http://blogs.independent.co.uk| Blogs from the Independent newspaper - news, views and features from the world's most free-thinking newspaper| Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:01:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2| en hourly 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/06/18/im-not-going-to-do-anything-for-you/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/06/18/im-not-going-to-do-anything-for-you/#comments Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:17:22 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=35718 Time for the monthly treat from David Hayes, who writes about British politics for the Australian Inside Story.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/06/18/im-not-going-to-do-anything-for-you/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/06/17/what-to-do-about-syria/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/06/17/what-to-do-about-syria/#comments Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:14:38 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=35680 Syria is such a hard case that not even Tony Blair advocates sending in troops. The debate is between trying to arm the democratic opposition to Assad and not trying to. (Although Blair, as usual at the leading edge, does advocate no-fly zones, which would be enforced by Nato aircraft.) In The Independent on Sunday I [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/06/17/what-to-do-about-syria/feed/ 4 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/06/16/is-cameron-an-asset-to-his-party/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/06/16/is-cameron-an-asset-to-his-party/#comments Sun, 16 Jun 2013 14:04:25 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=35657 Our ComRes opinion poll in today’s Independent on Sunday suggests that David Cameron, with a net minus 29-point unfavourability rating, is level with the Conservative Party, on an identical -29 points. This marks a change, in that the Prime Minister has long been more popular than his party, and his strongest argument against the swivel-eyed tendency [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/06/16/is-cameron-an-asset-to-his-party/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/27/the-most-powerful-woman-in-britain/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/27/the-most-powerful-woman-in-britain/#comments Mon, 27 May 2013 09:49:59 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=35204 I wrote about Angela Merkel in The Independent on Sunday. She seems to be well placed to win re-election in the German elections in September. Her Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) are running at an average of 40 per cent in the opinion polls, while the main opposition Social Democrats, whose candidate is Peer Steinbrück, is on [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/27/the-most-powerful-woman-in-britain/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/20/cameron-on-gay-marriage-should-make-us-proud/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/20/cameron-on-gay-marriage-should-make-us-proud/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 08:16:46 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=35031 Apologies to Benedict Brogan, deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph, whose excellent morning briefing describes the fuss over gay marriage as “avoidable”. Avoidable how? Then we had Tim Montgomerie and Mary Ann Sieghart on the Today programme saying that David Cameron should have come out fighting for gay marriage. “That’s what Tony Blair would have done,” [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/20/cameron-on-gay-marriage-should-make-us-proud/feed/ 22 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/18/clearing-the-battlefield/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/18/clearing-the-battlefield/#comments Sat, 18 May 2013 20:54:48 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=35000 Matthew d’Ancona says David Cameron’s talk is of “clearing the battlefield”. Which is a nice way of saying, “everything looks like a shambles now, but just imagine what it will be like the week after next when all this bad stuff is out of the way”. D’Ancona reports what I had heard, which is that No [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/18/clearing-the-battlefield/feed/ 5 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/15/a-triumph-for-david-cameron/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/15/a-triumph-for-david-cameron/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 11:02:43 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34922 That’s the blog post I would like to write – not because I am a cheerleader for the Prime Minister but because it would be a challenge. But, despite Dan Hodges’ best effort to explain why Ed Miliband has blown his chance (Times, pay wall), it doesn’t seem possible to explain how this week’s EU referendum [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/15/a-triumph-for-david-cameron/feed/ 13 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/28/the-case-for-intervention-in-syria/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/28/the-case-for-intervention-in-syria/#comments Sun, 28 Apr 2013 13:48:44 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34516 In, of all places, The Independent on Sunday. Brendan Simms, professor of of the history of international relations at Cambridge University, argues for Nato intervention in Syria.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/28/the-case-for-intervention-in-syria/feed/ 6 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/27/cameron-more-popular-than-john-major/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/27/cameron-more-popular-than-john-major/#comments Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:07:46 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34505 A Conservative told me: “David Cameron’s approval rating as prime minister is better than any previous prime minister at this point, since MORI started polling on this, apart from Tony Blair in his first term.” That didn’t sound right to me, so I looked up the figures. Looking at net satisfaction with the way that they were [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/27/cameron-more-popular-than-john-major/feed/ 2 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/07/cameron-on-trident-in-scotland/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/07/cameron-on-trident-in-scotland/#comments Sun, 07 Apr 2013 08:57:48 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33903 I have written for The Independent on Sunday today about David Cameron’s defence of Trident in Scotland last week. Defence policy is one of those emotive, symbolic issues on which the Conservatives seem to be getting their message sorted out. Welfare is another. The Scottish speech was significant for Cameron’s legacy too: at the moment, he [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/07/cameron-on-trident-in-scotland/feed/ 5 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/14/why-did-the-office-for-budget-responsibility-get-its-forecasts-wrong/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/14/why-did-the-office-for-budget-responsibility-get-its-forecasts-wrong/#comments Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:51:36 +0000 Ben Chu http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33327 It's possible that the massive shortfall in domestic business investment was a response to weak aggregate demand, as the Government's deep capital expenditure cuts had a greater than expected impact on output.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/14/why-did-the-office-for-budget-responsibility-get-its-forecasts-wrong/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/07/condemned-to-repeat-it/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/07/condemned-to-repeat-it/#comments Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:05:46 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33103 Much of interest in David Cameron's There Is No Alternative speech today, which included the correct but incredible assertion: "The richest 20 per cent are making the greatest contribution to the deficit reduction and paying the most."]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/07/condemned-to-repeat-it/feed/ 4