Politics

The Daily Briefing: Wednesday 9 October

The Blairite spectre, paper jams and Ponzi schemes

October 09, 2013
Blair is still beloved by some, but how much attention should Labour pay?
Blair is still beloved by some, but how much attention should Labour pay?
Blairites don’t really exist (Guardian) The term is applied to politicians across the spectrum, but suits none of them – not even Tony Blair, says Steve Richards.

Paper Jam (The Times, £) Parliament’s proposals for press regulation are dangerous and inhabit freedom of speech.

Ed Miliband could be the PM who leads us out of Europe (Daily Telegraph) Labour needs a strategy to tackle growing English hostility to the Union and the European Union, writes Mary Riddell.

The pain of rebuilding global growth(FT, £) The IMF paints a promising picture – if nothing bad happens, writes Martin Wolf.

Barack Obama and the Republican Party are engaged in an existential battle(Independent) No party can come out of this stalemate with their head held high, writes Andreas Whittam Smith.

Russia has turned into a giant Ponzi scheme (The Times, £) In Putin’s simulacrum of democracy, his cronies threaten businesses with closure if they don’t pay up, writes Roger Boyes.

DNA can help those left behind after Lampedusa(FT, £) An agency that could identify the missing exists, but lacks the mandate, power or money to do the job, Tim Judah reports.

To offshore or not to offshore? That is the question (Independent) It remains to be seen whether “onshoring” will have the last laugh, writes Hamish McRae.

Egypt needs to show some ambition (FT, £) Recent polarisation has forestalled the forces of youth from advancing a new national project, writes Tarek Osman.

I’m afraid we’re just as sadistic as we feared (The Times, £) Social psychology has become a social science of great weight, yet too many of its insights are based on small samples and faulty experiments, writes Daniel Finkelstein.