Ed’s inbox – April 29th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

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

We needn’t be royal wedding party poopers just because we’re leftwing – Comment is Free
By Dan Hodges

The royal wedding is part of our country’s shared heritage. A heritage owned as much by the left as by the right

I loved it. The whole wonderful, anachronistic, uniquely British spectacle.

There I sat, glass of wine in one hand, iPhone in the other; watching the political Twittersphere pressed into the service of the monarchy.

For a time we tried to keep on message. Just how many council seats would the PM’s morning suit cost his party? Would Gordon Brown attempt to storm the abbey and have to be wrestled to the ground by a squad of lifeguards? – Read more.

Why I think the Monarchy is great – Liberal Conspiracy
By Chris Dillow

Timothy Garton Ash gives some guarded support for the UK having a monarchy. I’d go further, and suggest it is a good idea, for three reasons.

First, the existence of a monarchy is irrational, out-of-date and absurd, with all its pomp, invented tradition and flummery. But this is an argument for it, not against it. The monarchy is much like the NHS: idiotic in theory but surprisingly successful in practice. It therefore reminds us that rationality is a very weak tool for judging the efficacy of institutions. – Read more.

Verdict of the British people: “Long to reign over us” – Left Foot Forward
By Daniel Elton

Is Sunder Katwala right when he says:

“British Republicanism is perhaps the least successful political project of my lifetime.”?

While we have recently seen such pie-in-the-sky policies as nationalisation of the banks enacted, and Conservatives quoting Polly Toynbee on equality, I would still reserve the title for efforts to get the UK out of the EU – given the vast reserves of wealth and media propaganda put into the struggle. But, given that there have been republicans around in this country since before this country was a country, the numbers are staggering. Four recent surveys point to solid support for the Monarchy: – Read more.

Amid all the wedding excitement, I hope Ed Miliband sees Howard Stoate’s piece in The Guardian – Alastair Campbell
By Alastair Campbell

I know Ed Miliband has other things to do today, what with being, unlike TB and GB, at the wedding … (I’m loving Huw Edwards getting excited about the dress) … but I do hope he sees the response by Howard Stoate to David Cameron’s ‘calm down dear’ moment.

Stoate, a qualified GP, is the former Labour MP whose support for the NHS reforms Cameron prayed in aid at PMQs on Wednesday. His piece in The Guardian exposes the full extent to which his remarks had been taken out of context by the ‘entirely misleading’ Prime Minister. – Read more.

Labour’s Scottish election campaign is a disaster – Labour Uncut
By Calum Wright

Scottish Labour’s campaign has been uninspiring, ill-conceived and unsuccessful. A lead in the opinion polls has been squandered and it seems increasingly likely that the SNP will be re-elected with more MSPs than ever. The recent Scotland on Sunday / YouGov poll has given the SNP a 13% lead over Labour in the constituency vote and a 10% lead in the regional list. With just a week until polls open, Iain Gray is relaunching the Labour campaign. As a Labour party member, this state of affairs is above all frustrating: a campaign which had the potential to show Labour rejuvenated instead indicates that lessons have not been learned. Here I will highlight four main areas in which the campaign has come short: the anti-Tory, then anti-SNP, stance; the absence of distinctiveness; the lack of realism; and the leadership problem. – 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.