Miliband grows up

David Miliband has a piece in the Guardian today, in which he argues, according to Patrick Wintour, that Labour needs a "more mature relationship with the electorate". These words don't actually appear in Miliband's piece but they do encapsulate what he says here:

When people hear exaggerated claims, either about failure or success, they switch off. That is why politicians across all parties fail to connect. To get our message across, we must be more humble about our shortcomings but more compelling about our achievements.

There's no doubt that Wintour would like Miliband to take over:

Miliband cannot afford to be seen to be involved in any manoeuvring against Brown, but his willingness to write confidently about Labour's mistakes, and how he believes David Cameron, the Conservative leader, can be defeated, will be seen as a reminder to a demoralised party that there are figures in the cabinet capable of making a compelling analysis of Labour's political challenges.

The Times says Miliband is positioning himself for the leadership:

The Foreign Secretary fires the first salvo in a deliberate challenge to Mr Brown in a newspaper article that outlines a blueprint for defeating David Cameron without mentioning the Prime Minister once by name.

The Times somehow can't bring itself to mention the Guardian by name.

Fake news

There's a fascinating story in the Telegraph, with Lieutenant Colonel Cynthia Ryan of the US Civil Air Patrol suggesting that American adventurer Steve Fossett may have faked his own death:

An investigator for Lloyds of London says:

"I discovered that there is absolutely no proof that Steve Fossett is actually dead. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I'm a man who deals in facts."

I don't think suggesting that someone fakes his own death makes you a conspiracy theorist, given recent events.

Hard Times

The Times has a typically biased non-story on Labour and the unions:

Gordon Brown has caved in to unions, allowing a series of concessions - including an extension of the minimum wage - in a move that sent shudders through the business community.

Changes to the minimum wage in particular could cost businesses an extra £88 million a year.

Quite a pathetic scare story, from a business community that said the minimum wage would cost jobs. Here's what the bolshevism amounts to:

Under pressure from the unions Labour has agreed to extend the adult minimum wage to 21-year-olds. At the moment the full minimum wage of £5.52 applies only to workers aged 22 and over. Those aged between 18 and 21 get £4.60 and 16 to 18-year-olds get £3.40.

Paying 21 year olds £5.52 instead of £4.60 an hour is hardly going to bring the economy to its knees. Some people might think paying 21 year olds £4.60 an hour is outrageous. But then some people think children should still be sent up chimneys.

Good story

The Telegraph claims that MI6 and US intelligence were involved in the capture of Radovan Karadzic. It's a good story, that might even be true - or not.

Desperate

Speaking of non-stories, the Sunday Telegraph says that 5.6 million motorists

will have to pay £15 more vehicle excise duty from April,

More on that non-story

In the Observer, Nicholas Watt is determined to make something of the non-story of Gordon Brown's non-announcement of a troop cut in Iraq.

Gordon Brown yesterday held out the prospect of a substantial withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, possibly as early as next year,

So the troop cut that Brown said last October in the spring that has just passed could be delayed until the end of next year. Wow!

On the other hand...

Meanwhile, the Guardian's Polly Toynbee says the government is good at burying good news.