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Prospects for Thursday 31st July

Len Freeman | 10:57 UK time, Thursday, 31 July 2008


Good morning. Here are the early thoughts of programme producer Richard Pattinson:

Good morning everyone - quite a bit around

Economy

House prices are now at their lowest level in two years say the Nationwide, having suffered their biggest annual fall since Nationwide started collecting data in 1991.
HBOS has announced a slump in pre-tax profits of 72%
Meanwhile Shell announces a six month profit of £4bn, following BP's strong results earlier in the week.
So is it time for a windfall tax on energy companies? How would it work, whom would it hit and how would the money be spent?

Karadzic

Radovan Karadzic is due to be formally charged by the UN war crimes tribunal later today.

Diego Garcia

Just how much use has been made of Britain's remote Indian Ocean territory by the US and its terror suspects? Peter Marshall has new information I'm hoping we'll be able to run this evening.

Beatles boutique

And in the last part of our series remembering 1968, our Culture Correspondent Madeleine Holt looks back at the Apple Boutique, the Beatles' Baker St store with a very peace and love attitude to its customer payment policy.

Other stuff

We need to watch if anything more comes of the Labour leadership rumpus - David Miliband is on the Jeremy Vine show. Also, would be good to pursue Jersey following the police interview this morning. And expecting some movement on the 7/7 trial today.

What else do you fancy?

Richard

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF TRUTH

    Do I blog because I am A frustrated ego'ist? Wha' a preposterous suggestion! I am very clear on this: my blogging is purely in the interest of real change in Our Country and real change for its hard working families. Going forward, i' is vi'ally important we engage with the silent majori'y and respond to their ask of rolling-out internet access nationwide, being in and of itself the appropriate steer in these times of global economic turbulence. Only Ebay can save us now. As a committed European, dedica'ed to ever closer enlargement, I am proud of my Bri'ish heritage and of our special relationship with America. Blogging is A very real part of blinkered vigilance; so impor'ant in these times of global Terror. The union flag flies inclusively over her loyal subjects; so important in these times of turbulent cohesion:: God save the Queen!

  • Comment number 2.

    chinese are installing internet spy gear in hotels? And if it be forgotten what warnings are going out over the use of honey traps? How many will follow the govt official recently trapped and lose their blackberry?

    there have been 24 attacks involving women suicide bombers since january. Apparently they are blackmailed into doing it.

    just as some are joining google others have left it and started their own search engine? Cuil.

  • Comment number 3.

    I do hope that searching questions will be asked about Diego Garcia as its appalling that we are involved in extraordinary renditions.

    Does the windfall tax get politically complicated as some of them may have made money from suspect deals in Iraq?

    On the economy if government money is to be spent propping up the banks where does it come from as we already have a black hole in spending for the next few years I believe?

    On Jersey in extremis could the government take over the running of the island? There are already issues regarding "offshore" money laundering. If children are being murdered and the authorities won't take appropriate actions is it time to change the status quo?

  • Comment number 4.

    There is a useful discussion of some of the practical issues surrounding imposition of
    windfall taxes in 'The Unconventional
    Minister: My Life Inside New Labour'
    by Geoffrey Robinson MP. Chapter 6
    'To Tax and to Please' (with apologies to Burke) tells the inside story of the last Labour windfall tax - and also points
    out that Sir Geoffrey Howe "stung the banks for an extra £400 million on a one-off basis in his budget of 10 March 1981".

    Kenneth Clarke MP also features in this chapter - he might be a possible studio
    guest? - as does the then regulator of
    the gas industry Claire Spottiswoode:



  • Comment number 5.

    Of course Alex Salmond got in first as ever with a letter to Alistair Darling suggesting
    a windfall tax on Gordon Brown ..............!

  • Comment number 6.

    Barrie this place wouldn't be the same without you.

    I had a look at cuil and it's rubbish to say the least. Google is miles ahead!

    I still think David Miliband is going to be PM and Gordon's going to go. Can you seriously see him lasting till the next election?

    I'm going to find today's Jeremy Vine show. Thanks :-)

  • Comment number 7.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 8.

    One of the stories today on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ web site is "Pakistan says its intelligence agents have been accused by the US of alerting al-Qaeda linked militants before the US launches missile attacks against them.".

    That reminded me of the Channel 4 film on the Bhutto assassination where the modus opperandi - like the gun before the bomb - suggested ISI.

    Whatever happened to the Bhutto dossier she gave to the government before she died?

  • Comment number 9.

    IN THE CONFUSION - GOING NOWHERE

    Delusional Messiah Blair gave way (and great was the fall of him) to Moral Maze Brown and now we are threatened with wannabe Dastardly Miliband (or might that be Muttley Miliband?)
    (Meanwhile 'no-man-is-worthy' Harperson plots a surgical bloke-cull.)
    No wonder the body-politic (a fetid amalgam of the Seven Deadly Sins) always begs us not to inspect the PERSON but to admire the wonders that have (or will) come to pass.
    Throughout the ages, misery and strife have been down to a few aberrant individuals. And the irony is that politics draws to itself THE ABERRANT! Inspect Miliband D. He has taken up that silly Blairish glottal 't' (only outdone by the overtly pathetic Hilary Benn.) KEEP THAT IN MIND. It is not the behaviour of a mature adult. Politicians (chosen by parties to fit THEIR requirements) are hardly likely to be mature adults. Mature adults find the routine of chicanery and hypocrisy of party politics ANATHEMA. Mature adults do not avoid answering questions with BLATANT, INSULTING OBFUSCATION. This Miliband D does in abundance with obvious RELISH. Relish for god's sake! That amounts to rank arrogance. Only a fool (or a politician) would elevate this man to a position of power. This clearly illustrates the bind Britain is in. It is going to be a long quest to bring this nation into competent governance and I guess the EU Council of Muppets will be running us long before we can prevail, so why bother?

  • Comment number 10.

    It would appear that the reason Gordon Brown consistently fails to articulate his vision for the future of Britain is that he has been taken Private Political Prisoner by the Corporate Multinational Cartel. Many people were expecting a change in policy when Brown took over just over a year ago, but policy has shifted even further towards the Blair Corporate Nazi agenda.

    No chance of advancing social justice when the DWP is led by a Corporate Nazi. Hain was probably Brown's natural choice for the position but he was tricked into committing political suicide. Its times like this when the Labour Party misses figures like Robin Cook the most, far to many corporate Nazi sympathizers in the cabinet and other key ministerial posts.

    Perhaps Brown has to apease the corporate Nazis and their eco-fascist allies in order to avoid mass closures of vital UK industry. I suspect that the CMC has a check list of policies they demand to be implemented ASAP. Brown has long experience of the CMC dealing at world tade levels, its high time he came out with the truth about the political constraints of the Global Economy.

  • Comment number 11.

    6
    ...I had a look at cuil and it's rubbish...

    apparently its only been going a couple of days. their idea is to put images in search results to help users although that caused a bit of bother due to adult content turning up initially.

    i tried it and found someone else has a bookhimdano id. what are the odds of that?

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