Getting one banker voluntarily to forego one bonus, one time, is the easy bit. But taking on the entrenched enrichissez vous ethos that pervades the financial sector will not be achieved by moral suasion alone. Don’t get me wrong, Ed Miliband has handled the Simon Hester affair in a manner that compensates – well, ever [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Ed Miliband’
The Miliband magic
Jan 31st, 2012 by Michael Meacher.What political leader in Opposition has ever stopped in its tracks what looked like irresistible momentum towards a disaster? No, I can’t think of one either. Certainly not Cameron – can you remember any of the positions he took during the 5 years before the 2010 election, apart from slyly posing beside a dog-sleigh in [...]
The real divisions in the Labour Party and what Ed should do about it
Jan 25th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.Most Labour party members are, above all, loyal to their party. They have a strong inclination to back their leaders, even when they disagree with what they’ve said or done. And disagree they did, by and large, when Ed Balls announced that “the starting point….is we’re going to have to keep all these cuts” and accept [...]
Not all Clause IV moments lead to victory
Jan 19th, 2012 by Andy Newman.Writing in yesterday’s Financial Times, George Parker and Jim Pickard, give expression to the popular idea that Ed Miliband’s confrontation with the unions provides him with the opportunity for a “Clause IV moment”, defining his independence as a potential prime minister from the legacy of labourism. Bookmarks Hide Sites
A call to arms
Jan 19th, 2012 by Owen Jones.For those who stand outside the austerity consensus, reading Len McCluskey’s column on Tuesday was like coming up for air. It is a cause of deep frustration that, as the Tories’ economic policies are shown to fail (in terms of jobs, growth, consumer confidence, economic inactivity and borrowing levels), the Labour leadership has moved to legitimise [...]
Don’t count on McCluskey to make the break
Jan 18th, 2012 by David Osler.Leeds United defender Norman Hunter, renowned for his perhaps overly robust approach to defence, famous advised young footballers to ‘get your retaliation in first’. The wisecrack metamorphosed into something of a New Labour catchphrase in the mid 1990s, with the line slightly altered to ‘get your betrayal in first’. Recent statements from both Ed Balls and [...]
It’s too late to build a Two-Ed-ist coalition against the Two-Ed detractors
Jan 18th, 2012 by Andy Newman.It is a paradox that the coalition building skills necessary to be a successful party leader are often not the skills of persuasive and decisive determination necessary to be a successful prime minister. Sadly, it seems that Ed Miliband may not have the attributes to be succesful in either role. Miliband is certainly ill-served by [...]
Labour’s standing in the polls is a poor excuse for knocking Ed
Jan 16th, 2012 by Lee Brown.Polling evidence does not support the idea that Ed’s time is up. Silly season is normally reserved for the summer. But this year we have also had the Winter version with a torrent of newspaper articles making it clear it that their authors believe that Ed Miliband’s time is up. Pages have been filled undermining Ed, [...]
What Balls said, what Balls means
Jan 15th, 2012 by Carl Packman.Is there any reason to believe Ed Balls supports the Tory-led cuts agenda? No. He said that he accepted the cuts, not agreed with them. He also said “I cannot make commitments now for three years’ time. I won’t do that. It wouldn’t be credible.” So does Ed Balls have ideas to the contrary to [...]
What is Ed Miliband’s elevator pitch?
Jan 13th, 2012 by David Osler.There is no alternative. It’s the economy, stupid. Third Way. Big Society. Encapsulate your outlook into a pithy slogan of as few words as possible, or risk having someone encapsulate them for you. That these designations are typically vacuous and point to little of substance matters not. Fail to play the game, and posterity will [...]
