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Month: May 2011

New Jobs All Round?

New Jobs All Round?

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Who will fill the coming vacancies? News stories this week suggest that there are two upcoming vacancies for the underemployed global statesman: Managing Director of the IMF and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Dominique Strauss-Kahn is facing serious accusations of sexual assault in New York, making likely his departure from the IMF as likely as if he had filed for the Socialist candidacy for the French Presidency. Baroness Ashton, on the other hand, is merely suffering…

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Is it “au revoir” for DSK?

Is it “au revoir” for DSK?

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Wall Street Journal The 2012 présidentielles are thrown into disarray The news that IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been charged with the rape of a hotel chambermaid in New York has sent shockwaves through both international and French politics. The situation worsened yesterday for him after he was held without bail in Rikers Island prison. The immediate impact is on the IMF, as he was due to attend key meetings in Europe concerning the Portuguese bailout as well as the…

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What if Labour can no longer rely on its Scottish bonus?

What if Labour can no longer rely on its Scottish bonus?

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Did Miliband’s majority hopes get smashed on May 5th? I’m sure that most Pbers are aware that the way Britain’s electoral system works out means that Labour can secure a majority with a much smaller national vote share and lead than the Tories. Thus in May 2010 the blues were twenty seats short of an overall majority even though their national vote share was higher than Labour’s five years earlier and their margin was double what Blair’s party had had…

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Will Labour’s tribalism see Ed Home?

Will Labour’s tribalism see Ed Home?

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Does it matter what supporters think of Miliband? I’m must ploughing through the hundreds of pages from Michael Ashcroft’s massive polling project for the Tories which tries to work out how the blues can win a majority. You can get the full details of the various segments here. I was quite struck by this finding: “Ed Miliband was a very much less important factor for Labour voters than David Cameron was for Conservative voters. Of those who thought Labour were…

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Where does the Huhne story go from here?

Where does the Huhne story go from here?

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BBC News And Cameron backs his energy secretary The Lib Dem energy secretary, Chris Huhne, has done a BBC interview in which he states categorically that the allegations he asked someone else to take his penalty points for a 2003 speeding offence are “simply incorrect”. No doubt there’ll be a lot of reading between the lines of his statement but it’s hard to see where the story goes from here without any evidence. Ladbrokes report that the money this morning…

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Huhne – the latest betting

Huhne – the latest betting

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Will he go or will he stay? The Huhne speeding points allegation story is the main lead in the Telegraph and Mail this morning as well as getting a lot of coverage elsewhere. There’s also a lively betting market from Ladbrokes developing on whether the Energy Secretary will survive as a cabinet minister beyond the end of May. Currently it’s 4/7 that he will hang on with 5/4 that he won’t. Ladbrokes also have the best price, 1/2, on Huhne…

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Tories take 2pc lead amongst 2010 general election voters

Tories take 2pc lead amongst 2010 general election voters

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A closer look at the latest ComRes online survey for the Indy on Sunday and Sunday Mirror suggests that Cameron’s Tories are now enjoying a lead amongst those who could be arsed to vote at the 2010 general election. The pollster is the only firm to make this data available and I highlight the proportion of non-2010 voters amongst those now saying that they will vote for the five parties. As can be seen the blues are doing best with…

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