Ed’s inbox: February 4th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

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

In the coming chaos, the Tory Right could be Labour’s best friends – Hopi Sen
By Hopi Sen

A thought that’s been rolling in my head for a few days.

A theory: As a result of the coalition putting existing political loyalties to great tests, there’s a coming battle for dominance in British politics. In that fight, The right of the Conservative party are the hidden and undeclared allies of Ed Miliband.

They don’t know it and would shudder at the thought, but in every action they take there is a brutal internal logic which strains the coalition to its limit, and in doing so, allows Ed Miliband to position himself in precisely the territory that would make most sense for the coalition.- Read more.

Labour’s Greatest Opportunity is Now – Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
By Sue Marsh

In the spirit of true bi-partisan co-operation, I want to quote both Tony Benn and Ann Widdecombe this morning.

Tony Benn reminds us here that the greatest challenge lefties face is our own and others pessimism that real change can ever come. Widdy calls it the theory of “The Shrug.”

Oh, “The Shrug.” You find the shrug on most doorsteps at election time. You find it when talking to friends or family, you slam right into it every time you try to run a local campaign or form an action group. The shrug says “Who cares?” “They’re all the same” “It doesn’t matter to me, they don’t do anything for me” “Nothing will ever change.”

You can’t debate with the shruggers, you can’t persuade them to your point of view and you can’t just list facts because they don’t believe them. – Read more.

Clegg’s using the same rhetoric to justify fees rise as he used to oppose it – Left Foot Forward
By Aaron Porter

The following are quotes from Nick Clegg during the election campaign last year:

“If we have learnt one thing from the economic crisis, it is that you can’t build a future on debt.” (The Daily Telegraph)

“[Students are] leaving university with this weight of debt around their necks.” (YouTube)

Nothing revelatory there – Nick Clegg’s u-turn on tuition fees and subsequent betrayal of his own party’s policy and of the students he courted so shamelessly is well recorded and was one of the biggest political themes of last year. – Read more.

Obama and responsibility for Egypt’s future – Guardian America
By Michael Tomasky

So Hillary and Clinton and Robert Gates are arranging or trying to arrange Hosni Mubarak’s immediate departure. The New York Times and the Guardian both have good accounts. From the Guardian:

But behind-the-scenes the Obama administration is in contact with Egypt’s most senior military commanders as well as those politicians under Mubarak discussing a plan in which the Egyptian president would stand straight away. – Read more.

How Labour’s Movement for Change got this retiree involved in campaigning – Liberal Conspiracy
By Marion Maxwell

I was delighted to hear the news that Movement for Change will be being continued and expanded to bring community organising back to the Labour movement. My community and I have already benefitted from some of the methods that M4C wants to equip all party members with. One of the first actions of the government was to cancel the creation of Norwich Unitary council, one of the consequences being that we were forced into a by-election in September 2010. I was selected as Labour candidate for the Mancroft Ward, a Green Party stronghold, and deemed difficult to win by the Labour Party. – 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.