Could we get another poll tonight? I’m just off out for a few hours and we need a new thread. There is a possibility that we might see one or two polls this evening. I know that Ipsos-MORI was carrying out fieldwork during the weekend and the Guardian’s ICM survey usually comes out on this Monday each month. Meanwhile the argument over the Lockerbie release continues and Gordon Brown has invited the victorious England cricket team to Number 10. I…
Conservatives 41%(-1) Labour 24%(nc) Lib Dems 18% (nc) Labour’s still in the mid-20s as the months are tick by The first ComRes poll in nearly a month is just out for tomorrow’s Indy on Sunday and follows the pattern of the other surveys this month in showing very little change in headline voting intentions. Here the one point drop by the Tories is well within the margin of error and is hardly significant. What will make the headlines tomorrow morning…
Is the climate after “expenses-gate” starting to change? Two separate developments over Julie Kirkbride – the Tory MP for Bromsgrove, and married to Andrew MacKay, MP for Bracknell who were featured in the expenses exposes. He, formerly a close advisor to David Cameron, has announced that he would be stepping down at the next election. But Julie did not go as quickly, or seemingly as willingly, but she did eventually announce her decision to join her husband in retirement, effective…
Is the mainstream media trying to hit back? Suddenly I’m getting calls from all over the place from journalists and academics who are looking at blogging. Maybe it’s because of the harsh economic climate in which the press is now having to operate but there certainly seems to be an effort to disparage this part of the new media and I just worry about possible moves to impede us. Even that weighty publication, the Financial Times has tried to put…
How much threat is Darling’s position under? Since the Summer reshuffle when Alistair Darling apparently successfully fought off an attempt to remove him from the Treasury, speculation about his future has died down. Despite that, the odds on the next Chancellor being from the Labour party remain significantly shorter than Labour’s prospects at the next election. The Next Chancellor market on Betfair is not a particularly well traded one but it does have only a small overround so is fairly…
Can they repeat their Swedish successes here? I’ve written before about the Piratpartiet in Sweden, but this week saw the announcement that the Electoral Commission has added to its register of political parties in Great Britain “The Pirate Party UK”. For those not aware, this is an offshoot of the Pirate Party International which aims to reduce the burdens of onerous copyright restrictions (essentially supporting filesharing and reducing duration of copyright), combat the surveillance state, and support freedom of speech….
After the recent discussion on the uniform national swing I dug up a paper is well worth reading. Mike Smithson