Defeat threatened on terror limits and John Rentoul says “it’s all over” On what must be the first “conventional” front page in a long time the Independent, the normally left-leaning paper, reports a ComRes survey of Labour MPs which suggests that the government is heading for a commons defeat if it presses ahead with plans to extend the limit on detention without trial to 42 days The survey found at least 38 Labour MPs would rebel against – four more…
When David Steel played the toupee card Lots has been written about the nastiness of this year’s battle for the Lib Dem leadership. Certainly the “Calamity Clegg” revelation appears to have been a pivotal moment. But was it as dirty as when David Steel beat John Pardoe for the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1976? In that battle it was thought that Pardoe was the choice of party activists while Steel had the “establishment” and the “armchair members” on…
Keeping you entertained throughout the holiday Thanks to Rod Crosby for all he did yesterday providing the constant stream of political trivia questions which kept us amused on Christmas Day. This worked brilliantly – there were 275 comments which compares with the paltry 16 contributions that the site got on Xmas Day 2006. For Boxing Day we have StJohn’s PB Cross-word. I have no idea how hard this is going to and I think that keen cross-word experts are going…
..best wishes for the New Year There was going to be a cross-word this Christmas Day which has been produced by StJohn – one of our most regular contributors. Alas I have found it impossible to format it for the site and this will have to wait. This is our fourth Christmas since the site was started and can I thank all who have made it possible. These include my son Robert and his wife Lucille for the technical infrastructure…
Leading New Hampshire paper says “No” to Romney Given the overwhelming requirement for GOP second favourite, Mitt Romney, to get a good result in New Hampshire on January 8th the view of one of the state’s leading newspapers has to be taken seriously. In an editorial on Romney the Concord Monitor declares: “When New Hampshire partisans are asked to defend the state’s first-in-the-nation primary, we talk about our ability to see the candidates up close, ask tough questions and see…
But why has the Indy been sitting on the survey for a week? What is almost certainly the final poll of 2007, ComRes for the Independent, is published this morning and the most surprising element is that the field-work took place during the weekend before last and so pre-dates the latest YouGov and ICM surveys. Quite why the paper has been holding on to this for so long is not clear but it does mean that the poll takes no…
Is Romney “stretching the truth”? With just a week and a half to go before real voters have their chance to have their say on who should be the candidates in the 2008 White House Race there’s an enormous amount of fabulous material that gives a real flavour of the race and is unlike almost anything that we experience here. So as the build up continues I plan to do a daily round-up of some of the articles and videos…
Andy Cooke challenges the received wisdom One of the most widely held items of received wisdom is “The opinion polls always swing back towards the Government as the Election approaches”. That mid-term blues will always overemphasise an Opposition’s performance in the polls and these will wear off as the Parliament winds down towards the next election. Received wisdom can well be right – there is always a reason somewhere along the line that any given fact ends up as received…