I’m very grateful to the New Statesman for giving me the chance to be guest editor for a week. It has not always been my favourite reading, and no doubt there are some regular readers for whom I would not be Number 1 choice as guest editor.
But it continues to hold a significant place in the political and media landscape and I hope that for the week I am in charge, with the help of the usual NS team, we can put together something that is interesting, provocative and makes a contribution to debate on the progressive side of politics. I have already commissioned a few pieces from people as varied as myself, my partner and friends and colleagues in places high and low. But there are a couple of ideas, as I mentioned on my website, when I first announced I would be doing this, that will require reader input. First, I am on the lookout for three young people, 16-18, to tell us why they have joined one of the three main parties.
It angers me when middle-aged middle class people routinely say that young people are not interested in politics. My sense is that in many ways the young are more interested in political debate than the old. They’re just turned off by the way politics is debated and covered.
The second idea, which has already had some good ideas sent to my blog, is to ask readers to complete this sentence …
“If I had one sentence to put into Labour’s manifesto for the next election, it would say this –“
The Tories may be ahead in the polls, but I still think the battle of ideas and serious policy debate on the left has more energy. I hope your response shows this. I have set one page aside already but if the response merits more, then I may have to spike one of my own pieces. If that isn’t an incentive ….
Contribute your own one sentence ideas for the Labour manifesto on Alastair Campbell’s blog.
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