Something different - and it might just work.

Leader's speeches to political conferences are always difficult to gauge.  The the crowd is sympathetic, the atmosphere supportive and the applause is almost mandatory.  Sometimes, though, there is the occasional gem which shines though.  Neil Kinnock's hammering of Militant, John Major's call to "wake up" and Tony Blair's "three priorities" are recent examples that spring to mind.  Ed Miliband, while not being in the Kinnock or Blair class as an orator, signified something quite different on Tuesday - the possibility of a sea change in British politics, the like of which we have not seen for a generation.

Clement Attlee's corporate state marked a huge departure from the pre-war years.  Margaret Thatcher's devotion to Monetarism marked the end of that era and the start of something new.  Now there is the chance that a different approach might be on the horizon.  Ed Miliband signalled his intentions to reward those he feels behave properly, something which many believe in but don't have the courage to say out loud.  The opportunity to reward ethical firms, individuals who serve and families who are the mainstays of their communities is long overdue.  Giving Government contracts to those who take on apprentices is an excellent idea - but maybe one that needs to be tweaked to include Small Businesses which do not have such a capacity.  Taking work done in the community into account when allocating social housing is another brave plan.  I would like to see this go further - I would like to see a series of Community Credits given to those whose commitment to others goes unrewarded right now.  This could take the form of Council Tax discounts, the opportunity to lead a community forum or be consulted on major issues.  But the crucial point is that these people's efforts need to be recognised.

While we are at it, how about a new rule giving options to those who head up large companies and organisations.  They would have a choice:  take the bonuses on offer for the next five years or take the knighthood.  Given that there would then be a lot of spare honours to give out, why not give them to people who promote local co-operatives, those who found small business forums and community champions?  Rather than having a reliance on large organisations - multi-national corporations, centralised government and monolithic structures, give localism a chance.  SME's should have first call when it comes to land and planning laws, local authorities should have more freedom to direct policy and make decisions based on what local people think, rather than on what Whitehall thinks is best.

Of course, the speech was just one interesting feature of the week.  Maybe even more interesting was the reaction.  Digby Jones called it "a kick in the teeth for business", which says more about his attitude to business than anything else.  If calling for rewards for those who behave ethically is a kick in the teeth, how does he think businesses normally behave?  Should we reward those who act unethically?  Then again, this is the man who said he wanted schools to simply teach children to read, write and use a computer.  As if that is going to help us compete with the rest of the world.  Conservative Central Office were obviously taken aback by the content of the speech, but too late for vacant spokespeople like Baroness Warsi not to utter the obviously pre-prepared line.  All the Tories could say was that Ed Miliband was a "weak leader", not something the polls taken after the speech agree with.

Finally, the BBC thought the Labour Leader would have difficulty defining those families who are getting something for nothing.  He won't.  They are defined every day, up and down the land.  Ask anyone to tell you if there are families in their neighbourhood who fit the bill and they won't just tell you that they exist, they will name them for you.  Presenters of the Today programme only think they would be difficult to define simply because they live in enclaves dominated by their own kind.  They don't know these people.  But the rest of us do.

So finally, we may be on the verge of something different.  Those of us whose hopes were dashed by the Blair/Brown years might have something to cheer.  An alternative to 'slash and burn'.  A different set of rules which doesn't simply rebuild a creaking old system only for it to collapse again.  After the speech, the BBC coverage cut to the studio to get the reaction from ex-Tory spin doctor and Times columnist Danny Finkelstein.  Clearly flustered and going a strange puce colour, he delivered his pre-rehearsed line.  So one of Ed Miliband's biggest victories on the day may have been to infuriate and confuse those who are indebted to Murdoch for a living.  What a fine start!

Plan A leads us on the road to nowhere

Over the last few days, many of us could be forgiven for gloating just a little.  There are those, me included (see previous blogs) who say that the Government have been wholly wrong in the economic strategy they have undertaken and recent days have seen us proved right.  Of course, being proved right is great, and under some circumstances, a little gloat would not go amiss.  However, when people's jobs and livelihoods disappear and the resulting misery casts a gloomy pall over our communities, gloating is that last thing on many people's minds.

The IMF, an organisation that usually adores Governments who slash public spending and keep taxation low, have issued dire warnings about the British economy.  In their eyes, Britain is not heading for growth, and their forecasts have been lowered accordingly.  The Government's own figures have added to the gloom, showing a steep rise in borrowing for August - from a Government which claims it will cut Britain's deficit, which you can't really do by increasing borrowing.  So the strategy of eradicating the deficit has led us to need to borrow more, creating, yes you guessed it, a larger deficit.

Despite this, we have had to endure both Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander on consecutive editions of the Today Programme, burying their heads in the sand and singing the Government's praises.  According to Alexander, Britain has one important asset when it comes to economic renewal.  I assumed he was going to praise Britain's technological advances, our manufacturing innovation or at least the hard working people.  But no, according to Alexander, the one asset Britain has is the Government.  Even for a man like him who has never held a proper job in the real world, that was a remarkably stupid and naive thing to say.  If he and his government are the only asset we have got, we may as well all move to Greece.

Speaking of Greece, Nick Clegg had a sneaky little attempt at pulling the wool over people's eyes on Tuesday.  "Britain had a worse deficit than Greece," he claimed.  Oh, really?  Yes it was larger - but so is the British economy.  If you earn £10,000 a year and owe £20,000, you're in trouble.  If you earn £900,000 and owe £40,000, that is manageable.  The debt is bigger, but the wherewithal to pay it off is more readily available.  Nice try, Nick, but stop treating voters like idiots.  And while we are at it, do you think Liberal Democrats could actually take a breath while they are being interviewed?  After all, talking over the person asking the questions just makes you look like the 14 year old with his fingers in his ears singing "la,la, not listening...."

Dodgy claims are very fashionable at the moment.  During last week's Prime Minister's Questions, David Cameron claimed that an extra 500,000 jobs had been created in the private sector since the last election.  the true figure is nowhere near that amount.

But finally, came yesterday's rumours that the Government were considering an extra £5 billion stimulus package for the economy.  Initially my hopes were high until I read further.  The money could be spent on  better broadband access and road projects, finite projects which will not see money being recycled.  Where money needs to be spent is in supporting manufacturers, distributors and retailers.  Giving incentives to local co-operatives to compete, allowing Local Authorities to inject cash into businesses and economic projects in their areas.  Concreting over more greenbelt will only have short term benefits and long term hardships.

Of course, the stimulus package is only a rumour.  The hard facts are that the economy is not growing, we are having to borrow more and Plan A is driving the economy into the dust.  Still, we are assured that David Cameron and George Osborne would like to get rid of the 50p tax rate.  Presumably to prove that we are all in this together.