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Listed below are comments made by MessageMedium between Friday, 27th February 2009 and Friday, 5th June 2009.

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Not a firewall 2:35pm on 05 Jun 2009 I don't know why there is such confusion as to why the likes of Johnson and Milliband haven't put the knife in. They've made a perfectly reasonable calculation that Labour is finished at the next election and neither wants to go down as the leader that lost to Cameron. Much better to get kudos for "loyalty" now, and then stand for the leadership when Gordon Brown resigns. That's why GB will easily survive this crisis, even if his authority has been desperately weakened - there's no-one credible in the Labour party who wants his job at the moment.

If I were Milliband and Cruddas though, I'd make a pact with "Not up to the job" Johnson to offer himself as a caretaker leader to get through the election and minimise the massacre that would occur if Brown were to stay. Then Johnson stands down and the Labour Party have a proper leadership election where they can debate where they want to be policy-wise. If both Cruddas and Milliband were to support a Johnson caretakership then Brown would have to go....
Road-testing EU rules 09:59am on 27 Feb 2009 There is nothing new in this - this is classic French economic policy. Remember in the 80s when they delayed screening blood plasma for HIV because it would have meant buying American machines? That was a protectionist decision that actually killed people. Think about that. People died of infected blood while French manufacturers came up with a French solution. Madness.

Car manufacture is of course a much larger economic sector, and temporary subsidies to ensure the survival of the skills base, supply sector etc. is more understandable.

In many ways there is a huge amount to admire in the French economy. They have built a successful mixed economy without relying on the banking sector or oil revenues. But ultimately subsidies which are used to ossify an economy, rather than to drive innovation, are a doomed economic model. The jury is out on which side Sarkozy believes.

MM
Thursday, 26 February, 2009 08:52am on 27 Feb 2009 What a disappointing debate on Thatcher's legacy. Three "never-were's" refighting battles that were finished 20 years ago. Steele offered almost no opinion at all, and Hattersley was terrible, even dragging up that 'no such thing as society' quote that he knows full well was taken out of context.

And was convicted liar Jonathan Aitken really the best the BBC could find to 'defend' her? Surely bringing in someone like Tebbit would have ensured that some sparks would have flown? As it was, Gavin was uncharacteristically slack, laughing too much at Hattersley's jokes and treating the whole thing like a pub debate between three old men, which in a way I suppose it was.

A more interesting way of dealing with the issue would have been to get representatives from different generations, and probably throw in a historian or at least someone less party political (rather than the Liberals who were completely irrelevant to Thatcherism) to give a more balanced overview.

MM

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