Tory backbenchers - and Alan Duncan - push for Cameron to claw back aid money from the European Union

By Matthew Barrett
Follow Matthew on Twitter.

There's something going on. In the Sunday Telegraph today, there is an offensive against wasteful spending of British money by the European Union.

This offensive comes in two parts. The first is from the frontbenches: Alan Duncan, the DfID Minister, complains that the European Union "forces"?his department to hand over taxpayers? money and then spends it however it wishes. The second part is from the backbenches: Tory MPs, "in a plan endorsed both by the Fresh Start Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs and the Open Europe think tank" want David Cameron to demand the return of around ?4.2billion of funding which the EU plans to spend on poorer countries in Europe.

The Alan Duncan story is rather good, because it touches, as the Telegraph notes, both foreign aid and Europe, which is bound to excite the right of the party. The complaint Mr Duncan has is that??1.4 billion of DfID?s budget is sent to the EU for its own schemes, many of which are in countries Britain considers no longer worthy of aid, such as Morocco. Mr Duncan says:

"We share the people?s anger on this. We are forced to give money to the European Union.?We ask them to focus aid on poverty but they don?t, and we have no choice in the matter."

It comes with some strong words from a "senior Tory":

"Brussels insists it does not ?impose? its choice of aid projects on Britain but - in an escalation of hostilities - a senior Conservative separately accused the EU of lying. ?If you want an EU lie, this is a classic one,? said the senior Tory. ?It is a 100 per cent lie. We have been arguing with the EU whenever we can that the money should have a poverty focus.?"

It also contains plenty of juicy examples of what DfID has been "forced" to spend money on: developing Centre Parcs sites in Morocco, sending Lancashire policemen to Jamaica, spending millions to "prepare Iceland for EU membership", and so on.

The Fresh Start story is even better, because rather than being an appeal for DfID to spend aid money in other countries, it's an appeal to repatriate money and keep it in Britain. Fresh Start's complaint is that the "structural funds" (Britain's?contribution, which does not come from DfID, for the period 2007-13 is ?33billion) all members states must pay into are spent on subsidising the poorer regions of Europe.

If that wasn't a silly idea already, one must also take into consideration that these are European structural funds, administered by Brussels, and so have a history of gross mismanagement, fraud, abuse, and so on.?Again, the Telegraph provides the maddening details: millions on an abandoned?"luxury marina" in Madeira, ?10million to subsidise Facebook, and so on.

Tory backbenchers, the newspaper reports, want David Cameron to demand the return of billions of structural funding for the period between 2014 and 2020, which could then be spent, if necessary, in Britain:

"Andrea Leadsom, co-founder of the Fresh Start Group, said: ?Instead of recycling British taxpayers? money throughout the EU we should be taking these decisions at Westminster. This new plan would be a vote winner in the bigger member states, who would benefit from it.?It would be a repatriation of powers that should never have been handed over in the first place.?"

Now, what does all this mean? I don't think it's unreasonable to note that these two campaigns appear to have been launched on the same day. As Paul Goodman noted yesterday,?Justine Greening, the new Secretary of State for International Development has warned against trying to prop up the Euro, and may well be one of the Cabinet's more Eurosceptic voices.

As Tim Montgomerie also noted on Friday, David Cameron basically wants to keep his referendum options open, while also saying things like "I do think what it is increasingly becoming the time for is a new settlement between Britain and Europe". The Fresh Start MPs are smart and well-connected, and will see all of this as an opportunity to push for small, but manageable, steps towards repatriation of powers. What does David Cameron think of witholding aid and structural funding from Europe?

Source: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2012/09/tory-backbenchers-and-alan-duncan-push-for-britain-to-claw-back-aid-money-from-the-european-union.html

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Chicago looking to Twitter for answer to gun problem

CHICAGO ? In an unusual attempt at addressing one of its most vexing problems, the city of Chicago is asking residents with ideas on how to get illegal guns off the streets to share their thoughts ? in 140 characters or fewer on Twitter.

