As one Elizabethan era begins I fear another one is about to end. Even ardent republicans like myself know we are unlikely to ever see someone like Queen Elizabeth II again. It is clear something serious is up with her with so many family rushing to Balmoral today. TSE
I was intrigued by Rishi Sunak’s observations on the lockdowns he and Liz Truss helped introduce. My own view that the first lockdown was necessary so the government and NHS were prepared for what was coming and the lockdown from December 2020 onwards was a good idea whilst the world beating vaccine rollout was taking place so I’m not astonished with the 62% of the public saying the lockdowns were worth it. My expectation is that any politician criticising the…
One of the reasons why findings from Ipsos are so well regarded is that their polling series goes back nearly fifty years so we can help contextualise current polling. I am fan of the Issues Index simply because it is asks for unprompted responses from the public, given the way some on the right frottage themselves over wokeism you would expect wokeism to feature pretty high on that list from Ipsos but no. If the Tories focus heavily on wokeism…
America’s in a bad place and democracy is under attack from Trumpian forces in a way American democracy has seen since the concluding days of the presidency of James Buchanan. The relentless optimist in me sees some hope for America, as The Economist notes that America is using ranked choice voting in some states and election, ranked choice voting is what we call the alternative vote, The Economist observes There are few parts of America where the migration of salmon…
With inflation running rampant and Andrew Bailey, a man so inept he pays full price for a DFS sofa, I suspect following his 0.5% increase last month Bailey will be under further pressure to combat the prediction of inflation peaking at 13.3% next year. Tradition and history suggest the optimal way to combat the scourge of inflation is to increase interest rates, with Liz Truss ‘say[ing] she will change the mandate of the BoE to toughen its focus on inflation,…
I have been utterly mesmerised by this polling from YouGov, straws have one big hole, not two and I’m astonished that 46% of the country either disagree or do not know. Look, we all agree that one doughnut has but one doughnut hole, the same principle applies to straws, like Highlander, there can only be one. TSE
My prediction for the popularity of Liz Truss and her government is closely tied to the where the price cap ends up this winter. If Truss sticks to her rhetoric of no handouts then there’s no floor to the government’s unpopularity. With Vladimir Putin set to punish the West for standing up against his war of aggression against Ukraine by messing about with Europe’s energy supply I’d expect the price cap to go well north of £5,000 and willing to…
I can see why Smarkets have put this market up, I can see why people might want to back either side. On the Yes side I can see a by election being triggered by Boris Johnson wanting to earn millions outside the glare of parliament and the register of members’ financial interests, wanting an elegant way of doing a chicken run to a safer seat, or scandal. I said at the time if Boris Johnson hadn’t already announced his resignation…