Geert Wilders is banned from entering the UK, due to the fact that the British government thinks he is inciting hatred. He is saying that Islam ‘is not a religion, it’s the ideology of a retarded culture’. He has compared the Koran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf and has demanded that the Islam Holy book is banned. ‘Not all Muslims are terrorists, but almost all terrorists are Muslims’ he told the Guardian newspaper a year ago. Censorship in the UK.
The Royal Bank of Scotland has been in dire straits. So dire that it had to receive £20bn of taxpayers money to not go bust. On top of that, they are expected to post losses of billions of pounds in three weeks time. So imagine my surprise when I learned today that RSB has set aside £1bn to be paid out as bonuses. For what? Is the practice of a bonus not to award someone who has helped their business succeed, not fail? RBS bankers might receive ‘taxpayer’ bonus.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, is not impressed by Gordon Brown’s measures to tackle the UK financial crisis. Mr. Sarkozy told a domestic television audience Thursday that he will not follow the British Prime Minister in cutting VAT, claiming that it had ‘absolutely no impact.’ Sarkozy not impressed by Brown.
Britain’s foreign secretary, David Miliband, is in Washington and has had talks with Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state. Miliband was the first foreign secretary to hold face-to-face talks with Clinton, which emphasises the hope of continue the strong bond between the two nations. Mrs. Clinton said at the news conference after the talks that the relationships between the US and the UK was ‘certainly special in my eyes’, although she admitted there had been a slight change. Without elaborating, so it leaves me to speculate if the end of Tony Blair’s range and the arrival of Gordon Brown did make for more caution actions on the UK’s behalf. Miliband and Clinton on ‘special relationship’.
More than 2000 business and political leaders have for 5 days discussed how best to tackle what is now being called ‘the crisis of capitalism’. They found no collective answer. Mostly, the problems, and not the solution, were discussed. This was not quite in tune with the forum’s official theme this year; shaping the post-crisis world. That was a bit premature. No answers from Davos.
The IMF said today that Britain will be the hardest hit country in the developed world in what is now forecast to be the ‘deepest recession since WWII’. The IMF now expects e the British GDP to fall by 2.8 % this year, not the 1.3% that was previously thought in November. Furthermore, a UN report expects 50 million jobs to be cut worldwide. A bleak outlook for the UK.
Barack Obama has held his first radio and Internet speech as the President of the United States. Not surprisingly, he concentrated on how to fix the flailing economy. His very expensive and complex plan is now being considered by congress, and also by the public, but they already had their say about two and a half months ago. Obama wants swift and expensive action.
Barack Obama has been really busy since being inaugurated on Tuesday. Sure he had to find time to retake the swearing in oath, but when that was out of the way, he went to work. He has made it painfully clear that the Bush era is over by announcing the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison, a ban on harsh interrogation and the end of CIA prisons. Busy, Mr. President?
Caroline Kennedy will learn this week if she will be selected to replace Hillary Clinton in the US Senate. Her long weeks of lobbying now over, but her campaign has not been without hiccups. Now Sarah Palin is throwing in her 2 cents, for anyone that will listen. Palin jealous of Caroline Kennedy?
Finally, we have a politician who dares to say publicly what most of them are thinking; Bush’s war on terror was a mistake. Speaking in Dubai, David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, said that by declaring ‘war on terror’ President Bush had forced extremists to unite against the west. Mr. Miliband continued on to say that the phrase suggested that terrorism had to be tackled by force and said that historically, this was not the best way to tackle the dangers facing the West. Miliband critizing Bush.