Should the Scots continue to get a better deal? Some months before the 2001 general election I found myself sitting next to the young George Osborne, then not even an MP, at a dinner in Oxford and we talked about the coming fight. One of his ideas, which at the time seemed particularly smart, was for the blues to “play the English card” focussing particularly on the subject that’s the main lead in the Mail this morning, the big difference…
Welcome to what’s become our nightly open thread – an ides created by PB’s cartoonist, Marf, who produced the picture above. I am told that prints will soon be available to buy – I’ll let you know when that happens. Have a good night – for many it’s back to work in the morning after the long bank holiday weekend. @MikeSmithsonPB
Will either petition get to 100,000 by February? The chart features today’s update in the race between the two petitions on capital punishment – one sponsored by Paul Staines (aka Guido) calling for its restoration for specific categories of murder. The other petition, which was started on the same day is calling for the ban on capitial punishment to be retained. This afternoon’s totals were 17,875 for the restoration of capital punishment and 25,665 for those who want the ban…
Does it increase the risk of the changes being voted down? The big UK story in the Financial Times this morning is something what we’ve touched on several times here on PB already – the possibility that the planned new boundaries for the next election get voted down when they come before the commons in two years time. Jim Packard reports that “that significant numbers of Liberal Democrat and Tory MPs” look set to join Labour in opposing the detailed…
This is the regular open thread on PB. Have a good evening. @MikeSmithsonPB
Daily Star But TMFI Sally – TMFI Do we really want to know? @MikeSmithsonPB
How’ve they done as we end the political year? This week’s party leader ratings from YouGov are now out and show very little change on a week ago. I thought it might be useful to do a comparison from August 27 2010 – exactly a year ago. With Ed Miliband the change is from the end of September 2010. Back then all three of them were enjoying net positive ratings – now they all have at least double digit negatives….
This is PB’s overnight open thread slot. Talk about anything particularly what’s in the Sunday papers as they start to appear. We’ve also the dramatic developments with Hurricane Irene off the east coast of the US. I’ve got a special interest here – my son Robert, his wife Lucille and their two young children are on holiday in Long Island. Robert, it should be noted, played a key part in the creation of PB and continues to manage the technical…