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Are his shadows keeping him on his toes? Here’s a statement that might not meet with universal agreement on the site: in recent weeks, I’ve been rather impressed by Ed Balls’ performance as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. In spite of the fact that Ipsos MORI’s issue tracker shows Education mattering less than at any time since Labour came to power, the Secretary of State has recently secured additional funding from the Treasury for underachieving schools, agreed…

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Would that be a better way to beat the Soup-Dragon? Sad news this week, with the death of children’s animation maestro Oliver Postgate who passed away on Monday. Postgate was the creator of such classics as Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine and Noggin the Nog, but his enduring legacy will be the surreal and innovative world of the Clangers. I cannot take credit for being the first to wonder whether a political article could be crafted from the inspiration of Postgate’s…

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Will Canada’s Conservative PM still be in office next spring? It’s less than eight weeks ago that I (and in contrast to the US election night, probably few fellow Brits) had an “all-nighter” to watch the Canadian election results come through live. With the exceptions of Quebec and Newfoundland, the Conservatives performed strongly, turning three-figure majorities into five-figure ones, while the Liberals had a disastrous night under the hapless Dion and the NDP made progress. But now, although Harper’s Conservatives…

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So where does Greengate go from here? The News of the World is reporting that neither Damian Green nor the Home Office mole will be charged: “…Damian Green and his Home Office mole will NOT be charged in the leak scandal, the News of the World can reveal. Prosecutors say papers seized from Mr Green’s Commons office cannot be used as evidence in a trial. They add that cops FAILED to conduct a proper search in Westminster. The conclusions, in…

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Ipsos MORI Issues Tracker On what issues will the next election be fought? On Tuesday-last, Double Carpet and I attended the Ipsos MORI ‘End of Year Review’ in the CBI Conference facility at Centrepoint in London. Over 300 delegates were in attendance, mostly from public sector organisations who rely on Mori for social research, and we got to meet Julia Clark who frequently comes onto PB.com to answer our questions – I am indebted to her for providing me with…

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Is the aim to muddy the pitch? For those who agreed with Mike’s initial assessment of Greengate, the Labour Party’s response must have seemed a little strange. The ‘points of order’ from the Labour benches following the Speaker’s statement on Wednesday seemed determined to draw partisan distinctions between those who supported the operational independence of the police and the neutrality of the civil service, and those who clearly (in their view)* cared only to assert the rights of Parliament and…

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Following in the footsteps of StJohn’s crossword and Rod Crosby’s UK political quiz, please see below an international quiz which should hopefully get a few heads scratched. I won’t be around to comment on answers as they come through, but will aim to be back on later this evening when I’ll present a full set of results. There are no prizes, but as Peter Snow used to say, “it’s just a bit of fun…” 1. Which book features canine characters…

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