The commentators                    12-11-14

...on British politics

It is obviously in the Labour party’s collective interest to get rid of Ed Miliband but it is highly unlikely that it will. Almost anybody else would improve the party’s fortunes and it would be well worth a little temporary disunity to make a change. Yet the cost to any individual of making a move against Ed Miliband is, potentially, a big one.
- Daniel Finkelstein, The Times
Labour’s capacity to cause trouble for the prime minister has become wholly contingent on the Tories’ willingness to destabilise their own leader. And while Conservative infighting offers periodic comfort for Miliband, it lays bare the extent to which Labour’s chances of victory have become dependent on the machinations of Tory rebels, marching to a Ukip drum.
- Rafael Behr, The Guardian
John Kay
The close independence vote, together with the hasty promises that preceded it, have rendered unsustainable the quiet compromises that had defused the Scottish issue in British politics.
The No verdict in September was not the end of an argument, but the beginning.
- John Kay, Financial Times
The overall effect of voters abandoning Labour for Ukip is likely to be bad for the Tories. In Rochester, it will help ensure they are defeated soundly. Nationwide, it’s a reminder that however unhappy voters are with Ed Miliband, their unhappiness does not lead them to vote Conservative instead. Labour weakness is not the same thing as Conservative strength.
 - James Kirkup, Daily Telegraph
There is something undeniably gloomsome about the hastening descent of electoral politics since the Berlin Wall fell from a war of grand ideologies into a series of tiny pitched battles for incremental advantage in a weeny number of marginal seats. As so often with British public life, it’s the smallness that gets you.
- Matthew Norman, Independent
We're in the mood for looking back, so let's recall those primary school arithmetic problems and apply them to this situation:
If it takes 8,000 volunteers three months to assemble and plant 888,246 poppies, how long will it take a similar number of volunteers to pick them and pack them away ready for cleaning and despatch?
There is no set answer, but you can bet it's not 24 hours. The poppies won't disappear by tomorrow night. The Telegraph suggested last month that it would take a couple of weeks.  In other words, politicians and the Press have delivered to a sentimental public a bonus that it was going to get anyway.
Editor's blog A last post for the poppies      SubScribe  Poppymania
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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Comment digest courtesy of
Editorial Intelligence
Ed Miliband
November 11
The Labour Party
November 10
Ed Miliband
Branson crash




November 7
British politics
November 6
Midterms and UK politics
November 5
British politics
November 4
British politics
November 3
Space tourism
Picture


October 31
British politics
October 30
Immigration
October 29
Immigration
October 28
British politics
October 27
British politics
Picture
October 24
NHS
October 23
British politics
October 22
Ukip
October 21
Britain and EU
October 20
British politics
October 17
Lord Freud
October 16
British politics
October 15
British politics
October 14
British politics
October 13
British politics
Picture


October 10
Isis and UK politics
October 9
British politics
October 8
British politics
October 7
LibDem conference
October 6
British politics
David Cameron





October 3
Party conferences
October 2
Cameron's speech
October 1
Conservative conference
September 30
Conservative conference
September 29
Conservative conference
September 26
War on Isis
September 25
Labour conference
September 24
Miliband's speech
September 23
Labour conference
September 22
Referendum fallout
September 19
Scottish referendum
September 18
Scottish referendum
September 17
Scottish referendum
September 16
Scottish referendum
September 15
Scottish referendum