Reconfiguring security

The appointment of Gordon Brown as prime minister marks a major and possibly once-off opportunity for the Labour government to reconfigure its approach to security, in a way that promises to be better both for the Party's internal sense of itself and for the safety of the country as a whole. The signs are that such a change is possible, though it will require not only a shift in attitudes at the top but also more open-mindedness about government across civil society as a whole. More on the first of these later, but the second (less often remarked on or noticed) needs attention as well.