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David Cameron says he gets the message after local election losses
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David Cameron says he gets the message after local election losses
Prime minister says he has no excuses for poor performance at polls, and pledges to focus on what matters
Press Association
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."
Source: The Guardian UK
No commentsGreek voters punish main parties
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Greek voters punish main parties
Greece's two main parties have lost their parliamentary majority in Sunday's election. Parties opposed to the government's austerity measures were the real winners of the election night.
He's a victor of sorts: Antonis Samaras, head of the center-right New Democracy Party (Nea Dimokratia) has won more votes than any other party in the country's elections. But with 18.9 percent, it is the worst performance in his party's history. Even when they were defeated in 2009, the conservative party still managed to gain 33 percent of the vote.
Before the elections, Samaras declared he wanted a clear mandate for governing and therefore did not want to enter into a coalition. On Sunday evening, the 61-year-old economist reacted with sobriety to the emerging results - and said he would indeed try to form a new coalition.
"We are ready to take responsibility for forming a government of national unity with two overriding goals: to keep the country in the eurozone and to change the austerity agreement" - because only then would they achieve growth and win over the Greek public. Samaras stressed that the offer was open to politicians of every political hue.
Left demands end to austerity
The leftist parties declared that while the conservatives simply wanted to ease the course of austerity, they would renounce the cuts completely. Above all Alexis Tsipras, head of the "coalition of the radical left" (Syriza) managed to make political gains with this argument and he was the biggest winner in Sunday's vote. The coalition tripled the party's proportion of the vote to just under 17 percent, and Tsipras is now head of the second-largest party in the country, with his own plans for forming a coalition.
"This result is a message for massive change in Greece and in the whole of Europe," Tsipras declared before his supporters in Athens. The people of Europe should not go along with the "barbarity" of austerity. He added that leading politicians in Europe, above all German Chancellor Angela Merkel will have to own up to the fact that austerity has been defeated.
Slap in the face for the socialists
The biggest disappointment of the evening was suffered by the main socialist party Pasok, which was punished by the voters not only for the current austerity course, but also for their economic policy of the last 30 years. The socialists fell from their 44 percent in 2009 to just over 13 percent this time, and are now only the third-largest party in parliament. In the district of Athens Central, only one Pasok representative was elected.
According to the constitution, the Greek president must now give the largest party (New Democracy) three days to form a coalition government. If that should prove impossible, then the second-biggest party is handed the task - or, if necessary - the third-largest party. If that doesn't work, there will be new elections - an option many are already anticipating.
The party that could tip the scales in coalition negotiations is the moderate "Democratic Left" which won six percent of the vote. Its leader, Fotis Kouvelis, made it clear that he would not be supporting a program of austerity.
"We will not follow a policy which leads to the impoverishment of our people and our society and we don't want to be a left-wing, democratic alibi for such a policy," Kouvelis declared. His party is standing by its election promise: Against austerity, but for Greece's membership in the EU.
Playing into the hands of extremists
The socialists, under the leadership of former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos, pleaded for a coalition of pro-European powers, and at the same time for a part-renegotiation of the austerity package.
Loukas Tsoukalis, head of the Athens Think Tank Eliamep warned against excessive expectations from Greece's EU partners, in an interview with Greek television. "I'm scared that two things could happen: Firstly, that Greece would become ungovernable, and secondly, that the country would not be able to communicate with the rest of the world." Of course, he added, we should respect the voice of the people. But that creates a problem, he said, when it makes it harder to govern the country, or to communicate with the outside world.
For the established parties, one of the main problems is the entry into parliament of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party. Its head, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, warned at a press conference that he would carry on his fight "both inside and outside the parliament."
Author: Jannis Papadimitriou / ji Editor: Gregg Benzow
Source: Deutsche Welle
Malawi president Joyce Banda eager to build bridges with western donors
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Malawi president Joyce Banda eager to build bridges with western donors
Resumption of diplomatic ties with Britain signals progress in quest to distance new regime from that of late predecessor.
David Smith in Johannesburg
Joyce Banda, the new president of Malawi, is hoping to woo back western donors who withheld support last year over concerns about poor governance and the overbearing rule of her late predecessor, Bingu wa Mutharika.
