“Internet search reAults linked to child abuse are to be blocked across the world in a stunning U-turn by Google. … The company’s chairman Eric Schmidt, writing in today’s Daily Mail ahead of a Downing Street summit on internet pornography says: ‘We’ve listened.’ … David Cameron, in an interview with this newspaper, said the move ‘represented a really significant step forward’ but was not enough – and threatened legislation if the firms refuse to do more.” – Daily Mail
“David Cameron has ordered spy agency GCHQ to break into the secret internet networks of paedophiles.” – The Sun (£)
“Britain and the United States will join forces to tackle child abuse online, David Cameron will announce today at a Downing Street summit” – The Independent
“A leading public health expert’s proposal to lower the age of consent to 15 has been swiftly rejected by the Prime Minister … Downing Street shot down the idea, saying the age at 16 was in place to protect children and there were ‘no plans to change it’.” – Daily Mail
“Militant union bosses last night warned their members not to ‘collaborate’ with a government inquiry into the use of bully-boy tactics in industrial disputes. … [S]enior Liberal Democrats also voiced concerns, saying they would not allow the review – which they insist will also examine tactics used by some companies – to become an exercise in ‘union bashing’.” – Daily Mail
“Government borrowing is on course to fall up to £20 billion below expectations this year, handing Chancellor George Osborne a major boost ahead of next month’s Autumn Statement. … Economic watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility is this week expected to slash its borrowing forecasts for the year from £120 billion to as little as £100 billion.” – Daily Mail
“The Free Enterprise Group, an alliance of Tory MPs from the right of the party, dominated by those in the 2010 intake, believe that the personal allowance is not an immediate priority and will set out alternatives today. … Dominic Raab, a leading member of the group, said that another rise in the personal allowance would be unwelcome because it does little to help the middle classes, who have increasingly been dragged into the top rate of tax.” – The Times (£)
“An influential group of Conservative MPs will today call for stamp duty to be scrapped on all homes worth less than £500,000. … The change would be included as part of a package of tax cuts to help Britain’s middle classes.” – Daily Mail
> Today on ToryDiary: Any tax cuts should help poorer workers first
> Yesterday on ToryDiary: Lib Dems lack credibility on tax cuts
“International Development Secretary Justine Greening is under fire within Government for her ‘flat-footed’ response to the Philippines typhoon. … A senior Tory source said Miss Greening has been slow to grasp the enormity of typhoon Haiyan and appeared out of touch with the public over a disaster that has touched the hearts of millions in this country.” – Daily Mail
“International Development Secretary Justine Greening said Britain should carry on handing out 0.7 per cent of its annual wealth in the next Parliament. … But Tory MP Douglas Carswell, who grew up in Africa, said: “The 0.7 per cent target is a number plucked out of thin air by experts over a generation ago.” – The Sun (£)
“There is another way of doing things. The way to treat a charity’s beneficiary is not as a liability but as an undeveloped asset. Rather than focusing endlessly on an offender’s crimes, or an addict’s drug of choice, we should focus on what the individual in question is good at – and invest in that. We find that this way, the offending or the addiction reduces naturally.” – Danny Kruger, The Times (£)
“Tory support in the North has dropped further and the party is set to fare as badly there as in Scotland, a poll reveals. … The party’s support in the region has dropped from 31 per cent to 29 per cent, with Labour, whose fortunes have improved in recent weeks, strengthening in its northern heartlands.” – Daily Mail
“It is through their restless concupiscent energy and sheer wealth-creating dynamism that we pay for an ever-growing proportion of public services. The top one per cent of earners now pay 29.8 per cent of all the income tax and National Insurance received by the Treasury.” – Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph
“The UK Independence Party will receive a multi-million pound boost before next year’s European elections after winning support from one of Britain’s wealthiest businessmen. … Paul Sykes, a self-made tycoon and veteran of the campaign to keep the pound 15 years ago, has promised to do ‘whatever it takes’ to help Ukip top the polls in May.” – Daily Telegraph
Read the Daily Telegraph’s full interview with Paul Sykes
“We are doing massive economic damage in the UK. We need to scrap all the current green taxes and subsidy schemes from new projects. We need urgently to develop gas exploration and recovery here in the UK. We need an energy generation system based on proven, reliable, grown-up technologies: coal, gas and nuclear. But, of course, we can’t do these things as long as we’re bound by last-century thinking and regulation from Brussels.” – Nigel Farage, The Independent
“At last, a Plan B to stop global warming” – Bjorn Lomborg, The Times (£)
> Today on the Deep End: How much oxygen for Nigel Farage? An important constitutional question
“Rip-off insurance firms are raiding the pensions of millions of older workers while failing to offer a decent income from the investment, experts claimed last night. … Pensions minister Steve Webb has accused the firms involved of making ‘excess profits’ in a scandal likened to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance.” – Daily Mail
> Today, by Malcolm Small on Comment: The pension system needs urgent reform
“Miliband will draw attention to the ‘childcare crunch’ in a speech on Monday by pointing out that the average cost of a weekly nursery place for a child aged two or over for 25 hours a week has gone up to £107 in 2013, from £82 in 2010.” – The Guardian
“Failing to build HS2 would be ‘disastrous for the British economy’, unions have warned the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, on the back of fears that he is undermining Labour support for the rail scheme.” – The Guardian
“More than half of all reported child sex crimes are being dropped by police, The Sun can reveal. … Just 49 per cent of allegations were referred by cops to prosecutors in 2013 – the lowest figure in years. … Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper – who exposed the figures in questions to ministers – branded them ‘shocking and deeply disturbing’ last night.” – The Sun (£)
“NHS consultants should work on weekends because it is ‘wrong’ for patients to be at greater risk on Saturdays and Sundays, a report has said. … The Academy of Royal Colleges says drastic changes should be made to the running of hospitals so that senior staff, emergency tests and urgent surgery are quickly accessible each day.” – Daily Mail
“Raising the adult minimum wage in London to £6.75 per hour – 44p higher than the national minimum wage rate – would help tackle poverty without causing job losses, according to a report by the Centre for London think-tank.” – Financial Times
“An investigation by The Independent has found a plethora of lobbying firms which are hiring out their services to executives facing cross examination by select committees. The companies offer to put witnesses through most examinations, draft likely questions and provide clients with inside information on the ‘motivations and objectives’ of the committees and the MPs who sit on them.” – The Independent
“David Cameron is being forced to wear New Zealand flag cufflinks after losing a bet over England’s defeat to the All Blacks. … He had a wager on the game – which ended in 22-30 defeat at Twickenham on Saturday – with Kiwi PM John Key.” – The Sun (£)