Cameron under pressure
‘Conservative leader David Cameron has insisted Andy Coulson’s job as his communications director is safe.
Senior Labour and Lib Dems figures have said he should be fired after revelations about phone messages being intercepted by the News of the World.’ – BBC
‘I’m still pretty stunned by the Guardian’s revelations that the News of the World under Andy Coulson hacked into my phone. I’m even more amazed to discover that I was just one of 3,000 targeted by this paper and Murdoch’s News International.’ – John Prescott, LabourList
Phone hacking scandal
‘Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers has paid out more than £1m to settle legal cases that threatened to reveal evidence of his journalists’ repeated involvement in the use of criminal methods to get stories.’ – Nick Davies, The Guardian
‘The Commons culture select committee confirmed today that it will launch an urgent investigation into allegations of phone hacking by News of the World journalists, after new revelations by the Guardian about the extent of the practice.’ – James Robinson and Andrew Sparrow, The Guardian
G8 in Italy
‘President Obama and other leaders backed historic new targets for tackling global warming last night in an agreement designed to pave the way for a world deal in the autumn.’ – Philip Webster, The Times
‘Brown has never got up at the crack of dawn. He is always up before it, especially if a world summit on the economy is in prospect. Brown is in his element at the G8.’ – Patrick Wintour, The Guardian
Banking reform
‘It is unfashionable to say so, but Alistair Darling’s response to the financial crisis was broadly right — at least after his Pauline conversion in mid-October to the necessity of offering unlimited government guarantees to all British banks. The financial system has been stabilised. The economy and the housing markets are showing signs of recovery. Northern Rock has repaid most of its government borrowings well ahead of schedule and there has been no necessity to nationalise fully other leading banks. And despite all the lurid headlines about trillions of pounds of public money flowing to greedy bankers, the cash cost to taxpayers of all the guarantees offered to financial institutions has so far been precisely nil.’ – Anatole Kaletsky, The Times
‘Yesterday the government announced its plans to prevent such a crisis happening again. For all the drama last autumn they have a distinct St Augustine feel about them: O Lord help me be tough on the City – but not yet. The core proposals that would require banks to operate with substantially more capital and introduce tougher policing of borrowing in the interbank market, so-called macro-prudential regulation, are not wrong. With sufficient determination they could substantially reduce the casino proclivities of British finance.’ – Will Hutton, The Guardian
Unrest in Iran
‘Today marks the tenth anniversary of the attack by hardline vigilantes on a university hall of residence in Tehran that led to at least one death and signalled an all-out attack on students demonstrating for greater freedom and democracy in Iran. A decade later, after hundreds more deaths, police and Basij militias are ready to use deadly force again, should those protesting at the fraudulent re-election of President Ahmadinejad dare to take to the streets to mark the anniversary.’ – Leader, The Times