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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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Is nationalisation really making a comeback? Don Brind doubts it.

Is nationalisation really making a comeback? Don Brind doubts it.

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I’m a bit of a fan of the old Clause Four  of Labour’s constitution drafted by Sidney Webb in 1918. I love that line about securing “for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry”. Pure poetry. And the idea of getting “equitable distribution … upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange,” is a good one. I believe, too, that each industry or service should have “the…

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Local By-Election Review : October 5th 2017

Local By-Election Review : October 5th 2017

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Mash Barn on Adur (UKIP defence) Result: Labour 490 (49% +25% on last time), Conservative 384 (39% +17% on last time), Liberal Democrat 89 (9% -14% on last time), Green Party 31 (3%, no candidate last time) (No UKIP candidate this time -41%) Labour GAIN from UKIP with a majority of 106 (10%) on a swing of 4% from Conservative to Labour Borehamwood, Kenilworth on Hertsmere (Con defence) Result: Labour 383 (38% -9% on last time), Conservative 341 (34% -19%…

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September 2017 and Third Quarter Local By-Election Summary

September 2017 and Third Quarter Local By-Election Summary

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September 2017 Monthly Summary Labour 18,824 votes (36.73% +8.66% on last time) winning 13 seats (+2 seats on last time) Conservatives 14,074 votes (27.46% -4.34% on last time) winning 10 seats (-7 seats on last time) Liberal Democrats 5,041 votes (9.84% +1.53% on last time) winning 3 seats (+1 seat on last time) Green Party 4,420 votes (8.62% +0.31% on last time) winning 2 seats (+2 seats on last time) Scottish National Party 3,345 votes (6.53% +3.23% on last time)…

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Labour joy and Tory gloom

Labour joy and Tory gloom

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Don Brind reflects on the conference season A few weeks ago I was helping a front bencher prepare for a TV appearance and we guessed that one of the questions might be “Do you agree with Laura Pidcock?” She is the newbie MP who declared she wouldn’t hang out with Tory women because she regards them as “enemy”. The more emollient reply we came up with was: “There are some Tories I like. I just don’t want them running the…

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The inter-generational gap: The Pinch and the Punch

The inter-generational gap: The Pinch and the Punch

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  Picture credit – The Resolution Foundation The Pinch David Willetts’ 2011 book ‘The Pinch’ came complete with the provocative subtitle “How the baby boomers took their children’s future – and why they should give it back”. His central charge was that this supersized demographic cohort had managed to concentrate much of the nation’s wealth in their own hands, especially in terms of property ownership and vocational pension entitlements. On top of this, their political power elected governments that ran deficits…

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