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The commentators                    20-10-14

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#457214330 / gettyimages.com

...on British politics

A government budget should be understood not just in terms of bookkeeping but also of demand management, national cohesion and productivity growth. Jobs and wages should not be seen simply as a matter of people being “worth” (or not) what they get, but of better utilising human potential and of providing decent and dignified livelihoods.
- Ha-Joon Chang, The Guardian

Politics needs to be cleaned up, not thrown into disarray by irresponsible populists or by cool, sexy, edgy dilettantes. While Russell Brand’s acolytes await the revolution, the rest of us have work to do.
- Yasmin Alibhai Brown, Independent

Ofsted is a corporate concept in the sense that everything is driven by competition and competition can only be fostered in a world of constant measurement. In fact, almost no multinational would consider ranking its staff and subsidiaries this way for fear of destroying morale. Ofsted’s system is not even a proper rendition of private sector values, just a perversion of them. 
- Zoe Williams,  The Guardian

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Young people are on the wrong side of the divide that is opening up in society. Home ownership among 25-year-olds has halved in just two decades. Young people’s wages are falling and, relative to a decade ago, their job prospects are diminishing. The risk is real that this generation — from low income families especially — will simply not have the same opportunities to progress as their parents’ generation
- Alan Milburn, The Times

To ask the police to keep up with every troll on the exponentially expanding internet is to wish for a publicly funded security organisation more akin to that of the People’s Republic of China, or the late unlamented East German Stasi. We are already, as the Oxford Internet Institute pointed out, ‘incredibly heavy-handed’, compared with other Western countries.
- Dominic Lawson, Daily Mail

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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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The crime of rape is not about the level of violence inflicted, but about possession and subjugation.
That it may take place in a comfortable, rather than hostile, environment; that it may be the result of a failure of self-control rather than a deliberate act of aggression makes no difference to that central fact. The core offence is that of a man believing he has the right to do what he wishes with a woman, regardless of whether she objects.
And until that message gets through, there will always be men - and women - who think that there are different "degrees" of rape, with some more acceptable or understandable than others. The level of violence or the ordeal suffered by the victim may be reflected in the sentence, but the basic crime is still the same.
- Press review

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Comment digest courtesy of
Editorial Intelligence

October 17
Lord Freud
October 16
British politics
October 15
British politics
October 14
British politics
October 13
British politics

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

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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

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

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

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

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