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Populists don't invent grievances. They may exploit them, but the grievances are usually real.

And therefore, you're going to deal with it, whether it's stagnant wages or issues to do with anxiety over cultural change and so for the

progressive side of politics you know how did we win well first of all we were

always there in what I will call the common-sense position on things like

culture but secondly we had a a strong desire to make change that was radical

but also sensible. This is Tony Blair speaking in California, not directly about the Labour

Government of Kirstana, but about progressive governments everywhere in the world.

And the problem they have in finding a message that can enthuse voters today when there seems to be so much anger and cynicism about politics in general.

He might not have been speaking to Kirstama, but he was certainly speaking about Kirstama. Right now, Labour is having

what feels like a wobble. They don't know whether to shun reform, to embrace reform, on which

policies they might have to change to do so. Welcome to the newsagents.

The Newsagents. It's John's john it's emily it's lewis and after the kind of shalacking i think is the obama phrase that labor got at the local council

elections the questions have followed what do we do now and over the course of the weekend, and today in The Guardian, the question was raised about whether it is time to reverse course on the winter fuel allowance cut, which has proved so unpopular up and down the country, and has led to a lot of very prominent labour figures saying, this is the wrong

policy we need to change course. Yeah, and today we've had confirmation. Kirstama

spokesman ruling out any U-turn on the government's deeply unpopular winter fuel payment cuts

despite that widespread anger. And I guess it speaks to a bigger question,

doesn't it, which is whether the government has to hear this anger and say, trust us, we've got it,

we know what we're doing, we're going to follow through on this, or whether they hear this anger and say,

okay, we're listening, what can we do to reverse it? And I think they're actually caught between

both those positions right now. Over the weekend, you know, I was speaking to people as I'm sure

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