  We discuss major differences between electric and magnetic excitations in
nuclei appearing in self-consistent calculation based on Skyrme energy-density
functionals. Tools of analysis are Landau-Migdal parameters for bulk properties
and RPA for resonance modes of $^{208}$Pb as representative of finite nuclei.
We show that the relation between the effective mass and the effective
particle-hole interaction, well known in the Landau-Migdal theory, explains the
success of self-consistent calculations of electric transitions in such
approaches. This effect, however, does not automatically exist in the magnetic
case. This calls for further developments of the Skyrme functional in the spin
channel.
