The ShortList: this week’s highlights

From @LabourList

This is the LabourList ShortList, bringing you a weekly summary of the best content on the site over the last week and keeping you up to date with some of the current thinking in the Labour movement:

The Claude Moraes interview
London MEP Claude Moraes comes to terms with the defeat in Norwich North, and talks about Labour’s work on European employment rights in the European Parliament.

PPC Profile: Tom Flynn
Tom goes over his main policy interests and his pride in writing to the NEC demanding tougher action on expenses.

Vestas Q & A
Our popular resident economist Chris Cook sits down with a wind farm executive and asks the telling questions that could inform much of the rest of the debate over the future of wind power.

LabourList v ConservativeHome
In the next part of the debate on the economy, Alex Smith defends the VAT cut and asks why Cameron has come up with no specific plans yet.

For 12 long years, the party hasn’t listened
Barnsley Councillor Tim Cheetham says that for too long, the top-knobs have neglected Labour’s core base and grassroots support.

Scotch missed?
Peter Thomson, from a dyed in the wool Labour family, will not vote Labour anymore after years of political backstabbing.

Gordon: debate Cameron on prime time – what’s left to lose?
Former government special adviser Paul Richards urges the PM to take on Cameron in front of the prime time TV cameras.

Green shoots are not enough – Labour needs a Plan B
Alex Smith says that Labour’s electoral stretegists cannot rely on economic upturn to see off the Tories.

In 90 years, we’ve had 5,000 male MPs and just 292 women
Olivia Bailey celebrates Harriet Harman’s vociferous campaigning on getting more women into the top jobs.

McKinnon and the future of US-UK relations
Over on the LabourList pages of the Huffington Post, Anthony Painter says the British and American governments have their own cases of Asperger’s.

Party accounts
In 2008, Labour raised more than it spent, but with the news that the CWU is considering its support, and the Tories raising more last year, there’s still much to be done on party fundraising.

Parts of Labour are at odds with reality – legislation alone wil not win change
In one of the best posts of the week, Andrew Lomas says we can’t legislate cultural progress or bring about instant equality.

Accept the success and failures of New Labour and move on
Talk of Mandelson leading the Labour Party is not the right debate – it’s time to move on from New Labour, writes Anthony Painter.

“We, the People of the United Kingdom”
Ralph Baldwin looks at why and how we might get to a written constitution to affirm our unaliable rights.

Our constitution is far from perfect – but codification is not the way
And then Ian Adderley rebuts with the alternative view.

Don’t bet the house on it
Joe Cox unveils the new Compass report on housing.

Clinton and Kim
Who can take credit for one of the strangest political partnerships in recent years?

Cameron’s words come back to bite
Featured in the Guardian, Indpendent and Sky News this week, Alex Ross stumbled across some damaging old words from the Tory leader. That’s the power of the web!

Tory Civil War in Labour target seat
Local Tories in St Albans are fighting amongst each other in Herts.

How progressive are the Tories really, Mr Reeves?
Retired diplomat and Labour lifer Brian Barder fisks Demos’ Richard Reeves and the Progressive Conservativsm project.

New Ideas for a renewed movement
Please contribute to the Ideas Box – updated daily – with your manifesto suggestions, which will be taken to the National Policy Forum, Conference and the party after a vote later in the year.