The initiative is part of Chicago Ideas Week, an annual forum for innovators, artists, scientists and others to share ideas, make connections and inspire action. Those who think they know how to cut off the flow of illegal guns coming into Chicago are being asked to tweet suggestions with the hashtag #whatifchicago. The best ideas will be debated at an Oct. 11 panel discussion during Ideas Week that will include police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

The head of Chicago?s Police Department and Mayor Rahm Emanuel have made combating gun violence in the nation?s third largest city a top priority, and are fighting gangs with a strategy that includes deploying beat officers to trouble spots for longer periods. The city also is paying an anti-violence group called CeaseFire $1 million to mediate conflicts in neighborhoods beset by gangs.

Still, homicides, the vast majority of them involving guns, are up sharply from 2011. According to the most recent police statistics, 382 people have been killed as of the middle of September, an increase of 26 percent from last year. Many of the victims are teens.

The Twitter campaign was announced Thursday, during a week in which at least two 17-year-olds were killed by gunshots to the head. One of those accused of pulling the trigger is a 14-year-old boy, police said Saturday.

?This is an issue that impacts everybody,? Ideas Week Director Jessica Malkin told WBBM radio in Chicago.

Many of the tweets so far are from people voicing frustration with violence.

Proposed solutions include more police officers, greater investment in education and keeping gyms open at schools and churches as alternative places for young people to go, especially on weekend nights, when violence typically spikes.

One Twitter user, referring to a Chris Rock routine in which the comedian says the answer is to raise the price of bullets, commented: ?It?s a joke, but what if??

Some suggested incentives for getting people to turn in weapons, including ?GOOD tickets to sports events? or city funds for community gyms.

Another person said universities should offer scholarships to people who renounce their gang affiliations.

Whatever comes out of the discussion, organizers touted the effort as a new way of engaging the public on challenges facing the city.

?This is an outstanding example of the potential power that social media offers city government,? said City of Chicago Social Media Director Kevin Hauswirth.

There are 43 hours, 16 minutes remaining to comment on this story.

Source: http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2012/09/29/chicago-looking-to-twitter-for-answer-to-gun-problem/auolmai/

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PST: Galaxy's tie not good enough to gain ground

Man of the Match

For a guy like Conor Casey, two goals and three assists in 18 games is not where he wants to be. He was coming back off a major injury this year, so it?s only fair to cut the guy some slack for a while. Still, those numbers ?

So it was good to see Casey have a busy and effective night with lots of good hold-up play and more than a few swell passes. There were not a ton of wonderful chances created on either side Sunday, especially not after about 25 minutes, when the air kind of went out of this match. But what Colorado did muster offensively usually went through Casey, who picked up the assist on the Rapids first-half equalizer.

Packaged for take-away

• With Christian Wilhelmsson injured, and with Marcelo Sarvas performing so well lately, bringing David Beckham back into the Galaxy lineup was easy. Sarvas, who had been playing inside in Beckham?s absence, simply slid out to the right in midfield while Beckham re-occupied his usual deep-lying playmaker role alongside Juninho.
• Let?s not take anything away from Sarvas for his solidly hit early goal, but we should acknowledge the criminally poor defending that set up such a fierce start. The Rapids fell asleep on a Galaxy throw-in and then failed to find a bit of urgency in attempts to clear a ball pinging around their penalty area.
• Five minutes later, Galaxy attackers got a little too unselfish, making one pass too many as the Rapids? defense crumbled yet again. Colorado was lucky not to be down by two after 14 minutes.
• Los Angeles looked fairly comfortable, stroking the ball around and not really being pressed out of a comfort zone when Jaime Castrillon?s late run into the penalty area wasn?t picked up by the visiting defenders. His 16th minute equalizer seemed to shake the Rapids from their funk; they were being had up to that moment.
• From there Omar Cummings and right back Hunter Freeman were finding all kinds of room on the right, creating trouble for the visitors, especially after rookie center back Tommy Meyer replaced injured starter A.J. DeLaGarza.
• Let?s hope this isn?t something long-term for DeLaGarza; he needed a lot of help getting off the field.
• Freeman had a strong night; no outside back on either side was more committed to joining the attack. His defensive work was quite adept, too, as the Galaxy presented little trouble down his side.
• Next time one of the Galaxy players complains about not getting the calls, you might like to point out the 68th minute, when Gonzalez took a swing at the ball and completely wiped out Castrillon inside the Galaxy penalty area. Referee Allen Chapman was right behind the play and appeared to have a good look at it, but decided against it.

