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The commentators                    06-10-14

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#456684738 / gettyimages.com

...on British politics

There is something absurd about the Liberal Democrat conference, with all those attacks on their partners in government over the past four years. Such are the desperate tactics of a party crushed by coalition, one that has lost sight of its crucial historic purpose as it flails around for sustainable policies and fights for fourth place with the Greens.
- Ian Birrell, The Independent

Clegg won't go down with the Lib Doomed ship because his is a safe Sheffield seat, a one-time Tory stronghold Labour is highly unlikely to take. Yet he steered the party on to the rocks the moment he sold his principles for a red box and a chauffeur-driven car as Deputy PM.
- Kevin Maguire, Daily Mirror

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It may seem of no significance what Ukip proposes on any given day of the week as its own contribution to the political parlour game of pretending to rob the rich in order to lift the spirits of the poor. But then five years ago no one thought seriously what the Lib Dems would be like as part of a government — including themselves. Now we know: they are even better at breaking promises than those they used to deride as ‘the two old parties’.
- Dominic Lawson, Daily Mail

We will need to spend £100 billion in the next 10 years on power stations, if we are going to keep the lights on. If we pooled our pension fund assets, and created a Citizens’ Wealth Fund, we would be able to get those schemes going – from new roads to new tunnels to hundreds of thousands of new homes for sale or rent (to say nothing of the new four-runway hub airport we need). And these investments would be attractive, because typically they would have a much higher yield – 7 or 8 per cent – compared with the 2 or 3 per cent currently achieved by pension fund managers in bonds or gilts.
- Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph

Thursday 25 September Judges for the Editorial Intelligence comment awards announced their shortlists today, with ten nominations for the FT, nine for the Times, five for the Guardian, four for the Independent - and two for SubScribe. 
The Times and Sunday Times scored a clean sweep in nominations for the main award of commentariat of the year, which will be decided between David Aaronovitch, Camilla Cavendish, Daniel Finkelstein and last year's winner Caitlin Moran.
Guardian's Jay Rayner was shortlisted in the food writer category, but said that he did not wish to be considered as that award is sponsored by Tesco. 
The awards will be presented on November 25. See the full shortlists here

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When you see "George" in a headline, who do you think of? The no-longer-eligible bachelor, the boy who is third in line to the throne, or the man in charge of the nation's wallet?
The Mail's splash today says "George scraps pensions tax". It feels wrong, too chummy.
We're happy with George for Clooney or the Prince, but not for Osborne. Why? 
- Are we on first-name terms? 

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Comment digest courtesy of
Editorial Intelligence

October 3
Party conferences
October 2
Cameron's speech
October 1
Conservative conference
September 30
Conservative conference
September 29
Conservative conference

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September 26
War on Isis
September 25
Labour conference
September 24
Miliband's speech
September 23
Labour conference
September 22
Referendum fallout

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September 19
Scottish referendum
September 18
Scottish referendum
September 17
Scottish referendum
September 16
Scottish referendum
September 15
Scottish referendum

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September 12
Scottish referendum
September 11
Scottish referendum
September 10
Scottish referendum
September 9
Scottish referendum
September 8
Scottish referendum

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September 5
Scottish referendum
September 4
Nato and Isis
September 3
Scottish independence
September 2
Hacked photographs
September 1
British politics

August 29
Carswell defection
August 28
Rotherham scandal
August 27
Islamic militants
August 26
Middle East

August 22
James Foley
August 21
James Foley
August 20
British politics
August 19
Iraq
August 18
Iraq

August 15
A levels
August 14
Iraq
August 13
Robin Williams
August 12
Iraq
August 11
Iraq

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