Ed’s inbox – April 14th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

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

Health minister spent £41,000 on chauffeurs back to constituency – Political Scrapbook
By Political Scrapbook

Taxpayers have paid over £41,000 for a Tory MP to be chauffeured between Westminster and his Essex constituency. Health minister Simon Burns doesn’t have a flat in London, so has been ferried back to his home in Chelmsford 154 times by drivers from the government car pool. The full cost is likely to be even higher when trips into the capital are included, reports the Essex Chronicle. – Read more.

Not so Cleverly? – The Waugh Room
By Paul Waugh

“Universal benefits are inherently wasteful” Discuss.

No, this isn’t an Oxbridge entrance essay question. It’s a thought prompted by a quote that has popped up from the leading Tory in the capital who isn’t Boris Johnson.

James Cleverly, the Tory leader on the London Assembly, came up with the eye-catching phrase as he laid into Labour-run Southwark Council. – Read more.

The Liberal Democrat legacy – Progress
By Morgan McSweeney

I don’t think power suits the Liberal Democrats. Maybe it’s the party’s federal structure, which allows their politicians to go off and do their own thing. Maybe it’s the old school Liberal approach of individualism which makes some ill-prepared to take collective decisions.

It might just be down to the fact that their principles are driven by their campaigning – and not the other way around. Whatever the reason, when they get into power their record is a miserable one. – Read more.

Obama’s deficit reduction plan is three times slower than Osborne’s – Left Foot Forward
By Will Straw

President Obama has finally announced his plans to bring the US budget back to balance. He has chosen to do so on a timetable three times slower than Britain’s Chancellor, George Osborne.

President Obama said yesterday:

“I’m proposing a more balanced approach to achieve trillion in deficit reduction over 12 years. It’s an approach that borrows from the recommendations of the bipartisan Fiscal Commission that I appointed last year, and it builds on the roughly trillion in deficit reduction I already proposed in my 2012 budget. It’s an approach that puts every kind of spending on the table – but one that protects the middle class, our promise to seniors, and our investments in the future.” – Read more.

A pub is more than a place to drink – Labour Uncut
By Peter Watt

I love the pub; going for a pint has been a Watt family thing as long as I can remember. I look back and smile when think about going for my first pint with my Dad at The Tatnam pub in Poole. It was a special rite of passage. One that I repeated with my own son only last year. The Tatnam was our local family pub where we went at Christmas and special occasions. It was where, over the years, my Dad went and met a few “bar mates”. In fact, it was where over the years we all gathered whenever we got together as a family. And it was where we continued to take my Dad over the months when he was dying. His last pint there was a few days before he died. Going with him was a ritual that we all valued, a comfort at a terrible time. After he died, we again all went there, and there was a picture of him behind the bar for months.

The Tatnam closed last year and is now a supermarket. – 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.