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Month: December 2013

What we can learn from Nelson Mandela

What we can learn from Nelson Mandela

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QUOTESERNESTHEMINGWAY Henry G Manson gives his views The passing of Nelson Mandela gives cause to reflect on his life, struggles and achievements. His gigantic life is something so many have drawn from, particularly following his release from imprisonment 23 years ago. It’s the character of the man is what gave him his worldwide authority. It’s should give cause to pause for a moment and consider how we might better serve our country and each other through the political lessons Mandela…

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Bookending the 20th Century: South Africa’s gifts to Humanity

Bookending the 20th Century: South Africa’s gifts to Humanity

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pic.twitter.com/6Ua7E8MkUS — PolPics (@PolPics) December 6, 2013 In ancient Rome, the passing of great leaders would be marked by their elevation to the status of gods.  While religion has moved on, the death of Nelson Mandela will no doubt see an equivalent secular process – and rightly so.  In captivity, his name motivated a movement; in office, it symbolised unity; in retirement, it became iconic; in death, the transformation to legendary status will become complete. Few men, and fewer women,…

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Local By-Elections Preview: December 5th 2013

Local By-Elections Preview: December 5th 2013

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Riverside (Lab Defence) and Splott (Lab Defence) on Cardiff Result of last election (2012): Lab 46, Lib Dem 16, Con 7, Ind 3, Plaid 2, Heath Independents 1 (Labour overall majority of 17) Result of ward at last election (2012): Emboldened denotes Elected Riverside: Labour 1,731, 1,555, 1,431 (48%) Plaid Cymru 1,153, 944, 940 (31%) Greens 294, 272, 189 (8%) Conservatives 286, 276, 263 (8%) Liberal Democrats 142, 129, 122 (4%) Trade Unionists and Socialists 99 (1%) Candidates duly nominated:…

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Labour cannot go into GE2015 with Balls still shadow chancellor

Labour cannot go into GE2015 with Balls still shadow chancellor

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Chris Leslie – Shadow Treasury Secretary pic.twitter.com/r5BkbT7KXm — PolPics (@PolPics) December 5, 2013 Could shadow treasury sec Chris Leslie be the answer? For me the striking feature of today’s autumn statement was how poorly Ed Balls performed. Yes he had to face a massive barrage of noise from the other side but his really poor communication skills were shown up. He’s just far too agressive and talks to fast. I know he’s got a stammer but he’s appalling diction –…

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If Osborne gets this right today could be the game-changer that gives the Tories hope again

If Osborne gets this right today could be the game-changer that gives the Tories hope again

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pic.twitter.com/JgiJ5y5kP1 — PolPics (@PolPics) December 5, 2013 Or it could just go plop and not make an impact We all remember that speech by Osborne at the October 2007 Tory conference that arguably changed the whole narrative and stopped Gordon Brown from going ahead with an autumn general election. In it Osborne, then shadow chancellor, called for a big easing of the inheritance tax rules which seemed to chime with the voters. It forced the then LAB chancellor, Alistair Darling,…

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Nighthawks is now open

Nighthawks is now open

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Home of the web’s best political conversation If you’re going to be up All Day and All of the Night, why not relax, and converse into the night on the day’s events in PB NightHawks. To you lurkers, why not delurk? If you delurk, Ev’rybody’s Gonna Be Happy that you’ve delurked. The round up of recent events (click on the links below, and it will bring up the relevant link) The Liberal Democrats have accused Michael Gove’s department of “lying” and…

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An amazing statistic from the Survation Dudley North poll

An amazing statistic from the Survation Dudley North poll

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None of the 2010 LD voters in the Survation Dudley N poll said they'd be backing party at GE2015. They're now "don't know" or LAB backers — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) December 4, 2013 Admittedly the sub-set of 2010 LDs, at just 11 responses, was very small but you’d expect one or two to still be loyal to the yellows. In fact the data records zero. That’s something I’ve never seen before for any party. It does support the view that…

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The drip feed of the marginals polling could lead to more of the CON intake of 2010 deciding to call it a day

The drip feed of the marginals polling could lead to more of the CON intake of 2010 deciding to call it a day

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How many will follow the Laura Sandys route? We’ll have to wait until the early hours of May 8th 2015 before we can start to say for sure whether the Ashcroft marginals polling or the Alan Bown funded Survation polls are in anyway accurate but they could have a more immediate impact – on the decisions of many in the Conservative “class of 2010“ on whether to continue in politics. For a consequence of the marginals and single constituency polling…

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