Wednesday, July 23, 2008
 Jamie Reed
Across the developed world, in Germany, France, Spain, Britain and now the United States, the politics of conservatism is in seemingly inexorable decline. Political correspondents in have so far largely failed to spot this emerging trend, but the evidence seems to be clear cut: conservatism is dying. read >
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Conor Ryan
There is a growing political consensus about the importance of academies - independent state funded secondary schools - to the reform of secondary education in England. With fast-improving results and a government drive to ensure that no school has fewer than 30 per cent of its pupils gaining five good GCSEs including English and Maths, Labour's flagship schools programme is being rapidly expanded, with over 130 due to be open this September, and over 300 by 2010. read >
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Rebekah Phillips
The development of an effective policy framework to tackle climate change is the most pressing of tasks for today's leaders. It is also an extraordinarily complex challenge. A successful framework will need to span all sectors of the economy, influence decisions by businesses, individuals and others and be compatible with emerging European and international policy. read >
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Progress statement
As the Labour Party gears up for its National Policy Forum weekend starting on Friday 25 July, Progress, the New Labour pressure group, is calling for the NPF to endorse policies which seek to rebuild New Labour's winning coalition of support, rather than bending to sectional interests. read >
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Obama could be just what the Middle East needs
'Above all, Obama promises to do, once more, the work that a US
administration alone can do - engaging hands-on, directly and every
day, in shepherding the two sides through negotiations and towards
peace. Bill Clinton toiled in this way until his last hours in office;
Bush, by contrast, steered well clear of the whole messy business until
last autumn, when he panicked that he might have no other legacy to
point to.' - Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian
Union demands
'Yesterday Progress, the Blairite pressure group whose vice-chairmen
include Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, and Ed Miliband, the
Cabinet Office Minister, urged the Government not to agree to union
demands that would benefit "sectional interests". It said: "Last week's
union wish list is an echo of the industrial relations of the 1970s and
has little resonance with the public in their working lives today.' - The Times
'And the following two days Labour's policy forum meets in Warwick when we must hope that the unions back the Prime Minister to the hilt. And realise that the alternative is not a return to an old style left-wing agenda but the return of a Tory government.' - David Blunkett, The Sun
Glasgow East tomorrow
'And as the unforgiving logic of devolution plays itself out, it is Labour's political prospects that are intimately and precariously tied to the health of the union.' - Tristram Hunt, The Guardian
Ed Balls interview - Steve Richards, The Independent
Karadzic capture
'I first met Radovan Karadzic in September 1992 at the town of Lukavica in Bosnia.' - David Owen, The Times
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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
 Ruth Smeeth
There are many issues that you need to consider when you become a PPC.
Local issues and concerns become increasingly important and proposing a
solution for the problems faced by the electorate is vital. There are
some issues, however, that cross from local issues to the national
agenda and this is one of them. I seek to represent Burton Upon Trent,
the home of British Brewing. The industry is core to our town, our
economy and our culture. However, people are still concerned about the
impact of excessive drinking in both my towns and all my villages
across East Staffordshire. New thinking >
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Labour support rises three points
‘But there is some comfort for Labour in a three-point rise in support, to 28%. Conservative support has fallen two points on last month's Guardian/ICM poll, to 43%.
The five-point narrowing of the Conservative lead from last month's 20 points may reassure Labour MPs that the worst is over, as parliament rises for the summer.' - Julian Glover, The Guardian
Purnell's proposals not punitive
‘Some were bound to react to the Government's proposals for further welfare reform by attacking them for "punishing people for being poor". They are nothing of the sort, and it does not foster mature political debate to dismiss as right-wing or illiberal the idea that people have a responsibility to work, alongside a right to social support when they are in difficulties. It is true that yesterday's Green Paper targets those in the bottom quartile of the social economy. But the plans are an attack not on poverty so much as on dependency.’ – Leader, The Independent
‘His proposals are potentially a big step forward on a path tentatively travelled for years, but there must be a more candid debate about the start-up costs of reform. As I have argued before, if the Conservatives are sincere about encouraging the establishment of many new schools in poorer areas, they will have to find more cash. The same applies to the provision of genuine choice in the NHS. Similarly reforms of welfare are close to meaningless if they are plucked out of context.’ – Steve Richards, The Independent
‘Some hoops - notably the requirement to attend jobcentre interviews - can usefully prompt claimants, who can grow demoralised and apathetic, to think through their options instead. Compulsory engagement works best, though, if coupled with help with barriers to work such as childcare. Mr Purnell was at his strongest yesterday when he promised that new requirements on incapacity benefit claimants to train and seek work would be matched by new funds to make workplaces more accessible.’ – Leader, The Guardian
Flicker of hope for Zimbabwe
‘Zimbabweans have warmly welcomed a deal setting a framework for talks on the country's political crisis.
Residents in Harare and Bulawayo told the BBC they were excited at news of the agreement, saying they hoped it would allow a return to normal life.
