Embed from Getty Images If the first part of this ramble was about the expanse of this divide, and the second wondered what opened it, this is prodding at how deep it runs through society. As political analysts come out of their bunkers try and grapple with what this election really means (beyond the stark fact of President Donald J Trump). We will hear about the need to understand the flyover states, non college-educated whites. Feelings on globalisation and…
He’s now got a great platform – but how is he going to use it? One of the great distractions this autumn has been the extraordinary run that ex-LAB cabinet minister and shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, has had on Strictly. I don’t follow the show myself but every weekend I’ve been hunting out the video clips of his Saturday night performances which have been stunning. Ed’s now built up a public persona that is so different from his days in…
Embed from Getty Images If the new battleground is of the elites and the insurgents we need to consider where it came from, whether the seeds of it were present earlier than this run of electoral victories. The Tea Party has disappeared in name but Trump is a strong spiritual successor, while the Occupy movement shows how insurgency and elites is a dividing line that runs across rather than between left and right. In a different world (perhaps one…
Zac's anti LHR3 by-election campaign gets weirder. He's recruited pro-3rd runway, fellow Etonian, Jacob Rees Mogg, as one of his advocates pic.twitter.com/giawR2P462 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) November 12, 2016 Will Zac still be 27% ahead? There’ve been reports on social media in the past couple of days that Populus is carrying out a poll in Richmond Park where Zac Goldsmith is seeking to be returned as an independent following his resignation as an MP because of the government’s decision on…
In March the LAB pair were a net 16% behind CON leadeship – that’s now 33% Ahead of the Autumn statement, May & Hammond are seen as much more trusted on the than both Corbyn & McDonnell and Cameron & Osborne. The brutal fact is that the twice elected leader hasn’t got an earthly with numbers like these. The vast influx of new members into the party since GE2015 have made the main opposition party unelectable As is repeated so…
Trump being sworn in — political cartoon gallery pic.twitter.com/bAlxBrbv2d — Political Cartoon (@Cartoon4sale) November 10, 2016 Never mind if he meant it or not, Trump campaigned on it Fascist. It’s a word that could have been designed to be spat out as an insult. The first syllable invites you to screw up your face and the second is little more than a glorified hiss. And a very good insult it is, one that’s easily thrown at anyone seeking to implement…
Embed from Getty Images Alastair Meeks who accurately predicted the decision of the Article 50 case gives his take on the appeal. The government got given a gut punch by the High Court in the Article 50 case. Its proxies in the press had a meltdown and the government shamefully declined to distance itself from the barrage launched at the judges. (Shamefully and stupidly, as we shall see shortly.) But now the caravan moves on to the Supreme Court where…
Embed from Getty Images In the first of three articles by long-time PBer Corporeal This piece is going to have a lot more questions than answers in it. The defining factor of any political era is not who is winning elections but how are they fought and what they are fought over. What are the battlegrounds. It’s a question you can look at in many ways. Demographic battles over a cast of proverbial characters are fought out in bellwether constituencies…