Home of the web’s best political conversation If you’re experiencing a lack of Rapid Eye Movement why not relax, and converse into the night on the day’s events in PB NightHawks. To all your lurkers, why not delurk? If you delurk, you won’t be saying, It’s the End of the World as We Know It, you’ll become Shiny Happy People. The round up of recent events (click on the links below, and it will bring up the relevant link) Ukip faces question…
Thanks to Sunil for painstakingly putting together the data that makes up the latest PB interactive chart. This shows the breakdown of aggregate votes secured by the parties in Westminster by-elections starting with the first, Oldham East & Saddleworth, in 2011. Interestingly, in terms of vote losses, the Tories have done worse than the Lib Dems who on this analysis are doing better overall in these elections than the polls. The Tories and Labour, by contrast, have performed worse. Labour…
Each March in the US there’s the Conservative Political Action Conference attended by many leading GOP figures and at which there is a straw poll on who the delegates favour as party nominee for next time. Last year it was won by Kentucky senator, Rand Paul. This year he did it again by an increased margin. Paul, of course, is the son of Ron Paul who was a leading contender in the 2012 race for the nomination. Back in November…
A look at the big betting policy debate Internet betting has often been under crossfire for causing problem gambling and addiction, but in recent years a new form of gambling has been gaining traction (and notoriety) in the UK. Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (or FOBTs), can be found in almost every betting shop, often alongside traditional slots machines. These new gaming devices are favoured both by shop owners and gamblers alike because they offer a wider variety of betting games…
Less than 11 weeks to the Euro Elections & the polling famine continues http://t.co/1zRdXoPOYi pic.twitter.com/s9gVdqwKxS — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) March 9, 2014 Why are these not being commissioned? Above is the latest European Elections polling table from Anthony Wells’s UK Polling report showing just three surveys this year the last one being the ICM for the Guardian a month ago. Compare that with the number of polls that we get for the next time UK general election which takes place in…
The bookies make LAB 4/5 odds on favourite to win Calder Valley – No 91 on http://t.co/ee2w0R3jCF target list pic.twitter.com/pao4AI8sOP — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) March 8, 2014 Backing the Tories at evens could be a good bet As I’ve written before my betting strategy for GE2015 is to stick with national outcome punts on Labour but go with single constituencies on the Tories. I’m also betting on UKIP and the LDs whenever I spot value. Thus I’m on the purples…
Putin – Ukraine pic.twitter.com/WY52tRuycw — PolPics (@PolPics) March 7, 2014 The ripple effects of the Syria vote continue to be felt There are two sorts of country in the world: superpowers and everyone else. Superpowers can – and often do – act as they see fit, constrained only by domestic factors or the opposition of other superpowers. The rest exist only to the extent that the superpowers allow, a fact that this week’s events have brought into stark focus. The…
Bury N, where LAB lost council seat to CON last night, is in LAB GE2015 target #41 http://t.co/ee2w0R3jCF pic.twitter.com/GDGLbL1xFT — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) March 7, 2014 CON GAIN from LAB Ramsbottom on Bury CON 1398 LAB 1033 UKIP 351 GRN 157 LD 38 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) March 7, 2014 It is well over a year since PB started its regular Thursday night coverage of local council by-election. Harry Hayfield has done a great job of keeping us all informed. For me the significant results are…