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Thursday 15 July 2010

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‘We don’t want anything that was locally sourced — we know this neighbourhood too well.’

Thursday, 15th July 2010

Ed Miliband pitches for social responsibility

James Forsyth 6:01pm

Reading Ed Miliband’s piece in today’s Times on how Labour can win back southern voters, I was struck by this section:

'We need to be clear that part of the job of social democratic politics is to conserve those things in society that free-market Conservatism would destroy. Our communities are too precious to be dictated to by markets. Take the example of how our towns have changed. If you travel through the market towns of the South, too often you find them dominated by late-night bars, clubs and betting shops, even when

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Cable manoeuvring on the road to nowhere

David Blackburn 4:39pm

Vince Cable has floated a solution to university finance, but he’s also politicking and I wonder what David Willetts, the Higher Education Minister, makes of it. The coalition agreement does not mention a graduate tax. The agreement merely states that the government will wait for the Browne Report into university funding.

When in opposition, the Liberal Democrats did not support Browne because he was likely to recommend increasing tuition fees. Cable has pre-empted Browne in partisan spirit. If he can convince the government to adopt a graduate tax, he will have abolished tuition...

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The unions start to swing behind Ed Miliband

Peter Hoskin 3:21pm

Bear with me, CoffeeHousers, while I return to the Labour leadership contest. You see, the GMB has this afternoon announced that it is backing Ed Miliband for the job – which is a fairly significant intervention. This is first endorsement from one of the major trade unions, and it overshadows the support that David Miliband has received from lower league organisations. The question now is whether Unite and Unison will follow GMB's lead. Many expect that they will.

The influence of the unions in internal Labour elections has, in...

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Europe rises from its slumber

David Blackburn 1:56pm

Emblazoned across the Times is the headline:

‘Europe warns Obama: this relationship isn’t working.’

The piece is teeming with quotations from diplomats and representatives of major European governments, voicing their concern that post-Cold War America no longer offers Europe a privileged relationship. The goodwill that Europe offered Obama has entirely evaporated.

Few diplomatic spats are ever one-sided, and the Americans are deeply frustrated with the European Union. A White House official condemned the EU’s ‘non-existent foreign policy apparatus’, and Richard Haass of the Council on Foreign...

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A solid performance from Osborne

Peter Hoskin 12:53pm

If only PMQs were more like select committee sessions. Sure, the latter aren't completely free from tribalism, even if it takes a subtler hue – but they are still considerably more insightful than Wednesday's pantomime in the chamber. Frequently, they play like a demonstration of how democracy can, and should, work.

Such was the case with George Osborne's appearance before the Treasury Select Committee this morning. The questions, particularly those on whether the Budget hits the poorest hardest, were generally measured and insistent. But Osborne stood up well through it all, pointing...

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Vince, useless degrees would have been a better target

Fraser Nelson 11:25am

Vince Cable faced next to no questioning on his hugely controversial plans for a graduate tax on Today this morning. Instead he was allowed to make an annoucement, was thanked as "Doctor Cable" by a reverential Jim Naughtie, and left to trundle back up Mount Sinai where the BBC seems to think he lives.

There are plenty hard questions to ask. The main one is what I regard as a national scandal: young people being missold useless degrees that benefit neither students nor society. They get fed this line, about how graduates...

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Meetings galore

Peter Hoskin 9:12am

All of a sudden, the coalition partners can't get enough of their backbenchers. Last night, it was David Cameron meeting the 1922 Committee to reassure them about their mutual relationship. And, today, Nick Clegg is going on an "away day" with that half of his party which isn't in government, all to explain his close affair with the Tories. Presumably, flowers and chocolates will be involved.

The Clegg meeting, in particular, is worth dwelling on – and Sam Coates and Greg Hurst do just that in an insightful article for...

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Wednesday, 14th July 2010

McFadden talks sense

David Blackburn 6:09pm

Pat McFadden, the sullen-looking Shadow Business Secretary, has given an important speech to the Fabian Society. He said:

‘Fight the cuts is a tempting slogan in opposition, and there are indeed some that must be fought. But if that is all we are saying the conclusion will be drawn that we are wishing the problem away.'

He is the first shadow minister to recognise that Labour’s current approach is counter-productive, and Ed Balls’ philosophy is suicidal. He notes:

‘In fact, that is the

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Mandelson strikes gold

David Blackburn 4:36pm

Well, sort of. Today’s offerings in the Times are as disappointing as yesterday’s. Mandelson adds to the croaking New Labour chorus that there was no deal at Granita. Blair and Brown, barely on speaking on terms in the run up to the 2005 election, cut a deal in 2004 to ease the succession. Later, Brown and Blair re-opened hostilities over the EU Presidency, but that was already known, or at least expected. Mandelson’s adoption of the terms of corruption has ceased to shock – New Labour’s personal history has long since been...