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Changing Britain’s electoral system would benefit Labour and radicalise politics, says Peter Tatchell

One of the many good things about being old and decrepit is, as the late great JB Priestly once remarked, the pleasure one can get from simply not going to things. Parties that you know you won’t enjoy, dinners where the conversation is likely to be boring, lunch dates with people you don’t really like – all can be abandoned when you are old, not with regret or embarrassment, but with a quiet sense of satisfaction.

Boris Johnson may have some value as a tourist attraction, but is a failure as London Mayor, says Stephen Pound

Every ambitious young journalist has a dream job or five, and in my early 20s, my top target was editor of the New Statesman. I didn’t get there de jure but did de facto, because, after three years as deputy editor of the magazine, I took the chair for six issues in the interregnum between Steve Platt and Ian Hargreaves when the oleaginous Geoffrey Robinson became proprietor in 1996. And before that I edited Tribune, which was dream job number two, after a long stint as Tribune reviews editor, which was third on my list.

Considering primary-style elections to select Labour candidates is just the latest episode in the recent sordid history of unthinking emulation of the United States. The American political system is bogged in complete unwillingness to catch up with the rest of the world in healthcare and it is worth remembering why Congress is gridlocked – or rather lobby-locked. Primary elections are the primary cause of that.

Gordon Brown must be shaking in his boots at the prospect of Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman ousting Tony Lloyd from the chairmanship of the Parliamentary Labour Party. The notion is being touted up ’ere as a move that “could put the Prime Minister’s job in peril”.

Vindication emanates from microphones in insulated televison and radio studios. There is glee among directors and chief executives in cushioned boardrooms. The retreat has been sounded from the Cabinet, where too many of the places at the table are still occupied by advocates of neo-liberalism.

Ann Black identifies the priorities for Labour in the time remaining before the general election

Unless the leadership gives more than lip service to the members, Labour renewal will stall, writes Robin Pettitt