Archive: 6 September – 12 September 2010
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Friday 10 September 2010
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Local council spending over £500: Islington published its data in PDF format. Photograph: Garry Weaser for the Guardian
Ask every local authority in England to publish all its spending over £500 in an open format and what do you get? A whole load of PDFs. Get our list of the best and the worst
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• Get the data -
Prince Charles’s network of charities are mired in the debt overhang which threatens his role as a leading charitable entrepreneur. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP
Michael White: Does the involvement of Prince Charles in worthy causes like the purchase of Dumfries House do more harm than good?
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Thursday 9 September 2010
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Chris Bryant being interviewed by Kay Burley on Sky News
The Labour MP Chris Bryant, who led today's Commons debate on phone hacking, gets annoyed with the Sky News presenter Kay Burley
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Nick Clegg, who claimed the pace of reduction of the deficit is 'not a matter of political dogma' but of hard economic facts. Photograph: Ian Nicholson/PA
Nick Clegg made an interesting slip on air this morning, one which has a direct bearing on the wisdom of the coalition's cuts strategy. Reminding Radio 4 listeners that Britain's economy grew by 1.2% in the second quarter – to June – the deputy PM remarked "the bulk of that came from the private sector".
Whitehall gossip suggests that George Osborne may have made the same mistake on being told the news when it first surfaced. What the response indicates is that they may not yet grasp the role which public expenditure plays – in any economy – to promote the health of the private sector. Continue reading...
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Andy Coulson. Photograph: Luke Macgregor/Reuters
• Government backs new investigation into phone hacking
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• Anti-war protesters scale scaffolding outside Commons
• Nick Clegg says ministers should be reshuffled less often
• Follow the latest developments in Westminster here -
Wednesday 8 September 2010
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Michael White: Over the channel they take to the streets over raising the pension age. Here we have a more measured response Continue reading...
French private and public sector workers carry a mask of Nicolas Sarkozy. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
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Nick Clegg, standing in for David Cameron, at prime minister's questions Photograph: Pa
Andrew Sparrow's coverage of all the day's developments at Westminster including prime minister's questions
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Tuesday 7 September 2010
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HM Revenue and Customs made errors in PAYE tax calculations over the past two years. Photograph: Faiz Balabil/Alamy
It's a funny state of affairs when the BBC wheels on Paul Lewis, a tax expert from Radio 4's highly-respectable Moneybox programme, to point out ways in which taxpayers can resist a new claim on their wallets from HM Revenue and Customs. It happened this morning.
You expect this sort of behaviour from the sharper end of the accountancy profession and publicity-hungry members of that walk of life who really should have gone on the stage or become Tory MPs.
But "if they ask you for money, I think you should challenge it" from Moneybox is fighting talk. If HMRC made the mistake, "it's outrageous that they should be asking for it", Lewis says. The Mail is on the case, too – but that's more what we'd all expect.
What we're talking about here is the failure of HMRC's new computer to get its PAYE calculations right to the tune of a £2bn underpayment, offset by a £1.8m overpayment. Continue reading...
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Parliament is preparing to welcome up to 350 new MPs, potentially the highest intake in decades. Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA
Join Andrew Sparrow for rolling coverage of all the day's developments from Westminster and beyond
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Monday 6 September 2010
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David Cameron is winning support from Tony Blair. Photograph: Jonathan Buckmaster/PA Archive/Press Association Ima
Tony Blair is showing growing admiration for David Cameron.
The former prime minister said over the weekend that his proudest achievement – the Northern Ireland peace process – is safe in Cameron's hands.
This is what Blair told the Belfast Telegraph when he was asked whether he was confident that Cameron would do nothing to jeopardise the peace process:
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Andy Coulson has said he knew of no illegal activity while editing the News of the World. Photograph: Reuters
During a chat with harassed Tory press officers last week, I said: "I believe William Hague – I don't believe Andy Coulson."
Is that verdict based on any information that's not freely available to everyone? No, it's just my judgment as to where the balance of probability lies, reinforced by decades spent as a journalist.
Listening to Yates of the Yard struggling over the News of the World phone-hacking story against an under-briefed Justin Webb on Radio 4's Today programme – here's Andy Sparrow's take on it – did nothing to change my mind. This problem won't go away. Read Nick Davies in today's Guardian – or yesterday's Observer feature to catch up.
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David Cameron is under growing pressure to defend Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor who is now his communications chief. Photograph: Reuters
Join Andrew Sparrow for rolling coverage of all today's events at Westminster
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