Once again, Tony Blair's favourite neo-liberal think tank, the Social Market Foundation (nice double-speak name huh?), is sponsoring a series of fringe discussions at the Labour Party Conference. 'Fringe' is a bit inaccurate, since nearly every one of the discussions is graced by the presence of a Labour cabinet minister! Here are my personal favourites:

* Discussion on Tues 28th Sept, titled "Gambling, regeneration, and social responsibility: can everyone be a winner?", sponsored by casino operator Sun International. Attended by the Minister for Media and Heritage. Nice one lads!

* Discussion on "Can the private sector deliver public good in the NHS?", sponsored by Capio Healthcare Ltd, one of the leading providers of independent hospital services in England. Attended by a Minister of State for Health.

* "Listening to the public: does community consultation improve the planning process?", sponsored by the Mobile Operators Association. Attended by Alun Michael MP, Minister for the Environment (TBC). The MOA is opposing a proposal by a Commons Committee which would require mobile operators to obtain planning permission for all new mobile masts, and would give parents a veto over siting. Hmmmm... I can't guess why they're so keen to discuss planning laws then, can you? (they even sponsored exactly the same talk at last year's conference!)

And, those who "...wish to receive information concerning branding opportunities at this event" have been invited to contact Emma Collings at the Labour Party. Good on yer, Emma! Presumably this means "branding" in the marketing sense, rather than the application of hot irons to livestock?

There's plenty more on this at Disinfopedia, a wiki which tracks the machinations of the PR industry (source for all of the above):
 http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Labour_Party_conference

The Social Market Foundation's programme of discussions for the conference fringe (PDF file) is at
 http://www.smf.co.uk/site/smf/conferences/labour2004.pdf