The Daily Novel

So now we know from the man himself. David Miliband, the environment secretary, is not going to stand against Gordon Brown for the Labour Party leadership. He announces his decision in an ‘exclusive’ article in this morning’s Observer newspaper. All the efforts of the Blairites to draft in one of the next generation to revitalise Labour have now failed.

But would it have made any difference? In his article Miliband writes about what Labour needs:

First, the vision thing, ideas that can excite people about where we want to take the country over 10 years.

I read the article twice in an effort to find something exciting. I failed. Judged from this article he is certainly the equal of David Cameron when it comes to blandness and mouthing politically correct platitudes. He says that Labour must admit its mistakes. Take this example.

Teacher recruitment has been genuinely transformed, so too school buildings, but school is still boring for too many pupils who become statistics of underachievement.

Implication. It’s the teachers who have failed Labour.

Nothing about issues that people are really protesting about. Like the slavish bowing down to George Bush oven the Iraq war which both Blair and Brown have been guilty of.

To be fair to Miliband I searched his blog. I perked up when I found an item entitled.

US generals shift to new war footing

At last he is going to challenge the might is right line, I thought. I was wrong. Read it for yourself.

It is remarkable that the UN security council should never have debated climate change, and extremely positive that today it will do so under the chairmanship and prompting of my predecessor and current foreign secretary Margaret Beckett. As I tried to say in my speech to the WWF last month, climate is a security issue. Today there is stronger endorsement from 11 retired US Generals who as far as I know previously had no record of interest in environmental issues but have now joined the ranks of “green hawks”. The very strong statement of the Generals that “the US must commit to a stronger national and international role to help stabilise climate change at levels that will avoid significant disruption to global security and stability.”. It was good in this context to hear a rep of the UK’s Royal United Services Institute say on the Today programme that he saw real change in the engagement on this issue.

posted by David Miliband on 17 Apr 07 with 4 Comments (view/add) | Permalink

But perhaps it is all our fault. Perhaps we want bland politicians.

Take this item.

Country Life (part 2)

I understand that an earlier entry was construed by some people as party political. For the avoidance of doubt, the entry now contains no reference to political parties and simply reproduces an interesting/suggestiv/thoughtful, perhaps even visionary - and certainly not otherwaise - quotation from Aneurin Bevan (In Place of Fear, chapter three)

“Where the countryside is neglected it always takes its revenge. Unless county and town march together is reciprocal activity, civilisation will limp on one foot.”

posted by David Miliband on 22 Mar 07 with 3 Comments (view/add) | Permalink

Apparently readers thought Miliband was entering into party political controversy with this quotation from a politician who did have fire in his belly. But calling for the countryside to march together is not exactly the most revolutionary of Nye Bevan’s utterances.

So this teacher’s verdict on these efforts by Miliband must be:

‘Could do better. 0 votes from me.’