Relish the adult discourse around the Labour Party leadership election…

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.