The Daily Mail, in an appalling diatribe this morning, argues that because in real terms public spending in 2014 will be at the same level as 2008 there is nothing for anyone to protest about. It’s quite hard to assume anyone is stupid enough to write this so I presume the misinformation is deliberate, or
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Hand on heart, I do not want to be Labour leader | Jon Cruddas | Comment is free | The Guardian . I like Jon Cruddas and have got to know him a bit over the last couple of years. I like what he says here. And I admire him for saying it. His recipe
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As was widely reported before the election, George Osborne was the City’s fourth choice for Chancellor, coming last after Ken Clarke, Vince Cable and Alastair Darling. Now he’s in office, none the less, he’s doing his very best to alienate even more of this support base. First, he’s cut Civil Service bonuses. That’s going to
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UK: The Strange Death of the Rainbow Coalition | Social Europe Journal. My friend and Compass writing colleague George Irwin has written: To be sure, Britain today does not lack the issues to animate a more progressive politics — climate change, fighting poverty, minority rights, a fairer income distribution, to name but a few. But
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Did you see Vince Cable interviewed on television last night about his new appointment? The deft, witty, always in command Vince looked like a man putting on a very brave act. He stumbled for words. His posture was resigned. Of course we now know he’d been appointed to be responsible for banking – to find
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Congratulations, Mr Cameron. Now learn the lessons of a dismal campaign | Tim Montgomerie | Comment is free | The Guardian . Tim Montgomerie of ConservativeHome has written a 7,000 word dossier condemning Cameron’s management of the election campaign. As he has written in the Guardian: Ahead of last week’s election, everything was set up
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I gather our new government is to last for five years I give it the proverbial snowballs chance in hell of lasting that long. Why? Well take the aggrieved list of shadow cabinet members without seats. And the Lib Dems who will defect to Labour before too long. Two years I buy. Five, no way.
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The BBC note that the Labour Party has effectively conceded that it’s out of office. As I suggested at the weekend – this is the right option for Labour right now. It has three things to do. The first is to select an electable new leader with a deputy who between them can command cross
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Liberal Conspiracy ¬ª A majority of public prefer Lab-Libdem deal. As Liberal Conspiracy notes: A Populus poll for The Times suggests the public are open to a range of different outcomes from the inconclusive General Election. The paper’s headline Public want Conservatives to share power with LibDems highlights the most popular option, though by a
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