How are they going to stick it for the next 43 months? There’s a very negative account of the way the coalition is operating by James Forsyth on the Speccie Coffeehouse blog. Listing all the areas where the partners are at odds with each other Forsyth writes: “…we’re now entering a more zero-sum period of the coalition. There’s a growing, and depressing, belief on both sides that the best kind of win is when you get one over on your…
What does the say as we enter conference season? There’s a new ComRes telephone poll just out for tomorrow’s Independent and shows a sharp narrowing of the gap between the two main parties since the last comparable poll at the end of July. The comparisons on the chart are with that survey and not with a more recent ComRes online poll. The broad trend is is in line with what we’ve seen from other firms – an easing of Labour’s…
Would autonomy stop them being seen as the English party? The 2010 general election demonstrated more dramatically than ever before the extent to which Scotland has become a different country politically. While the Conservatives made gain after gain in Wales and England, north of the border not only was there precisely no change in seats but the Conservatives actually went backwards in vote share. The proposal by the contender for the leadership of the Scottish Conservatives, Murdo Fraser MSP, to…
I guess the big story overnight will be the Alastain Darling memoirs – parts of which have been leaked. Also, like every night, this is an open thread for PBers to talk about what they want. There are now prints available of Marf’s spoof of the Edward Hopper classic Nighthawks Café. This is a limited edition, signed by Marf in full colour for £60. If you are interested contact her here. @MikeSmithsonPB
Does the Libyan operation change the terms of debate? Making cuts is always difficult for a government: voters lose out. When cuts are targeted, some groups suffer substantially in relative terms; when they are more or less across the board, everyone ends up with less, or at least less than they thought they’d have. The only real antidote to that difficulty is winning the argument that the cuts are both fair and necessary. Getting that right is hard at the…
Alas I won’t be joining you. I’ve spent most of the day in hospital after an accident in the garden which left me with a nasty head wound. Just to say that the ambulance service was great and so were the A & E staff. At one stage they were going to keep me in but thankfully that wasn’t required. I hate hospitals. What is great when you are sitting around for extended periods is being able to follow the…
PB’s nightly open thread with the excellent illustration by Marf as its symbol is now into its second week and seems to be going well. There are now prints available of Marf’s spoof of the Edward Hopper classic Nighthawks Café. This is a limited edition, signed by Marf in full colour for £60. If you are interested contact her here. Things are just starting to hot up as the new political year beckons. @MikeSmithsonPB
Marf tells me that prints of her spoof of the Edward Hopper classic Nighthawks Café are now available. This is a limited edition, signed by Marf in full colour for £60. The actual size is A4. If you are interested contact her here. Have a good night. @MikeSmithsonPB