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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
I am an adoptive father, twice over. Like all adopters, I have been mandated/encouraged/enabled to undertake a range of training and education on how the minds of children develop and work, and how trauma and neglect can affect that. Many adopters say lightheartedly that we are lucky, because all parents should have access to what we learn. A lightbulb moment for me was encountering the concept of the different mindsets of guilt and shame. I feel strongly that understanding this…
As we reach the final week of campaigning before the local elections next Thursday, time for a final look at some of the barometer councils where the results may not only set the immediate media tone but give a pointer as to the state of public opinion with an election within the next nine months. I’ve chosen eight councils currently controlled by the Conservatives but there are all-up elections this year due to boundary changes add a level of interest….
INTRODUCTION Social issues in the United Kingdom are often done with one side or the other claiming to be on the “right side of history”. But their knowledge of history is usually lacking. So the question was: what does history actually teach us about the resolution of social issues? The history of gambling has much to inform us on this. Let me explain. 1000-1845: THE RICH AND POOR COLLIDE Throughout the second millennium gambling was divided by class and moderated…