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Tonight’s Local By-Election Preview with ten separate contests

Tonight’s Local By-Election Preview with ten separate contests

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Carnforth and Millhead (Con defence) on Lancaster Result of council at last election (2015): Labour 29, Conservatives 19, Green Party 9, Independents 3 (No Overall Control, Labour short by 2) Result of ward at last election (2015): Emboldened denotes elected Conservatives 1,405, 1,238, 1,184 (48%) Labour 1,027, 981, 921 (35%) Green Party 495 (17%) Candidates duly nominated: George Askew (Con), Christopher Coats (Green), Phillip Dunster (Lib Dem), Paul Gardner (Lab), Michelle Ogden (UKIP) Morecambe and Lunesdale was a key Labour…

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Leader of the Opposition is the toughest job in British politics. If Jeremy didn’t know it before, he knows it now.

Leader of the Opposition is the toughest job in British politics. If Jeremy didn’t know it before, he knows it now.

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From a LAB perspective: Donald Brind’s weekly column The Bishop of Chichester George Bell was celebrated in a BBC Radio Great Lives programme a couple of years ago for a wartime speech in the House of Lords condemning the bombing of German civilians. Bell was no pacifist but he argued that “ to justify methods inhumane in themselves by arguments of expediency smacks of the Nazi philosophy that Might is Right.“ The speech was made in February 1944, months before Allied boots…

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The return of Marf and tonight’s local by-election review by Harry Hayfield

The return of Marf and tonight’s local by-election review by Harry Hayfield

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Welcome back Marf Watton (UKIP defence) and South Smallburgh (Lib Dem defence) on Norfolk Result of council at last election (2013): Conservative 40, United Kingdom Independence Party 15, Labour 14, Liberal Democrats 10, Green Party 4, Independent 1 (No Overall Control, Conservatives short by 3) Result of ward at last election (2013): Watton: United Kingdom Independence Party 808 (34%), Conservative 662 (27%), Independent 569 (24%), Labour 270 (11%), Green Party 102 (4%) Candidates duly nominated: Timothy Birt (Green), Claire Bowes…

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Time to face facts: The ‘War on Terror’ is here to stay and we need to take it seriously

Time to face facts: The ‘War on Terror’ is here to stay and we need to take it seriously

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Paris is in lockdown: museums, schools, Eiffel Tower closed. More on our live blog: https://t.co/VeAl0Lkz9Z pic.twitter.com/QsZYotOa8q — Financial Times (@FT) November 14, 2015 Friday’s attacks on Paris show that the terror threat remains. It’s time to fight back with every means at our disposal and take the fight to ISIS writes Keiran Pedley. But do we have the stomach for it? I thought quite hard before writing this piece. I wasn’t sure whether or not it was too soon. To…

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Donald Brind wonders whether Mr. Corbyn really wants to be PM

Donald Brind wonders whether Mr. Corbyn really wants to be PM

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An opposition leader’s primary objective should be Number 10 I was rather excited by the recent launch of BBC Store which opens up, for sale and download, a treasure trove programmes dating back to the fifties. My first foray was, however, unsuccessful. I got the message  “Unfortunately, your search didn’t return any results. The title may not be on BBC Store yet. However, we are adding more programmes every day, so please check back soon.” I certainly will. What I was…

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Harry Hayfield’s Local By-Election Preview with 2 LAB defences, a Plaid one and an Indy one

Harry Hayfield’s Local By-Election Preview with 2 LAB defences, a Plaid one and an Indy one

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Ogmore Vale on Bridgend (Ind defence) Result of council at last election (2012): Labour 39, Independents 10, Liberal Democrats 3, Conservatives 1, Plaid Cymru 1 (Labour majority of 24) Result of ward at last election (2012): Independent 505 (55%), Labour 414 (45%) Candidates duly nominated: Dhanisha Patel (Lab), Sally Hyde (UKIP), Ralph Shepherd (Ind), Tim Thomas (Plaid), Jamie Wallis (Con) The ward of Ogmore Vale may only have been a recent construct, but it’s electoral history goes right back to…

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Local By-Election Results : November 5th 2015

Local By-Election Results : November 5th 2015

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Huntly, Strathbogie and the Howe of Alford on Aberdeenshire (SNP and Lib Dem defence) Result: Conservative 1,469 (36% +9%), Scottish National Party 1,433 (35% unchanged), Liberal Democrats 928 (23% +5%), Labour 196 (5%, no candidate in 2012), Scottish Libertarians 20 (0%, no candidate in 2012) No candidate elected on first preferences. Scottish National Party elected (HOLD) and Conservative Party elected (GAIN) Clifton with Maidenway on Torbay (Lib Dem defence) Result: Liberal Democrat 1,096 (69% +39%), Conservative 234 (15% -14%), United…

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Reality check for Osborne’s ambitions

Reality check for Osborne’s ambitions

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The Donald Brind Friday Column Can it really be only a month since the Chancellor George Osborne was swaggering around Manchester stealing Labour policy clothes and putting himself at the head of the queue to be next Tory leader? A Telegraph sketch of his Tory conference speech recounted – tongue in cheek — Osborne’s journey from “omnishambles to omnipotence” Today, says the Economist, Osborne is “in a bind” over how to deal with tax credits. Rumbled by think tanks like…

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