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The weird virus infecting Labour debate

My partner Fiona has a piece in The Guardian today pointing out not merely how much the last Labour government achieved in education, but also how absurd it is for someone like Zarah Sultana, a newly... Continue

I am now confused re Big Society and DC’s foreign policy. Someone please explain

I remain confused by the Big Society concept, as I think are we all, including its author. My hunch is that when DC was trying to 'rebrand' the Tory Party, he wanted something that set himself apart f... Continue

23 February 2011

Posted by Alastair Campbell

Operation Get-a-Grip – hilarious to see Cameron going back to Blairite centralisation

David Cameron was always quite fond of criticising the centralising Number 10 system which operated under Tony Blair. So it is highly amusing to watch him steadily shift towards the kind of centralis... Continue

20 February 2011

Posted by Alastair Campbell

A few weeks trying to teach challenging kids makes me respect teachers even more

March 2 sees the start of Jamie Oliver's latest TV project, Dream School, in which he, I and other non-teachers try to teach 20 young people who have gone through the school system without success. Th... Continue

19 February 2011

Posted by Alastair Campbell

Hezza signals discontent at lack of Cameron grip, but Osborne won’t U-turn yet

I got back from Leicester in time to catch a bit of Question Time and was interested to see that the audience seemed mildly supportive of the government's U-turn on the sell-off of forests. It was a ... Continue

18 February 2011

Posted by Alastair Campbell

Time running out for Tories’ ‘all Labour’s fault’ mantra

The Tories have had a very good run with their 'it's all Labour's fault', but it is slowly coming to an end. With the public, or at least the centre of gravity of public opinion, I think it came to ... Continue

17 February 2011

Posted by Alastair Campbell

Big Society relaunch – mais on ne peut pas polir un turd

Oh dear ... poor old Dave has decided not only that he needs a 'relaunch' for his 'Big Idea', the 'Big Society.' ... but he is seemingly of the view that the problem is not the policy, it is that 'we ... Continue

13 February 2011

Posted by Alastair Campbell

Gove and Cameron need to start getting into a bit of detail

Well done to those councils which felt Michael Gove was exceeding his powers when bringing the Building Schools for the Future programme crashing to the ground. Yesterday's High Court ruling was a vi... Continue

12 February 2011

Posted by Alastair Campbell

Here’s hoping the Egyptian revolution fares better than Eritrea’s

As I was reading about Egypt weaving and now fighting its way towards change yesterday, into my inbox popped an email from an Eritrean. It reminded me that I was one of the few people from the UK eve... Continue

3 February 2011

Posted by Alastair Campbell

Alastair Campbell is a writer, communicator and strategist best known for his role as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Still active in politics and campaigns in Britain and overseas, he now splits his time between writing, speaking, broadcasting, charities and consultancy.