The next year is going to be very interesting indeed.

It's not so much the Unions which are potentially important now, as their membership.

I've been saying on Labour List for some time - Unions - the Big Society is You - that the 'Big Society' represents the greatest opportunity for Labour and the Unions in 100 years.

I read a good line the other day to the effect that the 19th century was the century of Liberty; the 20th century that of equality; and that the 21st century will be the century of Fraternity - to which I would add Solidarity and Equity.

Every day that goes by confirms my (no doubt utopian) view that the networked, decentralised and collaborative society now emerging will be defined by Fraternity.

Ed Miliband may just have sufficient flexibility of mind to grok this and develop it.

The starting point for policy should be to address the deficit by cutting 'unproductive' financing costs, rather than the productive people in the public and private sectors who genuinely create value rather than extract it.

I'm making a presentation next month re a 'debt/equity swap' to the top 25 UK housing associations. To refinance existing debt with quasi-equity in 'Rental Pools' would release literally billions of £ in funding, simply by stripping out debt repayments and compound interest.

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson