For the first time in 13 years Labour finds itself adjusting to the problems and challenges of opposition – and they are real. It’s not just the chauffer driven cars and private office officials that have disappeared. More important – and much harder to overcome – is the lack of easy access to information and data, no longer having an automatic slot on prime time news and, for a while at least, still trying to argue from the policy platform on which they lost the election.

And, of course, not yet having a new leader to provide direction and purpose adds to the problem. These things will sort themselves out in time, but for a while Labour will continue to struggle. (more…)