Morning Report – May 3rd

There’s a sort of strange “back to school” feeling today after weeks of recess and bank holidays, but it’ll be short lived, as we are of course only two days away from elections. And there’s also a heavy dose of Osama Bin Laden in today’s papers as they catch up with the events of the past 36 hours.

There are numerous press events today which should gain varying degrees of press coverage. Ed Miliband has his monthly press conference today from 11.30 (which we will be covering live on LabourList). The No campaign have called a rally for 12.30, followed this evening by a Yes rally at 7.30pm, as the two sides make their final push.

There’s an interesting article from Mary Riddell in the Telegraph today, which argues that Labour must not be “airbrushed from history”, and must create a story around itself which founds itself in modern Britain. I doubt many Labour supporters would disagree. The “how” is more complex though.

Over in the Guardian, John Kampfner argues that Ed Miliband needs Nick Clegg. Kampfner would say that though – he voted Lib Dem last year and has not (as far as we’re aware) admitted his mistake. Ed Miliband needs Nick Clegg like a hole in the head. The Lib Dems without Clegg are a different proposition though…

The Bin Laden coverage is almost on a Royal Wedding scale in today’s papers, but the most significant article on his death comes from the Washington Post, where Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari argues that Pakistan played a full role in the capture of Bin Laden. Obviously there’s real scepticism about that. Not least because Bin Laden had been living in a town with a significant military presence and yet no-one suspected a thing. In the Guardian, author Moshin Hamid says that Pakistan will “pay the blood price”, and that the slaughter in the region will continue. Robert Fisk in the Independent says that Pakistan knew where Bin Laden was the whole time…