A journalists' guide to the week ahead provided for Press Gazette by Foresight News.
Chancellor George Osborne addresses the Tory party conference on Monday, the same day that the Draft Banking Reform Bill lands. The legislation, based on the Vickers report, is set to contain measures to bolster regulation of the ‘Wild West’ financial services sector. Will the Government one-up Labour’s promise to force the full separation of ‘boring’ retail and ‘casino’ investment banking, or will the Chancellor give an easy ride to the UK’s errant economic powerhouse?
In more Tory conference fun, media-shy London Mayor Boris Johnson will give Prime Minister David Cameron a no-doubt welcome 46th birthday present when he sets out his address to conference on Tuesday. The PM himself will deliver his set-piece speech on Wednesday, the day after new Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt makes his first speech since a surprising appointment in last month’s reshuffle.
Nominations for candidates in November’s Police and Crime Commissioner elections open on Monday, amid concern about less-than-impressive turnout. Candidates who’ve confirmed they’re standing include former Labour heavyweight John Prescott, whose hands-on approach to justice is well-known.
Tuesday sees the release of some key economic indicators. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) publishes harmonised unemployment rates for the world’s major economies on the same day that UK Trade statistics for August 2012 promise to confirm that we continue to make very little of worth.
An update is likely on Wednesday in relation to defence giant BAE Systems’ proposed merger with Dutch military behemoth EADS, a deal which could see the creation of the world’s biggest defence manufacturer, much to the annoyance of sticklers for legal accountability.
Radical cleric Abu Qatada faces a Special Immigration Appeals Tribunal hearing on Wednesday, which is expected to run for ten days and follows much calendar-based disagreement between the Theresa May and the European Court of Human Rights earlier this year, or on Home Office Time, last year. Qatada had his appeal against his deportation to Jordan on terror charges rejected by the ECHR, but remains in the UK as part of sustained campaign to outrage tabloid newspapers.
The US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee expects to grill State Department officials on Wednesday over the September 11 attack on the US Embassy in Libya. The attack, which left US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead, has raised questions about the government’s grasp on foreign policy at the worst possible moment for re-election hopeful Barack Obama.
Meanwhile, in Moscow on Wednesday, punk protest act Pussy Riot continue their adjourned appeal against their onerous two year sentence for aggravated hooliganism, handed down back in August. Although the group’s lawyers have questioned whether the appeal will amount to much, noted proportionate response-fan Vladimir Putin has appealed for sanity.
On Thursday, we’ll get the first and only chance to see always-on-message Joe ‘Stand up Chuck’ Biden square off against Paul Ryan in the US Vice Presidential debate, taking place in Danville, Kentucky. Republicans will be hoping that the young gun Ryan can build on the momentum gained from Romney’s strong performance against Obama in the first of their three debates ahead of the November 6 election.
On the other side of the world, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde holds a press conference to kick off the IMF/World Bank annual meetings in Tokyo, with the seemingly interminable crisis in the eurozone and looming fiscal cliff in the United States continuing to overshadow any prospect of the global economy ever improving. Both issues are likely to be discussed at length when finance ministers from the G7 hold a working dinner that evening.
On Friday we have the announcement of the winner of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.
On a different note, Andrew Mitchell is scheduled to meet on Friday with representatives of the Police Federation.
Back in Tokyo, Lagarde is holding a debate with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble on the global economy. Finally, Friday sees embattled banking whale JP Morgan release its third quarter earnings.
Saturday is former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher’s 87th birthday, traditionally celebrated with a brief appearance before the press.
Finally on Sunday, Russia holds local elections while Lithuanians go to the polls in parliamentary elections that are expected to see the country’s current government ousted from power.
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