Direct Line with Vladimir Putin: The weird tradition of the Russian President’s annual phone-in April 16, 2015 If you're into Russian politics, tonight is one of the highlights of the political year: Direct Line with Vladimir Putin will air on Russian TV – the Russian President's annual marathon chat show, during which he takes questions put to him by the Russian public for the 13th time. It's an annual tradition dating back [...]
Greek debt gets downgraded as Yanis Varoufakis heads to Washington April 15, 2015 Greece’s debt was downgraded further into junk territory yesterday while Germany’s finance minister cast doubt on hopes that a deal on more funding for the country could be struck next week. Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s downgraded the country’s debt further into junk to CCC+/C from B-/B. “Without deep economic reform or further relief, we [...]
Jean-Claude Juncker must wake up: Only Treaty change will keep Britain in the EU April 15, 2015 A common theme in all the party manifestos this week has been a commitment to EU reform – aside from Ukip, which would like Britain to leave immediately. And many of the reforms proposed are familiar: overhauling the disastrous Common Agricultural Policy, ending the EU Parliament’s travelling circus, and completing the Single Market have been [...]
TV leaders’ debate: Nicola Sturgeon biggest winner on Facebook from last debate but Cameron still dominates the conversation April 15, 2015 Nicola Sturgeon was the big winner on social media, more than doubling her Facebook interactions following the leaders' TV debate. According to new data released by Facebook, in the six days following the debate which Sturgeon was widely perceived to have won, the number of posts, comments and likes concerning the Scottish first minister rocketed, [...]
Leaders’ interviews: David Cameron faces down accusation that Tories are party of the rich April 15, 2015 David Cameron has taken on the charge that his party is one that stands for the rich. In the second round of leaders' interviews, conducted by Newsnight's Evan Davis, the Prime Minister said the charge of standing up for the wealthy made him "more angry than almost anything else". When asked whether he agreed with some [...]
General Election 2015: Is the Labour Party divided as Chuka Umunna splits with Ed Miliband on 50p tax rate? April 15, 2015 Labour's shadow business secretary has left the door open to a future Labour government dropping the 50p top rate of income tax once the deficit is significantly reduced. The 50p rate was introduced during the dying days of Gordon Brown's government and was later cut by the coalition to 45p. The 50p rate was popular [...]
General Election 2015: Nicola Sturgeon hits out at Ukip manifesto pledge to scrap Barnett Formula April 15, 2015 SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has hit back at Nigel Farage wanting to replace the Barnett Formula. The Barnett Formula is the mechanism devised in the late 1970s that decides how much cash will be doled out to each nation of the UK on the basis of population and which powers have been devolved. Ukip's manifesto [...]
Meg Whitman, Sheryl Sandberg and Marissa Mayer: These are the richest women in tech April 15, 2015 Women at the top of tech industry are raking in billions. Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman is the top earner with an estimated net worth of $1.3bn (£800m). The bulk of her handsome remuneration package comes from profits from the sales of her shares in eBay, which she led between 1998 and 2008 during a period of [...]
This video posted by Elon Musk shows SpaceX’s Falcon rocket booster very nearly landing on a tiny platform in the middle of the ocean April 15, 2015 Disappointment all round at SpaceX HQ yesterday, when a rocket booster launched by the company didn't quite touch down properly on a pad – dubbed "Just Read the Instructions" thanks to the mantra printed on it – floating 50 miles out to sea. The rocket booster, which had just come from launching an International Space [...]
General Election 2015: How are Ukip and Nigel Farage doing in the “people’s army’s” target seats? April 15, 2015 Last year Ukip’s plans to storm to 12 seats at this year’s General Election were revealed, but as the election draws near, how is the party faring across those constituencies? Ukip won its first MP in October when Douglas Carswell won a landslide victory in Clacton. This was followed up by a less decisive, but [...]