Relish the adult discourse around the Labour Party leadership election… September 27, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in British Politics.trackback
David Miliband tells Labour conference: ‘End the soap opera’
Sound advice, but wait, what’s this in the Observer from the previous day as part of a broader piece on the bros. M?
Sibling rivalry
Rivalry is often seen as central to sibling relationships. Sibling pairs in literature and the media almost always reflect this negative view, vying for affection and admiration— in the bible, for instance, Esau steals his brother’s birthright and Cain, consumed with jealousy, murders his brother Abel. Psychoanalysts claim that we must constantly struggle against murderous feelings towards our nearest and dearestthose closest to us.
Yet scientific research suggests otherwise. It is more common for siblings to play up their differences. If one is good at spelling and the other not, they are likely to view themselves as the practical one and the academic one, rather than good and no good. This relieves the tension and helps each to respect differences.
Competition is more likely to occur between siblings of the same sex who are close in age. What happens if, as with the Milibands, the younger brother overtakes the older? Mythology would have us believe that this spells doom. But there’s no rule that says that later-born siblings should be less successful. On the contrary, it’s often a closely run race.
In most cases, in most families,competition between siblings will enable rich and mutually beneficial relationships — not murder.
Yeah, not murder…
FFS.
Meanwhile, I have no real sense of Ed Miliband’s politics, but this, this I like…
• He said he was opposed to cuts in universal benefits. “I’m all for speaking hard truths. I don’t personally think undermining the universal welfare state is the right thing to do,” he said. This was in response to a question about cutting child benefit payments to middle-class families.
Certainly he is fighting the good fight on universality.
However I fear the manner of his election may undermine him in the end. And its not the sibling rivalry thing I have in mind, more the fact that he failed to win a plurality of votes in the two most important constituencies of the Labour electoral college. The unions may sign the cheques, but in the end its the party activists and MPs that win elections.
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It’s already started… Clearly Miliband Jnr gets it, but whether he can deliver in the face of the critique you rightly point to… Hmmmm.
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And I should add I think you’re right if you’re implicitly suggesting there’ll be that critique both beyond and within the LP.
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And I liked this:
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Don’t know E.Miliband, but I like what I’m hearing so far (and especially the fact that the Murdoch press is clearly under orders to attack the man, which speaks well of his character).
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I’m sure it’s been noted, but I couldn’t help but be struck by the ghost (not) at the feast…where was Mr. Tony? Incredible that the most electorally successful Labour PM ever couldn’t show up to his own party conference a mere three years after leaving office. Or was he there as an ordinary delegate to move Composite Motion No. 541 (B) (Amended), calling on the conference to oppose any move to change subsection 3:2 (Article b, para 4) (previously amended)of the parties constitution as it would represent a betrayal of all we have stood for, brothers, right back to the time of Peterloo, not half a mile from where we are now…. (Applause)(Jack Jones stubs out cigarette and rises to his feet)
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I’m trying and failing to think of something witty around the phrase “get your tanks off myblawn”. Darn it! 🙂
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“my lawn” bloody awful typing…
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There’s a bit in the Guardian about Labour women demanding he makes good a promise of gender equality in the cabinet. This might just happen – his strategy may be to contrast with the all-male ConDem cabinet.
Harriet Harman was making the good point that this has left the Tories tone-deaf to issues that directly effect half of the population most starkly. 75% of the recent ConDem cuts hit women more than men.
Might be a good strategy here, but I won’t hold my breath.
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That should have been ‘practically all-male cabinet’. I believe there is a token or two in there.
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That’s interesting from Harriet Harperson. Can men not represent women adequately? And does the replacement of, say, 10% “token” women with 50% “token” women magically create equality?
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Oh, “Harriet Harperson”, hilarious.
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Yes, indeedy. Representation by men has in the past worked perfectly. If those suffragettes had only had a little patience…
There is no reason to think that this benign pattern can’t continue.
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she’s a suffragette now? If she wants to take such a cheap shot she’ll need to remember that her own party has not had a female leader, unlike the target of her irritation.
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If she wants to take such a cheap shot
Says the prat who thinks “Harriet Harperson” is witty.
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brilliant takedown. how will I ever recover?
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Can I suggest a very long sabbatical?
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We all say silly stuff online at one point or another… no reason to be throwing brickbats (whatever they may actually be)… 😉
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I thought we were just keeping in the spirit of the title of the article 🙂
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Well, there’s that too…
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For what it’s worth, here is something I wrote about the Milibands last July.
http://www.agendani.com/life-after-labour
I would have voted for Ralph, but Ed will do for now…
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Re Harriet and the Milibands, the bit in this report, towards the 4 minute mark, where HH applauds Ed for condemning the Iraq war and David turns to her and asks ‘why are you clapping, you supported it’ is worth a look..
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Sorry, this report
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“I’m clapping because, as you know, I’m supporting him.”
What it is to have good hearing. If I were Harriet the magic ubiqui-mike would have picked up “sorry, I didn’t quite… I voted for what? we’ll talk later… ssh, I want to hear this bit… “
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I was in London for the last few days and Labour-supporting friends were unanimously anyone-but-David. Not very scientific polling, but interesting how much they saw him in the same kind of light as Blair and Mandelson.
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