Extraordinary and moving pictures from Paris
Pictures from Paris being screened around the world pic.twitter.com/0aHSZq4h8R — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 11, 2015
At last somebody’s talking about an area that could be decisive – the LAB-CON ground war capability gap in the battlegrounds
Ex-Cameron aide: Tories will lose election | Public Affairs News http://t.co/SKeYQvS2B7. See pic.twitter.com/ReAVs6BtZN — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 11, 2015 The grassroots collapse that threatens the Tories In the article David Cameron’s former chief of Staff, Alex Deane, makes this observation and predictions about the general election: “”The basic scenario in this Parliament has been clear for a while and remains unchanged in 2015: UKIP up, dividing the right, Lib Dems down, uniting the left. This becomes stronger as the…
Marf on the eve of the big gathering in Paris
Politicalbetting's cartoonist, Marf, on the latest from France pic.twitter.com/yRwcazf2jk — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 10, 2015
David Herdson on “Cameron’s epic mistake re the Greens and the debates”
I love this pic from the 2010 debates (via @JohnRentoul ) pic.twitter.com/ZvjCYnhhOB — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 8, 2015 The PM has just painted a huge target on his own back The Green Party is not the fourth party of UK politics and never has been so why is it treated by media and opponents alike as if it is? For most of the Greens’ history, the fourth party has been either the SNP or the dominant Unionist party in N…
If the LDs experience is anything to go by then major party status for UKIP is bad news for the blues
Farage and Carswell pic.twitter.com/LN9BCE7d18 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 9, 2015 The chances of the purples fading must now be lower One of the features of general elections in recent times is that the Lib Dems always seem to get a boost during the campaign. Thus a 4-5% increase in their final share at the election compared with pre-formal campaign polls has almost been the norm. What has driven this is the extra attention they get from the broadcast media…
Legalising fox-hunting: A vote winner for the Tories or a vote loser?
Lifting the ban on fox-hunting – how supporters of the main parties divide pic.twitter.com/YTq1r57Eff — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) January 9, 2015 YouGov finds that the Right-Left divide over fox-hunting continues With the Tories reported to planning legalise fox-hunting if they are returned with a majority YouGov has had a look at the issue and finds support for current ban, But as the chart shows there’s a sharp right-left split on the issue with Tory voters opposing the ban the LAB…
The PB December Polling average: the Left rampant
Lab, LD and Green all up; Con and UKIP down Christmas shopping, parties and other seasonal distractions may be nothing but credit card bills now but in and amongst all that fun – forced or genuine – a rather interesting swing was taking place in the polls. Before getting on to that, let’s deal with a potential objection. December, like August, is a non-political month and as such the argument goes that the public isn’t paying much attention to politics…
Methinks that Dave has made a mistake on the TV debates
David Cameron will refuse to take part in TV debates if Greens not included, says @bbcnickrobinson — BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) January 8, 2015 Ed Miliband on TV debates: "The Prime Minister should be able to stand on his record and stop running scared." — Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) January 8, 2015 It is hard to fault OFCOM logic that UKIP but not Greens are a major party but @David_Cameron is just too scared to debate @Nigel_Farage — Mark Reckless (@MarkReckless) January…