Source: http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/30/drilling-down-on-at-colorado-1-l-a-galaxy-1/related

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Mars Rover Opportunity working at 'Matijevic Hill'

ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2012) ? NASA's Mars rover Opportunity, well into its ninth year on Mars, will work for the next several weeks or months at a site with some of the mission's most intriguing geological features.

The site, called "Matijevic Hill," overlooks 14-mile-wide (22-kilometer-wide) Endeavour Crater. Opportunity has begun investigating the site's concentration of small spherical objects reminiscent of, but different from, the iron-rich spheres nicknamed "blueberries" at the rover's landing site nearly 22 driving miles ago (35 kilometers).

The small spheres at Matijevic Hill have different composition and internal structure. Opportunity's science team is evaluating a range of possibilities for how they formed. The spheres are up to about an eighth of an inch (3 millimeters) in diameter.

The "blueberries" found earlier are concretions formed by the action of mineral-laden water inside rocks, but that is only one of the ways nature can make small, rounded particles. One working hypothesis, out of several, is that the new-found spherules are also concretions but with a different composition. Others include that they may be accretionary lapilli formed in volcanic ash eruptions, impact spherules formed in impact events, or devitrification spherules resulting from formation of crystals from formerly melted material. There are other possibilities, too.

"Right now we have multiple working hypotheses, and each hypothesis makes certain predictions about things like what the spherules are made of and how they are distributed," said Opportunity's principal investigator, Steve Squyres, of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. "Our job as we explore Matijevic Hill in the months ahead will be to make the observations that will let us test all the hypotheses carefully, and find the one that best fits the observations."

The team chose to refer to this important site as Matijevic Hill in honor of Jacob Matijevic (1947-2012), who led the engineering team for the twin Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity for several years before and after their landings. He worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., from 1981 until his death last month, most recently as chief engineer for surface operations systems of NASA's third-generation Mars rover, Curiosity. In the 1990s, he led the engineering team for the first Mars rover, Sojourner.

A different Mars rover team, operating Curiosity, has also named a feature for Matijevic: a rock that Curiosity recently investigated about halfway around the planet from Matijevic Hill.

"We wouldn't have gotten to Matijevic Hill, eight-and-a-half years after Opportunity's landing, without Jake Matijevic," Squyres said.

Opportunity's project manager, John Callas, of JPL, said, "If there is one person who represents the heart and soul of all three generations of Mars rovers -- Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity -- it was Jake."

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Opportunity, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov .

You can follow the project on Twitter and on Facebook at: http://twitter.com/MarsRovers and http://www.facebook.com/mars.rovers .

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/FKH4xH4JmTk/120930160414.htm

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Supreme Court rejects appeal on airport scanners

6 hrs.

Jonathan Stempel

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a Michigan blogger's challenge of the use of full-body scanners and thorough pat-downs at airport checkpoints.

Without comment, the court declined to take up Jeffrey Corbett's complaint that the Transportation Security Administration's use of the screening techniques violated passengers' protection against illegal searches under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The TSA had in October 2010 directed the use of the scanners, sometimes known as advanced imaging technology, which some critics fear could emit too much radiation.

In addition, the TSA authorized enhanced pat-downs, which could include the touching of genitals, buttocks and breasts, for passengers unwilling to go through the scanners. Passengers who rejected both procedures would not be allowed to fly.

Corbett, who maintains the "TSA Out of Our Pants!" blog, complained that the TSA lacked unilateral authority to adopt the procedures.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta had rejected Corbett's case, saying a lower court correctly concluded that it did not have jurisdiction to review a TSA order.

