2 Big Stories
Gordon Brown plans to spend his way back into Number 10
From the Telegraph:
Mr Brown’s determination to boost spending on frontline services will be underlined with the launch of his much vaunted national plan for public services on Monday.
His Building Britain’s Future document includes a number of proposals which will require significant Government spending.
Peter Mandelson, however, has emphasised that the money will come from a “reprioritising of expenditure both within and between departments”:
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It may be a disappointment to you that we are not going to hold a spending review now but we don’t need to.
“It would be based on entirely speculative projections of what economic growth will be in future years and therefore what we have decided to do is to link our spending plans to reality rather than to speculation.” [Telegraph]
Iran frees five from UK embassy – but 4 remain
From the BBC:
Five out of nine local staff from the UK embassy detained in Tehran have been released, Iranian officials say.
Iran’s media earlier said local employees at the UK mission were held over their role in protests against June’s disputed presidential election.
2 Must-Read Blog Posts
Anders Hanson reminds us of the joys of a local newspaper’s most-read page:
My favourite letter ever written to a local newspaper.
Can you do better than Roger Pye of Kinerton, Hertfordshire? Why not have a go?
Lynne Featherstone continues to keep us up to speed on the progress of the Equality Bill
This time it’s Anonymous job applicatons: who’s afraid of a bit of evidence?