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    • 21:13
  • Douglas Carswell | Jack Straw defending Westminster old guard

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    • 21:13
  • Faisal Islam | As trade figures fall, is there an economic plan C?

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    • 21:08
  • Iain Dale | A Complaint From Geraldine Dreadful MP

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    • 21:06
  • Donald Hirsch | A wage to live in dignity | Donald Hirsch

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    • 21:00
  • Mark Wadsworth | I'd be a terrible Prime Minister

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    • 21:00
  • Norfolk Blogger | A hole in the ground and a very big lorry

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    • 20:55
  • Jessica Asato | Future, fairness and footsoldiers - the f words Harman says will be used a lot i...

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    • 20:36
  • Kevin Maguire | The Cahcroft Effect: Guest at his Totalled Politics party says v thinly attended...

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    • 20:34
  • Simon Jenkins | Straw has left justice to the tender mercies of the press | Simon Jenkins

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    • 20:30
  • Mark Pack | How good is Ashcroft’s marginal seats operation?

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    • 20:24
  • Rumbold | Gendercide dissected

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    • 20:22
  • Stewart J Lawrence | Latino voters can't wait till mañana | Stewart J Lawrence

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    • 20:17
  • Another call from UK. The Tory skin is too thin and they should stop picking on ...

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    • 20:01
  • Penalising responsible dog owners is wrong

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    • 19:57
  • Mike Smithson | Let’s all pat ourselves on the back

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    • 19:39
  • Faisal Islam | Fact of the Day on the Moronification of Britain. 4% of girls want to be enginee...

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    • 19:34
  • Faisal Islam | Rebalancing Britain's economy - 'Reindustrialisation' -is now political consensu...

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    • 19:33
  • Julian Glover | How do we know which opinion poll to believe?

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    • 19:30
  • Pete Baker | “underpinning the devolution of policing and justice matters”

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    • 19:26
  • Alex Barker | Perot, Clegg and the election debates

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    • 19:18
  • admin | WHO OWNS THE FALKLANDS?

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    • 18:58
  • Ed Davey | Ministers being attacked from all sides! Tory frontbench done total U-turn from ...

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    • 18:56
  • Councils furious at Gordon Brown's £250m Social Care Burden.

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    • 18:48
  • Gary Gibbon | Northern Ireland: where does Cameron go now?

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    • 18:35
  • Janice Small | The battle for a Yorkshire marginal | Janice Small

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    • 18:30
  • MSPs fail to turn up for work during strike

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    • 18:25
  • Why is Germany talking about a European Monetary Fund?

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    • 18:25
  • Perry de Havilland | The splendiferous Dave Cameron poster generator

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    • 18:23
  • Helen Duffett | Parties select their “star performers” for General Election campaign

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    • 18:22
  • Look at him

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    • 18:09
  • Faisal Islam | Big Gordon Brown speech on the economy tomorrow morning, clearly have to announc...

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    • 18:09
  • Telegraph Opinion | Seven Ages of Britain: Let me learn from an expert, not a newsreader

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    • 18:05
  • Iain Martin | Vaizey Headed for the Salt Mines

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    • 18:03
  • Fraser Nelson | Tough on dangerous dogs, blind to the causes of dangerous dogs

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    • 18:03
  • Colin Horgan | Canada's seal debate, dead in the water | Colin Horgan

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    • 18:00
  • Gerald Warner | Climategate: George Monbiot despairs of the AGW cause – 'There goes my life's wo...

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    • 17:57
  • Ed Davey | In debate on London's NHS - MPs from all parties expressing concerns about their...

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    • 17:53
  • Iain Dale | Election Night Counts: The Electoral Commission Drags Its Feet

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    • 17:45
  • Janet Daley | Latest twist in my debate with Danny Finkelstein over polling

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    • 17:43
  • Janet Daley | Latest twist in my debate with Danny Finkelstein over polling

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    • 17:43
  • David Blackburn | The prospect of another EU treaty is a huge problem for reformer Brown

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    • 17:34
  • Iain Dale | Quote of the Day: Graham Stuart MP on Lord Paul

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    • 17:30
  • Simon Tisdall | Is the tide turning in Somalia? | Simon Tisdall

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    • 17:28
  • Mark Devenport (BBC News) | Executive vetoes

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    • 17:26
  • Dave Hill | Uncertainty about Olympic legacy continues

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    • 17:22
  • Mark Devenport (BBC News) | 1969 and all that

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    • 17:18
  • David Miliband | Iceland referendum

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    • 17:16
  • Jim Pickard | Adonis abandons plans to beat UK rail speed record

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    • 17:04
  • Jan Gerhard | Analysis: The Populus/Times poll

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    • 17:04
  • Luke Akehurst | Losing is not such a good idea

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    • 16:55
  • Paul Waugh | Chris Huhne is Jesus Christ. Well, according to BBC News Channel. http://bit.ly/...

