Times Labour is warned of May Day humiliation in the local elections Tony Travers, a local government expert at the London School of Economics, predicts that Labour could fall to 25 per cent or less, with the Tories getting backing from more than 40 per cent of voters and the Liberal Democrats just above Labour on 26 or 27 per cent. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3754119.ece
Guardian Pushing up ratings Letter to the editor from Professor Julian LeGrand, LSE. (Source: Lexis)
LA Times Britain's Gordon Brown could use a warm welcome in US Brown's political problems, at least those at home, are in some ways problems of perception, said Rodney Barker, head of the department of government at the London School of Economics. ‘When he was chancellor and he became prime minister, people thought, Gordon Brown - yes, unspectacular but steady, reliable, trustworthy, workmanlike, down to earth,’ he said. ‘But when you go off him, you look at exactly the same characteristics and you say: boring, unimaginative, uninspiring, lacking in charisma.’ http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-brown16apr16,1,5228293.story
China Post Tibet is marring China's rise The outrage in China, especially among the young, can be read on flooded Internet bulletin boards, all carrying virulent anti-foreign sentiments, the Singaporean leader told a forum at the London School of Economics last week. http://www.chinapost.com.tw/editorial/world%20issues/2008/04/16/152071/Tibet-is.htm
Mail and Guardian Online, South Africa The Rudd stuff Speaking at the London School of Economics Rudd acknowledged Australia’s growing dependency on China’s markets, where demand for iron ore, uranium, coal and wheat is fuelling the 17th consecutive year of Australian growth, budget surpluses and rising incomes. Concerns have been raised over Chinese moves to buy controlling stakes in Australian companies. http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=336954&area=/insight/insight__international/
Late-edition headlines
BBC News Online (13 April) Climate change crisis The climate change treaty negotiated at Kyoto in 1997 has been ratified by 172 nations. But some experts argue that as an instrument for achieving emissions reductions it has failed. But Professor Gwyn Prins from the London School of Economics believes that President Bush was right to refuse to go down the Kyoto road. And he's arguing that a radical new approach has to be adopted at the G8 summit this summer in Japan in Hokkaido. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_westminster_hour/7345416.stm
Straits Times (12 April) Why torch protests are a bad move Mr Lee said the protests will have no impact on China's policy in Tibet or against dissidents. 'No government can give ground on any core issue under such public duress, whatever the merits of the argument,' he said at the London School of Economics (LSE) Asia Forum. His comments drew a rebuttal at the same forum from LSE professor of human rights Conor Gearty, who described the protests as part of the guarantee for human rights. 'I am proud of the chaos that surrounds the flame because protest is, to use the Prime Minister's own terms, the way we challenge great minds. It is a new way of revealing basic truths,' Professor Gearty said. http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_226198.html