The deal says power-sharing talks between President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC should be completed within two weeks.’ – BBC News
‘Yesterday's agreement is the first sign that perhaps an African solution might be possible, and that South Africa's President, Thabo Mbeki, could facilitate it. So far, agreement goes no further than a framework for talks. It is not the power-sharing deal that Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change is aiming for. If, however, it heralds a co-operative effort to find a solution to Zimbabwe's many ills, it is an advance on anything that has happened before.’ – Leader, The Independent
Don't underestimate Darling
‘The argument is that when Mr Brown relaunches himself in September with a “new economic plan” he will need a new chancellor to help him. In fact the Prime Minister should strengthen Mr Darling's position and leave him to make his own decisions. The Government's reputation for economic competence has been undermined partly by the perception that the Treasury is being run from both No10 and No11.’ – Rachel Sylvester, The Times
Obama and the left
‘Some on the Left are getting their count-me-outs in already, realising that Mr Obama is, after all, a big-game hunter, a full-trousered American candidate. They, I think, are more realistic than those who manage on one day to laud the Democrat as not being a real politician, and on the next to praise him for his sensible left-trimming when seeking the party's nomination and his equally sensible centre-hugging once it was in the bag. I say the antis are more realistic because, eventually, we will hate or ridicule Mr Obama too - provided, of course, that he is elected and serves two full terms.’ - David Aaronovitch, The Times
Monday, July 21, 2008
General Sir Richard Dannatt
I have chosen to speak this evening to the title of: Military Force Today - A Force for Good or a Contradiction in Terms? And in picking that title I am inevitably setting up the debate as to whether the application of violence, the threat of violence or the actions of those trained and willing to apply violence can in any way be considered as a ‘Force for Good' in the contemporary security environment - or is that term, a ‘Force for Good', almost, by definition, a contradiction in terms? read >
Monday, July 21, 2008
Alan Johnson
‘Last November, 10-year-old Alaina Podmorow got together with 18 of her fellow grade 5 pupils in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, and they raised enough money to pay the salaries of five Afghan schoolteachers for a whole year. How is it that in doing this simple thing, Alaina and her young comrades, in the space of a few weeks, made a greater contribution to the liberation of the Afghan people than the combined efforts of the NDP, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Canadian Federation of Students, over the past seven years?' Progressive internationalism >
Monday, July 21, 2008
Purnell sets out 'revolutionary' welfare proposals
‘The Welfare Green Paper is set to include proposals to force those unemployed for more than two years to work full-time in the community.
Incapacity benefit will be scrapped as part of a scheme to get more people claiming the benefit back to work.
Minister James Purnell says the plans are "revolutionary"’ - BBC News
‘Our approach will be stepped up in the Welfare green paper published today, and will help 200,000 children out of poverty. We will for the first time allow separated parents on benefits to keep all of their maintenance benefits. We will aim to get a million claimants off incapacity benefit, through help with their health and a return to work. Those on long-term sickness benefits overwhelmingly want to return to work. We will give them the help to do so but will expect them to take up that help.’ – James Purnell, The Guardian
'There's an added spur to retool the Welfare State now. If Labour doesn't do it, the Tories will – and their plans really are brutal. David Cameron has said repeatedly that he wants to adopt the welfare reform introduced in Wisconsin in the 1990s.' - Johann Hari, The Independent
Flexible is working
‘We should not forget how far women's employment has come, nor be too easily frightened by warnings of a sudden reverse thanks to a few extra months of leave, or better flexible-working rights. Throughout the 20th century, notably after both world wars and even as late as the 70s, employers and trade unions were issuing warnings about the terrible effect of making it easier to hire women. It would destroy men's jobs, or undercut men's pay, or produce generations of neutered, out-of-work men. Instead, as the economy has become less industrial and more knowledge-based, women have flooded into the workplace, with none of these dire predictions coming true.’ – Jackie Ashley, The Guardian
Glasgow East - the final week
'Labour hit the streets of Glasgow East over the weekend as activists
banged on 20,000 doors in a final effort to shore up the party's vote.
But Labour's campaign managers seemed keen to play down expectations on
the size of victory they expect despite a poll over the weekend
suggesting they had 52 per cent support in the constituency as against
35 per cent for the SNP.' - The Scotsman
European Obamania
‘Barack Obama has already won the U.S. election by a landslide. In Europe, that is. Polls show the French putting the first African-American in the White House with 86 percent backing. Obamania is about as intense in Germany and Britain, the two other European countries the Senator will visit this week.’ Roger Cohen, New York Times
‘I speak of Barack Obama, a phenomenon of politics not just in America but across the English-speaking world and beyond. Plainly, he is an exceptional candidate, although, like the prophets, he is even more exceptional outside his own land. Opinion polls in the US have him only four percentage points ahead of John McCain. Over here, on the other hand, a poll last week among people who can't vote for either man found Obama trouncing McCain by a five-to-one margin.’ – John Rentoul, Independent on Sunday
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