  • Kevin Maguire | Others have linked to Sky but Cameron's hairy moment's so funny I couldn't resis...

  • Paul Waugh | Further to my earlier Tweet re Cameron's 'hairbrush' moment, here's the video. E...

  • Jim Pickard | The union influence over Labour is paramount: no need to exaggerate it further

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    • 16:43
  • Mark Devenport (BBC News) | The Vote

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    • 16:40
  • matthewtaylor | Is e-harmony.com killing the Conservative Party?

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    • 16:34
  • Paul Waugh | Patrick Wintour n Nick Watt have a new blog. With Tom Bradby too, this blogging ...

  • Downing Street | No10: PM and the Home Secretary presented with football shirts from @kick4life i...

  • Adam Boulton | Kampfner Defection Should Worry Labour

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    • 16:30
  • Kevin Maguire | @charliewhelan basking in Labour's Lord Cashcroft tag, sipping cappuccino in pre...

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    • 16:26
  • Next Left | A portrait in Vanity

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    • 16:25
  • Mark Wadsworth | R&D Tax Credit Fun

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    • 16:22
  • Sally Bercow | Security staff are on strike again today. Boys not happy: "Strikes are silly mum...

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    • 16:19
  • Austin Mitchell | is proud to have just received an 'Honoury #robinhoodtax award' from the Forum f...

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    • 16:17
  • Guido Fawkes | Quote of the Day: Ed Vaizey’s second foot-in-mouth-moment of the week while talk...

  • Justine Greening to run Tory London election campaign

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    • 16:14
  • So Cameron is being warned by Bush not to mess up peace deals (?!) & can't quite...

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    • 16:09
  • Alex Deane | UN Official warns against "ineffective" body scanners

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    • 16:08
  • Political Scrapbook | Because he’s worth it? David Cameron uses Sky News camera lens to style his hair

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    • 16:07
  • James Macintyre | The Sun, Jon Venables and lethal double standards

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    • 15:51
  • Police must be able to monitor sex offenders on social network sites

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    • 15:50
  • admin | Taking the lead in high tech goods and services

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    • 15:47
  • Peter Hoskin | Vaizey drops Cameron in it (again)

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    • 15:39
  • Export figures are deeply alarming says Cable

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    • 15:32
  • Harriet Baber | Should religious leaders tell us how to vote? | Harriet Baber

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    • 15:30
  • George Eaton | There is no comparison between the trade unions and Lord Ashcroft

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    • 15:26
  • James Macintyre | Exclusive: Tories to launch another poster campaign

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    • 15:20
  • Tory Bear | How Quickly The Guardian Unravels

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    • 15:14
  • Where did the Labour hard left go?

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    • 15:12
  • Paul Waugh | Looks like John Major (who sd Brown trip to Afghstn was 'unbecoming') has form r...

  • Evan Davis | @CharlieElphicke The Grayling coverage was about statistics, not about crime. If...

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    • 15:10
  • Jason Deans | BBC licence fee to increase by 2% to £145.50 from April 1

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    • 15:10
  • Michele Hanson | Let's get draconian on the dog problem | Michele Hanson

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    • 15:06
  • Adrian Michaels | A new EU treaty is a nightmare for everyone

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    • 15:05
  • Glen Oglaza | Ulster unionists struggling to explain their isolated opposition to devolving p...

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    • 14:55
  • Next Left | 'A giant step for the emancipation of women'

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    • 14:55
  • Tim Montgomerie | A reaction to Labour's dog tax idea from @NickHerbertMP http://twitpic.com/17jmh...

Latest from The Green Box

Today's Storys

The failure to rehabilitate tens of thousands of serial criminals is costing the country up to £10 billion a year, according to a report by the National Audit Office.

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Former MI5 head Baroness Manningham-Buller has claimed that American spy agencies had deliberately concealed their mistreatment of terror suspects.

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Gordon Brown will say in a speech today that Britain's economic recovery is at a "turning point", and that he is best placed to secure the recovery.

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Hopes of reaching a cross-party deal on funding social care appear to be over after fresh rows about policy differences erupted.

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Chancellor Alistair Darling is to announce the date of the budget this morning, the Treasury has disclosed, leading to speculation it will be held on March 24.

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Two polls tell slightly different stories today, with a Harris poll in the Metro giving the Tories an 8 point lead over Labour and the YouGov daily tracker showing the lead down to 4 points.

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A coroner has ruled that four soldiers who died in Helmand province, including the first female to die in Afghanistan, were given "inadequate" training.

