By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk
If Ed Miliband could only read five blogposts each day, he’d read these ones…
Why we don’t agree with Nick (and nor do you) – Next Left
By Sunder Katwala
The Liberal Democrats have often been charged with being a ‘franchise party’ over many years, with the accusation from political opponents being that they say different things in different parts of the country, so as to be able to appeal electorally to those unhappy with Labour in the north and those disgruntled with the Tories in the south. It has been widely suggested that being a party of government will probably make this more challenging.
Polling evidence now shows that voters on both left and right place Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats on the opposite side of the political spectrum to themselves. – Read more.
Labour in Helmand: Operation Overreach? – Labour Uncut
By Rob Marchant
Things like this make me wrestle with myself. My instinct as an activist is to be supportive and I feel like we all need cheering on. But I also need to understand why this trip was a good idea. I felt uncomfortable watching the footage of Labour’s Afghanistan trip and I have this uneasy feeling that those on the receiving end did, too. In pictures, we saw a gung-ho Ed, Jim Murphy smiling supportively, a slightly sheepish-looking Douglas Alexander, and a bunch of impassive soldier faces. The media coverage seemed neutral, if a little light, because of the tight security and Egypt. But maybe that was just as well. – Read more.
Montgomerie: “You don’t have to go very far to find an unhappy Tory MP” – Left Foot Forward
By Shamik Das
Leading Conservative blogger Tim Montgomerie, editor of the ConservativeHome website, has lifted the lid on the discord among many Tory MPs at the direction of the coalition. Writing in next week’s New Statesman (7th Feb edition), Montgomerie says Conservative MPs “feel like passengers rather than crew”, and that the prime minister feels “almost too content” in the company of Lib Dems. – Read more.
Labour’s new battleground: What matters vs. what works
By Anthony Painter
There is a fundamental political divide in British politics that is finally finding expression. It is also a social divide. Globalisation has refracted the politics of our time to the extent that it is no longer clearly a case of individualist vs. collectivist, left vs. right. We are now divided by security vs. opportunity, local vs. global, stability vs. change. The degree to which Labour can make sense of a world of abundant yet high risk opportunity sitting alongside a world of enduring cultures and values will determine its ability to build a renewed case for power.– Read more.
Who and Why is Craig Oliver? – Independent
By John Rentoul
I can offer no snippets about the private life of Craig Oliver, the Prime Minister’s new head of communications. But I can make two observations. 1. He was responsible for the BBC’s election night programme. I can remember Andrew Neil on a boat (right). I can remember giving up on the BBC’s coverage because Sky, ITV News and Twitter were better and quicker.
2. His is a strategic appointment. David Cameron’s weakness is not News International or the mass-market press. His weakness is the LBLM&C (London-Based Liberal Media and Culturati), of which the BBC is the inner cadre. As the heir to Blair, he has to fend off its bile, once directed at his predecessor-but-one. (Some of the LBLM&C’s Blair-rage has already transferred to his deputy, Nick Clegg.). – 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.
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