If you want to be the president, you better pay up.  The road to the White House is a costly one as Mitt Romney is experiencing.  In January alone he spent 19 million dollars which is phenomenal, spending three times the amount that he raised.  That big push that he made was spent in order to seal the deal for his republican nomination but now that Rick Santorum is gaining momentum, Mitt knows he is in for the long haul.  Now Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Santorum and Romney are in search of new donors to help their campaigns make the final push.  In an ideal world, one wouldn’t have to raise capital to become president but get the candidacy based on their merits and integrity.

The Prime Minister David Cameron has reiterated his commitment to reforming the NHS even as he is criticized for excluding opponents of the bill from a summit held at Downing Street on the issue. He said the talks that were held with some of the people who would be involved with implementing the changes, were constructive and helpful and felt that those against the bill are making up ‘myths’ about the impact of the changes.

Critics of the Health and Social Care Bill that is currently undergoing heated debate in Parliament feel that the Bill should be quashed as it is as present and reformed after discussions with a larger group of professionals. It has emerged that the round table discussion which was to allow chairs of the new GP-led Clinical Commissioning Groups of CCG’s to voice their views with the Mr. Cameron and the Health Secretary Mr. Andrew Lansley, did not include representatives of groups critical to the Bill. Those excluded were four Royal Colleges: those representing GPs, Pathologists, Radiologists and Psychiatrists; and the Health unions not asked to attend included the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the British Medical Association (BMA), Unite and Unison. Critics of the bill feel that this is a way to privatize the NHS and that if passed the Bill will result in longer waiting periods for treatment.

Mitt Romney’s second campaign for the GOP nomination seems to be running out of steam with a candidate who seems to be losing his touch. Just two weeks after winning the Florida primary and enthusiastically regaling us with ‘America the Beautiful’ Mr. Romney seems to have lost a lot of his pep and is mired in one unfortunate public appearance after another. It is still just the beginning of a long primary season and Mr. Romney’s campaign seems to be floundering with a candidate who comes across as less then confidant.

The general consensus among political pundits is that Mr. Romney needs to win Arizona and Michigan on Feb 28^th to bring back his flagging self confidence. He is comfortably ahead in Arizona but struggling in Michigan.

President Obama “We can change” still rings in our ears from his 2008 campaign, where he bowled people over with brilliant oratory skills. However, four years down the line, when he faces another election, he is staying away from words like Hope and Change in his re-election campaign.

Sources say “Winning The Future” “Greater Together” “We Don’t Quit” are the short-list from which he may pick one. As of now the posters just say ‘Obama 2012’. “Winning The Future” was used extensively to promote the budget, while “Greater Together” was used to reach out to the youth. This is quite a marked change from the previous election, where Obama was the outsider and wanted to incite change and make things happen. Today he is the incumbent and people today are too cynical to accept change and hope. However, he does refer to these words at various fundraisers and public meetings to refer to change that he has brought about during his tenure.

Earlier today, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy made agreements for sanctioning of an investment of £60bn into a nuclear treaty that would tie the two countries in exchange of cooperation for building nuclear plants in Britain. The agreement will be executed with British and French companies signing further sub-agreements towards work on new nuclear facilities in Britain with French expertise helping render British power situation healthier than it currently is. The country premiers also addressed the media through a joint press conference in which many subjects were touched like Iran’s nuclear program, Syrian unrest, Sarkozy’s campaign trails and Cameron’s decision to leave the eurozone talks last December etc.

With the talk underway news about Rolls Royce signing a £400m deal emerged. The company will sign the deal with the French energy giant Avera to supply EPR services to the first of the planned nuclear sites that will be situated near Somerset in UK. News about similar such deals has and will continue to emerge between various important companies of both countries whilst many citizens especially in UK’s Scotland area vehemently oppose nuclear. Both countries ironically also debated the Iranian situation which did not seem to be puzzling in context to either leader despite the fact the Iran’s denial to nuclear was being discussed and debated by them when they themselves were signing nuclear treaties among themselves.

