It is the four letter word, that still haunts us. I didn't agree with any of the main arguments of the anti-war left, but took the line of John Denham and Robin Cook to oppose the war on the grounds that America was being reckless, because of its unilateralism.

THE labour party is going into oppersition Tatical voting is the way to beat the torys.The public want it,Lower taxes smaller public sector is the only way.

I posted a blog a couple of days ago about what New Labour stands for. And let me just say, I was glad to see that New Labourites like snowflake and Northern Monkey clearly believe we should be a Labour party, and even if they are on the right of the party, would prefer us to be left-of-centre, rather than just slap bang in the middle.

I've been reading over old threads, and it shocked me how much to the right many in the party were. Particuarly JR *shudders*. A guy who supported Sarkozy because of his position on working hours, said that the unions were enemies of the party, and who praised Brown as delivering a budget in 2007, that was excellent politically. Well, we all know how politically successful it ended up being for him...

It occured to me, that when the government searches for a triangulating policy, even generally loyal supporters are ready to criticise. And, they seem to genuinally believe in New Labour, rather than saying that they don't want to be, but it's just that any social-democratic policy like maternity pay, or flexible working hours, or tax cuts for the poor, and tax rises for the rich, is horrible Bennite.

I suspect JR left Labour after his scathing attacks on Harman, even though she then went on to win. It was ironic that he accused her of being far-left after she called for redistribution of wealth, considering this government has redistributed more than any government ever.

Luckily, when I now debate with people who I'm slightly to the left of, the main achievements they list of this government are worthy of any social-democratic party. The NHS in its best ever health, increased childcare, tax credits, devolution, abolition of hereditary peers, minimum wage, and other fine achievements.

Actually, once the rediculously right-wing New Labourites left, I became more sympathetic to this government. And I don't doubt the loyalty of New Labourites anymore. Mainly because they take the time to debate with me, and I started hearing the arguments from the right of the party for the first time, rather than simply, "But we'll lose if we follow your way".

So I only hope we all have international loyalty, and can support Obama in November, unlike New Labour support for Sarkozy last year...

A rather unconventional approach to David Miliband’s Guardian commentary would be to discuss the argument which he actually makes. I have a longish commentary on Open Democracy which tries to assess what sort of 'change' Miliband is advocating that Labour needs to make, whether his 'progressive fusion' argument for bringing together social democracy and liberalism means, and why I think its a mistake to label Miliband as a 'Blairite'.