Ed’s inbox – February 11th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

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

Can we win middle-class people to socialism? – Left Futures
By Owen Jones

How about I start by answering my own question. Yes, of course we can. Why not? And I’m not talking about “socialism” as New Labour (and even Tony Blair in the early days of his leadership) would have it, which basically boiled down to ‘being nice to people’. I mean the full-blooded, Real Thing.

I should probably define who I mean by ‘middle-class people’. We’re all used to ‘Middle England’ being thrown around by politicians and journalists, and in an entirely misleading way. For example, in 2006 New Labour ultra Stephen Byers floated the idea of abolishing inheritance tax in order to win back ‘Middle England’, despite the fact that only the wealthiest families in Britain were liable to pay it. If you are slap in the middle of the country’s income distribution, you are earning just £20,000 a year. – Read more.

Why Libdems should welcome the revolt by local councillors – Liberal Conspiracy
By Sue Marsh

The news yesterday that 17 council leaders and 71 local party heads spoke out against the devastating 28% local authority cuts should be celebrated, not opposed by the Liberal Democrats. I firmly believe that if indeed the public did vote for a coalition, then this is what they expected. When something seemed wrong, I think they wanted one or the other party to oppose it. Not destructively but passionately. Not to harm the government, but to strengthen it. – Read more.

Official report: ministerial drivers are the most bullied staff in Whitehall – Political Scrapbook
By Political Scrapbook

Sarcasm from Danny Alexander? Foul language from Francis Maude? Physical abuse from Eric Pickles? Whitehall watchers have been kept guessing about reports of bullying and harassment faced by the Coalition’s chauffeurs.

In recently released figures, the Government Car and Dispatch Agency topped a league table of discrimination, bullying and harassment among half a million Whitehall pen-pushers. In contrast to workers at the the Foreign Office’s “exclusive and discreet” country manor at Wilton Park, which topped the league for staff satisfaction, almost a quarter of the long-suffering drivers reported abuse at work. – Read more.

Young Labour at the heart of the fightback – Labour Uncut
By Stephanie Peacock

Whether it’s the tripling of tuition fees, the end of the future jobs fund or the abolition of the education maintenance allowance, this government’s reckless and draconian cuts are hitting the youngest hardest.

So it’s no surprise that since the election we have seen an extra 50,000 party members – many of whom are young members. This is a critical time for young people to join Labour and stand up to the Government’s attack on their opportunities. – Read more.

Sorry, but it can’t be multiculturalism that failed in France, Nicolas – Next Left
By Sunder Katwala

The best reason for moving on from multiculturalism rarely now gets a hearing in the polarised shouting match which often passes for public debate on this subject. It may not be the best approach to promoting equal opportunity and common citizenship in the future in our ineradicably multi-ethnic society. But any fair critique of its limits should surely be informed at least as much by its successes and its failures.

Perhaps the reasons are best demonstrated by Nicolas Sarkozy’s latest and somewhat silly pronouncement on the subject. The French President has joined Angela Merkel and David Cameron to declare that multiculturalism has failed. – 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.