Keeping the pressure on the government to do the right thing is more vital than ever.
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So many of us have sacrificed being with loved ones. So what makes Dominic Cummings so special?
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The government has messed up the communication of the latest phase of the Covid-19 response very badly. No one is clear what the new rules are, what the new slogan means, what we are or are not supposed to be doing. As such, it is very easy to be the opposition. You just need to show how badly they are doing, and make it clear what Labour would do differently.
However, at some point there is going to be better news. Death rates will go down, restrictions will be lifted. Normality will return. For most of us, life will go on.
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Ten years ago today – Wednesday 6 May, 2010 – Alex Smith met the man who would change his life and send it in a completely new direction.
At the time, Alex was knocking on Fred’s door to ask him to vote for him in his unsuccessful bid to become a councillor in Islington. Fred was 84, and though he had never previously missed an election, mobility issues meant he had been stuck in his house for three months and didn’t feel able to get to the polling station. In all that time, he hadn’t seen anyone except the carer who came in to get him breakfast.
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The BBC has come in for criticism — justified and less so — from both right and left. The left’s critique is largely focussed on its news coverage. In these partisan times, coverage of criticism of Jeremy Corbyn was seen as BBC reporters actually delivering that criticism themselves. It’s not a view I share, as I think the public has a right not just to know, but to have these things set out by people who have spent years analysing these trends and who can dispassionately put them into a wider context.
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PMQs this week was a very different affair from what we’re used to.
For a start, of course, it was largely held over Zoom (though some MPs did attend in person — there didn’t seem to be that much rhyme or reason as to which ones did). We got to see the insides of MPs homes, the impressive bookcases, the taste in art and in some cases the very plain white walls. While Zoom has been a Godsend for business, ensuring that for some people work can continue from home, it brought a certain flatness to the proceedings. PMQs is largely about the theatre and spectacle of hundreds of grown men and women jeering loudly at each other for 30 minutes a week. There was none of that.
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When it comes to coronavirus, what’s the difference between The USA and New Zealand? Or the UK and Germany?
Their responses to the crisis have been at variance, with New Zealand pursuing a – so far – successful elimination strategy including very strict lock down conditions, while Germany has ramped up testing, numbers of critical care beds and levels of PPE.
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London is a big city with everything that entails. It’s one of the reasons I love it so much. There’s so much to do, to see, to explore. But, of course, at the moment that isn’t true. Our lives have become much smaller – confined to our houses and our flats. For some, just living with families or housemates. For others – like me – living alone and smiling through the back door at the neighbours playing with their children on our shared lawn.
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So it’s over. The expected has happened and Labour has the new leader we have known was coming since early polling showed it was a slam dunk. Sir Keir Starmer has taken decisive control of the party with a number of symbolic sackings. Out go Ian Lavery, Jon Trickett and Barry Gardiner. In come Annalise Dodds — the first woman to ever hold the role of Shadow Chancellor and Rachel Reeves, who (despite being bizarrely labelled as soft left in the Times) comes from Labour’s centrist wing and is a trusted pair of hands.
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abour has a new leader and a chance to turn the page on the divisiveness of the last five years. But under these extraordinary national circumstances, will that be possible?
There will be no chance for Keir Starmer to meet his party’s members face to face; no nationwide tour where he can bring them all together in a wave of excitement and anticipation of the new. All interaction between the incoming leader and his prospective voters will be online.
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t’s finally, nearly over. No not coronavirus, sadly. But that which has been going on even longer — the Labour leadership contest.
If as is widely expected Keir Starmer beats Rebecca Long Bailey, this will signal a shift in power in the party. And while Keir’s non-Corbynite status has sometimes been exaggerated in policy terms his political approach is significantly different.
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In a paper published today, progressive think tank IPPR has called for a raft of measures to urgently protect the 4.2 million children in the UK who already live in poverty and risk this being further exacerbated by the crisis. With so many facing economic hardship as a result of the crisis, this is sure to rise.
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The show must not go on. That was the message from the government to theatres everywhere. Or was it? Initially, no one was really sure. At first, it seemed to be a case of “It would be quite nice if the show didn’t go on”, but without compulsion, there was no support from insurance and no real understanding of what the impact was going to be on an industry almost entirely run by freelancers.
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Roy Jenkins once famously said of Tony Blair’s approach to being leader of the opposition that it was “like a man carrying a priceless Ming vase across a highly polished floor”. This “caution first” approach clearly paid off for Blair, who went on to win in a landslide. Could this go some way to explaining the somewhat cautious campaign run by Keir Starmer?
Starmer won’t particularly thank me for comparing him to Blair. He’s trying to build a coalition across a fractured Labour Party and has refused to be pigeon-holed into one faction or another. This can be seen in his extraordinary team, which includes Kat Fletcher and Simon Fletcher (no relation), both of whom worked for Corbyn. His staff also includes Matt Pound, who previously worked for the moderate Labour First faction.
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