Whatever else Ed Miliband does, the one overriding lesson he could surely learn from the Gordon Brown era, is not to pander to what must be the most vile and despicable media in the world.
We don’t want a leader chasing his tail trying to please Nick Robinson, Jeremy Paxman, John Humphries or the odious Michael Crick. And they are just the venal crowd from the BBC. Chuck in the flotsam and jetsam from Sky, the Daily Mail and the lying pack who eke a living writing crap for Murdoch and you have a real bag of snakes. They have long since abandoned reporting the news, these days their job is to make the news.
In an interesting post on Liberal Conspiracy Don Paskini points out that not all of those things the media identify as ‘left’ are unpopular with the electorate.
But Lord Ashcroft’s research highlights a key dilemma for Ed Miliband and Labour. He won the leadership despite the opposition of newspapers, all of which endorsed his brother, and his success was due to his ability to adopt mainstream policies, from Iraq to the living wage, and his ability to articulate them with conviction and passion. The same challenge will present itself at the next general election. Principled and mainstream policies which swing voters strongly support will be denounced by the political elite.
Ed will be advised by some to show the Westminster Village that he is not “Red Ed”, that he shares the prejudices of wealthy newspaper editors and won’t “lurch to the left”. The evidence shows that most swing voters are at worst indifferent to the prospect of Labour moving to the left, that they want Labour to change, and that policies like a mansion tax, living wage and High Pay Commission are all fine examples that would help to show how Labour has changed for the better.
Chris Mullin: the new leader needs to nail the coalition’s big lie.
Over the next few days we will almost certainly see a boost in Labour’s poll ratings under a new leader, and a bunch of whinging, whining tossers complaining that Ed Miliband only won because the the votes of trade union members (who actually pay their trade union levy to support the Party).
We have already had mouthful’s of bile from gobshite ‘experts’ like Adam Boulton and Nick Robinson, once again embarrassed because their predictions had gone tits up, moaning that Ed Miliband only won because tens of thousands of trade unionists supported him (as opposed to a handful of MPs, which they carefully ignore). In addition to which they make sure that they tell everyone that Ed has “little experience” at ministerial level and that he is young. Yes, boys, just two words for you… “David” and “Cameron”. Perhaps you will reflect back to the days when you ‘experts’ were predicting a David Davis victory?
This isn’t a short haul. We’re stuck with this disastrous Tory coalition for another four years and more. The Labour leadership contest has been conducted with little bile and spite, much to the chagrin of our media commentators. The fight against the coalition cuts is likely to be drawn out and bloody. Their massacre of local government services and privatisation of the health service need to be fought by a war of attrition from a united labour movement. All sections of the party will have a role to play, and gaining the support and confidence of the electorate in that struggle will be the major task for Ed Miliband in the years ahead. I wish him the best of luck.
I note t
hat our attempt to retain the Ashes will be hampered by the usual southern bias of the selectors.
Sussex spinner Monty Panesar, (can’t field, can’t bat, above average bowler), has been selected instead of Yorkshire’s promising Adil Rashid, who is at least as good a spinner, and an infinitely better fielder and batsmen. Monty Panesar took 52 wickets at 25.53 in the 2nd division last season, and averaged a paltry 11 runs with the bat. Rashid in comparison took 57 wickets at 31, and a batting average of 45 in the top division.
To rub salt into the wounds, Rashid’s Yorkshire team mate Ajmal Shazhad, who could have been more usefully occupied during the summer winning the County Championship for Yorkshire instead of traipsing the country trotting out with the drinks for England, has been overlooked in favour of Surrey’s Chris Tremlett who helped Surrey just avoid finishing bottom of the 2nd division.
Bitter, Moi? You bet!
Something should be done… yobbery is on the increase!
Get Eric Pickles on the case, I say.
In all of the debates you will see or hear reported at the Liberal Democrat conference in Liverpool this week, there is one thing you are unlikely to hear mentioned.
And yet, it has been at the heart of Liberal Democrat thinking for well over a decade. It has been the one thing they have unwaveringly advocated, that distinguished them clearly from other parties, that almost single-handedly defined Liberal Democrats in the minds of the electorate.
But this week, it will quietly be swept under the carpet. Maybe whispered quietly in the dark corners of the fringe, but you can bet your life no Liberal Democrat spokesperson is going to be up on the rostrum proudly trumpeting their unequivocal support this week for the…
…Euro.
Yet only 18 months ago, here we see former MEP Nick Clegg still banging a tune on that old Liberal Democrat drum by telling us that as in response to the financial crisis… we should consider joining the euro.
But, no more. As Larry Elliot wrote this week in The Guardian…Why the single currency’s fallen off the agenda
In the days before they were gung ho about the need for spending cuts, the Liberal Democrats used to be equally gung ho about the need for Britain to join the single currency. Indeed, Danny Alexander, the Treasury minister wielding the spending axe, was the spin doctor for Britain in Europe, the pressure group dedicated to seeing that the pound was scrapped.
In fact, the only possible mention of the crisis in the Eurozone this week is likely to come from Vince Cable who is still trying to convince people that the reason he stood on his head over Liberal Democrat policy on reducing the deficit was because he suddenly realised what was happening to the Greek economy.
Susan Press with a good review for Alan Bleasdale’s excellent Blackstuff on BBC4 last night… and making a very pertinent point about how the likelihood of such similar earthy drama making it’s way on to our screens today.
From Chris Mullin’s excellent diaries Decline & Fall, dated twelve months ago tomorrow:
Monday, 21st September 2009
On the radio this morning, Shirley Williams talking sense about our current travails: ‘This is not a British crisis. It is a global crisis. A crisis of capitalism. One of the things I feel most resentful about is the way in which the Tories have managed to present it as a British crisis, a crisis caused by Gordon Brown, when it is in fact a crisis of capitalism caused by a world banking system that is deeply sick and we have got to save it.’
OK, Shirl. Just one favour please. Could you whisper that in the ear of the boy Danny Alexander who doesn’t seem to get it yet, and even in the shell-like of Clegg before his speech to Conference this afternoon.
Excuse me if I don’t hold my breath though.
Paul Cotterill reveals 25 interesting things about himself… and some of them are genuinely interesting. But… in the middle he reveals…
Errm, Paul, I wonder if number 17 is related to number 18? Let’s face it, a night down the pub with your best friend discussing the history of the concrete roof tile…?
