George and Dave
Osborne is like Mandelson, says Jackie Ashley. He is both a strategic genius, a boy wonder of the black arts, and a still-naive, rather childish figure who likes to hobnob with the rich. The wider issue is that the Tories have not been able to articulate a simple and compelling analysis of the crisis. The best they can come up with is that it's all Brown's fault for spending so much money in the past decade, spending that at the time the Tories mostly supported. Osborne is the whipping boy for a much wider failure of philosophy and politics. In a leader-dominated party that is the fault of one man. It is time to turn the spotlight not on George, but on George's best friend. Jackie Ashley The Guardian
Full article: In a crisis calling for big ideas, Osborne is woefully lacking 
The Mole: Churlish Mandy accuses his Tory yachting buddy of 'irresponsibility'
The rapid rise of Cameron and Osborne caused resentment among slightly older MPs - and some of it survives, says Bruce Anderson. In Mr Cameron's case, that does not matter. He has stamped his authority on the party. But Mr Osborne has become the focal point for youth-ist resentments. One can understand why. In an ideal world, the Shadow Chancellor would look older. In these chippy times, it would help if he had a different accent. Cameron is standing firmly by him, but the next few days are crucial. Everyone is preparing for the Brown package. There will be an almighty political battle, and if Mr Osborne does not secure at least a draw, the doubts will grow while the grumbling increases. Bruce Anderson The Independent
Full article: To silence his Tory critics, Osborne must do more. Now
Tax cut turnaround
If only the Tories had dared to call for tax cuts long ago, says Janet Daley. Their clothes have been stolen and are being worn, ill-fitting and hastily altered but attractive nonetheless, by their opponents. It is Gordon Brown who is preaching, in what must be the most bizarre epiphany in political history, that tax cuts actually stimulate economic growth. Somehow the Tories have ended up as the guardians of Brownian 'fiscal responsibility' while allowing Labour to become born-again tax cutters. But they still have an opportunity, for Mr Brown's 'cuts' will be limited to the very lowest paid which will have little impact on the economy. He will not offer what in the US seems self-evidently necessary: middle class tax cuts. Janet Daley Daily Telegraph
Full article: Tories must offer middle class tax cuts
Brown out of order
The attempts this weekend by the Prime Minister and his Chancellor to portray Mr Osborne as, at best, a wartime blabbermouth whose loose lips risk sinking our economic ship and, at worst, some kind of unpatriotic subversive out to wreck Britannia, smack more of the Russian Duma than of open debate, says a Times Leader. It echoed the way Brown accused Mr Cameron last week of playing politics with the Baby P tragedy. The Prime Minister cannot hide under the skirts of the 'national interest' to quash reasonable concerns about the economy and social care. Leader The Times
Full article: Sterling Behaviour
Means testing is good
An irrational aversion to means testing has made the welfare state wasteful, writes Libby Purves. It leads to countless illogicalities, from free bus passes for elderly millionaires to child benefit for yummy-mummies wearing Prada. The same squeamishness torpedoes sensible reforms like imposing modest 'hotel charges' on richer hospital patients. That would have pumped millions into the NHS. When government and the Chartered Institute of Housing cautiously talk about reviewing council tenancies, there is an outcry. One paper wailed that it would "penalise those who try to better their circumstances". But the system always 'penalises' everybody who earns a bit more. It's called income tax. Libby Purves The Times
Full article: There is nothing mean about a means test
Dashed hopes
The playwright David Hare's disillusion with the Blair era is unsurprising, says Peter Preston. Avowedly progressive politicians always seem to disappoint their constituencies. Is it that they're not good enough, any of them? Or that we always expect too damned much? It's no coincidence that the leaders still most revered in their own political habitats over half a century - Thatcher, Reagan - are figures from the right, people who set simple benchmarks and retire more or less intact. The left and the slippery centre embrace no such certainties. They can never be satisfied. It won't be too long before Obama gets the treatment, too. Maybe David Hare has already got some elegant riff on Othello scribbled on a pad. Peter Preston The Guardian
Full article: The paucity of hope
Rachel Johnson: Gethsemane and Blair
In Brief
MPs too posh
Because there are so few working-class MPs, many issues are either overlooked or addressed late in the day: the crisis in social housing, problem debt, and so on. Disengagement inevitably increases and before you know it, the ghoulish opportunists of the BNP come along to fill the vacuum. John Harris The Guardian
Full article: If we want more representative MPs, we need to start talking about class
Share the costs
For two years, the Conservatives have been promising to "share the proceeds of growth". Very well: but the flip-side of this policy should be that it is best to "share the costs of recession". The rest of the country cannot be expected to tighten its belt while the state sector continues to gorge at our expense. Leader Daily Telegraph
Full article: Tax credits are not tax cuts, but handouts
Get active
The student radicals of the late 1960s and early 1970s remind us of our own passivity. Drugged by consumerism and comfort, we respond to the great history-shaking challenges of our times by changing our light bulbs. Johann Hari The Independent
Full article: Sixties radicals are back. But why?
Good intentions
In 1977 President Carter backed an Act that put pressure on US banks to increase lending on sub-prime mortgages, to make it easier for poor people to buy their own homes. This was a well-intentioned disaster, on a Titanic scale. The countries of the G20 meeting in Washington are only too likely to fall into similar errors. William Rees-Mogg
Full article: Good intentions took us on the road to hell
EU gas
We ought to have a single European gas market tomorrow. As a trading partner, Russia would then have the same relationship with the EU that Canada has with the US - it would be a neighbour who supplied valuable raw materials. But that would be the end of the matter. A piece of business. No politics. Andreas Whittam Smith The Independent
Full article: Putin's energy threat should be risible
Let them go
Neurotic meddling parents ruin gap-year trips. We should all let our children get on with it and be grateful for any snippet of news they might deign to deliver. Jim White Daily Telegraph
Full article: Alone at sea at 16.?.?. now that's an adventure
Posts
