Browsed by
Author: Editor

The Battle of Tewkesbury

The Battle of Tewkesbury

On the 4th May 1471 the Yorkist forces of Edward IV defeated the Lancastrian Army of Edward, Prince of Westminster in one of the most decisive battles of the Wars Of The Roses.   Although slightly outnumbered, the success of the White Rose gang was no great surprise and it is likely winning punters got little better than evens on their wagers.   Shrewd punters on the forthcoming election battle of Tewkesbury on July 4th 2024 may however do slightly better, and…

Read More Read More

Into the Great Wide Yonder

Into the Great Wide Yonder

So for a bit of fun, I decided to look at the Survation MRP polling conducted between 31st May and 13th June. This showed that all but 72 Tory MPs would lose their seats and I wondered what the make up of the Tory party would look like after the election if this prediction came true. Below are listed the 72 MPs who Survation suggest will survive the Great Cull of 2024. They are listed from largest lead to smallest…

Read More Read More

Carthago Delenda Est

Carthago Delenda Est

A General Election is supposed to answer the question of who runs the country, but we already have the answer for July 4th 2024: it will be Labour running the country. From their side, the only outstanding answer required is whether they have a big majority, or a very big majority. Or even a VERY very big majority.From the other side, there are other and more interesting questions: what kind of a result will the Conservatives get? And what will…

Read More Read More

The East Midlands Flipchart?

The East Midlands Flipchart?

Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire are in part a section of the Red Wall. At present we have 22 MPs, 5 in Nottingham and Derby, and the other 17 in County seats. Back in March in the PB comments I suggested that of the 8 County seats in Nottinghamshire, currently all Conservative, 5 to 7 would flip to Labour – possibly excepting Newark (Robert Jenrick) which has a majority of 22k and is no 256 on Labour’s target list according to Election…

Read More Read More

PB Predictions Competition 2024 – update!

PB Predictions Competition 2024 – update!

John William Waterhouse – The Crystal Ball – Wikipedia Public Domain To lighten the mood a little during the long UK General Election campaign I thought I might provide a brief update on the PB Prediction Competition. Firstly, a reminder of the 10 questions that were set, including the answers for those that are settled: 1. The smallest Labour lead with a BPC registered pollster in Q1 2024.  Answer: 11%, More in Common (7–11 Feb).            2. Date of the next…

Read More Read More

London Falling. The Capital and the election

London Falling. The Capital and the election

Stodge gives his analysis on London London is home to 75 of the 650 Constituencies in the forthcoming General Election, an increase of two from 2019. At the last election, Labour “won” London with 48% of the vote, the Conservatives got 32%, the Liberal Democrats 15%, the Greens 3% and the Brexit Party 1.5%. This, however, produced no net change with Labour winning 49 seats (including Putney, their only gain in England from the Conservatives), the Conservatives winning 21 seats…

Read More Read More

A tale of two seats: Maidstone and Macclesfield

A tale of two seats: Maidstone and Macclesfield

Like many on here, I have spent some time sifting the constituency markets looking for value bets. Boundary changes mean that Ordnance Survey’s excellent Election Maps site is required in addition to Wikipedia. I’ve generally stayed away from the Conservative-Labour battlegrounds and focussed on seats where it’s not clear who will be the main challenger to the Conservatives or the SNP. However, I have found two seats that provide interesting case studies for how our politics have realigned in the…

Read More Read More

Solarpunk

Solarpunk

INTRODUCTION What happens if the Greens win? I mean not just win elections, but win comprehensively, so much so that there’s no need for a Green party anymore. What does society look like in this scenario? To answer that question we need to look at Green’s imagined futures. There are many such and include anarcho-primitivism and (rarely) ecofascism, but the most attractive is arguably Solarpunk. So let’s look at that. SOLARPUNK Solarpunk is a literary and artistic movement, not a…

Read More Read More