Ignore the elephant
by John Craig
It's either genius or insanity - to my shock, I agreed with David Aaronovitch this week, in his assessment of Labour's announcements on 'immigration/asylum', and the phantom sixth pledge that is to follow.
So if, as I suggested a fortnight ago, the new Tory proposals on all this are a sort of shadow of the elephant in the living room, then Labour's five-year plan is the shadow of a shadow. It is motivated by fear of the distant prejudice, but daren't acknowledge it.
While it may be easier to write People Flow, than to talk to an electorate about these issues, surely real leadership is about confronting rather than avoiding our collective 'elephants'.
To ease the gloom, here is some real leadership; Nelson Mandela (trust us) in Trafalgar Square promoting Make Poverty History, and here, thanks to Abi, are a basket full of white bands in the Demos reception area.