OpEd - SubScribe14

The commentators 29-07-14

...on British politics

This Government has a long-term economic plan to secure a better future for Britain – and controlling immigration is a vital part of it. This is about building a different kind of Britain – a country that is not a soft touch, but a place to play your part, a nation where those who work hard can get on. Carefully and painstakingly, we are building an economy that has real opportunities for our young people; an education system that encourages them to do their best; a welfare system that encourages work; and an immigration system that puts Britain first.
- David Cameron, Daily Telegraph

Miliband looks young, but if he were to win he would be the first PM since Margaret Thatcher to move from opposition with past experience of being in power, a big plus for him even if he makes nothing of it because he regards the recent past as too electorally toxic.
- Steve Richards, Independent

The Labour party has surely had the worst crash imaginable. It hasn’t voiced a penetrating analysis of the things that have gone wrong in our economy, let alone come up with convincing strategies to put them right. Instead of ideas, there is a vacuum; in place of an alternative, we have a dispirited consensus.
- Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian

The more Mr Miliband accuses Mr Cameron of shunning conviction and failing to “stick to those ideas and beliefs even when it is hard”, the more he contradicts almost everything else that Labour have said about the Prime Minister these past four years. He is either a free-market sadist bludgeoning the state at whatever human cost, or he is a feather in the wind. He cannot be both, and the first line of attack is much the more wounding.
- Janan Ganesh, Financial Times

Ed Miliband is desperate to fool us into thinking he’s a cuddly friend when actually he’s a ruthless power-hungry politician with stale socialist policies that will wreck the country again and suck every last penny from anyone who has been industrious or lucky enough to have any cash or property.
- Peter HIll, Daily Express

Miliband gives us seeds, not finished products. He’d be an exciting think-tank, or maybe even an inspirational newspaper columnist. And that’s not enough. If he really did speak human — or was it — then the ideas themselves would be more human, too. But he doesn’t. So they aren’t.
- Hugo Rifkind, The Times

Vote for your favourite commentators

Stevie Spring

The annual Editorial Intelligence comment awards were officially launched last month with the announcement of the seventy-strong panel of judges to be led by Stevie Spring, chair of Children in Need.
They include Lorraine Heggessey, Nihal Arthanayake, Karren Brady, Damian Barr, Lynne Franks, Nicky Gavron, Laura Kuenssberg, Adrian Monck and Kirsty Lang.
Anyone is invited to nominate their favourite commentators for the awards, which are divided into 16 categories. There is no charge for entry.

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