Ed’s inbox – July 1st

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

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

Ed Miliband Goes Viral – Next Left
By Olly Parker

In the music industry you have a “hit” which is when something gets in the top ten and then disappears after a week, and you have a “proper-hit” where something goes top ten and then sticks around for about a year. This morning I awoke to find that video had gone “proper-viral”.

The thing is substance-wise, his position isn’t awful. I spoke to a few fair-minded PCS friends who took part in the strikes yesterday. They confided in me that, although they think the Government’s proposals are unfair, they agreed with Ed that it’s too early to strike. They would rather their leadership continue to negotiate and wait until the more prominent Labour-affiliated Unions are ready to either settle or join them on the picket line. – Read more.

Why Ed was right to say strike was wrong – Progress
By Paul Richards

Neil Kinnock had as his motto ‘get your betrayals in first’. The idea was that if Labour had a clear programme for a mixed economy, a multilateral approach to disarmament, and a role in the EEC, no one could complain if that’s what it did in government. Kinnock never had the chance to find out if his strategy was successful. However, despite Tony Blair being pretty clear in opposition about his attitude towards nationalising the commanding heights of the economy and scrapping the nuclear deterrent, it didn’t stop his critics crying ‘betrayal’ within a few hours of the 1997 landslide. – Read more.

Ed 2.0 blogs his way out of trouble – Left Foot Forward
By Shamik Das

In what could be a sign of things to come, Ed Miliband used social media to take on his critics and defend his position over yesterday’s strikes – conveying his thoughts directly to the public, as they are, without having to go through the filter of the print or broadcast media. On Twitter, Facebook and his blog, the Labour leader set out his reasons for his stance, and why he feels striking now, while negotiations are ongoing, is the wrong thing to do. – Read more.

Where are Ed Miliband’s fairweather friends? – New Statesman
By Dan Hodges

Come on then, where are you? Purveyors of the “new politics”, advocates of the new progressive order. Your man is in trouble. Ed Miliband is getting what is known in technical parlance as a bloody good kicking. And yet you’re silent. You plastic loyalists are nowhere.

We were all supposed to be rallying around, weren’t we? Marching in step. “Back the leader” was the mantra. Back the leader until he does something significant we don’t like; then we can cut him loose. – Read more.

Maude: ‘sacked officials should work for free’ – Liberal Conspiracy
By Don Paskini

Third Sector has the details:

“Public sector workers who have been made redundant should work unpaid as volunteer managers for charities, according to Francis Maude, the Minister for the Cabinet Office. Speaking at a session hosted by Christian charity Oasis in London on Wednesday evening, Maude said many charities had plenty of potential volunteers but were unable to involve all of them because there was a shortage of volunteer managers.” – Read more.