The case is Corbett v. U.S., U.S. Supreme Court, No. 11-1413.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/supreme-court-rejects-appeal-airport-scanners-6206531

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'Labour has lost one of its sharpest thinkers': Tributes paid to former energy minister Malcolm Wicks who has died aged 65

• Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband lead the tributes
• Conservative and Lib Dem ministers hail the 65-year-old as 'a man of great wit and humanity'

By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor

PUBLISHED: 03:03 EST, 30 September 2012 | UPDATED: 05:28 EST, 30 September 2012

Tributes have been paid to one of the Labour party's 'great thinkers' following the death of former minister Malcolm Wicks at the age of 65.

Ex-Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were joined by Ed Miliband and a string of politicians from across the political divide in mourning the 65-year-old's death from cancer.

Mr Blair praised his 'wonderful colleague' who was 'immensely popular across he political divide'.

Former minister Malcolm Wicks died of cancer at the age of 65. Tributes have flooded in for him

He added that Mr Wicks 'had a very basic principle that guided his life: to do what he could for others, to serve, to be committed and to work hard for causes that were always about helping those who needed it most'.

'He had complete integrity in all he did and both as an MP for Croydon and a minister was immensely popular across the political divide. He will be greatly missed.'

The Croydon North MP, who served as a minister for nine years in the Labour government, was described by Mr Brown as 'a great thinker, writer, campaigner and parliamentarian'.

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Mr Miliband, the Labour leader, said he was a 'thoroughly decent, intelligent and compassionate man' whose death yesterday left a 'huge hole' in the party.

'He was a brilliant energy minister, he was a deep thinker about welfare and pensions, and Labour to his core,' Mr Miliband said.

'Malcolm was also a dedicated constituency MP, always putting the needs of his Croydon constituents first. He was a brilliant campaigner.

'The way he handled his illness tells you everything about the man. He showed huge dignity and also kept on thinking, writing and advising right to the end.

Ed Miliband, the leader of opposition Labour Party, paid tribute to Mr Wicks

Malcolm Wicks, MP for North Croydon, served as a minister in a variety of briefs, including education, pensions and science

'I have lost a wise confidant and most importantly a dear friend and the Labour Party has lost one of its sharpest thinkers. Our thoughts go to Malcolm's wife, Margaret, and his family.'

Mr Wicks, a former chairman of the education select committee, served as a minister in a variety of briefs, including education, pensions and science.

But he will be best remembered for his two stints as energy minister, and after leaving government was appointed by Mr Brown as the Prime Minister's special representative on energy issues.

The married father and grandfather stepped down from the government in 2008 and was re-elected with an increased majority of nearly 16,500 at the 2010 general election.

Mr Brown said last night: 'Tonight we mourn the passing of Malcolm Wicks, who was a great thinker, writer, campaigner and parliamentarian.

'He was a passionate advocate of social justice, a conscientious constituency MP and a great minister in the Labour government.

'I talked to him during his long period of ill-health and I marvelled at his courage and tenacity in fighting his illness. He will be sorely missed and our thoughts are with his family.'

And there were tributes to from across the political spectrum.

Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary, said: 'As well as being a respected parliamentarian, Malcolm's knowledge and passion on energy issues commanded huge respect, and we are all the poorer for his passing.'

Eric Pickles, the Conservative Communities Secretary, said on Twitter that he was 'very sad to learn of the death of Malcolm Wicks, he was a man of great wit and humanity.'

Tory Welsh Secretary David Jones hailed Mr Wicks as 'a gentleman in every sense'.

Gavin Barwell, Conservative MP for neighbouring Croydon Central, said: 'A great MP for Croydon North and good friend. Drive home from SW1 won't be the same without him.'

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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210714/Labour-lost-sharpest-thinkers-Tributes-paid-energy-minister-Malcolm-Wicks-died-aged-65.html?ITO=1490

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Video: Oregon-Washington St. pregame

September, 29, 2012

Sep 29

9:30

PM ET

By ESPN.com staff | ESPN.com

Previewing the Washington State-Oregon game from CenturyLink Field in Seattle.

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/67023/video-oregon-washington-st-pregame

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