Ed’s inbox – March 8th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

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

Boris Johnson spends £20k moving redundant official – Tory Troll
By Adam Bienkov

Boris Johnson spent almost £20,000 on new offices and furniture for a man whose job isn’t even now required at City Hall.

Leo Boland who is set for a £300k pay off, moved offices twice, costing almost £10,000 in furniture and over £9,000 in labour.

According to a breakdown provided to the Labour group on the London Assembly: – Read more.

No-fly zone a “gateway drug” to war – Michael Tomasky
By Michael Tomasky

Here you will find an excellent column by Mike Lind in Salon today warning of the likely ramifications of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya:

The implication [of McCain, Lieberman, Kerry et al.] is that the enforcement of “no-fly zones,” by the U.S. alone or with NATO allies, would be a moderate, reasonable measure short of war, like a trade embargo. In reality, declaring and enforcing a no-fly zone in Libya would be a radical act of war. It would require the U.S. not only to shoot down Libyan military aircraft but also to bomb Libya in order to destroy anti-aircraft defenses. Under any legal theory, bombing a foreign government’s territory and blasting its air force out of the sky is war. – Read more.

The liberal case against cuddling Ken Clarke – Next Left
By Sunder Katwala

There are two reasons why liberals from the left might hesitate to champion Justice Secretary Ken Clarke’s approach to prisons and crime. These might be shared among many who welcomed Clarke’s willingness to challenge some of the core assumptions of prisons policy when the government took office last year.

The first is tactical – that Ken is in enough trouble on his own side without such unwelcome support which would further exacerbate the suspicions of the right. – Read more.

Labour’s last chance is the budget – Progress
By David Chaplin

One of Labour’s big challenges in recent months has been to fully explain its economic policy to a sceptical electorate. The coalition has gained ground with its argument that substantially reducing the structural deficit is a moral imperative following Labour’s mismanagement of the economy.

It’s not new to say that it’s important that Labour doesn’t allow this message to stick, but this month’s budget is Labour’s last chance to set the record straight. We have to seize the opportunity. – Read more.

Welfare Reform that MUST NOT go Ahead – Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
By Sue Marsh

So, tomorrow is the 2nd reading of the Welfare Reform Bill.

I want to be very clear today about which parts sick and disabled campaigners feel are unacceptable :

1) Removing Disability Living Allowance mobility payments from adults in residential care. An adult who needs to live in residential care will have extensive needs and are often amongst the most severely disabled. The mobility component of DLA afforded them their only freedom, allowing them to choose to fund a power wheelchair otherwise unavailable on the NHS, or to pay for taxis or transport to get out now and then. Taking this away would leave the most vulnerable disabled people effectively housebound. There is no support for this change anywhere – charities, independent benefit reports and even the government’s own advisers have called for this to be removed from the bill. – 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.