Addressing the social question

The Daily Mirror launches a predictable attack on David Cameron today, claiming that in his Glasgow speech yesterday he blamed the poor, the unemployed and the fat for their own problems and that “he has gone from hug-a-hoodie to kick-a-granny.” The rest of the press reaction, though, is fairly positive.

Cameron is playing for big stakes. If he can persuade the electorate both of his analysis about society’s problems and that he can help people do something about them, then the electoral reward will be huge. As Rachel Sylvester argues in her Times column today, the social question is moving centre stage in politics. It is certainly telling that “grim” was the word used most frequently by focus group members during the London Mayoral election. 

Some argue that as the economy goes south voters will lose interest in this agenda and it will once more be the economy stupid. But as Tim