Morning Report – June 15th

Well hello Tony. Fancy seeing you here. Yes, that man Blair is doing more interviews today – including one in The Sun, helpfully entitled “Ed is dead if he stays red“. Somehow I imagine they’re The Sun’s words, not Blair’s. However the interview itself could be filed away under “not an especially helpful thing to say today thanks”, as George Eaton has noted over at the New Statesman. Ahead of a tricky PMQs today, being told that Blair agrees with Cameron’s policies on schools and the NHS is deeply unhelpful. Yet in the same interview he argues that “I am happy to give him my full support. I always will do for the leader of the Labour party, and I think he should be given a chance to set out his agenda. But in my view Labour will win if it fights from the centre.” Endorsement? Un-endorsement? Barely endorsement? Back-handed endorsement? You decide…

Speaking on articles that don’t live up to the billing of their headline, what do you think “First his brother, now Miliband’s at war with Balls” will be about. Could it possibly contain no quotes with any relevance to the headline, a flat denial that this non-story is true from aides, and much of the article being devoted to another topic entirely? How did you guess? You’re a mind reader today, dear reader. Anyone would think that the media had smelt blood and were writing whatever stories they liked or something.

Mass public sector strikes? They’re on their way, no doubt about it. The question is – how big will they be? The teachers are already striking, PCS are taking civil servants out too – will the big unions follow suit? Surely it’s only a matter of time.

And do you want to see some incredibly complex mental gymnastics? Have a look at this in the Daily Mail, in which Dominic Sandbrook laments the greedy doctors who nearly stopped the establishment of the NHS, and then attacks them for opposing the government’s current plans – whichy would presumably give them more power and money. Interestingly though, he attacks Cameron for spending too much time in opposition on photo ops and not enough time on developing policy, which may be of interest to Ed Miliband. Is your mind boggled? It should be.