Lunchtime List No.27

~ The best and most relevant stuff in today’s papers and on the web ~

Tuesday 17th February, 2009

Make sure you sign up to our Twitter feeds: @LabourList and the one from our editor @derekdraper.

COMMENT OF THE DAY:

The debate on the legitimacy and relationship of Guido Fawkes and MessageSpace is continuing. LabourList will have another repsonse later today.

‘I’ve been visiting this site for a few days now and have really enjoyed reading both the articles and the responses. But this is the first time I have felt like commenting myself. This site has been going a short time and already it looks like the traffic is great. Each article is getting hundreds of comments so they must be doing something right. I’ve been paying my Labour and Union membership for decades, how long have MessageSpace been contributing? The Labour Party and its members have been successfully using the boycott method since it’s inception. When the Tories refuse to condemn Apartheid we used economic boycott as a very effective protest. This does not give you the right to turn a blind eye to racism because you fear losing revenue.’ Steve Dryden

Progress are holding a conference on Saturday, 28th February, which will focus on ‘campaigning for the net generation.’ Click on the image below to see who’ll be there and for more details.

ON LABOURLIST TODAY

*** We have another reader video! It’s a take on the Tories’ silly new Porky Pies viral. ***

Sunder Katwala celebrates the centenary of the Poor Law minority report, the conception of the Welfare State.

CCP and York Councillor James Alexander imagines what it would be like to have a Tory government.

Sir Jeremy Beecham loks at the Conservative cuts in local communtities.

We’ll have more posts throughout the day.

*** Make sure you comment on the posts that interest you and if you want to post let us know. ***

WUNCH OF BANKERS!

A glimpse behind the cabinet discussions on bonuses.

Meanwhile Gordon Brown unveils his plan for reforming the world’s economic system and the IMF.

If you want a different angle try this from new age guru Deepok Chokra.

Watch Clinton’s comments on the economic downturn.

If you haven’t already, tell your friends about John Prescott’s petition and his group on, as he calls it, The Facebook.

COUNCILS

David Cameron outlines his plans for local councils. We’ll have another post replying to this later. In the meantime, this is what Local government minister John Healey has to say:

” Labour has devolved power to councils and the public, reversing the centralisation of the Thatcher years. The Tory proposals offer little new – our major cities can already choose to have a mayor. The Tories say they back councils but are set to cut cash for local authorities, meaning increases to council tax bills or cuts to local services, at a time when people need real help the most.”

FINALLIST

New MORI poll gives the Tories a 20% lead. The arguments we made a while ago still apply.

Unions attack BMW over agency workers.

Jack Straw is seeking to reform prison officers’ working – but is he right?

Luke Akehurst asks a great question about the level of Lib Dem support.

A great piece by Polly Toynbee on Alfie and other teenage pregnancies.

Simon Fletcher analyses Freud (David, that is, not Sigmund).

Quite a debate going on about the new Compass initiative.

Frank Field sounds even more Tory than ever – is he planning to defect?

A rather hilarious video for those who want to have a good laugh at our editor’s expense.

This Political Betting post is a rather over the top attack on our editor (don’t worry he’s used to it!). We’ll be posting about what is really going on later today, and it raises some serious questions.

Rachel Sylvester paints an overly grim picture for GB. She might do well to take Peter Mandelson’s advice and not be too pessimistic. Ben Brogan reports rumours of politicking in the cabinet. We’ll be posting the full text of Peter’s speech later.

The row over torture continues with Hague asking some awkward questions.

Top tips for First Ladies from Cherie.Royal Mail plans will be pushed through “within weeks“.

A powerful attack on the Tories’ lack of a real foreign policy by Phil Stephens.

Sam Coates points out plenty of other areas where the Tories have nothing to say.

Still apposite to the above is Alastair Campbell’s recent blog.

You won’t like this. Not a lot.

HERO of the day: David Aaronovitch standing up for kids and against the fools at Channel 4.

ZERO of the day: Nick Clegg for some ill-judged comments on the recession being “good news”.

~ THE BIG ONGOING DEBATES ~

LIB LABBERY

Sundar’s original New Statesman piece.

Luke Akehurst’s response.

Nick Clegg’s views on what matters in a coalition.

LABOUR STRATEGY

Jon Cruddas raises questions about Labour’s strategy.

John Prescott has a go at Matthew Taylor.

This follows on from recent articles in the FT, Guardian and Ben Brogan’s blog. Hopi Sen and Don Paskini have both chipped in.

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