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The last few days have seen two major Labour news stories: the clashing between the pro- and anti- camps for the Additional Vote (AV) referendum; and the controversy over supposed changes to Labour’s funding and voting model with respect to trade unions, which may or may not ever happen. What is not, perhaps, immediately obvious… Continue reading The strange case of Party democracy

Ok my next proper article will be tomorrow but, in the meantime, just wanted to mention this. I mean, it’s obviously just coincidence, but check out the last two lines of today’s Observer editorial on Ed’s 100 days as leader, centred on Labour’s slowness in positioning itself on the economy: After 100 days, Ed Miliband… Continue reading Er, hang on a sec…

Ok, apart from politically, that is (er, we lost a general election and things are looking a bit ropey for Labour right now). But momentous it certainly has been. And sorry for giving you 2 posts in 24 hours but, in marked contrast, at The Centre Left – and we don’t like to crow –… Continue reading What a year it’s been

You can certainly find argued, by far better-qualified commentators than I – Martin Wolf and Paul Krugman, to name but two – that Tory economic policy is wrong-headed, dogmatic and bad for the country. That said, I now have to admit to something which rather pains me. Yes, I have misjudged George Osborne as a… Continue reading Osborne is right (but no, not on economics)

Yesterday’s main news was Italian President Silvio Berlusconi narrowly surviving a confidence vote in Rome’s Chamber of Deputies. Despite numerous reasons why he should be thrown out (not to mention, many would say, impeached), perhaps one of the clinching reasons for his survival was his claim that his country needed “continuity”, subtext for: Italy’s in… Continue reading Cameron’s three Euro fig-leaves

I wasn’t at the Policy Forum on Saturday to hear Ed Miliband’s keynote speech. A shame, I would have liked to, and I ended up reading it and watching it on video (I’m sad like that). And the speech was important, one of Ed’s first opportunities as Leader to set the tone for what Labour… Continue reading Labour’s Catch-22

On Monday the big news of the day was the Ireland bailout. Yesterday, the follow-on story is Portugal’s general strike and the possibility of it pushing that country over the edge. But the nagging doubt in everyone’s minds, I am sure, in the European power-centres today, will be neither: it will be the much worse… Continue reading And if Spain should fall…?

Last week’s newsreels of demonstrations in Madrid against the killing of at least 12 protesters in a Moroccan camp seem to have at last got people’s attention. But it’s the tip of the iceberg in one of the longest-running and least-publicised conflicts in the Mediterranean. Western Sahara is not Palestine. It’s not a complicated conflict,… Continue reading The judge, the protesters and the EU’s useless foreign policy

As we close the decade with Barack Obama licking his wounds after the midterms, it’s perhaps a good moment to take a look at the tectonic plates of Western geopolitics. And, I don’t want to scare you, but it doesn’t look that inviting for us on the left. First of all, this shift is just… Continue reading End of a decade: Labour’s geography (and history) lesson

Well, we’re now starting to see more of how the Opposition is going to shape up over the next few years. The jury’s still out – but there are some slightly worrying signs. On the positive side, Ed’s smart enough to realise that he needs to make reassuring noises to the business community if he… Continue reading Labour’s New Generation and the economy (stupid)