The commentators 27-07-15...on LabourIf Mr Corbyn does win, he cannot possibly succeed, because he will not command the support of his own party in the House of Commons. Years ago, first Labour and then the Conservatives did away with the idea that the leader should be chosen only by the party’s MPs: it was considered too elitist. But its obvious justification was that if MPs have a leader foisted on them whom they do not want, they won’t back him
- Charles Moore, Daily Telegraph What the Labour party really needs is the “Five Whys”. Sakichi Toyoda, who founded Toyota in the 1920s, encouraged his engineers to solve problems by tracing chains of causality through five stages to isolate, if possible, a root cause of failure. Labour’s problem is not just that it lost an election. It has lost one of the constituent nations of Britain, once its heartland, and is now stuck in a leadership crisis that could, as many MPs acknowledge privately, see it fall apart. So why?
- Paul Mason, The Guardian Jeremy Corbyn’s surge is the ultimate legacy that Ed Miliband bequeathed to Labour. He helped to create this destructive mess by dragging his party to the left with his puerile, class war rhetoric about Tory toffs. More importantly Ed Miliband also devised the rules for the current leadership contest which have led to a dramatic transformation in the party membership. In the name of enhancing internal party democracy, he ensured that anyone paying just £3 could register as a supporter and vote for the new leader, while affiliates from trade unions could sign up for nothing
- Leo McKinstry, Daily Express It’s not too late for the party to come to its senses. There’s still time for defeated former Labour leaders to intervene against Mr Corbyn. Messrs Kinnock, Brown and Miliband receive more of a hearing from the Labour rank and file than the three-times-winning Blair
- Tim Montgomerie, The Times Sometimes the murder of a journalist shocks people to such an extent that they take to the streets to protest - as with the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists in France and Abdel Karim al-Khewani in Yemen. Sometimes, as with the Isis victims in their orange jumpsuits, the killings are filmed and used as propaganda.
Often, however, the death goes unremarked and uninvestigated. A couple of men ride up on a motorbike and fire a few shots at the target as he or she is leaving the office, arriving home or simply waiting at a bus stop - summary retribution for exposing a corrupt politician or crossing a criminal. In the first half of this year, sixty media workers around the world were killed while doing their jobs. Editor's blog: Death and dishonour Comment Awards 2015Anyone can nominate their favourite writerFriday 12 June, 2015 Are the comment pages and columnists too Londoncentric? And if they are, what is the solution when the financial and political powerhouses are based in the capital?
Does the character or personality of the writer matter? Should we read columnists with whom we violently disagree or is it, as Eleanor Mills suggested, good for the soul but bad for the blood pressure? Why did the so-called political experts get it so wrong in calling the general election? And will they - and Rupert Murdoch - influence the result of the EU referendum? All these points and more were addressed under the guidance of Dr Anthony Seldon at the launch of the 2015 Comment Awards last night. Seldon will chair the judging panel for the awards, now in their seventh year. Nominations are now open and anyone can put forward anyone writing in the UK media - broadcasting, print or online - by submitting the URLS of three articles published between August 1, 2014 and July 31 this year, which is the closing date for entries. The 17 awards include four new categories: Comment piece of the year for a single piece of excellent writing; Young commentariat; Society and diversity commentator; and Technology and digital commentator. There is no charge for entries. Details and the nomination forms can be found here. Oh yes, and who was the most frequently mentioned columnist at last night's event? Matthew Parris? Andrew Rawnsley? Stephen Glover? No. By a country mile, the most discussed writer was Katie Hopkins. Comment archive, 2015 |
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