How does the Coalition square its NHS circle?

How does the Coalition square its NHS circle?

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Can both sides emerge with neither a loser? Sometimes the big story of the moment overshadows the more important story of the moment. This week has been one such time, with Ken Clarke’s policy, or consultation, or whatever it is, about reform of the rape sentencing rules overshadowing the deepening disagreement within the coalition twabout NHS reform. There are two main areas of policy that the Conservatives absolutely cannot afford to be seen to fail on if they are to…

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How supporters of three main parties rate the big issues?

How supporters of three main parties rate the big issues?

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The above chart has been prepared from data in the May Ipsos-MORI issues index and seeks to break-down the responses by party support. Interviewees are asked without any prompting to name the most important issue they believe is facing the country and also to name as many other issues as they would like. As can be seen Tories and Lib Dems are giving equal prominence to the economy while Labour voters are are bit behind. A split, however, occurs with…

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Will Anna Soubry be the first 2010er to get a big job?

Will Anna Soubry be the first 2010er to get a big job?

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Click picture to see Newsnight discussion Is she the “winner” of the Ken Clarke business? After being out of action away from TV and the internet for the past couple of days I’m only now catching up with the extraordinary Ken Clarke affair and clearly I missed a cracker of a political day on Wednesday. Looking back over the coverage one person stands out – the new Tory MP for Broxtowe in Nottingham, Anna Soubry, who took the seat from…

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Concern about the NHS moves to a three year high

Concern about the NHS moves to a three year high

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Ipsos-MORI Can the blue team ease the worries? Every month for nearly a third of a century Ipsos-MORI has asked the same two part-question question in the same standard way which, almost uniquely, is totally unprompted. The pollster asks “What do you see as the most important/other important issues face Britain today”. Unlike the firm’s voting intention polls which are carried out by phone fieldwork for the issues index is done face to face. Given the unprompted nature of the…

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So are you backing Gordon….?

So are you backing Gordon….?

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DSK has now resigned as IMF head, and Hills have released their next IMF leader prices which are: Kemal Dervis, Turkey 5/2 Montek Singh Ahluwalia, India 5/1 Axel Weber, Germany 7/1 Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore 8/1 Gordon Brown, UK 8/1 John Lipsky, USA 10/1 Mark Carney, Canada 10/1 Philipp Hildebrand, Switzerland 12/1 Peer Steinbruck, Germany 12/1 Stanley Fischer, Israel 16/1 Changyong Rhee, South Korea 16/1 Hyun Song Shin, South Korea 16/1 Trevor Manuel, South Africa 20/1 Christine Lagarde, France 20/1 Mohamed…

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Who’ll be next in the firing line?

Who’ll be next in the firing line?

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Where’s the value in the First to Leave? After a hectic day, which various cabinet ministers might mark down as sub-optimal, it seems a good time to review the next Cabinet Minister to Leave market. At the time of writing, Chris Huhne was a very clear favourite, best priced at even money with Ladbrokes. That favourite tag is justified although the degree of strength may not be. It’s been a month where he’s hardly been out of the news, from…

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…and tonight’s Marf cartoon…

…and tonight’s Marf cartoon…

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More of Marf’s PB cartoons can be found at LondonSketchbook.com. Marf is offering ‘tonight’s special’ of £50 for a signed print of this cartoon – so hurry while stocks last!