The Times’s David Aaronovitch says that the political class now refuses to put the positive case for immigration:
It is utterly false to say that we haven’t talked about immigration. Many of our newspapers do very little but talk about it. They don’t “debate” it because their operating assumption, like Mr Field’s, is that it is bad; it overwhelms us; floods us; swamps us; it swarms in Sangatte, until it is closed, then infests “the Jungle”.
No other point of view is put, just as Mr Straw failed to put it on Thursday, as he dangled between denial and defence.
The Independent’s Steve Richards argues that George Osborne was wrong to claim that capping bank bonuses would make more loans available:
There is no evidence to suggest that if banks had a bit more spare cash in the form of shares they would make more loans available. Most banks are not strapped for cash at the moment, but are still reluctant to lend. It is one of the new perversities in banking. There is no correlation between the amount of cash available and their willingness to lend.
The Financial Times’s Gideon Rachman says that, as there is no democratic mandate for the post, the EU is not ready for a high-profile president:
Blair would be presented as a real “president of Europe” — able to speak on equal terms with Barack Obama of the US or Hu Jintao of China.
But if Mr Blair turned up in Beijing claiming to be president of Europe, the only thing that he would have in common with Hu Jintao is that they would both lack a democratic mandate. Ordinary Europeans would be justified in asking by what right the unelected Mr Blair speaks for them. The former prime minister remains a deeply controversial figure in much of Europe because of his support for the Iraq war.
In the New York Times, Roger Cohen discusses his meeting with David Miliband and says that Britain’s resolve in Afghanistan appears to be greater than that of the US:
These were the convictions behind Brown’s decision earlier this month to send 500 more British troops to Afghanistan, bringing the contingent to 9,500 — a decision the prime minister expected to be “consistent with what the Americans will decide.”
The reinforcement was about one quarter of what British generals had requested. In the US case, Gen Stanley McChrystal has asked for about 40,000 more troops. Doing the math on a “consistent” basis suggests a substantial American reinforcement short of McChrystal’s request will eventually be announced by the White House.
The Guardian’s leader defends baboons from the rifle of A A Gill:
A few million years ago baboons and human beings were more closely related than now. At some point the species diverged, with one line evolving into hominids and, ultimately, restaurant critics. The other line has remained in Africa, living in simple but rather admirable societies where intelligence and advanced social skills are highly valued. Respect to the baboon.
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