(Flag of Syria under French Mandate – From Wikimedia Commons) Imperial echoes in the Middle East Much of the debate surrounding potential military action in Syria has focussed on two aspects: what effect would such action have, and would it be lawful as things stand. In a sense, the two are linked in an unusual way. The normal reasons for intervening militarily are for one government to force a change of policy upon another, or to impose a settlement on…
Kimberly Walsh from last year’s final Tomorrow sees the eleventh series of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing begin. Here’s a list of the line up of this year’s Strictly. The people I will be backing this year are the following Natalie Gumede  @ 4/1 Sophie Ellis-Bextor @ 8/1 Ben Cohen @ 10/1 Rachel Riley @ 11/2 Here’s why. Natalie Gumede Natalie Gumede was installed as the favourite for Strictly, because she has some training as a dancer in the past, the…
There has been another finding released by Panelbase from their poll commissioned by the SNP. The findings is that if the 2015 general election would result in another Tory-led or Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition Government at Westminster,  41% said they are “very likely” to vote Yes and 9% “quite likely”. If they felt the next general election would result in a Labour-led Government at Westminster, 37% said they are “very likely” with another 10% “quite likely” to vote Yes. Whilst the…
Friday's Independent – "Labour says taxpayers may have to pay more for political parties" #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Y76Gg8yWhB — Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) September 5, 2013 There has been some alarm this week at the GMB’s early decision to reduce the money they give to Labour by £1M next year in response to Ed Miliband’s proposed changes. Ian Lavery MP is Chair of Labour’s parliamentary group of trade union MPs and has warned “I know other unions will be considering this move, and losing…
Fenside on Boston (Eng Dem Defence) Last Local Election (2011): Con 19, Others 10, Lab 3 (Con overall majority of 6) Last Election in ward (Emboldened denotes elected) English Democrats 231, 195 Boston Independents 182, 176 Labour 162, 159 Liberal Democrats 68, 51 Boston in Lincolnshire (part of the Boston and Skegness constituency) seems on the surface to be a perfectly normal Conservative heartland and back at the 2003 local elections it was (Con 12, Lab 11, Lib Dem…
Following on from the National Audit Office’s publication of the  report into Universal Credit, we saw this Iain Duncan Smith cut from 16/1 to 8/1 to be Next Cabinet Minister out. http://t.co/BjfT8LIPF6 — Ladbrokes Politics (@LadPolitics) September 5, 2013 I’ve been on longer odds on IDS, so I think the value has gone in this, however long standing and outstanding PB contributor, Peter from Putney suggested this bet earlier on today, which I think is a very good option, as…
Ipsos Mori's party dislike ratings pic.twitter.com/yqUk9vZFES — TSEofPB (@TSEofPB) September 5, 2013 The Ipsos-Mori polling on which party is the most disliked, the Tories are the most disliked and Labour the least disliked. Now if we examine why ICM have earned the title of as the gold standard of polling, one of the main reasons is their spiral of silence of adjustment. To understand the spiral of silence adjustment here’s a brief outline, The “spiral of silence†came from an…
And can Ed stop them? MIRROR: Ed's £9m in the red #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/YwkjyXqqxK — Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) September 4, 2013 In the past week, whilst it has felt that there’s nothing happening in British politics other than Syria, yesterday saw a story that may have a crucial impact on the 2015 general election. The news was The 65-strong GMB executive announced on Wednesday that it would cut the number of its members affiliated to Labour from 420,000 to 50,000…