Foreign aid accounts for 40% of Malawi's budget, but the country suffered a blow last April when Britain decided to freeze aid following a diplomatic row over the expulsion of the UK high commissioner, Fergus Cochrane-Dyet, who had branded Mutharika "autocratic and intolerant of criticism".
Banda has moved quickly to distance herself from her predecessor's reign, and her approach has already earned a rapprochement with Britain. Last week, William Hague, the British foreign secretary, announced a resumption of diplomatic ties and the forthcoming appointment of a new high commissioner.
On Monday, Andrew Mitchell, the UK's international development secretary, told the Guardian: "Britain has a long and deep commitment to the people of Malawi and we have a comprehensive development programme that is providing those in need with significant help."
{sidebar id=10 align=right}But he added: "As with all of our country programmes, the future shape of British support will be based on Malawi's record in terms of proper governance, financial management and human rights. The president has already put an emphasis on addressing this and I look forward to discussing her priorities with her directly in the weeks ahead and responding to them."
Last week, Hague said in a Commons statement that Banda's priorities include "normalising relations with the UK".
"In her inauguration speech President Banda emphasised the need to focus immediately on mourning president Mutharika, and for healing and reconciliation, and encouraged the people of Malawi to work together to address the many challenges that face the country," he said.
"The president has continued this theme, and made clear that her top priorities include getting back on track with the IMF and normalising relations with the UK."
Hague revealed formal diplomatic relations had been maintained with Malawi despite Cochrane-Dyet's expulsion last April. He said: "I have now decided that the time is right to appoint a new high commissioner to Malawi. The prime minister has written to the president to convey this decision to her." Hague added that, once appointed, the new high commissioner would "monitor developments in Malawi closely".
Banda, a former vice-president of the country and a women's rights activist, was sworn in as president on 7 April and immediately set about purging her late predecessor's allies. One of her first moves as president was to fire the national police chief, who had been blamed for the killing of 20 anti-government protesters in July 2011.
She followed up by sacking the troubled country's central bank governor, Perks Ligoya, replacing him with Charles Chuka, head of telecoms operator MTL and once the central bank's general manager for economic services.
Banda, southern Africa's first female president, has since promised more changes, prompting speculation she will remove other Mutharika loyalists.
The women's wing of South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) last week congratulated Banda on her appointment, citing her as an example for the continent. "President Banda has a long-standing history of championing women's issues and is a pioneer in the fight against domestic abuse and violence against women, after her own well-documented past in an abusive relationship," said ANC spokeswoman Troy Martens.
"We believe her appointment is a step in the right direction in improving the plight of the African woman. She serves as a positive role model to Malawian businesswomen and girl children, but also her personal struggles and triumphs over them are an inspiration to all African women."
Source: The Guardian UK
Sexism at the bar may still exist, but women barristers have come a long way
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Sexism at the bar may still exist, but women barristers have come a long way
During pupillage in the 80s, not only did women make the tea, they had to avoid being groped in the process
Maura McGowan
I know I wasn't the only barrister to feel disheartened by this article which appeared on the Guardian's website on Thursday, written by a woman who had been treated unfairly in the way in which tasks were assigned to her and her fellow pupils during their training.
{sidebar id=11 align=right}I would not try to claim that sexist attitudes have been eradicated from the bar (or any profession), but it is only fair to acknowledge that the bar has come on leaps and bounds in this respect since I completed pupillage in the early 80s.
In fact, by then, most women believed most of the dinosaurs of the bar had become extinct and that we were entering a relatively egalitarian profession. Nevertheless, not only were we expected to make the tea, but we also had to do it looking backwards to avoid being groped in the process.
Since then, the number of women who achieve pupillage (in a highly competitive environment) has increased exponentially. From the male dominated bar of the 1980s, pupillages are now almost evenly split between male and female applicants. In several years over the past decade, the number of successful female applicants has outnumbered that of their male counterparts. The overall percentage of women in practice now stands at 35%, which, while almost double the proportion in 1990, shows that we still have some way to go; this of course includes the less diverse intakes of previous decades.
While the progress made partly reflects general societal trends, the Bar Council, the inns of court, the specialist bar associations, the circuits and chambers can take credit for having improved the bar's attitude to women.
