Browsing: Media opinion 2

New PM would curb Le Pen’s party influence EU

“The appointment of a new prime minister and a new government would significantly curb Marine Le Pen’s party’s influence. Right now, everyone realises that the future of the government lies in her hands, since it can only stay in power thanks to her goodwill. She is playing this card well by raising the stakes. If a new government is appointed in the near future, whether on a joint (undoubtedly more left-wing) basis or as a ‘technical’ government, her influence would be severely limited, if not reduced to zero.”

In very traditional Republican terms, he’s talking about tax breaks and reduced regulation. In terms of some of his specific pledges on the economy, he’s talking about getting rid of income taxation on tips and overtime. These things combined have the potential to be quite domestically inflationary, I would say.

Black MPs have told Keir Starmer that considering reparations for slavery is the “right thing to do”… Bell Ribeiro-Addy said there should be a discussion about the different ways in which reparations can be paid, such as through environmental or educational reparations. “People have heard the large sums of money and they’ve got quite scared but they haven’t thought about all the different ways in which we could go about repairing the sheer imbalance of equality that we created by taking part in the enslavement and trafficking and colonisation of countries”.

The FA also suffers because the country’s main football competition is not really an English league but a global league that happens to be in England. Its ownership is international and their interest is in commercially growing clubs to international size, which means they just want the best coaches – no matter where they’re from. Hence its managerial make-up is four Spanish, three English, two Dutch, two Portuguese, one Australian, one Austrian, one Danish, one German, one Italian, one Northern Irish, one Scottish and one Welsh.

“The Hinkley Point project, which is already under construction, will supply electricity that is far more expensive than green energy. If it is done well, the German model combining the phasing out of nuclear energy and coal could be more favourable. But the top priority is that the newly industrialising and developing countries also switch to phasing out coal as quickly as possible. First and foremost China, which is still building new power plants. If they don’t change course, the joy over the end of the coal era in the UK will be of little use.”

“Barnier and Macron want to accommodate French voters on the right and prevent them from voting for far-right parties in even greater numbers in future elections. But paradoxically, the support of Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National must also be secured. The RN is the second-most important opposition party in parliament after the left-wing camp, and will play a crucial role in determining how long the new government remains in office. This shows, in turn, how powerful Le Pen’s party has become in France – even if it is still being kept out of the centre of power.”

Italy’s PM is the real winner EU

“The post-fascist has managed to place one of her loyal followers, Raffaele Fitto, in one of the most influential posts in the Commission. He will become vice-president and commissioner for cohesion and reforms. This means he will be responsible for the European Social Fund and a fund for regional development, among other things. Meloni is over the moon about this decision, as it secures her additional power and influence in Brussels. However with this appointment, Ursula von der Leyen has lodged a political time bomb in her own Commission. Many members of the European Parliament are quite rightly appalled and have announced their opposition to the far-right Italian.”

“If Harris was still relatively unknown to many Americans before the debate, she isn’t anymore. There’s a good chance that sceptical voters will like what they saw. … Already on the first topic, the country’s economic situation, Harris showed that she was better prepared than Trump. … On economics and domestic policy, Trump in particular performed poorly, simply repeating his anti-immigration mantra as the solution to all the problems. … With her strong performance in this debate, Harris has undoubtedly boosted her chances of winning the presidency.”