A guest slot on the Labour leader as he returns to PMQs Much has been made of Ed Miliband’s decision making and lack of media coverage since becoming Leader of the Labour Party. Eyebrows were raised over the roles allocated to Alan Johnson and Phil Woolas; Johnson has made it clear there are differences of opinion on policy within the opposition, while the Woolas court case raised the issue of party unity. All the while Ed has been out of…
As we get closer Tim T looks at the prospects These mid-terms started with the 109th Congress. By 2006, deficits and scandals meant libertarians and socially liberal fiscal conservatives had little reason left to vote Republican. The GOP deserved to lose the House and Senate – and they did. By 2008, both the Bush and GOP brands were toxic. Even so, McCain nearly won – in early September, he led in the polls. 3 gaffes cost him dearly: admitting his…
In less than three weeks, the U.S. mid-term elections will fundamentally transform the trajectory of American politics. The results will not only determine the fate of the Obama agenda but will also set the framework for the 2012 presidential election season that will unofficially begin almost as soon as the last ballots are cast on November 2. But how is an interested punter to make sense of the hundreds, nay thousands, of races comprising the mid-term elections, from the U.S….
Are there lessons for next time? Labour’s relatively strong performance in London was one of the most surprising outcomes of the general election. Prior to this election, Yougov had had an excellent record of predicting election results in London, and were forecasting a swing of 5-6% in favour of the Conservatives. On the day, the swing was just 2.5%. Overall, the outcome was not as bad for the Conservatives as it might have been. The party picked up some of…
OpenDemocracy Could you write a PB guest slot? At the start of September I’m going to be out of the country for a few days and I’m setting up some guest slots in advance. Rod Crosby has been commissioned to write a “The case for voting YES” in the AV referendum and I’m looking for someone to present the NO argument. Dont’ write anything yet but if you’d like to have a bash email me first here. I’ll need it…
Is this now a contest between the brothers? Early on in the Labour leadership battle, Mike drew what I thought was potentially a good analogy between David Cameron’s succesful campaign for the Tory leadership in 2005 and Andy Burnham’s candidature for Labour this time round. Young Burnham, he surmised, could turn out to be the Cameron of this campaign – a relative unknown coming from behind to win while better-known front-runners faltered. As it is, Burnham has hardly achieved lift-off.  …
Rod Crosby on “The Holy Grail – PR-Squared?” All electoral systems have flaws. Some are philosophical, some are technical, some esoterical, some are merely anathema to one party or another on grounds of perceived electoral disadvantage. In the UK, objections to Proportional Representation have tended to revolve around the loss of the constituency link and the realisation that majority government would become a thing of the past. Recently however, the flaws of FPTP have been thrown into sharp relief. Aside…
(I’m on holiday in Dorset at the moment and this guest slot submitted by Flockers echoes quite a lot of comments that we are getting whenever YouGov polls are published – which is now five times a week. When I return next week I’m hoping that the firm’s Peter Kellner will take part in an online Q&A session – no doubt this will form part of the conversation. I should emphasise that these are the personal views of Flockers –…