Did the Labour party have a good week?

A common commentary at the end of this week, is that not much changed at the Labour party conference, but that the troops have been slightly re-energised which means it's not as bad as it was before.

I could agree with that partly. There weren't the splits of the year before and it was subdued but good natured.

I think though that the Labour party is in a worse position now than before. It was their last opportunity to explain a new vision for the country, and it takes time to bed an idea in the public's collective head - a new idea will need longer than an official general election campaign.

They repeatedly said "change", but the scatter-gun of policies announced by the Prime Minister and others were more of the same. There was no new vision and no change of direction. The run up to the general election campaign will now resume from the point before the conference season.

It's an opportunity lost. There's only the pre-budget report and budget to change the narrative.

Squiffy.