WUFOOB … (May – Aug 2012)

A vision of post-Assad democracy

BBC News, Tuesday 28 August 2012
French President Francois Hollande has urged Syrian opposition groups to form a provisional government. “France asks the Syrian opposition to constitute a provisional government that is inclusive, representative, that can become the legitimate representative of the new Syria,” he said today in a speech in Paris. “France would recognise the provisional government once it has been formed.”

Los Angeles Times, Sunday 19 August 2012
Rep. Todd Akin was asked in a television interview about whether he supports access to abortion in the case of rape. “It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Akin said, referring to conception following a rape. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”

India launches Mars mission

CNN, Thursday 16 August 2012
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced his country has set its sights on the Red Planet. In a speech marking India’s independence day, Singh said his government has approved plans to put an unmanned probe in orbit around Mars. The mission “will be a huge step for us in the area of science and technology.”

Associated Press, Saturday 11 August 2012
Britain hopes the Olympics would lead to a surge in sports participation that would allow it to shed its distinction as the fattest nation in Europe, but whether that will happen remains to be seen.

Olympics closing ceremony – all bets are now off!

BBC, Wednesday 1 August 2012
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson is left dangling on a zip wire for several minutes when it stops working at an Olympic live screen event.

Sky News, Saturday 28 July 2012
Olympics Opening ceremony – actors pretending to be the the Queen and James Bond Daniel Craig leapt from a helicopter.

The Press Association, Thursday 2 August 2012
London Mayor Boris Johnson was left hanging as he got stuck in mid-air on a zipwire at an Olympic event. Mr Johnson tried out the 148ft (45m) high, 1,050ft (320m) long line as he visited Victoria Park in the capital. Wearing a hard hat and waving two Union flags, things seemed to go swimmingly at first. But as he reached the end of the line it rebounded before running out of momentum about 33ft (10m) above the ground. The mayor was left dangling inelegantly from his harness for about five minutes above a crowd of onlookers who happily snapped photographs on their mobile phone. One shouted: “I heard Ken Livingstone set up the zipline.”

Daily Telegraph, Friday 27 July 2012
The case for a new dynamic between farmers and retailers… “People are starting to appreciate the significant differences between supermarkets when it comes to their relationships with British farmers,” says Justin King , CEO of J Sainsbury PLC.

Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 24 July 2012
Hard-pressed dairy farmers and retailers hammered out the outline of a deal to give them greater bargaining powers when selling their milk… The meeting follows days of blockades and protests by angry dairy farmers who claim that the cost of producing a litre of milk is between 29 pence and 30 pence.

Associated Press, Friday 20 July 2012
That Pepsi T-shirt and Nike sneakers may seem perfect for a trip to Olympic Park, but will they fall foul of the brand police?… “No, you probably wouldn’t be walking in with a Pepsi T-shirt because Coca-Cola are our sponsors and they have put millions of pounds into this project but also millions of pounds into grass roots sport,” games chief Sebastian Coe told BBC radio. “It is important to protect those sponsors.”… Adidas is another big sponsor, but Coe told the BBC that visitors wearing Nike sneakers would “probably” be allowed in.

The Press Association, Wednesday 25 July 2012
More than 18,000 troops will provide security for the Olympics after ministers felt they should “leave nothing to chance”.

BBC, Tuesday 17 July 2012
The chief executive of security firm G4S will go before MPs later to explain why his company was unable to provide the Olympics staff it promised. The company, by its own admission, stands to lose up to £50m on the contract, worth a total of about £280m, after being unable to provide the 10,000 staff it had been contracted to deliver.

Scottish Daily Record, Sunday 8 July 2012
Wimbledon superstar Andy Murray reveals secret weapon as nation holds breath before showdown.

The Guardian, Thursday 5 July 2012
Quantitative easing: a sign of deep desperation. Once a drastic emergency measure, QE is now a standard Bank of England tactic.

Metro, Tuesday 3 July 2012
David Cameron risked the wrath of Tory backbenchers last night by again dismissing calls for a quick referendum on membership of the EU. He insisted that voting to leave would not be good for Britain. The priority is … to advance our national interest in free trade, open markets and co-operation.

To which one can only ask – what has the single market got to do with free trade?

Casino banking

Daily Mirror, Saturday 30 June 2012
Splitting sturdy High Street banks from casino capitalists is a minimum reform.

Discredited bankers

Financial Times, Thursday 28 June 2012
Bob Diamond, Barclays’ chief executive, has said the bank would “rigorously” review the conduct of all those involved in the attempts to manipulate a benchmark interest rate.

European Commission President lashes out at the G20 summit

Daily Mail, Wednesday 20 June 2012
No way, Jose! Barroso has a cheek to claim the EU needs no lessons in democracy or economics. The president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso lost his temper with a Canadian journalist who, quite understandably, asked him why North America should pay for the follies of Europe. Barroso snapped: “We are not here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy.”

The Guardian, Sunday 10 June 2012
Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, on Sunday made a desperate attempt to portray a €100bn (£81bn) bailout of his country’s banking system as a triumph at the start of a week which could determine the future of the single currency.

Goal.com, Tuesday 12 June 2012
Greece 1 Czech Republic 2. Greece coach Fernando Santos has slammed his team after a slow start saw them concede two goals in the opening minutes against the Czech Republic. “In the first ten minutes there was no Greek team on the pitch,” he told reporters after the match. “We tried a lot in this game, but the thing is, we fought more with our heart than our mind.”

Reuters, Saturday 26 May 2012
Germany, Europe’s largest economy and the biggest contributor to rescue efforts, is glad to help Greece help itself…

The Week, Tuesday 29 May 2012
Pasty Tax U-Turn. The Government U-turn on the pasty tax and the caravan tax has convinced Labour leaders the Coalition is so weak that Chancellor George Osborne could cave in to more pressure to flip-flop over tax cuts for the rich, too.

The Guardian, Saturday 26 May 2012
If only this was the last Eurovision Song Contest! The spray-on kitsch is fairly hard to take, but even harder to take is that the organisers actually take it seriously.

Where’s the sand?

Daily Telegraph, Monday 21 May 2012

Boris Johnson writes… I see the G8 has a brilliant solution to the problems of the eurozone… We are told that the only solution now is a Fiscal Union (or FU). We must have “more Europe”, say our leaders, not less Europe – even though more Europe means more suffering, and a refusal to recognise what has gone wrong in Greece.

Aaaaargh!

France 24, Friday 4 May 2012
Thursday saw Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives receive a bruising by a discontented electorate…Edward Munch’s famous painting “The Scream” fetched $120 million at Sotheby’s in New York.