29 march 2010, the not so grand finale

Wednesday 31st March 2010

Great piece of journalism bookending the new labour era through a pastiche of gordon brown’s marvellous 1997 independence-for-the-bank-of-england rabbit-out-of-the-hat, which is contrasted sharply to alistair darling’s “whimper” reprise of 2010. This was top drawer, not least for calling an end to an era - whatever the result of the election: tommorow’s labour flavour has a distinctly different tilt. The party’s heartland election strategy mirrors and anticipates this: gambling that although core vote strategies haven’t worked before, these days of low turnout and vote balkanisation might make it different. That may sound cynical: but it's the team with the most points that wins the league, not the one that plays the most beautiful football.