Ed’s inbox – January 18th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

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

Labour peers are going up in the world – Left Futures
By Jon Lansman

There’s always been something a bit embarrassing about Labour peers, like those elderly relatives you try to avoid at a family event. Some of them, of course, have a worthy past, and a few of them work hard and take home less in expenses than they could for a senior political job on their local council. Rather more of them were kicked upstairs to make room for a favoured son with a parachute on his back, or rewarded for their loyalty and the occasional fat cheque. Anyway, we don’t really approve of the place.

Today, it’s all different. It’s not going to be too long before they’re mainly elected and they’re doing a great job: trying to prevent a serious constitutional wrong – a significant reduction in the number of MPs in order to give Coalition parties maximum advantage in gerrymandered boundary changes as we previously discussed here. Some call it filibustering. Labour’s former Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, denies it, saying it’s scrutiny. But we’re indifferent – filibustering a gerrymander is a case of two wrongs making a right. – Read More

A windfall bank tax for social housing – Next Left
By Emma Burnell

In 1997 Labour imposed a windfall tax on energy companies which raised £5bn. I propose that in 2015 we propose a windfall tax on the banks designed to raise £7bn.

This money should be ring fenced, and used to build 100,000 social homes, bringing further investment from social housing providers and kick starting a moribund construction industry which is likely to suffer from the Tory cuts disproportionately as infrastructure investment is slashed. – Read More

I agree with Eric Hobsbawm – Greensen
By David Mentiply

In the context of Labour party politics, I never thought I would say this, but I agree with Eric Hobsbawm. In an interview with the new Labour MP and historian, Tristram Hunt, the doyen of academic Marxism expresses some insightful views. Hardly a surprise. Anyone who ever studied modern history at sixth form or university will tell you, Hobsbawm is a genuine intellectual giant.

In response to a question on the present plight of the Labour party, Eric proffers:

“I think the Labour party should, for one thing, stress much more that for most people in the past 13 years, the period was not one of collapse into chaos but actually one where the situation improved, and particularly in areas such as schools, hospitals and a variety of other cultural achievements – so the idea that somehow or other it all needs to be taken down and ground into the dust is not valid. I think we need to defend what most people think basically needs defending and that is the provision of some form of welfare from the cradle to the grave.” – Read More

Why RBS should be the next target for activists – Liberal Conspiracy
By Sunny Hundal

The Royal Bank of Scotland is owned by me and you: the public. We collectively own 84% of the bank and saved it from collapsing during the financial crisis.

At the very least, we have the right to know what went wrong at the bank, right? Wrong. RBS is refusing to release a report on the only City-wide investigation into what went wrong during the financial crisis.

This means that even now, no one in the UK has yet been prosecuted for taking our banks to the brink of collapse and causing the crisis. – Read More

Sorry, I don’t speak Disabled – Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
By Sue Marsh

You can take our wheelchairs, you can take our security, you can take our mobility, but you will never take our libraries!!!!

Actually I’m delighted to see people standing up for reading. Free access to books is one of the great levellers in our society and I’m proud every time I see a library, but WHY do the papers jump to write about these things so eagerly when sick and disabled people are literally having their dignity stripped away?

You can’t move for articles in the mainstream press today about a rising campaign in library-saving. – 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.