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Letter to Laura. Does Momentum want to help Jeremy control the party or run the country?

Letter to Laura. Does Momentum want to help Jeremy control the party or run the country?

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“When are we going to convert you?” I was frankly rather flattered to be asked that question by Laura Parker, then political secretary to Jeremy Corbyn and now national director of Momentum. Her question was whether, in effect, I had abandoned my Corbo-scepticism following the General Election in which her boss had led Labour to a better than expected result. I pointed her to my PB verdict on that result. I said I was wrong – and right — about Jeremy:…

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Richard Nabavi says EU leaders should remember European history

Richard Nabavi says EU leaders should remember European history

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Excessive reparations aren’t a good idea Angela Merkel might not, just at the moment, be giving Brexit her full attention, given the difficulty of converting the results of Germany’s September election into a viable coalition government. Nonetheless, Brexit is a big problem for her and for the other EU27 leaders, and one which cannot simply be ignored. European, and especially German, history has important lessons which they should heed. In 1806, Frederick William III of Prussia went to war against…

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Local By-Election Review : November 17th 2017

Local By-Election Review : November 17th 2017

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Kirkley on Waveney (Lab defence) Result: Con 217 (28% +7% on last time), Lab 374 (48% +12% on last time), Lib Dem 84 (11% no candidate last time), UKIP 78 (10% -10% on last time), Green 30 (4% -5% on last time) (No Independent candidate this time -15%) Labour HOLD with a majority of 157 (20%) on a swing of 2.5% from Con to Lab St. Margaret’s on Waveney (Lab defence) Result: Con 487 (42% +12% on last time), Lab…

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Local By-Election Review : November 9th 2017

Local By-Election Review : November 9th 2017

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Limestone Peak on High Peak (Con defence) Result: Con 261 (54% +4% on last time), Lab 133 (27% unchanged on last time), Lib Dem 58 (12% no candidate last time), Green 34 (7% no candidate last time) (No UKIP candidate this time -23%) Conservative HOLD with a majority of 128 (27%) on a swing of 2% from Labour to Conservative Buckley, Bistre West on Flintshire (Lab defence) Result: Con 59 (8% no candidate last time), Lab 398 (54% +5% on…

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Westminster watershed. The sex abuse scandal could lead to far reaching change.

Westminster watershed. The sex abuse scandal could lead to far reaching change.

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Don Brind, who first began working at the Palace of Westminster in the 1970s and is still there gives his perspective When I first heard rumours of media naming and shaming it looked as though this would be Labour story. A lobbyist friend named a couple of Labour MPs who were said to be “lawyering up”. In the event it has been allegations about top Tories that have made the running. The most serious allegation, however, has been Bex Bailey’s…

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Bad for the Tories – good for the LDs: This week’s Local By-Elections

Bad for the Tories – good for the LDs: This week’s Local By-Elections

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Aldwick West on Arun (Con defence) Result: Con 480 (35% -17% on last time), Lab 112 (8%, no candidate last time), Lib Dem 719 (53% +35% on last time), Green 54 (4%, no candidate last time) (No UKIP candidate this time -30%) Liberal Democrat GAIN from Conservative with a majority of 239 (18%) on a swing of 26% from Con to Lib Dem Beaconsfield on Buckinghamshire (Con defence) Result: Con 1,298 (81% +11% on last time), Lib Dem 299 (19%…

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Facts and fantasies about public ownership. Don Brind looks at the evidence from abroad

Facts and fantasies about public ownership. Don Brind looks at the evidence from abroad

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Did you Know? • “In Singapore 20% of GDP comes from state owned enterprises, 90% of land is state owned and 85% of housing is public.” • “48 million Americans, in over 2000 cities and districts, get their electricity from the public sector, at a price on average 12% lower than the price charged by private energy companies.” So, it seems, it’s not just Venezuela that inspires those “Marxists” Corbyn and McDonnell in their ambition to use public ownership as…

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Local By-Election Results : October 12th 2017

Local By-Election Results : October 12th 2017

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Inverurie and District on Aberdeenshire (Con defence) Result of first preference votes: Conservative 1,672 (49% +13% on last time), Scottish National Party 1,146 (33% +5% on last time), Liberal Democrat 295 (9% -3% on last time), Labour 276 (8% +4% on last time), Green Party 56 (2%, no candidate last time) (No Independent candidate this time -20%) Conservative lead of 526 (16%) on a swing of 4% from SNP to Con Conservative HOLD elected on the fourth count Rossal on…

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