The Wardman Wire

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Here is todays roundup of stories.

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Comment

Marina Hyde (Comment is Free)

- This new geography is about far more than scree

There is an urgent need to put this beleaguered subject back in its place as an instrument of national ambitions

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Comment is Free)

- Poultry is not a class issue

I believe that there is a continued need for a domestic poultry industry that can deliver good value chicken at a keen price for a massive popular market. But basic welfare reform is an urgent matter.

News

FT (FT) – Bush outlines $140bn stimulus package

President George W. Bush on Friday outlined a $140bn fiscal stimulus plan involving temporary tax relief for both consumers and companies in a bid to keep the US economy out of recession.

Andrew Parker (FT) – iPhone sales miss UK target

O2 said shortly before the iPhone’s UK launch on November 9 that it expected handset sales of 200,000 in the first two months, but people familiar with the situation said the actual figure for the first eight weeks was about 190,000.

NYT (NYT) – Google Offers a Map for Its Philanthropy

Google will spend up to $175 million in its first round of grants and investments over the next three years, officials said. What do you think of Google’s brand of philanthropy, which includes for-profit investments?

BBC (BBC) – English test call for fat cats

The Lib Dems have attacked the government for waiving English language tests for foreign investors. Potential investors with £1m or more in the bank can stay for three years without learning the language.

BBC (BBC) – Church elects Paisley successor

The Free Presbyterian Church has met in Dungannon to elect a successor to Ian Paisley, its moderator for almost 57 years.

Economist (Economist)

- A little-known part of America’s capital markets could cause huge problems

AMERICAN big bond insurers, which have underwritten some $2.4 trillion of private and public-sector bonds, usually go about their business largely unnoticed. But now they are looking distinctly wobbly they have started to attract attention.

Randeep Ramesh (Guardian) – The new Asian tiger poised to match China

Anil Ambani will overtake his older brother Mukesh to become the country’s richest man with a fortune of more than $60bn leter this month.

Patrick Wintour and Will Woodward (Guardian) – Climate blame for India as Brown praises Chinese role

Environment minister says Delhi not yet putting shoulder to wheel on emissions

Thair Shaikh (Guardian) – MoD loses personal details of 600,000 potential recruits

The personal details of 600,000 people who had expressed an interest in joining the armed forces have gone missing after a laptop belonging to a Royal Navy officer was stolen, the Ministry of Defence said last night.

Martin Wainwright (Guardian) – Severn valley braced for weekend of flooding

The latest forecasts last night suggested that most of the area would be spared, but the Environment Agency warned that intense bursts of rain could overwhelm some defences, and contingency planning was in hand.

GAIL COLLINS (Mail) – Pupils plagiarise so much that we receive essays with adverts accidentally copied from internet

More than half of teachers believe that plagiarism is a major problem among A-level pupils, a teaching union warned yesterday.

NYT (NYT) – White House Study Found 473 Days of E-Mail Gone

The White House possesses no archived e-mail messages for many of its component offices, including the Executive Office of the President and the Office of the Vice President, for hundreds of days between 2003 and 2005, according to the summary of an internal White House study that was disclosed yesterday by a congressional Democrat.

Sky (Sky) – Fed Up Rail Commuters Go On Strike

Fed up rail commuters have announced their intention to hold a fare strike by showing inspectors specially printed protest tickets instead of real ones.

Andrew Porter (Telegraph) – Gordon Brown’s historic trade deal with China

On the first day of his trip to China, the Prime Minister said he wanted 100 Chinese firms locating in Britain by 2010.

David Charter (Times Online) – All the best EU jobs are stitched up by men, complains the top woman

The most prestigious public jobs in Europe, according to the EU’s most powerful woman official, are being stitched up behind the scenes by a mysterious male elite to the exclusion of women.

Adam Sherwin (Times Online) – Carla Bruni, teams up with Mike Batt, the man who gave us The Wombles

President Sarkozy will be sharing house room at the Élysée Palace with the songwriter and producer Mike Batt, who has agreed to become Ms Bruni’s muse. (The Times, downmarket? How dare you).

Obituary

Independent (Independent) – Bobby Fischer: Chess Player

Robert James Fischer, chess player: born Chicago 9 March 1943; World Chess Champion 1972-75; died Reykjavik 17 January 2008.

Scotland

BBC (BBC) – Party people confront new realities

When the next chapter in the devolution story is written, Room B at One Parliament Street London SW1 may deserve more than a passing mention.

Wales

BBC (BBC) – £40m foot-and-mouth bill

The foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2007 may have cost Welsh farmers more than £40m, a Welsh assembly committee has found.

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