The Bar Council invests significantly in equality and diversity initiatives and our Equality and Diversity Training Course is popular among barristers and chambers' staff. It shows a real appetite for information about best practice. Every set of chambers now has an equality and diversity Officer to ensure that these issues are addressed properly.
It is a demanding profession in which, for many, being self-employed rules out benefits such as fully-paid maternity leave, sick leave and paid holidays. Great efforts have been made to encourage women to stay in or return to practice after having a family. The Bar Council has encouraged chambers to introduce rent-free maternity leave and hopes that it may soon become compulsory. We are also tendering for a business partner to set up a "bar nursery" close to chambers in London. We actively support initiatives such as the Middle Temple Women's Forum.
Despite these efforts and achievements, the experiences of the article's author should not be dismissed. On behalf of profession as a whole, I am sorry that she encountered such anachronistic, chauvinistic behaviour. We really want to recruit and retain the best female talent, to the benefit of both the profession and the public. Thankfully, as the author acknowledges, her experiences do not reflect those of most pupils.
We wondered why the author had not sought advice from one of the many avenues of support available. We realise that any pupil hoping for tenancy wants to avoid alienating their senior colleagues and jeopardising their chances of success, but there are many anonymous sources of advice, including the Bar Council's pupil advice line, which offers confidential support. In addition, the Bar Council provides an equality and diversity helpline, the Association of Women Barristers' can provide support for female practitioners at all levels and the inns of courts' student officers will always help and advise.
As I prepare to take over as chairman of the bar next year, I see a generation of women reaching increasingly senior heights at the bar and in the judiciary. There is always more to be done, but we have come a long way and no one should have to put up with this sort of treatment. If the author of the article, or anyone else, wants advice or support, in the strictest of confidence, my door is always open.
Maura McGowan QC is vice-chairman of the Bar Council
Source: The Guardian UK
Cartoonist Frank Odoi killed in Kenya road accident
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Cartoonist Frank Odoi killed in Kenya road accident
Artist whose Driving Me Crazy comic strip focused on reckless driving in Kenya is killed when minibus overturns in Nairobi...
David Smith in Johannesburg
One of Africa's best-loved cartoonists, whose subjects included reckless driving in Kenya, has been killed in a road accident in Nairobi.
Frank Odoi, 64, died when the minibus taxi, known as a matatu, in which he was travelling
overturned on Saturday. His Driving Me Crazy comic strip focused on the notoriously wayward matatu drivers.
{sidebar id=11 align=right}The veteran artist was known for his Golgoti series, about a white man who travels to Africa, and Akokhan, featuring an African superhero inspired by the folklore of Ghana, where he was born.
After studying fine art and design in Accra, Odoi emigrated to Kenya in the 1970s. He became one of the first visual artists to command a daily slot in Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper.
{sidebar id=10 align=right}His work was also featured in newspapers in Uganda, Ghana, Mozambique, Denmark and Finland, as well as the BBC's Focus on Africa magazine. He held exhibitions in various countries and won several cartoonist of the year awards.
Odoi was travelling in a matatu in Nairobi that veered off the road and overturned, killing him and another passenger. Patrick Lumumba, a local traffic commandant, told the Daily Nation: "The driver of the bus swerved to avoid hitting a pedestrian who was crossing the road. The bus veered off, overturned and landed in a ditch."
Family members realised something was wrong when Odoi did not return home all weekend. They searched every hospital in Nairobi and eventually found his body in a mortuary on Monday morning.
Tributes have been paid by friends and peers. John Nyaga, a cartoonist at the Daily Nation, told the newspaper: "Frank was one of the pioneer cartoonists in Kenya who was still practising. Long before I started doing my own works, when I was still in school, he was being published and his illustrations inspired me."
Paul "Maddo" Kelemba, a fellow director of the media company Four Dimension Innovative, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme: "Looking at the empty desk in the corner and expecting to see Frank has been very difficult, disturbing and has made us very angry.
"It is so sad that he met his end at the hands of the matatus which were the subject of his comic strip."
Last year, in an interview on the Kimaniwawanjiru website, Odoi was quoted as saying he would like to be remembered for his comics and cartoons. He added: "Happiest moments? Several. Any time I meet a fan of mine I get high. I am happy as long as I am with happy people."
Source: The Guardian UK, 25 April 2012