Ed Miliband’s three pillars for Labour: can they carry the party?
It’s important to understand the context of Ed Miliband’s speech yesterday at Progress: it wasn’t to lay out policies or even reach out to the public. It was instead to signal to party members his direction of travel and explain why it would win Labour the next election.
He is trying hard to carry Labour members with his agenda before reaching out to the public. At Progress, he walked into the lion’s den (they mostly supported David Miliband) and walk out with their support.
So what did he say and how will it play out?
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Watch: ‘sorry you can’t cross the line’
via Left Outside
If our economy is in deep trouble, what’s next?
Vince Cable has finally admitted the extent to which the UK economy is screwed. In an interview with the Guardian yesterday, he said we depended far too much on financial services, the scale of global inflation, and the rapidly increasing role of China in setting prices and outcompeting us.
Politicians have failed, he says, to prepare us for the rocky ride ahead. Well, I can go half way there with him.
Our economy is in serious trouble, and all of the reasons he outlines are contributing factors. But, here’s my question: What’s his plan. Other than running around the country shouting ‘WE’RE ALL DOOMED’
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What does the objectification of Pippa Middleton say about our culture?
contribution by Matt McCormack Evans
Despite the relative plainness of Ms Pippa Middleton’s attire at the Royal Wedding, there has been a huge world-wide response to her wearing something not even especially tight.
She had a modest hair-do, no jewellery to really speak of, and was dressed in a fairly simple, white dress. It shouldn’t matter what she was wearing but I make mention of it to highlight that no matter what one wears, the objectification still takes place.
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Why inequality and power imbalances still matter
The Times yesterday provided an answer to Sam Bowman's question: does inequality matter?
It reports how corporate giant Glencore's profits arise, in part from "exposing thousands of Zambians to dangerous levels of sulphur dioxide emissions.
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Ed Miliband: It is not a choice between Libdem OR Tory voters
In a speech today at the annual Progress conference, Ed Miliband will declare that the Labour party cannot make an ‘either/or’ choice between Libdem and Conservative voters.
He will say that for Labour win the next election, the party has to build a big tent that will have to include both people who voted Conservative and people who voted Libdem in the past.
It will not be a false choice between the two, he will say. Some commentators within Labour have said in the past that Labour should stop chasing Libdem voters and focus on Conservative voters. Ed Miliband will reject the false dichotomy.
A source close to Ed Miliband said:
The Libdem votes we got in the local elections were necessary but not sufficient.
What we are seeing is a coalescence of the anti-Tory vote. Now we need to firm that up. Those votes are definitely necessary for the future but not yet banked.
Labour strategists have also been pouring over recent polling by Lord Ashcroft.
They say that Lord Ashcroft found that Tory messaging was still seen as too negative by many voters. It was associated with ‘austerity Britain’ and a vision that focused on belt-tightening, reduced public services, falling real incomes and a harsher vision for the future.
Sources close to Ed Miliband said the Labour leader will focus on a “more optimistic view of the future”.
In an article for the Guardian today he says:
We need a different kind of economy, fairer to the lowest paid and demanding greater responsibility from the higher paid; broader-based, less reliant on financial services. A better capitalism.
We need change too because our planet is being exploited, the next generation is being burdened with too many costs and shut out of affordable housing. The strains on family and community – from the high street overrun by unaccountable market forces to the hours people work – represent a further set of issues, beyond the bottom line, which must be at the core of Labour’s future.
…
At the next general election, we must be the optimists, the party with a positive, patriotic mission for our country.
In addition to a focus on inequality and worries of “national decline”, he will also say Labour should focus on “the ties that bind people”, in a nod to ‘Blue Labour’.
Could the #superinjunction lead to Twitter being banned in the UK?
This evening’s news that a professional sportsman who may or may not be the person known as ‘CTB’ has filed legal proceedings against Twitter and ‘persons unknown’ appears to have prompted a degree of bemusement.
And nowhere more so than over at Heresy Corner, where the Heresiarch has rather uncharacteristically succeeded in massively over-analysing the situation…
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Once again, Israel’s cheerleaders try to shut down debate
contribution by Sarah Colborne
When you are losing the argument, close down the debate. That has always been the motto of every playground bully, but now increasingly it seems to be the strategy pursued by cheerleaders for the Israeli government.
That is the only explanation for the pressure from Telegraph bloggers to the Jewish Chronicle (JC) on Amnesty International – the respected human rights organisation – to cancel a meeting to be held on May 23 about media bias in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
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Taxpayers’ Alliance report rubbished (video)
Video created by the excellent Other TPA.
It’s about to get worse and you want to stop talking about cuts?
To almost no surprise, the world’s third-largest economy: Japan, has fallen off a cliff (-5.2% slump) and now in a “severe” recession. Meanwhile, there are growing protests in Spain over high unemployment and austerity measures, with more to come this weekend.
What are the chances of a quick global economic recovery? How about just in the UK? Don’t bet on it. So I’m perplexed whenever I read yet another article arguing Labour must think about how to deal with a popular George Osborne in 2015 when the UK economy is roaring again. In fact the opposite is the case: we have to start preparing for a long slump.
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» Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote
» Would raising the tax threshold actually help the poorest?
» To win London, Ken Livingstone has to step outside his comfort zone
» This trade agreement with India will destroy thousands of lives
» UK debt hasn’t hit £1 trillion – mostly because of QE
» The benefits of being a “burden” on society
» Today’s economic figures will simply confirm UK’s “lost decade”
» Have Labour realised the election is more than three years away?
» Violence in the office
» Want a more responsible capitalism? Reform how pensions work
» The world is entering the third phase of the crisis, warns ILO
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