Ed’s inbox – July 25th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

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

Why we shouldn’t dismiss Anders Breivik as a “lone wolf” – Tory Troll
By Adam Bienkov

Right-wing pundits are now very keen to tell us that the Norwegian terror attacks were not caused by right-wing anti-multicultural ideology. The fact that Anders Breivik quoted Daily Mail articles in his manifesto and forged links with the same anti-immigration groups lauded by our tabloid press is apparently neither here nor there. He was just a lone nutter okay? And besides, if it wasn’t for multiculturalism, then there wouldn’t have been a problem there in the first place. – Read more.

Reflections on the obvious – Labour Uncut
By Pat McFadden

The woman doing the newspaper review summed up the predicament of the newspapers following the killings in Norway. “How to make sense of the senseless” she said. And in truth, it is hard to know where to begin. I was struck by the motivations of the young people at the summer camp. 600 or so in a small country of a few million people, all dedicated to making their world a better place. Debate, learning, sport and doing them all not alone but together with your friends. What a contrast with the killer. – Read more.

Osborne’s attacks on pensions are based on ideology, not necessity – Left Foot Forward
By Dave Prentis

UNISON’s campaign against the government’s plans for public sector workers got an unexpected boost this weekend, when it was revealed health secretary Andrew Lansley had written a five page letter to George Osborne’s Treasury, warning about the dangers of his own government’s proposals. Even Tory ministers are waking up to how unjust, unreasonable and unworkable their plans are – plans to make public sector workers pay more, work longer and get less when they retire. Mr Lansley helpfully echoed UNISON’s concerns by pointing out the proposals were “inappropriate” and “unrealistic”, and would hit women particularly hard. – Read more.

Bully MP threatens to sue granny for drawing a cartoon of him – Political Scrapbook
By Louis Goddard

James Wharton, Tory MP for Stockton South, seems to have a particularly unhealthy relationship with his constituents. As the Darlington and Stockton Times reports today, the 27-year-old MP has threatened legal action against a local grandmother who caricatured him in a satirical cartoon. After personally tearing down posters from a local park, Wharton wrote a threatening email to Yarm resident Carole Jones:

“I will … be taking advice on the libellous cartoons you have been distributing and you can expect to hear from my solicitors in due course. You have damaged my reputation by making untrue inferences and it is time you were taken up on your lies.” – Read more.

Vince Cable breaks precedent to call for more QE – FT Westminster blog
By Jim Pickard

Vince Cable’s call in the FT for the Bank of England to restart quantatative easing for the first time since February 2010 marks a remarkable intervention into monetary policy. Since the Bank was granted operational independence in 1997, politicians have generally steered clear of giving advice on monetary policy, which has been delegated to the Bank. Mervyn King, Bank governor, has fiercely defended its independence against much less overt interference in the past. Almost a decade ago he publicly dressed-down Ed Balls , then Gordon Brown’s special adviser, for milder remarks on monetary policy. – Read more.