UK News

from The Great Debate:

Should Obama mimic David Cameron’s austerity?

By Nicholas Wapshott The opinions expressed are his own.

In medieval times, a key member of a monarch’s retinue was the food taster, a hapless fellow who ate what his master was about to eat. If the taster survived, the food was deemed safe for the king’s consumption. President Obama has a taster of sorts in David Cameron, the British prime minister, who has embarked upon an economic experiment that echoes the recipe of wholesale public spending cuts and tax hikes needed if both sides in Congress are to agree to raising the federal government debt ceiling. How the British economy is faring offers Obama an idea of what a similarly radical policy of cutting and taxing here would mean to the American economy.

Cameron’s election in May 2010 coincided with the start of the Greek debt crisis. The Bank of England governor Mervyn King warned him that the public debt in the UK was so large that Britain, too, might see its lending become impossibly expensive, so Cameron decided that there was no time to lose in putting the fiscal books in order. He decided to slash public spending by 25 per cent over four years and immediately raise value added tax on goods and services from 17.5 to 20 per cent. Such a radical remedy found favor with the rump of British Conservatives who felt that Margaret Thatcher’s free-market, small government, “sound money” policies of the Eighties had not been pressed to their limit. In turn, Thatcher’s prescription to reduce the size of the state derived from her favorite thinker Friedrich Hayek, the author of “The Road to Serfdom,” who believed like many Tea Party supporters that government intervention inevitably leads to tyranny.

Cameron’s experiment in applying a radical cure to the British economy caught the attention of a number of conservatives here, among them George W. Bush’s speechwriter Michael Gerson, who wrote in the Washington Post, “If Cameron’s approach works -- dramatically cutting deficits without stalling economic growth -- it will be an obvious, powerful example for America.” “If only the Obama administration and the U.S. Congress had been so courageous. Instead, they are choosing to put off these big decisions,” moaned Matthew Bishop, New York bureau chief of the Economist, in a piece co-authored with Michael Green in the Wall Street Journal. Even Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner thought the British experiment worth trying. “I am very impressed, as one man’s view looking from a distance, at the basic strategy [Cameron] has adopted,” Geithner told the BBC.

So, how is the British economy doing? Under Cameron’s Labour predecessor, Gordon Brown, Britain fell into depression, with the economy shrinking during the worldwide banking meltdown to minus 2.1 per cent in the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009. By the time of the general election in May 2010, however, growth had slowly climbed to 1.1 per cent per quarter. With Cameron taking the reins and announcing his radical economic plan, the economy slumped back to minus 0.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, before returning to growth of 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of this. But the latest economic growth figures, released this week, show a slowdown in economic activity, to a miserable 0.2 per cent growth between April and June. Cameron’s chancellor George Osborne has blamed the poor figure on widespread partying that accompanied the wedding of Prince William and the effects of the Japanese tsunami. The double-dip recession that Cameron’s critics predicted has not yet taken place, but the figures are clearly headed in the wrong direction.

What exactly is causing the slowdown in Britain is not clear. The cuts have only just begun. The total spending reduction over four years will amount to no more than 1 per cent of government expenditure, though even that Osborne believes will put 1.3 million public sector workers out of work by 2015, though he hopes private companies will create 2.5 million new jobs to make up. The faltering economic recovery suggests he is being optimistic. The independent Office of Budget Responsibility estimates that the decision to raise VAT will cause economic growth to fall by 0.3 per cent in the fiscal year 2011/12. The tax hike has already dampened consumer confidence, leading in turn to a wave of retail store bankruptcies.

In his address on Monday, Obama suggested cutting government spending “to the lowest level it’s been since Dwight Eisenhower” coupled with new taxes on “millionaires and billionaires.” He assured Americans “the cuts wouldn’t happen so abruptly that they’d be a drag on our economy,” though that is plainly wishful thinking. Looking across the Atlantic, it seems that he, like Cameron, may be too optimistic about the true cost of slashing government spending and raising taxes at a time when the economy is still recovering from the Great Recession.

from The Great Debate:

Ireland could use a little audacity of hope

By Marian Harkin

The opinions expressed are her own.

Barack Obama's infectious hope will help replenish the spirits of the beleaguered Irish people as we strive to emerge from recession, but more significantly his invoking our small nation's educational and entrepreneurial talents help to show us the way forward.

A once-in-a-generation economic crisis might seem like an odd time for Ireland to issue back-to-back invitations to Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. President Obama, but as the sun shone through the rain cloud, illuminating the President as he visited his ancestral home in Moneygall Co. Offaly, it seemed a masterstroke, for it is precisely an injection of Obama-esque audacious hope and “yes we can” positivity that Ireland needs to kickstart our long road to recovery.

