Interesting column by Martin Kettle…

If you live cocooned and, dare one say it, comfortable on Planet Guardian, then maybe you have not yet fully reflected on why this week’s Daily Mail’s campaign to Banish the Bags has been both so brilliantly effective, orchestrating the endorsements of Marks & Spencer and the prime minister within its first 48 hours, and also so politically interesting. But you should. It’s important.

The Daily Mail did not invent the issue of plastic bag pollution. Paul Dacre’s newspaper is a Johnny-come-lately to a long-established environmental cause. It is 20 years since Labour’s Chris Smith first raised the issue in the House of Commons and six since Ireland and Bangladesh caught the world’s attention by slapping a tax on them. You can find hundreds of speeches by ministers saying something must be done. But until the Mail’s campaign ministers were still – there is no other word for it – dithering.

Once the Mail went into action the outcome was settled. Ten pages on Wednesday, seven more on Thursday, another four on Friday and the job was done. The Banish the Bags campaign was well planned, well focused, well judged, well timed and was executed on a scale and with a ruthlessness that would have impressed Bismarck. M&S was lined up in advance to create a second-day wave with its 5p-per-bag charge announcement. Even Prince Harry could not shove the campaign off the front page yesterday, as Gordon Brown, who now recycles his garden waste instead of his policy announcements, pledged that the government would “step in and act”…

Hmmm…. He’s right about the amazing inability of the current government to assign meaningful priorities and get on with what’s important. But then one remembers that Mussolini got the trains to run on time…