Rooney goes stateside

Rooney to miss the derby and will go to the States for a weeks conditioning work. Is it conditioning work or are United paying for marriage councelling, whatever it's more than a touch bizarre and won't stop certain the rumours that is he won't be staying long term.Carrick is happy with his and United's form but tells us that United aren't getting carried away ahead of next weeks derby. One game at a a time, We have got beat Wolves tomorrow. Phelan says that Nani is not as bad as first thought and could be fit to face City next week, whilst there is a chance that Giggs could be back for that as well. We need Nani back badly and having Giggs available would be very handy as well.

Even though it doesn't feel like it, this is a record start for United in the premier league, beating their prvious best of going the first nine games unbeaten, we are so farunbeaten for the first ten. As long as it reaches twelve i will be happy.

Evra challenges Obertan to reach his potential and establish himself at Manchester United. Whilst his compatriots at home woner whether he will ever live up to the promise he showed as a youth at the Clairefonataine academy.

United are linked with yet another goalkeeper, this time Rangers Allan McGregor. He may be a good keeper, i haven't seen him enough of him to comment, but mention of Scottish goalies can't help but bring back painful memories of Jim Leighton.

Becks wants to make a permanent home in the States. That makes me laugh when you think of how he put England above United towards the time end of his career at United. Not that i care, one way or the other, in fact it's probably his natural home.

Andy Bull looks back to the Stanford affair, which the cricketing powers that be would rather forget ever happened.

Vince Cable has referred News Corps bid for BSkyB to Ofcom on public interest grounds. It's a good job, i don't know whther i will vote fot the lib dems again at the next electio yet, but i do know if the bid had been waived through they would definitely have lost it. This could be the one thing that makes the coalition worth the grief of watching liberals going along with a right wing economic agenda.
Nick Robinson writes that Vince Cable has taken this decision on his own head, he could have waived it through and made life easier for him and for the coalition. To which the answer must be, why would you bother entering politics if you shy away from doing the right thing in exchange for an easy life.
FT/Westminster thinks that Cameon may well have made the decision himself if he hadn't tied down by his coalition partner, and old Rupe will see through the crocodile tears from the tories. Will we ever find out, i'm sure there are tories who understand thatmedia plurality is a neccesity in a democracy, but there are fellow travellers who more than see eye to eye with much of Murdoch's world view.
John Simpson thinks half of Murdoch's hopes have already been enacted for him by the government with the latest license fee deal. I have to say i was surprised how little cynicism there was over that deal. Obviously i wasn't expecting the labour party to make any waves. They have been pretty mealy mouthed over Murdoch's attempted buy out of BSkyB. As Michael White explains right at the end of this piece about Danny Alexander's appearance before the select treasury committee the details the difference between what darling proposed to cut and what the coalition are proposing to cut isn't as big as labour are pretending at the moment. It seems to me that the opposition have decided to let the government hang themselves if and when they have to execute an economic u-turn.

Charlemagne describes the last Euro summit as a triumph for Anglea Merkel and for her vision of Europe. Timothy Garton Ash thinks that even though Germany has started to act in its own interests in its European startegy, as that summit presaged, the rest of Europe is still better off with the modern Germany at the heart of Europe.  David Gow thinks the German recovery of the last decade offers lessons for Britain's political class.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard gives an example of the short term or even long term damage that Merkel's European vision could leave us with, with this warning that Ireland's economy is at the end of a cliff. Ex German foreign minister Joschka Fischer thinks that Merkel isn't leading the European debate but is being driven by domestic politics. Going of the recent past the last reading of events by Fischer sounds the most plausible to me.
Steve Richards thinks last weeks summit and the response to Cameron's performance by tory Euro sceptic and the opposition alike show that Europe has ceased to be a fault line in British politics. I thinks its way too soon to say that, and it would seem i am not alone. What happens if the economy does tank and the tensions between the tory right and Cameron's circle fester into the open. Peter Oborne thinks he may be on to something and thinks this revolutionary coalition government has just had its best week yet.
Benedict Brogan seems to me to be even more far fetched in imagining Cameron can use Obama's weakness to enact a modern version of the big four western powers.
In other European news, Italy suffers more deserved embarrassment at the hands of its beloved head pimp. It is a stain on that country that he has led Italy for so long. It just makes the country hard to take seriously.

Paul Mason explains where the global economy finds itself as the US Fed gets ready to start another round of QE. What is clear is the US economy is in trouble as Jermy Warner warns they are risking devaluing the one asset that singles them out as the global super power. It seems to me they are just hastening the inevitable in a bid to save the economy short term as they know the US political class are not up to the task. There will be a big reckoning in that country one day when they realise what has happened to it since the Berlin wall came down. From the moment the wall came down and the free market was left supposedly all conquering it has been downhill at a pretty amazing speed. The British empire was brought low by two massively draining world wars that vitually bankrupted the country from 1914 to 1945. The USA seem to be about cede it's place as the pre-eminent world power through a series of self inflicted goals over a similar amount of time.
Kevin Gallagher warns that this will harm developing countries and ultimately win the US few friends.
Joseph Stiglitz seems to have joined Paul Krugman in thinking that further QE will not be the answer and that it could lead to the currency wars that will drag the global economy helping no one and helping to send us back to the thirties.

The withdrawl from his previous state of strength begins for Obama as he signals a possible compromise on tax cuts. The democracy in America column in the economist signalled a shift to two years of nothing the day after the Democrats mauling on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, even though that will do fuck all for the people of the States who voted for Obama and expected him to do something for them, which he has conspicuosly failed to do so far, that could be a boon to his long term chances of landing a second term. So far it has to be said it would be a second term he doesn't deserve. It's just for a liberal where is the alternative.
Johann Hari describes the USA that the American population have voted for. It has to be said, at the end of the day, that a hell of a lot of Americans seem to be comfortable with all that.
How long will the tensions between the saner elements of the Republican party and it's new militant tendency take to burst out into the open. Already moderates are blaming Tea party candidates for robbing them of the chance of taking the Senate on Tuesday night whilst the insurgents are blaming the moderates for backbiting.

Tim Back argues that the debate over housing benefit is a red herring. What we should be talking about is house building what is so wrong with that.
Ed Howker argues that the working poor shouldn't be the poeple to pay for the mistakes of the last governments housing policy failures, but under current proposals that is exactly what will happen.

George Eaton asks how Phil Woolas was ever chosen to serve as a shadow office minister as the high court orders a re run of his Oldham east election contest. Just one more reminder of how illiberal new Labour was/is. Does free speech run to spreading racist lies, i hope not.

Luke Lewis wonders whether we will feel nostalgia for this decade of the download.

A blast fromthe 90's