Politics

“There’s no such thing as society”, Margaret Thatcher famously told Woman’s Own in 1987. Today Chancellor George Osborne was showing off how he is still trying his very best to make that happen, outlining his latest austerity measures to dismantle and sell off the state in the Autumn Spending Review statement. And again The London Economic turned to someone who can offer her own exclusive insight into the Conservative party leadership candidate formerly known as Gideon, his former party companion...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor If you change your mind on something because of external pressure does that mean you have done the right thing, or have you been forced into it? For example, hypothetically, if I decided to slash my neighbour’s tyres for mowing their lawn on Saturday morning,  but my girlfriend told me repeatedly it was an excessive resposne, and she might leave me if I did; I’d change my mind. Have I now done the honourable thing?...

By Callum Towler When the Tories claimed a surprise majority back in May, we knew debilitating cuts were inevitable. Today, in his Autumn Statement, we’ll find out exactly where George’s Osborne’s axe will fall. Conservative ideology involves a ruthless commitment to shrinking the state. Balancing this with ambitions of winning an election in 2020 means targeting cuts at groups least likely to vote Conservative: the young and working poor. While safe-guarding mid to high income earners and pensioners, who turn out...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Turkey's military say they have today shot down a Russian war plane near its border with Syria after the jet violated Turkish air space. It is claimed the Russian jet failed to listen to numerous warnings over a five minute period. The Russian Sukhoi Su-24 jet was shot down by Turkish F-16 fighter planes after ignoring nearly a dozen warnings, Turkish army officials said. However, Russia's Ministry of Defence claims the jet was in Syrian...

By Steve Taggart It is claimed that there have been 277 attacks against ambulance crews in the Palestinian territories since October. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society  is a humanitarian organisation providing hospitals, emergency medicine and ambulance series in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The society, part of the International  Red Cross, explained that the occupation forces wounded 131 Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics and volunteers, in addition to damaging 76 ambulances. The most eye-catching of all of the statistics is...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Footage has come to light which appears to show Greek coast guards attempting to sink a migrant boat. It is assumed they did this to ensure the Turkish authorities were forced to pick them up, meaning they wouldn't be able to enter Europe. Instead the passengers would be taken to the port of Didim in Turkey, the place where numerous refugees make their dangerous voyages towards Europe. The clip was allegedly taken on November 12th....

By Callum Towler  How different things could have been? If Ukraine had joined Nato in 2008, 2014 may have been the year an Obama-led coalition - acting under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty - began gearing up for all out war against Russia following the illegal annexation of Crimea. Fast forward just a year later (a year of economic sanctions and frozen assets placed on Russia) and Putin is the new diplomatic darling; the prized jigsaw piece of Obama’s...

Steve Taggart  During Daily Politics this week a rude banner appeared behind presenter Andrew Neil's head while talking about the juniors doctors' strike. He was interviewing an MP and a doctor in front of a photograph of the recent protests against Jeremy Hunt's recent plans for the health service. Unfortunately for the TV producers the picture featured an image of a woman's genitals. The poster, which was carried in London last month during a march was captioned "an anatomy lesson...

By Lee Carnihan  Who creates 97 per cent of the money in our economy?  If you said the government or the Bank of England you're wrong. It's not a trick question but there’s more to it than meets the eye. The answer depends on which money you're talking about. If you mean the coins and notes you take out the cash machine, then yes, the Bank of England creates that "real" stuff. But that only accounts for three per cent...