oh for gods' sake.
There is nothing wrong with taking child benefit away from those families who could do without it.
If this process starts with the middle classes and it takes a while for it to hit the Rich, so be it. I'm sure the Rich, who thought of it, are having great difficulties coping with how much closer that prospective shark attack on them is now anyway. This country never really had a 'universal' anything. It was always divided socially and class-wise, no matter if things like child benefit were paid across all levels. At least taking this small step towards making child benefit something which should, primarily, be there for the poor is within the realms of common sense, finally. Make the middle classes pay for their own offspring. They're hardly starving. If they'd only shut up and set a good example by not moaning about it then maybe one day we might even be able to persuade the Rich to give up their benefit payments, as well, eventually. I mean, in reality that's, of course a 'Pigs might fly' scenario still but hey.. blind hope has always been a supremely British virtue.

I think this is a double bluff. They are hoping that Miliband refrains from standing up for the well off, giving them a green light to cut other univeral benefits for the well off.

Ed Miliband should speak up and make sure he speaks loudly. He should attack the Child Benefit change with vigour by pointing out that if it is aimed at the well off, it should be aimed at the household income rather than the high tax rate of an individual. Keeping quiet on this one is not good enough Ed, It's the perfect opportunity to force Cameron to do a U turn and show how they've miscalculated this one, it's no good having a silent leader. Ed to the tannoy now! We need a leader to be bold, not timid, this isn't good enough.

I disagree Caroline why step in when all that would be achieved is Osborne's new critics being forced back back into tribal positions.Ed is smart and is keeping his powder dry ready to blow Cameron's head off with a blunderbuss at PM's Q's

Why does Ed need to wade into battle when he can allow Yvette Cooper do it for him; as an added bonus she raises her profile in readiness to become shadow chancellor.

Journalists often demand that politicians should dance to their tune. Ed Miliband shouldn't just react to every statement: the current Shadow Cabinet can do that. In the meantime, EM has about 13 days between the election of the new Shadow Cabinet and the Spending Review. He has bigger fish to fry.

Experience shows that once a benefit has been taken away, its rarely re- instated because people have adjusted to the situation. Ed and Labour cannot promise that it will be reintroduced in 2015 for higher earners. Closer examination will show that those affected will look at tax avoidance measures and perks to stay below a the £44K threshold in order to compensate.

leave it for now Ed, they,re making a 'pigs arse' of it anyway. I sense 'the people' are wising up to the toffs. I just caught ken clarke at the conference, what a rediculous, upper-class fart he is, I could hardly understand a word because he's so posh! They are all upper-class twits and will hopefully put ordinary voters off.

I'm more inclined towards universality with a concurrent reduction of high wages to a maximum of £100,000 per annum

well he came out fighting now an excellent start I thought.