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A year ago, Ed Miliband confounded pundits and emerged triumphant as the new Labour leader. At the 2011 Labour conference, he faces challenges of public perception, party and policies.

Although it has become fashionable to offer apologies for whatever was done by the last Labour Government, the current financial crisis should provoke some reconsideration of that strategy.

Ed Miliband says same-sex couples should have the legal right to get married; that civil partnerships are not sufficient. Great. But it is a huge disappointment that the Labour Party conference has not voted for marriage equality.

Here we go again. Over the past 12 months or so, a little-noticed committee has been engaged in a little noticed inquiry. The committee is the Kelly Committee, which looks at standards in public life.

In his Budget speech, George Osborne boldly declared: “We want the words made in Britain, created in Britain, designed in Britain, invented in Britain to drive our nation forward.”

What explains the British Government’s inertia over very recent wartime atrocities? asks Fred Carver

The collapse of the single currency would be disastrous for the whole EU – including Britain, argues Julian Priestley

With this summer’s festival season in full swing, Stefan Simanowitz reflects on the changing politics of rock

Richard Westwood recalls a wartime falling out between two major figures of the left and how George Orwell’s views have been misrepresented

The collapse of Southern Cross shows the pitfalls of involving profit-driven firms in looking after the vulnerable, says Terry Philpot