The commentators 29-04-15...on the general electionThose sneering at Ed Miliband for being interviewed by Russell Brand should ask themselves: what have I done to engage disillusioned young people who feel politics has little to offer? If the answer is very little, or nothing, then perhaps a bit of humility is in order. It is a matter of deep concern that so many people have so little faith in democracy. If we are going to fix the problem, we should at least start by holding to account our cynical, self-satisfied, unrepresentative media and political elites.
- Owen Jones, The Guardian This election, billed as a referendum on the economy, is hinging instead on discovering who we are. Finding a more honest framework for the immigration debate would be a start. So would an acknowledgment that mainstream politicians misread the national character.
- Mary Riddell, Daily Telegraph I opposed Scottish independence for many reasons, but prominent among them was sympathy with Anglo-Scottish friends and family for whom that little hyphen is more than just a punctuation mark. It represents the right not to have to choose sides – a right that nationalism always eventually denies. English nationalism has the potential to inflict that choice on many more people, and is all the more dangerous as a result. I might forgive David Cameron if I thought he didn’t understand this. It frightens me that he doesn’t seem to care.
- Rafael Behr, The Guardian In the next parliament the fundamental economic necessity is to find policies and programmes able to produce a better-balanced and more dynamic economy. These are the challenges against which the parties’ programmes must be measured — and will be found wanting.
- Martin Wolf, Financial Times Cameron's calm demeanour over the past five years has been one of the success stories of the government. It has been important to him that he doesn’t get flustered and voters like his style of leadership. While the two parties are tied in the polls, Ed Miliband’s personal ratings have improved from -40 to -20 but are still 20 points behind Mr Cameron’s. One of the prime minister’s problems is that he makes his life appear too easy.
- Alice Thomson, The Times Cameron’s most notable achievement outside politics is working as head of PR for Carlton during the 1990s, when its productions included “TV's Naughtiest Blunders” and “Schofield’s TV Gold”. If you were unkind, you might say that Cameron’s first job was peddling crap to the masses, and his time in politics has been much the same.
- Joe Sandler Clarke, The Independent
Comment archive, 2015The wipeout of Scottish Labour is one thing they don’t get to blame on the Tories. You simply cannot spend a quarter of a century arguing that Scotland has a claim of right to determine its own affairs, questioning the legitimacy of a majority that originates in England, crafting institutions to accompany this rhetoric and then say that the very same arguments are unreasonable when someone gently asks questions about English laws - Daniel Finkelstein, The Times
|
|
April 24
General election April 23 General election April 22 General election April 21 Drowned refugees April 20 Scottish National Party April 17
General election April 16 General election April 15 General election April 14 General election April 13 General election April 2
General election April 1 General election March 31 General election March 30 Depression and killer pilot March 27
Prince Charles's letters March 26 UK politics March 25 Cameron's exit strategy March 24 Lee Kwan Yew March 23 UK politics If you would like
to subscribe to help to keep SubScribe going, please click here |