Lunchtime List No.45

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

Friday 13th March, 2009

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COMMENT OF THE WEEK:

“Why are the centre-right so opposed to taxes? I like taxes. The government takes my money (and others) and then turns it into schools, hospitals, tax credits to lift children out of poverty. Labour has the ideological positioning, the electoral mandate and 15 months to implement the brave, necessary social investments Britain needs. And what a great platform a New Deal would be for fighting what will certainly be the closest general election in a generation.”

Michael Flexer, on ‘If this is a centre-left moment, where are the centre-left solutions?’

Congratulations, Michael. You receive a bottle of House of Commons champagne.

What do other people think?

*** Make sure you keep commenting on the posts, and if you’d like to post yourself, get in touch ***

Peter Mandelson has flatly rejected the suggestion that Gordon Brown should apologise for the economic downturn More>>

Visit the G20 London Summit website here.

ON LABOURLIST NOW

In reponse to the Fabian pamphlet on the lessons from the Obama campaign, Political adviser Andy Taylor says the Labour Party structure needs overhauling.

Anna Helga Horrox says Labour People must judge each other on the strength of their arguments, not their postcodes.

John Cowan asks “what about welfare support for parents during the school holidays?”

Group writers VoteRedGoGreen offer a measured critique of Mary Honeyball’s provocative post on religion.

Cat Smith asks ‘what’s wrong with being Christian and Labour?’

Read Mary’s original post here.

We’ll have more posts going up throughout the day.

Have a bit of fun – create your own Tory logo here!

CORRECTION

Thank you to a reader who pointed out that in yesterday’s LunchtimeList we referred to Paul and Amanda Cregan as “welfare cheats” and linked to this article in The Sun. We would like to make clear that our language represented a complete misreading of the case and an unfair depiction of Mr and Mrs Cregan’s situation, and we apologise enitrely for that. Alex Smith, Deputy Editor.

FINALLIST

Roger Cohen in the New York Times says Gordon showed Obama how to be a leader.

But are our politicians doing enough on climate change?

MPs and Unions are joining forces to push for increased redundancy pay.

Tony Woodley, the union leader, gives us his views on this matter here.

More information is emerging about the controversial Iraq War dossier.

Jessica Asato asks whether the Weatherspoons Director has his beer googles on re: increased Holiday Entitlement.

Martin Kettle attacks a whole generation of Labour ministers. Thanks, Martin.

Steve Richards concentrates on getting value for money.

Philip Stephens in the FT looks at realistic hopes for the G20.

Teenagers are increasingly scapegoated and demonised, accoring to new research.

There’s an interesting debate on increasing Maternity pay during the recession.

After Chris Mullin’s popular book, The Independent lifts the lid on political diaries.

Do we need more transparency on MPs employing their relatives with taxpayer money?

Neil Kinnock says the miners deserved better leadership than “vain” Arthur Scargill.

What happened next? The very pubic family drama of the Palins.

Ministers questioned over “blind trusts.”

The Comic Relief celebs pop in at Number 10.

HERO of the day: Roger Cohen – for speaking up to the world on Gordon Brown’s stewardship of the economy.

ZERO of the day: Bernard Madoff. Yup, again.

~ THE BIG ONGOING DEBATES ~

LIB LABBERY

Sunder’s original New Statesman piece.

Luke Akehurst said no thanks.

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

LABOUR STRATEGY

Jon Cruddas raises questions about Labour’s strategy.

Later, Cruddas questions the rogue Blairite sections of the Party.

Steve Richards asks where are the leaders in the supposed leadership contest.

Meanwhile, ultra Blairite Philip Collins criticises the government and Luke Akehurst responds.

Benjamin Wegg-Prosser argues that the “do-nothing Tory” line is not working.

John Prescott has a go at Matthew Taylor.

Labour are up in the polls (25% of people have become more positive about the PM over the last week), as Gordon Brown looks at new plans to get more teachers into classrooms.

The PM says that after the recession, the role of the State will have to be assessed.

Polly Toynbee says this is Labour’s last chance to realign, capture the public mood, and win a fourth term.

Steve Richards says Labour must be more responsive to its grassroots organisations like Compass.

Will Straw and Nick Anstead’s Lessons from America.

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