Murphy and Milliband

Just back from a Q&A session for party members with Jim Murphy and David Milliband. Once again, i was struck with how impressiv Jim Murphy is: one audience member asked a fierce question about morals, abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research; Milliband grimaced and avoided answering it - Murphy took it on directly, politely and with due regard for the opinions of the questioner.
Milliband was much better than last time I heard him (at a Fabians event in Manchester). His speech was dull, but when he got around to answering questions, his detailed knowledge of his brief and his coherent philosophy marked him out as something special.
He has, however, begun to affect some Blair-like vocal tics and mannerisms and his answer on expenses ("it's a bit of a mess") was not wholly reassuring.
The bizarre thing was that the whole event took place almost in denial of the current furores about e-mails and expenses, as though a parallel universe exists where Labour still have the capacity to win the next election.......