It's that time of year again: our top politicos are on their summer hols, and if they are not upsetting sensibilities by daring to go without socks, they are attracting abuse for their summer reading lists. The latest to allow himself to be photographed – did nobody warn him? – laden with hardbacks is Ed Miliband, snapped carrying no fewer than 10 books, plus an iPad loaded with Lord knows what, outside his house. Sadly, only four of the titles are legible. But that's more than enough for a bit of fun.
Leadership on the Line, for example, by Harvard professors Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, gives expert tips on team management, keeping your emotions in check, and dealing effectively with opposition, because "leading is dangerous, risky work" (surely Ed knows that already?). Also in the stack are Fault Lines by Raghuram Rajan, which points to the wealth gap between big earners and the rest as the first cause of the world financial crisis; Tim Jackson's Prosperity Without Growth, which argues that growth isn't always good (given the latest UK indicators, not a bad case to be able to make); and The Last Campaign by Thurston Clarke, about Bobby Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign (another man with a powerful political brother, don't you know).
Worthy choices all, say we. But doesn't the self-confessed "not very bookish" Labour leader deserve a bit of a break from the brainwork? Couldn't he use his hard-earned vacation to learn from a bit of literature? After all, when Michael Foot remarked, "Men of power have not time to read; yet men who do not read are unfit for power", he surely wasn't referring only to daunting economic and political tomes?
In Ed's place, we'd suggest The Brothers Karamazov as a good start on managing familial relations. Anything by Orwell would do no harm, socialism-wise. And on surviving in politics, by means fair or foul, Le Morte d'Arthur pretty much says all that needs to be said. Enjoy, Ed! Enjoy.
