Tuesday 14th January

Despite the polls which show a consistent Labour lead they too are in real trouble.  It took Neil Kinnock three failed elections to try to change Labour and still he failed.  It was only when Tony Blair stole the Tories clothes that he made Labour electable.  And now the Tories have moved the goal-posts again.  The new battlegrounds are benefits and immigration.  Both of which belie the fact that our economy is pretty crap.  The reason that benefits are needed is that Employers have changed the work-pay balance so far in their favour that many working people cannot even afford to buy the things they are making.  And at the other end of the spectrum, luxury goods are flying off the shelves as the rich get richer quicker than ever before.  Immigration is yet another way of dividing the working classes, creating mistrust and scapegoats out of each other.

So, the challenge for Labour is two-fold; to win back trust, to show they can be economically competent and at the same time to somehow try to reduce the huge gap between those at the top and those nearer the bottom.  And it is no good Labour just winning because the Tories are even worse than them.  Winning by default will only spell defeat at the next election.  Labour has to come up with some real answers to the blighted economy, and they must improve the lives of those at the bottom, or the winners will be UKIP or something even worse.

And one of the real problems for Labour is leadership.  Personally I quite like Ed Milliband, but he isn’t charismatic, he isn’t photogenic, he doesn’t so much lead as bob along.  2014 is the year in which Labour must really make it’s mark, come out with a real identity, a reason to vote Labour and start to look like  a possible government.  Or you never know the Tories might just hang on and win again.