Thursday, 24 May, 2007
- 24 May 07, 05:01 PM
How Green is Blair?
We've an exclusive interview with the prime minister on the environment. Our environment analyst, Roger Harrabin will be asking the Tony Blair about his record on climate change and the political controversy over the government's new strategy for getting rid of waste.
Housing
Gordon Brown swept into Number 11, Downing Street ten years ago promising to bring stability to the housing market. In his 1997 budget speech Mr Brown said, "I will not allow house prices to get out of control". Ten years on and they have spiralled leaving tens of thousands of people unable to get onto the first rung of the property ladder.
So - do we need a housing crash? Is some kind of soft landing possible? How many more new houses do we need - and where will they be built? Join the debate here.
Cannes
There have been few Union Jacks flying over the Croisette: in fact the 60th Cannes film festival has been a pretty British film-free zone, apart from two notable exceptions.
Both of them focus on British rock icons - one a biopic, about the lead singer of Joy Division, Ian Curtis, who committed suicide in 1980, and the other, a documentary on the lead singer of the Clash, Joe Strummer, who died aged 50 in 2002. Razia Iqbal reports for Newsnight from Cannes.
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I don't care about green.
I care about the (now former) envoy to the Middle East is a prominent member of the Jewish lobby British and yet we are meant to believe that the UK and US are unbiased when it comes to the Middle East.
I care about the increasing annexation of Palestine, and the fact that it is considered news worthy of the small print on the 大象传媒 website.
I care about receiving news converge that has a consistent air of gullibility, which rubs off on much of the population as naivety and an inability to use reason.
Better choice of stories please.
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Housing is my main issue, i can't afford to work anymore, rent, student loan and bills take most of my wage. seems like iam working for big bussiness, and governemnt, not for myself. i have lost motivation and ambition to work now, i dont see any benefits from work.
i have 2 options 1) look for work in other countries 2) sign on and get benefits.
i've worked 6 years since i graduated and i feel that i havent made any headway.
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Shueb, if you go back through Newsnight's archives I think you'll find that Palestine gets reported on many occasions. You might not like the fact that the Israeli government gets their chance to put their point across, but that's called showing both sides of the story. It may also surprise you that the vast majority of people in the UK care about many different issues, Palestine just being one of them, and green issues stand to affect people in Britain a lot over the coming years.
If you want wall-to-wall anti-Israel vitriol, 大象传媒 News Online isn't the website for you. (Same goes for anyone expecting endless one-sided coverage of a single issue.) There are plenty of other websites for that.
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the funny thing the EAs said there was 500 homes and 5000 people on his books, EAs will have to lower their commission prices in order to get the properties on the books, meaning loss of income and a more competitiveness between them.
infact high house prices arnt good for anyone. Seem EAs have no clue about economics. Soon EAs will start to feel supply and demand in relation to competitiveness, just like any other bussiness.
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Blair isn't green...he's just envious of the attention... the planet makes him feel irrelevant and he wants power to avoid the insecurities of considering contingencies...
Does the planet still work...his party polluted the planet for centuries...and economically repressed many of the ideas of improvement...the white heat of revolution still hasn't dissipated...it must have caused lots of global warming...!?
The nation should invest further in insinkerators...to flush waste through kitchen sinks...
What is needed is a greengauge for people feeling like gooseberries on the subject...
We would find the means to damn the artic circle and causeway from South America to Africa...and groove the deserts for billions of tons of sea water...
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Of course Blair is Green. Actors rarely know much of what they portray. Blair is as green now about how to manage a country (or save a world) as he was when he realised the only stage he might succeed on, was the political one. The actor鈥檚 primary concern is to be believable; aspiring to adulation and rave notices. When the part is: 鈥淧rime Minister of Britain鈥, it is hardly the actor鈥檚 fault if the 鈥渟tory鈥 comes out rather badly. This consummate actor always gets good reviews in America, where audiences are, perhaps, less critical. Small wonder that the USA is his preferred stage.
We too are green. We still fail to see that the party system, plus royal prerogative, will always give us a prancing actor as PM, even as the coastline shrinks and the population swells. Until we vote individuals of integrity and ability into government rather than ambitious 鈥渞osette stands鈥, a constructive, pragmatic approach to green - or any other colour of the rainbow - will remain beyond us.
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Interviewing the Pm on what looks like the set of Jazz Club is one thing but can the interviewer explain his reasons for not wearing a tie? A shocking slipshod of sinking standards.
There are 8 million unregistered properties in the uk that can be claimed by anyone who can be bothered to fill out the Land registry form. I understand this is how vast numbers of migrants manage to live and have become quite expert at securing free property that can then be sold for a pretty penny.
How we shall look forward to Newsnight Review in Cannes. I will buy a tub of ice cream.
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I managed to miss this episode, both live and in the next day online follow-up. Which is frustrating, and also renders me ill-equipped to comment in an informed manner. But as this hasn't stopped most media much these days, here goes.
Noting that now ex-Ethical man a few posts over has managed to generate in excess of 100 replies (to not too many here, bearing in mind this is discussing the enviro-record of the guy who has overseen our green performance for the last decade, and set much that is yet to happen in place) to support his justifications for getting back on air again, as it is relevant I would like to offer one opinion.
In asking 'How Green is Blair', or indeed any person who would seek to tell us how to take on this colourful hue, surely a major factor must be in looking at what they say vs. what they do.
In the case of Mr. Blair the politician, I am presuming the story I missed laid bare his record. I'm sure it was illuminating, and his explanations hand-wringingly sincere and 'adept' at satisfying his and the news media's agendas.
However, I am still trying to reconcile how anyone who doesn't seem to feel what he 'needs' to do (for instance, the global lecture circuit - to pay for a lifestyle choice he and his family seem to enjoy and seek to maintain) as it 'isn't practical not to', is different and exclusive to what the rest of us are facing.
I am prepared to be lead by visionaries, but only those who can also do so by example. Otherwise, they can go fish.
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