The Labour party Down Under, Boris's modest brother and the government video that tackles Greek myths
by Prospect / October 19, 2011 / Leave a comment“And I serve the fairy queen,” above, is one of the photographs by Tom Hunter inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but set in Hackney and featuring local residents. They will be on show at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from 4th November
The Sun on Sunday
The phone hacking scandal has been reignited by the Leveson inquiry into the practices and ethics of the press, established by David Cameron after the revelations about the News of the World and other papers caused public outrage. [See Geoffrey Robertson’s article in this month’s issue] Yet Prospect has learned from an executive near the top of News International that a Sunday edition of the Sun is still “definitely” planned for the new year. Millions of pounds are being invested in a new computer system for the company, the executive said.
Now that it has become fashionable to distance oneself from Murdoch in Westminster, what will politicians make of the plan? Over to Chris Bryant, the Labour MP who, with Tom Watson, has been campaigning against Murdoch for years. “If this goes ahead, the decision to sack the NOTW staff and close the paper will be exposed as a truly cynical gimmick. Most people will not look kindly on the same management crew that presided over the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone.”
David Miliband: no going back
The notable omission from the newly-reshuffled shadow cabinet is the leader’s brother, David Miliband. Some of David’s allies, including former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell and pollster Philip Gould, have been urging the former foreign secretary, who has just begun a speaking tour of Britain’s universities promoting his “Movement for Change,” to get back into the front-bench fold. They will be disappointed. “I made the right decision [not to serve under Ed] last year and I am sticking to it,” he recently told a friend. “And you can use your antennae to read into that what you will.”
From Labour to Labor
The other side of the world is a long way to go to avoid the British Labour party. But that is where John McTernan, the former adviser to Tony Blair and New Labour outrider, is heading. The Scottish, soft-spoken friend of Alastair Campbell is to take up a post as head of communications for Julia Gillard, the embattled Australian Labor prime minister. He will join another ex-pat Brit, Tom Bentley, who was a…
