Ed Balls so badly wants the Government to fail, he can't even celebrate Britain's successes

By Mark Wallace
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The other day I picked out an example of Labour's miserablism:

"Ed Balls' apparent enthusiasm when the economic data is poor, and his deflation when the figures improve"

It's a sad fact that Balls can barely contain his desire for things to go wrong in the economy so that he can promote himself on the back of a crisis.

Given the howls that suggestion generates from some quarters, I now owe a debt of gratitude to the Shadow Chancellor himself for proving the point.

The curious case of David Bennett and his £53 a week

By Peter Hoskin
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Today’s politics is brought to you by the number 53. That’s the amount, in pounds per week, that Iain Duncan Smith is being challenged to live on – and it came from a Today Programme interview with a market trader, David Bennett, who said that he’s struggling to get by now that his benefits have been cut. Mr Bennett’s incomings, it emerged, include around £50 a week from his stall, £57 in housing benefit, and some money from working tax credits, but when his rent and bills are taken into account he’s left with that £53 a week.

The Daily Mail has already done some digging, and it appears that all is not as it originally seemed. For starters, it looks as though Mr Bennett’s outgoings include bills for “a landline, mobile phone and Sky with broadband”. He claims that this actually leaves him with £23 a month, which really is very little, but that needs to be set against another detail in the Mail story: that Mr Bennett is a “regular gambler”. The paper goes on to note that “even a £10 bet would account for almost half of his monthly disposable income.” Curiouser and curiouser.

Favourite for next Director-General of the BBC is a dyed-in-the-wool Labour apparatchik

By Matthew Barrett
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Last month, we reported on the contribution of Matthew Elliott, CEO of the TaxPayers' Alliance, to a ConHome event on how to win the next election. Elliott made the important point that Labour's long march of the institutions has not been reversed by the current government. He also said two forthcoming appointments - the Chair of the Charity Commision and the Director-General of the BBC - would test the government's willingness to act on this issue.

The Daily Mail's editorial today - after rightfully attacking the BBC's pitiful coverage of the last few days' Jubilee celebrations - gives us an idea of exactly who Lord Patten of Barnes, the Chairman of the BBC Trust, is likely to appoint to the position of Director-General, after the incumbent, Mark Thompson steps down. The Mail said:

"[I]ncredibly, the man being tipped as the front-runner for the director generalship is an unashamed Labour supporter (he even helped write the party’s manifesto) who has never made a TV programme in his life. Indeed, as head of the media regulator, Ofcom, the only aptitude Ed Richards has shown is for running a bloated quango, with nearly 1,000 staff, housed in magnificent offices by the Thames. This same Mr Richards has been roundly attacked by a Commons committee for his misleading accounting methods (perhaps learned during his time working in Tony Blair’s policy unit alongside Ed Miliband and Ed Balls), his failure to control Ofcom’s exorbitant £140million budget and the lavish salaries he paid the quango’s senior commissars (including almost £400,000 for himself)."

Although Ed Miliband is less popular with Labour supporters than David Miliband, he insists his leadership is "winning the battle of ideas"

By Joseph Willits 
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In today's Sunday Times (£) there were yet more unnerving polling results for Ed Miliband, receiving his lowest (negative) rating so far as Labour leader from the party's supporters. 49% of those who vote Labour felt that Miliband was doing badly, compared to 46% who believed he was doing well. The YouGov poll gave Miliband an overall rating of -3, compared to Cameron's positive net score of 91.

Polling those of all voting intentions, David Miliband topped the survey with 21% holding the view that he would be a better party leader, compared to Ed Miliband's 7%. Interestingly, Alistair Darling was second choice with 9%. However, there was a marked difference in favour of David Miliband amongst Labour support, with 34% compared to 12% for his brother.

Speaking on this morning's Andrew Marr Show, mainly to defend the Labour party's new stance on cuts, Miliband was full of defiant soundbites, stating that Labour was "winning the battle of ideas."

Although Miliband told Andrew Marr that "if Labour was in power now, we wouldn't be making those changes, we wouldn't be cutting as far and as fast as the government", he said it was right to support the Government's pay freeze for public sector workers:

"It's a hard choice, but when you are faced with the choice between protecting jobs or saying the money should go into pay rises I think it's right to protect jobs."