The debate surrounding the Scottish Independence has heated up with Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond asking U.K Prime Minister David Cameron to offer more details about the increase in powers that he has offered in exchange for a ‘no’ vote for the Scottish Independence referendum that is likely to be held in 2014.

During a speech at St Andrews, Fife where he was addressing the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities conference on Friday the Mr. Salmond asked for a clarification of what the devolution of powers would entail and felt that the U.K. government should start by changing the Scotland Bill as it stands. He felt that Prime Minister David Cameron’s offer was genuine and that this time around it may be possible to figure out a workable option.  None the less, Mr. Salmond felt that there were three major unanswered questions that need to be considered; Firstly, Will the final version of the Scotland bill contain provisions for further economic powers that the Scottish Parliament has been asking for over the last nine months? Secondly, Why does the Bill contain proposals to transfer some powers back to Westminster? And Thirdly, Will the Prime Minister set out the full proposal by the end of the Scottish government’s referendum consultation in May, to allow the Scottish people and Parliament to develop an informed view about the offer?

A deal is headed towards congress for approval on Thursday. Democratic and Republican leaders are rallying for support for the bipartisan agreement. If approved it could mean payroll tax cut for 160 million U.S workers in 2012. This would also be a victory for Obama and his fellow Democrats.

The deal is expected to be approved by both the Senate and the House of       Representatives. This package includes renewing expiring jobless benefits for millions of long-term unemployed and preventing a steep pay cut for doctors who treat the elderly Medicare patients. With Congressional approval Obama would be able to sign the $150 billion package in to a law by February 29^th. That is, before the tax cut and unemployment benefits expire. This payroll tax cut could give an average family up to a $1000 extra this year. The workers would also continue to pay 4.2 percent in the Social Security retirement system instead of 6.2 percent.

Hillary Clinton is one of the very few American women who have done it all. She has been the first lady by default after her husband’s win, she became a Presidential hopeful until giving up against to the current president and was then the Secretary of State, a position she currently holds. If she has done all this and possible more with grace is a question open to the readers as there are as many fans of this blonde all-American former first lady as there are critics. Her race for the Presidential position not so long ago got her brickbats for less than qualified comments and gaffes and untimed laughs that made her a social media joke to some extent. However, the position she undertook also got her fans in the American women, most gay men and most feminists of the country.

There are proposals to delay Greece’s second bailout either in parts or total. This has arisen from the lack of commitment shown by Greece. If delayed, it could last until after Greece’s elections. The elections are planned for in April. Even then, the Greek leaders need to promise spending cuts and labor reforms to receive the bailout.

Though most elements for the bailout are in place, not all political party leaders from Greece seem to comply with the reforms. Some euro zone finance ministers would like legal guarantees. Talks around euro zone say there is pressure from several countries to hold off the bailout until after their elections when there is a chance of getting a solid commitment from Greece.

Meanwhile, a dept swap between Greece and private sector holders of Greek bonds can happen. If carried out, it would mean 14.5 billion redemption on euro bond payment for Greece. If not, it would result in default.

As months pass by and the Republican candidates face each other through opinion and actual polls, the run-up to finding one candidate who would stand up against Obama on November 6^th Presidential elections this year is getting more and more frenzied especially as people look of better candidates who would not shy away from his promises and who would not shame the country. While voter groups are picking and choosing their favorites, the state-by-state battle is being outlines with opinion polls that occur as an indicative test of candidates’ chances of winning.

In a recent and suitably surprising revelation, Rick Santorum was up against Presidential front-runner Mitt Romney in latest opinion polls with a seemingly close tie threatening to throw Romney’s previous wins tally off balance and creating a new equations between the rival candidates as the run-up developments proceed and which will eventually end in one persons win. U.S. Senator Rick Santorum has been considered to be coming in as a close second favorite of the American citizens, especially favored by the tea party supporters and Christian evangelicals who specifically supported Sanctorum over Romney. Santorum’s position is especially being strengthened by the tussle between Republicans and Democrats over gay rights and abortion debates. While Sanctorum develops and strengthens his claim for the Republican candidature, Romney’s position seems to be coalescing around Santorum.