Need a speechwriter, Ed?

Been away in Aviemore for a few days, during which time the Labour Party has revealed a spanking new leader.

I can exclusively reveal here that I voted for Ed........

......Balls, that is. But EM was my second choice and it was Ed Balls' second preferences that got the other Ed over the 50% line... so I think I can take some credit...

Anyway, whether Ed is "red" or not has been a theme of the chatterers for the last few days...

Well, if "red" means preferring to cut services as little as possible, and maybe taxing a little more, in the current climate, then I hope he is.

And if he is looking for intellectual justification from a heavyweight economist for such a position then he needs look no further than Paul Krugman in the NY Times. This piece is particularly elegant.

After writing that the Great Depression was ended by the spending needed to finance WW2, Krugman found himself accused of advocating war. This is his riposte. It's short, to the point, drily funny, dismissive of his opponents and extemely well written.

Memo to ED: get this guy on your speech writing team. He's seriously good.