One week ago as her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II bowed her head before a Memorial to Ireland's Republican dead, the message rang out to the high heavens – we work as equals and we can live in peace, and that peace can be the foundation upon which growth and prosperity is restored to this small island north and south.

So the feel-good factor was already firmly in place by the time Air Force One touched down in Dublin Airport.  Obama harnessed that upbeat mood by linking together the potential of youth, education and peace along with the power of dreams. As he himself is the embodiment of that dream, he makes it easy to believe, he makes it easy to hope and it is somehow easier to reaffirm his call “Is féidir linn” – Irish for “yes we can.”

Obama did not propose solutions to our economic problems on this visit, but for a little while he lifted our morale.  For the past two years Irish citizens have watched as enormous swathes of bank debt accumulated by the casino-like operation of Irish and European banks have been transformed before their disbelieving eyes into sovereign or citizen debt.  The sheer scale of the burden and the sense that the only light at the end of the tunnel is that of an approaching train has traumatized an entire country.  Our self belief is being sorely tested as we try to make sense of the madness that rewards the speculators and punishes the citizens.  The loss of our economic sovereignty is a huge body blow.  Yet somehow the events of the last week each in very different ways have helped to restore some national dignity.  As friends and equals with our nearest neighbors and bound by history, friendships and shared values with the US we can dig deep and find the resilience and the resolve we need to ensure that, as Obama said, “Ireland's best days are ahead.”

Best friends in the whole world, at least for now

Prime Minister David Cameron has spent the last few days playing down expectations of just how special Britain’s “special relationship” with the United States is.

He was afraid of being seen, like Tony Blair, as another American “poodle”, well aware that some aspects of the alliance have not played out in Britain’s best interest and also worried that the UK has to concentrate on forming strong ties beyond the U.S. to maintain international influence.

He needn’t have worried. President Barack Obama gave Cameron the kind of glowing review reserved only for the best pupils in class.

The start to this latest leg of the special relationship was “brilliant”, said Obama, praising the Conservative leader’s “steady leadership and pragmatic approach”.

The two, the president boasted, saw eye to eye on almost everything.

On first name terms throughout their first press conference in the White House after a 75 minute one-on-one meeting and slap-up fish lunch, David and Barack at times sounded like a comedy duo, jostling for the punch line.

from Mark Jones:

A Google election?

The return to work on Monday prompted the launch of the main UK political parties' pre-election campaigns and the indications are that social media is likely to play a big role in the run-up to the general election.

David Cameron kicked off the Conservatives' Draft Health Manifesto with a very neat 'ask Cameron' feature making use of Google Moderator -- something I'd not heard of before but previously used by Conservative MP Giles Chichester in the runup to the Copenhagen climate summit.

Meanwhile Labour took a different angle and used some interesting  techniques to ensure that their take on the Conservatives' fiscal 'black hole' figured prominently on search engine results. They also made the full document (which runs to 150 pages) available to all-comers via Google Documents -- previously this kind of work has tended to end up only with a handful of journalists and experts.

The backdrop to all of this is of course the widely held assumption that deft use of social media is what helped Barack Obama to gain the US Presidency in 2008. There's rather a good book by Jeff Jarvis looking at how organisations should reinvent themselves in the age of social media. It's called 'What Would Google Do?' My betting is that the strategists at the parties' HQs can't help asking themselves, 'what would Obama do?"

Do you love the NHS?

The National Health Service (NHS) has endured a barrage of criticism from opponents of Barack Obama’s plans to push through a healthcare bill that would rein in costs, place constraints on insurance companies and expand health cover to 46 million uninsured Americans.

Stateside critics of the U.S. President’s plans — including former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin — have branded the NHS “evil and Orwellian” and said it allowed “death panels” to decide levels of care for the elderly. They see it as an overly bureaucratic, “socialised” system of healthcare and the proposals have prompted angry scenes at town halls across America.

Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan stirred up further controversy by describing the NHS on a U.S. TV show as a “60 year mistake” and as a service he “wouldn’t wish on anybody”.

Political leaders in the UK have been united in their defence of the NHS following the onslaught. Gordon Brown used micro-blogging site Twitter to voice his support, saying: “The NHS often makes the difference between pain and comfort, despair and hope, life and death. Thanks for always being there.”

A campaign supporting the health service on Twitter, called welovetheNHS, has received tens of thousands of messages.

David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives, was quick to distance himself and his party from Hannan’s remarks. “Just look at all the support which the NHS has received on Twitter over the last couple of days. It is a reminder — if one were needed — of how proud we in Britain are of the NHS,” he said in a statement.

