Coinciding with the traditional Boxing Day meets the traditional Boxing Day fox hunting poll

Coinciding with the traditional Boxing Day meets the traditional Boxing Day fox hunting poll

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By 83% to 15% those sampled by @IpsosMORI say fox-hunting should NOT be made legal again. CON voters split 70-27% against legalisation — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) December 26, 2015 @IpsosMORI Hunting poll; Rural residents MORE LIKELY to be opposed to legalisation. 84% -12% as opposed to 82-15%. https://t.co/rRHFjueNjv — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) December 26, 2015 Detail of findings – @IpsosMORI "Should hunting be legalised" polling pic.twitter.com/WQ2bJt5SeF — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) December 26, 2015 There doesn’t seem much support for a…

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The PB/Polling Matters end of year podcast. Looking ahead to 2016 (WH2016, EURef & May elections)

The PB/Polling Matters end of year podcast. Looking ahead to 2016 (WH2016, EURef & May elections)

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After Christmas back to normal pic.twitter.com/qp16M7rRyM — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) December 25, 2015 In part 2 of the PB/Polling Matters End of 2015 special, Keiran, Rob and Matt look ahead to 2016 and discuss the race for the White House, EU referendum, May elections and more including: 1) Is identity politics replacing class as the number one issue defining our politics in the UK and elsewhere? 2) What is the best and worst case scenario for Hilary Clinton in terms…

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StJohn returns with his annual Christmas Day Crossword

StJohn returns with his annual Christmas Day Crossword

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A welcome return to what was a PB Christmas Day tradition There was a time when Christmas Day on PB wasn’t Christmas Day without the annual crossword by St John. We’ll this year he’s back and here it is. Enjoy and have a great day. Thanks to everybody who had made the site what it is. To my son Robert whose hobby since for nearly 12 years had been keeping the technical infrastructure working a big thanks. Also to TSE…

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A big thank you to whoever sent me the mystery bottle of Dom Perigon 2004

A big thank you to whoever sent me the mystery bottle of Dom Perigon 2004

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Merry Christmas to him/her and to all PBers Amidst all the online deliveries to my home this week there was one package for which I have been unable to trace the source. It contained a bottle of vintage champagne- a Dom Perigon 2004 which, as a quick Google search discovered, costs quite a lot of money. Unfortunately there was no card or other means to identify the sender so I am unable to say thank you directly. It was addressed…

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UKIP’s attempt to block the scrapping of roaming charges will play badly in the EURef campaign

UKIP’s attempt to block the scrapping of roaming charges will play badly in the EURef campaign

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Appearing to put the interests of big business first might not be smart One of the things which the REMAIN campaign finds hard is giving specific examples of what the EU does for individual voters. One such area now is the decision taken at the end of October, to end all mobile phone roaming charges for use in the EU in 18 months time. This means that the millions of UK smartphone users who travel to Europe each year won’t…

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Local By-Election Preview : December 23rd 2015

Local By-Election Preview : December 23rd 2015

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Grendon, Underwood and Brill (Con defence) on Aylesbury Vale Result of council at last election (2015): Conservatives 43, Liberal Democrats 9, United Kingdom Independence Party 4, Labour 2, Independent 1 (Conservative majority of 27) Result of ward at last election (2015): Conservative 1,068 (55%), United Kingdom Independence Party 427 (22%), Green Party 246 (13%), Liberal Democrats 213 (11%) Candidates duly nominated: Cameron Branston (Con), Gary Good (UKIP), Julian Newman (Lib Dem) Aylesbury Vale is perhaps a fitting way to end…

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How the United Kingdom is changing almost without comment

How the United Kingdom is changing almost without comment

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Alistair Meeks on the “Secret Federation” On Wednesday, John Swinney stood up to deliver his draft budget for Scotland.  The consensus was that the event was a damp squib.  With no changes to income tax and only copycat changes to stamp duty on second homes, it was less of a fiscal fiesta and more of a monetary mundanity.  The SNP showed themselves to be a party more intent on not risking re-election than in demonstrating a different Scottish way of…

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LAB’s one big hope is that the Tories will tear themselves apart over the EU

LAB’s one big hope is that the Tories will tear themselves apart over the EU

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What’s the post EURef blue team going to be like? The Tories have a long history of tearing themselves apart over Europe. Who can forget how in the weeks after John Major’s sensational election victory in 1992 huge fault lines started to develop in the party. It wasn’t helped by “black Wednesday” – that extraordinary day when Britain could not sustain the value of sterling on the foreign exchanges markets and the country had to leave the ERM. How lucky…

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