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Politics live: readers' edition - Friday 5 October

Share breaking news, leave links to interesting articles online and chat about the week's events in this open thread Share 0 inShare0 Email What's caught your eye today? Share your views, links and news in our open thread Photograph: Alamy I'm not writing my Politics Live blog today but, as an alternative, here's Politics Live: the readers' edition. It's intended to be a place where you can catch up with the latest news and find links to good politics blogs and articles on the web. Please feel free to use this as somewhere you can comment on any of the day's political stories - just as you do when I'm writing the daily blog. But it would be particularly useful for readers to flag up new material in the comments – breaking news or blogposts or tweets that are worth passing on because someone is going to find them interesting. A lot of what I do on my blog is aggregation – finding the good stuff and passing it on - and you can do this, too (as

Labour in Manchester didn't cut it for working people. In Birmingham, we Conservatives can

The Conservative MP for Hexham, Guy Opperman, argues ahead of the conference that it is his party, and not Ed Miliband's, whose message is going down well on local doorsteps Share 7 inShare0 Email Hexham races: the blue jockey is making the running, says local MP Guy Opperman. Photograph: Julian Herbert/Getty Images I must confess I didn't catch much of Labour's conference. However, I did welcome Ed Miliband's focus on where he went to school. I hope my party will use our conference to remind the country that it is the Conservatives who are closing the gap between the richest and poorest pupils by providing schools with an extra £600 for each pupil from a poorer family. That's alongside establishing a £110 million Education Endowment Fund for innovative proposals to help struggling schools, the march of academies, and the increase in the number of 'superheads' who can transform schools. It was also very generous of Miliband to highlight the import

David Cameron's scattergun approach on EU risks UK national interest

Prime minister risks handing initiative to Britain's EU opponents by unveiling potpourri of proposals Share 6 inShare1 Email David Cameron told Andrew Marr he was prepared to veto the next EU budget. Photograph: BBC via Getty Images In reaching out to eurosceptics will David Cameron end up undermining British interests? In a series of television and newspaper interviews, the prime minister and other minsters moved on Sunday to neutralise UKIP by promising to adopt a tough approach to the EU. Cameron told The Sun he was prepared to veto the next seven year EU budget if the EU does not follow the example of most nation states and agree to slash spending. Theresa May told the Sunday Times that Britain is interested in imposing restrictions on the free movement of people around the EU. That is a wonderful menu for eurosceptics. The problem is that these proposals appear not to relate to the two vital national interests Britain needs to protect in all EU negotiations over th

Open thread: Why do you keep your blinds down?

George Osborne has commented on the unfairness of those on benefits keeping their 'blinds down' while others head out to work. Can you suggest other reasons why your curtains may be closed? Join our open thread Share 48 inShare0 Email Guardian readers guardian.co.uk, Monday 8 October 2012 11.13 BST Jump to comments (204) Do you keep your blinds down? Photograph: Frank Baron/Guardian On Monday morning the chancellor George Osborne said it was unfair those on benefits keep their "blinds down" while the working man starts his day. Speaking in an interview on the Today programme, Osborne said: "The rich will be asked to pay a greater share. But it is a "delusion" to think that taxes on the rich will solve the problem. It is unfair that people listening to this programme going out to work see the neighbour next door with the blinds down because they are on benefits." The welfare community on guardian.co.uk and on Twitter have responded in f

Work for a day in my Rochdale boutique, Mr Miliband

Labour needs to get out more to understand the problems on the high street. argues High Street campaigner Paul Turner-Mitchell Share 4 inShare0 Email Britain's high streets: one nation which isn't as bustling as it should be. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA As any copywriter worth their salt will tell you, great slogans are catchy, memorable and instantly understood. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband's conference speech about creating a 'one nation business model' ticks none of these boxes. The response I've seen on the high street is the same wherever I go; a brow furrowing look of puzzlement. This is not so much branding as bewildering. If a 'one nation business model' is seen as the answer to the high street's problems then it makes you wonder what our political leaders think the question is. During the conference, I hesitantly made my way to a 'meet the public' event with the Labour leader. Getting the high street on to politicians

Jimmy Savile: why didn't the tough tabloids nail him?

Those who should have acted didn't, kids who dared complain weren't believed, and all in a pre-internet age Share 72 inShare0 Email Jimmy Savile's charity work helped build him a 24/7 alibi. Photograph: Michael Putland/Getty Images It is now a week since the trickle of allegations against Jimmy Savile turned into a torrent and the BBC is still taking a ferocious kicking from the tabloids and other envious commercial rivals who can see the Beeb's privileged vices more clearly than its many virtues. But what about their own failure here? On this occasion the BBC's critics make a powerful case that senior management turned a blind eye to Savile's alleged abuse of young people. It's not hard to see why, but its explanations have been unpersuasive. Adults then had more unquestioned authority over children; the public and (especially) police were less bothered. Savile was a star; rich, famous and – we can now see – brutally cunning. Those who should ha

Britannia Unhinged - young Tory right set out their stall

MPs Kwasi Kwarteng, Priti Patel, Dominic Raab and Chris Skidmore explain their vision for the British workforce: work harder and work longer Share 38 inShare0 Email Paul Owen guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 9 October 2012 16.49 BST Jump to comments (312) Dominic Raab: 'The average number of hours worked by Britons has fallen by a third.' Photograph: Sutton-Hibbert/Rex Features The young authors of Britannia Unchained - a manifesto for the new Tory right - set out their stall on the Conservative conference fringe this afternoon. In their book MPs Kwasi Kwarteng, Priti Patel, Dominic Raab, Chris Skidmore and Elizabeth Truss (who was absent) call for a Britain of extreme economic liberalism in which, in the words of Labour's Jon Cruddas, "their ideal worker is one prepared to work long hours, commute long distances and expect no employment protection and low pay". The Financial Times called it "shock therapy for the country", a quote the publishers