Society

Andrew Sparrow flags up a quote by David Miliband at today’s Cabinet away-day in Birmingham: “I think Gordon is leading us with more vigour and determination and will prove people wrong … I am absolutely convinced that Gordon can lead us to victory. He has enormous values, drive and vision.” Now, as Andrew admits one can try and read too much between the lines. But I think he’s right that the “more” does seem significant. It is at the least proof that the truce between Brown and Miliband is holding.

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which – provided your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency – you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no topic, so there’s no need to stay ‘on topic’ – which means you’ll be able to debate with each other more freely and extensively. There’s also no constraint on the length of what you write – so, in effect, you can become Coffee House bloggers. Anything’s fair game – from political stories in your local

Is the debate about faith schools becoming more constructive and intelligent? The reason for hoping so is the launch of a new campaigning group called Accord which calls for major reform of the system, but in a relatively nuanced way. It is composed of more than the usual atheist suspects, who think that anything religious is intrinsically demonic. Its chairperson is Rabbi Jonathan Romain, and there are a few Anglican vicars on board. The core aim is not to ban faith schools but to make them open to all locals; to end selection on the basis of parental religious allegiance. It is good to hear from believers who don’t toe

Nick Clegg’s interview with the Sunday Telegraph today is a punchy affair. He derides the Tories as “the flaky party” on the economy and tells Melissa Kite that the Lib Dems are looking to go further than the 4p cut in the basic rate of income tax that they have already promised. Now, those of us who support easing the tax burden should be happy about this. A  Lib Dem policy of tax cuts means that it can hardly be portrayed as a policy of the extreme right and should encourage the Tories to offer some more before the next election. But it seems an odd strategic decision for the

Bob Woodward’s latest book on the Bush administration is being serialised by the Washington Post this week and is a grim reminder of just how badly Iraq strategy was run for so long. This exchange between Condoleezza Rice and General George Casey in Iraq in, presumably, November 2005 illustrates the almost total lack of policy co-ordination: “Excuse me, ma’am, what’s ‘clear, hold, build’?” Rice looked a little surprised. “George, that’s your strategy.” “Ma’am, if it’s my strategy, don’t you think someone should have had the courtesy to talk to me about it before you went public with it?” To be sure, President Bush deserves credit for deciding on and pushing

“If GB goes down, he’s going to take everybody with him.” John Rentoul reports, in his column today, that this is what Nick Brown has told various Labour backbenchers. Leaving aside the sub-Godfather nature of the rhetoric, it is clear that the Brownites have decided to fight the enemy they know how to beat: their internal opponents in the Labour party. It appears that there is now a concerted effort on to make Brown’s critics in the Labour party fear him again. Meanwhile, the Tories have a largely free ride. Conservative Home reveals that the Tories intend to use this space to issue a more limited commitment to matching Labour’s