What do you think of the National Health Service? Do you agree with our country’s politicians that it is a system we should be proud of? What are your views on healthcare in the U.S?

Time for the people to decide on Britain’s democratic future?

Britain’s embattled political class are falling over themselves to modernise parliament, but given we have fully embraced the Internet age the proposals have a rather tame feel about them.

Gordon Brown’s latest proposals for “democratic renewal” — the reform of MPs expenses and an elected House of Lords to name but two — could hardly be described as Parliament 2.0.

Maybe Brown should take his cue from Barack Obama, whose U.S. presidential election success had much to do with the way his campaign embraced the Web and mobile phones to mobilise American voters.

If it worked for Obama, why not go one step further and allow voters to cast their votes in local, general or european elections by texting or via the click of a computer mouse.

Obviously an electronic vote raises the issue of electoral fraud, especially given the difficulties that have been encountered in the past with postal voting.

And on a similar theme why is Britain so coy about the use of referendums? Switzerland has a long established tradition of direct democracy which provides its citizens with the right to vote on the big political questions of the day.

Given how few people voted in the European elections last week in the United Kingdom and the low esteem our political representatives are held in by the public, has the time come for people to be allowed to vote electronically in elections and for Britain to explore the idea of a more direct democratic system?

Michelle sparkles as hostess Sarah plays it safe

Sarah Brown will have had an anxious early morning.

Her husband’s attempt to be the great fixer of the financial crisis and best friend of the United States at the same time was a big ask, but how was she going to handle the visit of Michelle Obama?

This was the first time Sarah had been called upon to host her new opposite number from The White House. And it wasn’t all smiling outside Downing Street either – the pair had to visit a cancer care centre as well and – horrors – meet Her Majesty the Queen.

Michelle is only three months younger than Sarah, but she is a graduate of Princeton and Harvard, is the taller of the two by some distance and is famously well dressed.

She was on the cover of Vogue magazine last month and is constantly being compared to Jackie Kennedy.

So what does Sarah wear?

The choice was a smart, dark blue suit – she looked frightfully important and every bit the hostess of the world’s 20 most important nations.

from MacroScope:

Brown gets helping hand from Obama

He loves the Queen and the British people. Truth be told, President Obama was always going to be a hit on his first overseas trip.

But Gordon Brown probably could not believe his luck. The prime minister just could not stop grinning as he stood next to the new president at a news conference in the Foreign Office ahead of the G20 summit.

He must have always been hoping for a bit of the Obama magic to rub off on him and revive his battered ratings but he can't have expected the ringing endorsement he got.

Tony Blair and George W Bush. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Britain has always liked to make much of the special relationship between it and America and any doubts it was in danger under Obama could be put to rest this week.

Obama looked on intently as Brown made his opening statement, referring to him by title.

But the formality dropped as soon as it was Obama's turn, as he thanked his hosts "Gordon and Sarah" and said he had been discussing dinosaurs with their two sons.

Brown flatters, but are we still best of friends, papers ask

“Brave” was how most of the British press responded to Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s speech to both houses of Congress in Washington.

Brown was the first European leader to be invited to Washington by the new U.S. administration and was only the fifth British prime minister to speak to a joint session of Congress.

The front pages of the broadsheets were dominated with the speech and leader writers agonised on whether the so-called special relationship between the two countries is still intact.

With an eye on the upcoming G20 meeting of leading nations in London on April 2, Brown called for the U.S. and their European allies to work together through the global economic crisis.

He was praised for his warning against protectionism and his “passionate” plea on tackling poverty in Africa.

It was a speech where Brown “rose to the occasion”, Peter Hyman, former speechwriter to ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, wrote in the The Guardian.

“Yesterday, Brown didn’t just give us substance but a little style too.”

Tennis anyone? Brown’s audience with Obama

After all the angst, the special relationship is alive and well. For Gordon Brown, it must feel like job done, to a certain degree.

Before his trip to Washington, there was endless speculation about whether or not the new president really cared about the so-called special relationship between the two countries.

And while Brown may have been the first European leader to visit Barack Obama in the White House, Japanese PM Taro Aso got in there first.

Then there was the fuss about whether or not there would be a news conference. A snow storm and sub-zero temperatures this week in Washington meant the Rose Garden was out of the question.

The news conference was going to be a few questions in the Oval Office — Brown snubbed was the immediate reaction from some of the British media travelling with the prime minister.

But to be fair, Aso just managed a doorstep.

The truth is more likely that the new administration just has its own way of doing things. The full pomp and ceremony of a state visit might not seem totally appropriate when the economy is in such dire shape and millions of Americans are worried about whether they will stay in work.