Election 2015: Miliband says he is 'ready' to lead country

Heard this on the radio and thought he said he was ready to LEAVE the country! Oh dear, an opportunity lost!

Interesting that in one of the write-ups of the speech at the manifesto launch, they said he looks like he wants to win and then added "unlike Cameron".

Hang on, I'll see if I can find it.

Ah, here it is:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/13/ed-miliband-new-s...

"That was a confident speech by Miliband. He has the look of someone who a)
thinks they can win & b) wants to. Contrasts with Cameron."

I must admit I though the same at the leaders' debate. I know the game plan was to keep as quiet as possible and stay out of the way while the others bickered the clock down without him having to get into it too much, but in general he had the look of someone who didn't want to be there any more.

Like Armando iannucci said:

"He argues that there was “something contemptuous” about David Cameron’s attitude to the TV leader debates, comparing him to a “petulant child who doesn’t want to do his homework coming up with more and more excuses as to why it can’t happen”.

“I kind of half take his point that these leader debates turn into the [campaign’s] main thing and it kind of detracts from the rest,” he says. “But if what you are saying is ‘I don’t want to discuss my politics during a general election campaign to as wide an audience as possible’, then you don’t really deserve to be in politics.”"

(Guardian again - http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/22/armanda-iannucci-goodle-f...)

He never was really that bothered about being a politician and probably now figures he has done his stint and can make easier money off the back of his time in office.

Announcing he won't stand for a third term was a similar piece of crashing the car into a tree.

I think he's sick of it and wants out. He's probably ready to cash out and cash in with a big private sector payday. A few tasty directorships where he doesn't have to do very much, easy money for the rest of his life. And really, who needs the hassle?

The Guardian suggests that the Labour leader was better at something than the Tory. No surprise there.

The same paper shows the Tories with a 6% lead.
Such a shame it's not his brother at the helm, labour would be miles ahead.
I still reckon we'll be lumbered with Cameron for another term, propped up by a hotch potch of underlings.

Don't think David would be much better. He would offer an even less radical alternative for a start. Plus he was much more involved (and more heavily implicated) in all the shit New labour got up to. All the Jibes that the Tories continue to throw at Ed ("His party had 13 years to do something about it and they did nothing", "what you have to remember is that we inherited the mess from the last Labour Government" and yaddda yadda) would have much more resonance aimed at David. Plus he had his back in all that Extraordinary Rendition/Iraq war shit. Ed is more of a break with the recent history and the later stages of the NEw Labour Project and is making the right noises about inequality etc etc). David might have been more popular with swing voters and undecideds, but not sure he would actually have been any different to the last twenty years.

the Guardian haven't been particularly complimentary towards Miliband and there's a definite large part of that organisation (mostly at the top) that are significantly more right-leaning than even Miliband's modest Social Democracy. Toynbee apart the paper STILL seems to be backing the bloody Lib Dems, despite how it turned out last time (thanks for that!).

"Ed Miliband did better than David Cameron on four counts: governing in the interests of the many not the few (55% v 27%); having the courage to say what’s right rather than what’s popular (51% v 35%); and understanding “people like me” (48% v 25%). And, when asked which leader was more spin than substance, Miliband also did better. Some 49% said Cameron was more spin than substance, but only 35% for Miliband.
Cameron also won on four counts: being respected around the word (58% to 19%): being decisive (54% to 29%); being good in a crisis (46% to 21%); and being backed by his party (58% to 21%)."

People in this country need to make some decisions about what they actually want. (plus they should probably inform themselves a bit better. Everyone around the world thinks Cameron is a joke, in a crisis he tends to turn red and start shouting playground insults at everyone and huge parts of his party absolutely hate him (in part, because they don't realise what a massive electoral asset he is and hate having to play nice at being so moderate and pretend they don't mind things like Gay marriage when actually they really want to get in a proper Tory like Osborne and bring back workhouses).

Dave was better looking

Yeah. My missus says the same.