Labour's Fightback is back after the sort of hiatus we used to despair at from "Reclaim Labour". Incidentally of the so-called parliamentary "Left" Jon Cruddas and John McDonnell have also been very quiet. While Michael Meacher has maintained his tempo. (Links in last post).Owen sees his glass half empty or worse with Brown, and he makes six predictions. Here they are, with my view in italics:
Labour of Love
Civil servants avoid Brown's phone calls?
There is a rather enlightening piece in this morning's Times about how everything at Downing Street has changed since Brown took over. In the old days, Downing Street stayed up late and got up late, apparently it now goes to bed early and gets up early. The night shift staff now often see Brown wandering in to them at the crack of dawn.
Dizzy Thinks
Could foot and mouth blow Gordon's chances of an Autumn election?
Foot and Mouth disease is the last thing anyone wanted to see spring up again in this country, but for Gordon brown it must be an extra headache, but also a chance to show the difference between him and Blair again.
Norfolk Blogger
Why Nimbyism Is Always Right
You heard it here early yesterday morning- the foot and mouth outbreak really did originate from the government's Plague Lab just down the road in Pirbright.
Burning Our Money
The timid Tories are failing to call Brown to account
Things look bad for David Cameron. Tories can argue that a Gordon Brown bounce was to be expected, but the dramatic turnaround in the opinion polls is as much to do with Tory infighting as with the novelty of our new prime minister. Once more Conservatives publicly doubt their choice of leader.
Michael Portillo
Making pariahs of drivers
This morning's Sunday Times carries a report about how the London congestion charge will start tackling drivers of cars like 4x4's by charging them up to £25 per day to drive in London. I have to admit this sort of story, and a paricular thing in it, is starting to irk me more and more.
Dizzy Thinks
HIPS
Amazing:
Homeowners who dispute key details entered by officials in their Home Information Pack (Hips) face a near-impossible task to set the record straight, it can be revealed.
Tim Worstall
Why we need a referendum on the EU reform treaty
The most important issue at the past three general elections ought to have been Britain's relations with Europe - first the single currency and later the proposed new European constitution. Instead these questions have been consistently dodged by the government promising referendums on them at some unspecified future dates.
Liberal England
Dumbed Down Gold Standard
It seems like a very long time since A Levels were the Gold Standard of school achievement. Now, each successive year's increase in grade inflation signals a further slump in quality.
Rising House prices - too many mortgages rather than too few homes
The government and its propoganda arm the BBC is busy again telling us of a forecast that house prices will rise in the UK by 40% over the next five years unless we build more homes. They never mention mortgages and the supply of finance.
Every DNA strand is sacred!
No, I don't believe that, but I liked the allusion to Monty Python's 'The Meaning of Life' so I indulged myself. I could happily fill this blog with pieces endorsing every word written by the Observer's Henry Porter. It is rare for me to disagree with him and today is no exception.
Is this the Tory that Labour fears most?
Will the Tories do disproportionately better in Ashcroft-funded seats ?
This is Michael Ashcroft who in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List was placed in position 87 with an estimated wealth of £800m.
Gordon's retirement plan
With Brown celebrating what Matt rightly calls a triumph of a first month, it is a strange time to consider his retirment as I do in my column in today's News of the World (not online). My information is that Brown believes he has only one election in him: he'll fight it, then hand over.
The Daily Mail and Labour
How should we view The Daily Mail's mild thaw towards Labour?
One of my favourite regular pieces in Private Eye is "An Apology", where it spoofs an editorial line explaining a 360 degree turn in it's attitude towards something and/or someone out of some form of vested interest.
Recently one could forgive some Labour Party members for taking such a view towards The Daily Mail because, in case anyone hasn't noticed, it is a paper less hostile towards Brown's premiership than it is towards Blair's.
Brown to Heal Foot and Mouth Cows
GORDON Brown is to personally nurse back to health two cows infected with foot and mouth after it emerged that a Government laboratory was the most likely source of the disease outbreak.
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