Same old....?

Ed Miliband's statement that "I'm not Tony Blair" elicited a few boos from his audience at the Labour Party Conference.  It was not clear - to me at least - as to whether the boos were directed at the name of the former leader, or at the fact that Miliband was distancing himself from Blair and what he stood for.  Certainly difficult to believe that they would boo the most electorally successful leader of their party of all time.  Miliband's speech was rather depressingly predicable, I thought.  Great emphasis on equality.  Now equality of opportunity is one thing, but the uncomfortable fact is that we need the rich - because while they're making money for themselves, they are also making money - or at the very least creating the potential for making money - for everybody else. A system which strives to produce a situation where everybody is materially equal just doesn't work.  It's been tried before and failed.  It was called communism.