Ed’s inbox – June 22nd

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

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

Labour must oppose the Greek “bail-out” and support the dismantling of the Euro – Left Futures
By Jon Lansman

Opinion within Labour appears to be moving on the Greek “bail-out”. First, Ed Balls contemplates working with eurosceptic Tory MPs to oppose the use of British cash to fund the bail-out. Not quite principled opposition to the bail-out itself, and not surprising therefore that he was accused of opportunism. Then this week Jack Straw, always somewhat inclined to euroscepticism, argued that, since collapse of the Euro was inevitable, it was better that it happen quickly than for the Euro to endure a “slow death”. And today, Alistair Darling argues that the eurozone cannot survive in its present form with a punitive approach that will not work. Unfortunately, his answer still lacks credibility and doesn’t go far enough: – Read more.

Is it really best if Greece goes bust? – Left Foot Forward
By Ben Fox

The Greek debt crisis seems to be finally coming to a cathartic conclusion. That it has taken so long for Europe’s leaders to admit that Greece could not meet the punishing terms of its ‘bail-out’ conditions without further cash injections, or a re-profiling of its debt, is quite disgraceful.

Athens-Greece-lightningIt surely did not take an economic genius to guess that a 25 per cent cut in public spending would do nothing to boost the Greek economy, nor that a lax tax regime would suddenly start raking in higher revenues or that a relatively closed labour market would suddenly become North European. – Read more.

Cameron’s plans to charge single parents to access the CSA are anti-family – THE HONEYBALL BUZZ
By Mary Honeyball MEP

David Cameron has staked a lot of his moral character as Prime Minister upon “family values”. He has also attempted to divorce himself from perceptions that the Conservative Party is condemnatory of single mothers by declaring that what they do is a “heroic job against all the odds” and that men who desert their children, either financially or emotionally, are “beyond the pale”. However, actions speak louder than words and recent policy proposals show just how hollow this rhetoric is. – Read more.

Labour MP fiercely critiques ‘Blue Labour’ – Liberal Conspiracy
By Sunny Hundal

It’s titled simply: ‘Tradition and Change: Four People’, but Labour’s spokesperson for Justice has launched the most comprehensive attack on ‘Blue Labour’ in a pamphlet published today on Liberal Conspiracy, calling it “drum and trumpet jingoism”.

Helen Goodman, MP for Bishop Auckland, says that while the ideals of solidarity and reciprocity emphasised by Blue Labour are significant, they are not enough to deal with modern challenges.

She was invited on to BBC Newsnight last week to debate on the issue. – Read more.

Penal policy takes a regressive turn – The Staggers
By Ian Loader

Politics 1, Coherent policy 0

So the tabloids have been thrown their red meat. Using crime to shore-up one’s political capital is — after a brief lull — back in fashion. Penal policy is poised once again to take a regressive turn.

Those in this country who believe in a more rational and humane penal policy have, for several years now, quietly put their faith in the Conservatives. In opposition, a succession of shadow justice ministers carefully crafted a sensible alternative to the policies pursued for over a decade by New Labour — policies that had sent the prison population rocketing to record levels, while doing little to build public trust in the justice system. The recession meant that the money for expanding the penal estate had run out. The Conservatives, it was pointed out, have a proud record of penal reform, as well as being best placed politically tackle spiralling prison numbers. Think Nixon in China. – Read more.