My Ashes Prediction

As even a visitor from the Planet Xandon would know by now, The Ashes get under way tomorrow, with Australia seeking to wrest back the urn so dramatically won by England two summers ago.

I don't want to be accused of being negative, but I don't have a particularly good feeling about it if the truth be told. When we won in 2005, we had the benefit of Michael Vaughan's brilliant captaincy, Marcus Trescothick's 430 runs, and Simon Jones's lethal reverse swing. Yet all will be absent when the contest gets under way tomorrow.

At the same time, the Aussies, having had a few poor sessions at key moments in the last series, appear to have regrouped and their ageing yet wonderfully talented team now seems fired up for what will surely be its last hurrah.

So on balance, I think it's Australia to win, probably by 3-1, with one Test drawn. But that said, my cricketing predictions should probably be given even less credence than my political ones!

BlogGems

An occasional series dedicated to bringing the best comments from the blogosphere to a slightly wider audience.
No 2.

"The enemy is not to be found among the Christians, however outlandish their beliefs may appear to the world. The enemy is among those who seek to deny those liberties for which some of us died. Open your eyes."

Cranmer, commenting on a current post on Guido Fawkes.

Time to let the Big Clunking Fist do its work

The Observer's Andrew Rawnsley speculated at the weekend that the image of a "Big Clunking Fist" would not necessarily be helpful to Gordon Brown and Labour. I had thought about doing this line too, but having thought about it I decided I disagreed with it.

Labour has been pussy-footing around with the Boy Cameron for nearly a year now - and a Big Clunking Fist is exactly what is needed. Here's what I ending up saying in my Saturday column and Podcast.

"Mr Blair’s attempts to demonstrate that there is life in New Labour yet have again been overshadowed by further developments in the cash-for-peerages affair. Thursday’s confirmation that “significant and valuable material” had been uncovered makes it all-but-certain that the matter will be referred to the Crown Prosecution Service, meaning it cannot now possibly be resolved before Mr Blair leaves office.

"In the light of that, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that it would be in the Labour Party’s best interests if the change of leadership was to happen sooner rather than later. It’s time to let that big clunking fist – whoever it belongs to – get stuck in."

New Labour, New Media

Some fairly heavy shit on Guido's blog at the moment about the impact of new media on the relationship between politicians and the public, following some rather unwise comments by departing No 10 policy wonk Matthew Taylor.

Blaming the internet for fuelling the "crisis" between politicians and voters, Taylor said: "The big breakthrough, in terms of politics, on the web in the last few years [is] basically blogs which are, generally speaking, hostile and basically see their job as every day exposing how venal, stupid, and mendacious politicians are."

As usual, New Labour is trying to have it both ways. After all, as my old lobby colleague Nick Assinder has noted, the Government is currently playing about with new media like an excited child who has just discovered computer games.

Environment Sec David Miliband has his famous taxpayer-funded blog, the Downing Street website has its new e-petitions functionality and Mr Blair this week staged an online interview, mediated by the politically-balanced pairing of old leftie Will Hutton and youngish Tory Anne McElvoy.

I don't blame Downing St for trying to harness the power of Teh Interwebs, but surely they should not complain when the public, and specifically political bloggers, do the same.

Mind you, up against twisted genii like Tim Ireland who are prepared to do this sort of thing, you can maybe see why they are so afraid.