Ed’s inbox: February 1st

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

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

How left wing are you? – Liberal Conspiracy
By Jim Jepps

YouGov has come out with a fascinating survey on how left/right wing people think they are.

Inevitably they’ve chosen a scale where being on the right takes you up to +100 and being a lefty is -100 but, despite this outrageous bias I think there’s something quite valuable about asking people upfront where they see themselves on the political spectrum. – Read more

“Lacklustre” growth predicted as Osborne told to develop Plan B – Left Foot Forward
By Will Straw

In what will be seen as worsening economic news for the Government, the respected and independent National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) have predicted “lacklustre” growth in 2011. They believe “there is a case for delaying some of the austerity programme”, vindication of calls for the Chancellor to develop a ‘Plan B’. – Read more

Do we have law in America? – Guardian America
By Michael Tomasky

At the level of basic criminal and civil enforcement, sure, we have law in America. Shifty and high-priced lawyering can corrupt the process. But if I steal your car and they catch me, I will likely be convicted. And if I dump toxic waste in your yard and they catch me, I will likely pay a civil penalty.

But at the level of policy-making, we no longer have law in the US. We have only politics. A judge like Roger Vinson in yesterday’s decision…he’s a conservative, and it’s pretty obvious that he knew what political outcome he wanted and worked backwards, constructing his argument. Usually, judges are much better than Vinson at concealing this and cloaking their reasoning in the law’s majesty. They don’t cite the Boston Tea Party, as Vinson did, a highly charged historical reference in the current climate. But they get to the same place. – Read more

Watching the Correctives – Hopi Sen
By Hopi Sen

It’s becoming ever clearer what issues are being debated withing government in response to the dissappointing (!) growth figures.

If volume of briefing is any guide, two groups have been given great encouragement. First, the remains of the Social liberals in government, who are calling for increased powers and funding for a green investment bank, support for small business entrepeneurs, retention of certain capital allowances to support R&D and investment and most importantly, an increase in the personal allowance to take more people out of income tax.

Some of the more hopeful even dream of a slower austerity profile, which would allow a few libraries to be saved, permit new schools to be built and keep the forests propoerty of the commons. – Read more

On Legal Aid, the government’s sums don’t add up – Left Foot Forward
By Andy Slaughter MP

The Tory-led government is planning a major reduction in the scope and availability of Legal Aid. One aspect of their planned cuts is to end provision of legal aid for welfare benefit problems, removing funding for the whole legal process, from initial advice services to court counsel.

These cases usually involve appealing against unfair decision making by the Department for Work and Pensions, local councils and other bodies. If these cases cannot be settled outside court, they are heard at First Tier Tribunals. – 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.