Ed’s inbox: February 3rd

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

If Ed Miliband could only read five blogposts each day, he’d read these ones…

The wheels are coming off David Cameron’s Big Society policy – Political Scrapbook
By Political Scrapbook

The policy which has come to define the coalition government has been significantly weakened in the past 48-hours. A day after his the “Big Society tsar” reduced his hours in the unpaid role to earn more money and “have more of a life” Liverpool has quit a flagship pilot project.

The leader of Liverpool City Council has written to David Cameron today to withdraw from the so-called “Vanguard scheme”. This is especially embarrassing as the city was chosen by the Prime Minister to launch the initiative in July – Read more.

Who exactly are “They” – Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
By Sue Marsh

“They” are beginning to get on my nerves.

“They” didn’t manage to predict the global credit collapse, the biggest financial disaster in living memory.
“They” were still recommending that investors bought RBS shares at £5.85 each in 2007
“They” Seemed to think Lloyds and HBOS were pretty sound too.

Trouble is, “They” then held us to ransom over credit ratings. “They” said we had to cut, cut, cut, to pay for the mistakes “They” didn’t predict. “They” warned of Armageddon if we didn’t take their advice. (Funny though, I thought Armageddon was what we just narrowly managed to avoid?) “They” even wrote open letters to the papers, suggesting who we vote for – Read more.

New name for Labour Party- The Mirror
By Kevin Maguire

TALK has started in Ed Miliband’s circle of what to call the Labour Party after he declared “New” Labour dead.

Plain Labour was deemed boring so he’s mulling over fresh descriptions. Newer, Newest, Renewed and Radical were kicked about. But one very prominent figure, I hear, wants Miliband to adopt Progressive Labour. – Read more.

In praise of backbench MPs – LabourList
By Paul Richards

This is a truly terrible, reputation-wrecking, friendship-ending thing to admit on LabourList, but I have a secret admiration for Gyles Brandreth. I know, I know. Well do I understand your mounting sense of opprobrium and distaste, your reluctance to read another syllable. Bear with me. It’s not the silly jumpers, scrabble-playing, teddy-bear museum stuff. Nor of course, the high Tory politics. It is simply that when he was the Member of Parliament for Chester (a career cut short, thankfully, by Labour’s landslide in 1997) he introduced a bill which became a law, and did something helpful for tens of thousands of people. – Read more.

Deficit denial – ippr
By Nick Pearce

How could Labour have increased the deficit beyond the levels it actually reached during the recession? This is not a question many people pose. But it is a question that some provide an answer to, albeit unwittingly. One such person is my counterpart at Policy Exchange, Neil O’Brien, who has written a blog arguing that Labour overspent during the recession, not only prior to it.

When monetary policy has reached the limits of its capacity to stimulate the economy, bank lending and liquidity in the economy has frozen up, sterling has sharply devalued, private demand has collapsed, and the Bank of England has started printing money, where else might policymakers turn to stimulate economic activity other than to fiscal policy? If they actually constrain or even cut spending in these circumstances, what is the likely long-run effect: higher or lower deficits and government debt? – Read more.

Our suggestions for Ed’s inbox are limited by what we read – so if you’ve seen a blogpost that should be in Ed’s inbox, let us know.