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Northern Rock claims to have made "good progress" after it report 2009 losses of £257.4m. The nationalised bank had losses of £1.3bn in 2008.

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Ones to watch

Foreign Secretary David Miliband will use a speech in the US to put pressure on the Afghan government and President Karzai to do more to achieve a political solution in the country.

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British diplomats have made at least three protests to the US over the country's response to the row over the Falkland Islands, the Times reports.

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William Hague has said a Conservative government would be "highly active" in the EU and that the Tories had a made a strategic decision not to pick a fight in Europe.

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Reports suggest it's "touch and go" whether a deal to head off industrial action will be reached between BA and the union Unite after a deadline to reach an agreement was extended.

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Shadow Foriegn Secretary William Hague will today claim that a re-elected Labour government would take Britain back to the economic and social chaos of the 1970s.

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Other stories today

The Northern Ireland Assembly yesterday voted overwhelmingly to take control of its own police and justice powers, cementing the latest hard-won agreement between the province's divided communities.

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Home Secretary Alan Johnson and the mother of murdered schoolgirl Ashleigh Hall have condemned the social network website Facebook for refusing to implement anti-paedophile measures.

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Talks between the Israeli leadership and US Vice-President Joe Biden were "undermined" yesterday by an Israeli pledge to build 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem.

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The Labour peer Lord Paul has suggested that all members of the House of Lords should be made to publish full details of their tax returns dating back 20 years.

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The Conservatives would conduct a major review of UK foreign and defence policy within the six months of forming a government, the Financial Times reports.

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The British Medical Association has called for a halt in the development of the NHS patients database in England, which they say is being establish with "break-neck speed" and sometimes without the patient's knowledge.

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A psychiatric assessment of James Bulger killer Jon Venables compiled prior to his release said he posed only a "trivial" risk to the public, according to reports.

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Banking fraudsters are switching "to raiding online accounts", a new report has warned. Fraud attacks on online accounts increased by 16% in 2009.

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BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons has hit back at the body's critics, saying it should not be replaced by a "glorified complaints office".

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Millions of householders will have to wait until 4pm to receive their mail under a controversial new contract for postmen.

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A US woman dubbed 'Jihad Jane' has been charged over a terror plot in which deadly attacks were planned for Europe and South Asia.

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One of the coldest winters in decades means that the cost of fixing Britain's potholes problem could reach billions of pounds, the Local Government Association have said.

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A new Tory government could come under pressure to hold a referendum on a new EU accord being proposed by Germany, which would create a monetary fund to help crisis-hit eurozone members.

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Defence minister Kevan Jones has accused Joanna Lumley of a “deathly silence” over Gurkhas’ rights as he announced an inquiry into donations solicited in Nepal.

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RSS On air today

On air

Newsmakers seen and heard on TV and radio

Darling plays down bank windfall tax rumours

  • 09:56
  • Alistair Darling MP
    • 06/12/09
    • Alistair Darling MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer
    • Andrew Marr Show, BBC 1
Mr Darling appeared to play down reports of a windfall tax on banks profits, pointing out that banks already have to pay the government for the taxpayer support they had received.

"The banks at them do pay fees for the guarantees that we've given them," he said.

"So we are geting that money back and of course when we sell the banks it will take a few years but I hope we will be able to ensure get all our money back"

However insisted that the goverment would not take any action which would damage a sector he said was vital to the UK economy.

"It is a truly national industry and I don't want to end up with a situation where you actually damage an industry which we need," he said.

He added: "You've got to with all matters of tax, whether it's individuals, whether it's companies, you've got to fair, you've got to be reasonable.

"You also have to have an eye on what the long term result of all this is going to be."

Bank Bonuses

He also insisted said that while he was not "against bonuses in themselves", any payments must be "reasonable" and responsible".

In order to get RBS back onto a proper footing and off the government's books, and that must be one of the priorities, you must make sure you've got suffient incentives," he said.

However he added that the government would oppose bonuses that were "wholly unreasonable and not in any way related to improved performance".

"The bonuses have to be reasonable, they have to be responsible and I think everybody has to accept that," he said.

NHS IT scheme

Mr Darling also signalled that the government may abandon the proposed NHS IT system, in a bid to find savings in public spending.

Speaking about areas where the government will look to cut costs ahead of the Pre-Budget report, the Chancellor said the project "isn't essential to the front line"

He added it was  "something I think we don't need to go ahead with just now".

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Leave a comment...

http://faustiesblog.blogspot.com

At long last! The NHS IT system is an expensive waste of money and resources. Those who work with the system attest to waste, the confusion and the bureaucracy which brings chaos and no benefit. It would be quicker and less problematic were the government to tip skiploads full of bank notes into the Thames.

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