Ed’s inbox – May 4th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

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

The madness of Ken’s attack on Obama – Left Foot Forward
By Shamik Das

Labour’s candidate for London Mayor Ken Livingstone has put his foot in it again today – saying the assassination of Osama bin Laden made President Obama look like “some kind of mobster”. The ill-judged attack on Obama, whose leadership over the operation has been praised round the world, risks hardening public perception of Livingstone as being in league with Islamists, and soft on Islamist extremism. – Read more.

If Chris Huhne wants to reunite the left, he should resign from the Cabinet – Next Left
By Paul Boateng

Tomorrow the country goes to the polls in an election that has serious consequences for our country’s democracy. The stakes are high. The choice is whether to keep our tried and tested voting system where we put an x next to the candidate of our choice and the candidate with the most votes wins, or change to the Alternative Vote, a costly and complicated system where voters express numbered preferences.

For the last three weeks Chris Huhne and several leading Liberal Democrat politicians have been telling Labour supporters to vote Yes in order to block the Tories in the future. – Read more.

Is the workplace fit for me? – Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
By Sue Marsh

Never mind me, I want to talk about Dave, my ever faithful, wonderful, loving hubby.

He has a “bad back.”

Actually he has two herniated vertebrae and a coccyx injury from a motorbike injury years ago. He has lost most of the feeling in his right hand and suffers daily pain.

Nonetheless, one sickie in a household is quite enough, so he does what all good DWP ministers expect and gets on with it. He refuses to have surgery in case it goes wrong and leaves us even more vulnerable than we are now. – Read more.

What’s it’s like to be morbidly obese and why it matters politically – Scarlet Standard
By Emma Burnell

This is based on a post I first wrote in a personal journal two years ago. After writing it I went on to lose 4 stone. I then lost my job and self esteem and fell back into the cycle.

Let’s face it – fat people are funny. I know this because every where I go something or someone tells me so. From the comic relief of Heather Trott on Eastenders to Courtney Cox’s Fat Suit on Friends; from Johnny Vegas’s comic desperation to the cries of “Oi Fatty Boom Boom” by the kids on the bus. – Read more.

No to PR, Yes to AV – Labour Uncut
By Tom Watson

When Roy Jenkins recommended a change in the electoral system twelve years ago I helped lead the campaign to defeat it and preserve the first past the post system. I was dead against any form of proportional representation then and I still am now. But whilst I remain as firmly opposed to proportional representation as ever, I have become convinced that our current first past the post system is in need of reform and upgrading. That is why I am supporting the campaign to introduce the alternative vote and will be voting Yes in tomorrow’s referendum. – Read more.

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