Martin Bright

Returning to the fray

I am travelling to Conservative Party conference in Birmingham today and thought this would be a good time to return to this blog. Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful comments in my absence. As ever, I will try to respond where I can. I should be up to full speed during the week.

Meanwhile, I thought I would lay out the five themes I will be addressing over the coming weeks. So do feel free to  provide me with ideas. I’m sure you will.

1. Ed Miliband may not be the answer, but he is a pretty good question for Labour. The new Labour leader is neither their equivalent of William Hague nor Iain Duncan Smith. The party needs a period of reflection in opposition to work through a thoughtful response to the Coalition government. Will he provide the necessary leadership?

2. The Coalition has chosen to impose cuts and reform the health service, schools and the welfare state at the same time. A bold move, Sir Humphrey might say. But is this just right-wing utopianism? And do the practicalities of the process leave ministers hostage to the civil service, which has the task of modelling the reforms?

3. What exactly is the Big Society? There is no particular reason that this idea had to come from the political right. Indeed, I’m sure that if the Labour Party has thought of the phrase they would have used it. Mutualism, encouraging the voluntary sector, citizen activism: these are all concepts David Miliband would have been quite comfortable with. But how does this square with contracting out vast swathes of the NHS and welfare to work to giant companies in the private sector?

4.

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