News from the UK, this February 12,2009.
A decision to ban a controversial Dutch film-maker from showing his anti- Muslim film in the House cords led to a diplomatic Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, vowed to press ahead with his visit today despite being banned from entering Britain by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, on Tuesday night. Smith’s decision prompted Maxime Verhagen, the Dutch foreign minister, to telephone David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, to say he was “deeply upset and disappointed” by Britain’s refusal a to allow entry to a Dutch parliamentarian “from a fellow EU country”. Critics said the decision to ban Mr Wilders contrasted with the Home Secretary’s is decision to allow Mousawi, the chief spokesman for the Lebanese group Hizbollah, to enter Britain last May and address meetings organised by the Stop the War Coalition despite being banned from entering France and Ireland. Mr Wilders, 45, had been invited by Lord Pearson, of Ukip, to show his anti-Islam film Fitna and hold a question-and-answer session. However, a letter from the Home Office to Mr Wilders said that in the view of Miss Smith “your presence in the UK would pose a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society”. It carried on that Miss Smith was “satisfied your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film Fitna and elsewhere, would threaten community harmony and therefore public security in the UK”. 17-minute film, which likens Islam to Nazism and links it to terrorist attacks, has been described as “offensively anti-Islamic” by Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General. Mr Wilders said he was intent on boarding a flight to London today. “I hoped my political friends in Britain were closer to Churchill’s, policies against threats to the country rather than Chamberlain’s appeasement policies,” he said.
“If they want to put me in handcuffs, a Dutch parliamentarian and party leader, and send me back to the Netherlands, so be it.
And Gordon Brown distanced himself from his former adviser Sir James Crosby yesterday, who resigned suddenly from the City’s regulatory body amid claims he was responsible for the collapse of HBOS. The word in Whitehall was that Sir James had jumped before he was pushed. His resignation as deputy chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) was announced just 30 minutes before Mr Brown answered Prime Minister’s Questions. Sir James insisted he would defend himself against allegations by a sacked whistleblower that he ignored warnings about HBOS’s reckless expansion when he was its chief executive. It is thought the Government made it clear he should stand down while he tried to clear his name to ensure public confidence in the FSA.
And The Pound slid sharply against all major world currencies after the Bank of England Governor announced he was poised to embark on “unconventional measures” to pump cash into the economy as soon as this week. Mervyn King said the Bank would start buying commercial paper this week and would most probably move on to full-scale quantitative easing, which involves buying securities but printing money to pay for it, soon after. In a further surprise, Mr King said the Bank was prepared to buy government debt in an effort to bring the economy back on track – something which, so far, neither the Federal Reserve nor the European Central Bank has embarked on. He said: “Projections imply that further easing in monetary policy may be required. That is likely to include actions aimed at increasing the supply of money in order to stimulate nominal spending.” He added that the Bank would consider buying gilts – government bonds as part of the scheme.
And that’s just a little of what went on in the rest of the world and particularly the UK, this February 12, 2009 as reported by PM from BBC Radio 4.
