Where is the British Obama?
22 January 2009
A debate and fundraising event on the implications of Barack Obama's presidency for the UK.
Tuesday 22 January 2009, 6-8pm, followed by a drinks reception
Eversheds International, Law Firm, One Wood Street, London EC2V 7WS
Speakers include:
Diane Abbott, MP
Simon Woolley - Operation Black Vote
Sunder Katwala - General Secretary, Fabian Society
Kwame Kwei-Armah - playwright
Rabinder Singh, QC
Admission fee: £40. Places are limited and need to be paid for in advance.
Events listing is provided for information only. Inclusion in this listing should not be taken to imply that the Institute of Race Relations supports an event or is involved in organising it.
Leading from the LordsLord Strathclyde , Wednesday, January 14 2009
Now that Parliament is again hard at work, the Lords is getting to grips with two very major, but very different, pieces of legislation - Bills covering banking and the marine environment. The careful examination, improvement and revision of large technical Bills such as the Marine Bill is work at which the Lords excels.
In this way, day in day out, peers protect the public and businesses from the passage of even more ill thought-out legislation and regulation than we have had to suffer in recent years. Those peers in our party who labour without the armies of officials at the beck and call of Ministers deserve our particular thanks.
The Banking Bill is another matter - an emergency response to a disastrous financial crisis. Of course, we will back necessary action to stabilise banks. But to see such proposals in print and to reflect on the enormity of the nationalisation of banks brings home the astonishing failure of the regulatory system put in place by Gordon Brown in 1997.
Labour promoted a spend now, pay later culture, fuelled by a rise in public spending never seen in peacetime, built on an unsustainable foundation of record taxes, rooking savers, raiding pensions and robbing the future, Blair and Brown built the boom, the British public now face the bust. Every child born into the UK now starts life with £17,000 of New Labour debt round their neck. And, against this background, Mr Brown talks of doubling up the National Debt in five years. This is casino economics. Such policies, piling loan on loan, debt on debt, would ruin our country.
It is not more borrowing we need, but a restoration of confidence in the financial markets. That will not be achieved by chucking £12,000 million at a 2.5% VAT cut in high streets with 50% markdowns on the shop-windows. So we will try to amend the Banking Bill to include our National Loan Guarantee Scheme which will give banks confidence and security to provide credit to businesses.
Few peers (except perhaps Lord Mandelson, who borrowed this happy phrase from St.Luke) share Mr Brown's Walter Mitty view that he is the 'saviour of the world'. The Lords, under its courtesies, is a surprisingly down-to-earth place. This kind of hyped-up spin cuts no ice with peers. Our House may be banned from any say over finance, but it is full of men and women with enormous financial experience. The Banking Bill will show that they are all sharp enough to see that the problem is not that Gordon Brown has saved the earth, but that he has spent it."
TANGAZO
Ndugu zangu wapendwa, Nawasalimu wote katika jina la Bwana.
Napenda kuchukua nafasi hii kuwakumbusha na kuwakaribisha wote kwenye ibada maalum ya kumsimika na kumuweka kazini Askofu wa Kanisa la Kilutheri Uingereza, Mchungaji Jana Grinberg tarehe 17 January, 09 saa 8.00 Mchana kwenye Kanisa letu la St. Annes & Agnes, London.
Ibada hii maalum itahudhuriwa na maaskofu na viongozi wengine wa kidini toka sehemu mbali mbali na mmoja wa wageni hao ni Askofu Mkuu wa Kanisa la Kiinjili la Kilutheri Tanzania, na ambaye pia ni Askofu wa Dayosisi ya Mashariki na Pwani Askofu Alex Malasusa.
Pamoja na kuwepo kwenye ibada hiyo, Wazungumza Kiswahili wote pia tutapata nafasi ya kuwa na Askofu Mkuu Alex Malasusa kwenye ibada ya Kiswahili inayofanyika kule Reading kila jumapili ya mwisho wa mwezi. Hii itafanyika tarehe 25/01/09 saa 8.00 mchana. Wote mnakaribishwa.
Karibuni sana tuweze kushuhudia tendo hili la Kihistoria na la Askofu wa kwanza mwanamke wa Kanisa la Kilutheri Uingereza.
Wenu katika huduma,
Mchungaji Tumaini Kallaghe
