Is Ed Miliband the new Clem Attlee?

Tuesday, 26 July 2011 18:23

Odd, I know, to be ranking today’s widely mocked Labour leader with the most successful Labour Prime Minister ever.  I suggested similarities during a podcast with former Blair spin doctor Lance Price, who promised me dinner at a restaurant of my choice if Labour under Miliband gets a 1945-size majority. 

But when Attlee was elected Labour leader in 1935, many people said that such an uncharismatic, ordinary-sounding little man could never be Prime Minister.  He was a temporary stopgap, they said, until the Party could agree on a proper leader.  “And a little mouse shall lead them” confided a bitterly disappointed Hugh Dalton to his diary that night.

Read more: Is Ed Miliband the new Clem Attlee?

The top-down culture of the Murdoch empire

Wednesday, 20 July 2011 12:02

What we learned yesterday is the Murdoch empire does what all big organisations, whether governments, quangoes or companies, do when they’re in trouble. They push the blame as far down the food chain as it’ll go.

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Police officers in denial over police violence

Saturday, 09 July 2011 09:41

One of the least comforting things I've seen recently is a police officers' internet forum where they talk among themselves about my article detailing how student Tommy Meyers was thrown to the ground in handcuffs and a police dog deployed on his face, causing injuries requiring 30 stitches and two operations; and how they then refused him access to painkillers or antibiotics prescribed by the doctor for 14 hours.

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A wasted Sunday at the "Festival" of Education

Tuesday, 28 June 2011 23:07

I've seldom regretted accepting a speaking invitation so much as last Sunday, when I turned up at the Sunday Times/Wellington College Festival of Education.  Apparently they're trying to get more speakers on the left for next year, and I hope no one's going to make the mistake I made, of allowing himself to be used as window-dressing for Edubusiness.

Read more: A wasted Sunday at the "Festival" of Education

A charity appeal I urge you to ignore

Monday, 06 June 2011 22:57

Here’s a charity which won’t be getting a penny of my money, and, I hope, not a penny of yours either: the London Evening Standard’s “charitable partner”, Volunteer Reading Help. 

Read more: A charity appeal I urge you to ignore

AV could stop political blackmail

Tuesday, 19 April 2011 22:37

So sad to see the AV campaign going down the tubes. It is - or perhaps was - our best chance in 100 years to stop the big parties blackmailing electors.

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The scandal the nationals won't touch

Tuesday, 29 March 2011 11:13

At the TUC last week, we were invited to discuss the difference it makes not having any labour and industrial correspondents any more.  Here's one big difference.

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So farewell, then, industrial corrs

Friday, 18 March 2011 22:09

To the TUC to talk about how trade unions manage now there are no specialist labour and industrial correspondents to report on them, and the answer is: with difficulty.  Peter Hitchens, John Lloyd, Paul Routledge et al.

Read more: So farewell, then, industrial corrs

Round here, Big Society means: pass the begging bowl

Saturday, 05 March 2011 17:26

Here in Barnet, I've just had a letter from my three Conservative councillors.

They tell me the Council can't any longer give any financial help to Avenue House - a much valued local amenity, with pleasant grounds which on fine weekends are full of families relaxing. Without money, the building and grounds will swiftly become unusable through lack of upkeep.

Read more: Round here, Big Society means: pass the begging bowl

London's fire engine fleet at risk

Wednesday, 02 March 2011 00:06

I don't know if I've managed to get this story into a single national paper, yet it seems to me to be one of the biggest scandals of the past year or two.  The London Fire Brigade is placing its whole fleet of fire engines in jeopardy ny insisting on contracting them out to a firm which may well be wound up because of unpaid tax bills.

Read more: London's fire engine fleet at risk