Labour Party – Jo Abbess

How long will it be before the nation’s kiddies and softies start calling Ed Miliband “Teddy” ?

I mean, there he is, making the most important speech of the Labour Party year, newly elected as leader of that party, and his hair misbehaves in that cute, fluffy, just-got-out-of-bed, ruffled way.

Somebody see to his coiffure, please ! He’s in line to lead the nation. He can’t have a follicle out of place.

Extract from Teddy Miliband’s first leadership speech :-

https://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/28/ed-miliband-labour-conference-speech

“…Let’s be honest, changing our institutions won’t be enough to restore trust on its own. Look in the end, it’s politicians who have to change. This generation must reject the old ways of doing politics. And must speak to the issues our generation knows it must confront. The focus groups will tell you that there’s no votes in green issues. Maybe not. But taking the difficult steps to protect our planet for future generations is the greatest challenge our generation faces. When I think about my son, I think what he will be asking me in twenty years time is whether I was part of the last generation not to get climate change or the first generation to get it. And climate change, just like the aging society, can’t be tackled by the politics we have. They don’t lend themselves to the politics of now: instant results, instant votes, instant popularity. X-factor politics. So we can’t be imprisoned by the focus groups. Politics has to be about leadership or it is about nothing…”

Actually…I’ve decided I’m a convert. Marvellous stuff. Who is this man’s speechwriter ? I want to talk to his agent.

…And for more of that cute little-biddy bed-hair cowlick at the back of his head, watch here :-

You know, in this video, I think that his brother David actually ruffles it some more…the Miliband Brothers’ “hair ruffle” – something to beat the Obama first family “bump” ?

So sibling affection. But mixed up in that a spot of sibling rivalry ? :-
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/img/cartoons/mac/2010/09/28092010.jpg
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want my political ambitions thwarted, so I sold him on eBay.”

Edward Goes Greenward

Don’t get me wrong. Despite the fact that the election of Ed Miliband to the leadership of the UK’s Labour Party proves that it’s still a very small club for posh boys at the top of the working man’s political authority of choice, Ed Miliband does have some advantages from his experience in the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

He’s probably the only person in the shadow Government who has the faintest idea about where electricity comes from, and what the future should hold for energy resources and energy services, in an increasingly tightened global economy. We definitely need somebody at the highest rank disputing the Government’s mistaken policies, who knows that energy production is not the black art of a magician, and has a price, and consequences.

Both “Ed” and his brother David have had important roles in managing the country, but Ed has avoided falling into a number of gaffe-traps that David has smilingly and innocently dropped into. And he hasn’t always adopted the lobbying positions from large energy companies. Unlike David, who, it appears, could probably be persuaded to say anything on behalf of Big Energy Business, especially Big American Energy Business and the Airlines.

The right-wing press are accusing Ed Miliband of being a closet communist, or crypto-fascist, just about, as he was an acolyte, avatar and archivist for former “Premier league” Gordon Brown, but they should be more concerned about his commitments to a revolution in Energy, a European-led Low Carbon energy revival.

The Labour Party has swung Ed-ward. And he’s not going Redward. Edward is going Greenward.