From the previous thread: “The coalition is the most recklessly ambitious government that I can recall. It has started more controversial policies in three months than the average government takes on in a Parliament. I do not regard this as a good thing.” – antifrank Is he right? Mike Smithson
Is Balls paying the price for supporting Gordon? Judging by the opinion polls, the list of nominations and the number of endorsements then the one near certainty about the race for the Labour leadership is that Ed Balls isn’t going to win. On all the measures he is a long way behind and it’s hard to see what could change in the final four weeks before the ballots go out. Yet if you look at what the five have said…
Is it worth 4/1 that she’ll be the one to take on Boris? Until now I have followed the received wisdom that Ken is a near certianty to secure his party’s nomination for London mayor in that other Labour election that will be taking place in the capital next month alongside the vote for next leader. The wily Ken, the argument goes, has been about for so long and he has such name recognition that he’s almost untouchable. But is…
Would this beef up his party’s fire-power? Yesterday I was having a natter with someone well connected within the Lib Dems who came up with an interesting idea to help Nick Clegg and the yellows with their current predicament – allocate one of the party’s five cabinet places to the former leader, Paddy Ashdown. An ideal position, given Ashdown’s former role as High Representative in Bosnia and early career as a soldier could be to replace the increasingly detached Liam…
Parliament Lowest Lib share GE share 1945-1950 7 9.1 1950-1951 4 2.5 1951-1955 2 2.7 1955-1959 5 5.9 1959-1964 7 11.2 1964-1966 7 8.5 1966-1970 7 7.5 1970-1974 6 19.3 1974 (F) – 1974 (O) 15 18.3 1974-1979 5 13.8 1979-1983 9 25.4 1983-1987 19 23 1987-1992 3 18 1992-1997 9 17.2 1997-2001 11 18.8 2001-2005 13 22.6 2005-2010 11 23.6 Everybody seems to be playing this today following Chris Huhne’s comment at the weekend. The above table shows the…
Is there a correlation between the national and the local? A crucial period for the coalition could be the days after next May’s local elections when there’ll be voting for many English councils, the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Parliament as well as the planned referendum on the voting system. Already many commentators, including me, are projecting that the latter will produce a NO. But what about that the other elections – will the LDs really see widespread losses on the…
Is saving “British Pubs” like saving the “British Sausage”? We all, I’m sure, remember the great episode of “Yes Minister” when Jim Hacker sought to change the media narrative by launching a campaign to “save the British sausage”. I just wonder whether Labour leadership front-runner, David Miliband, has found his equivalent with a been a big campaign just launched to save Britain’s pubs which he says are closing at about 40 a week. Before the election, he notes, Labour’s Minister…
Betfair Politics Are the markets right after YouGov? Precisely one month to go before the ballot papers go out and my reading is that this is a 60-40 battle with the chances at the moment erring slightly more to Dave than to Ed. The YouGov poll was not quite decisive enough for David – a mood that seems to be prevailing on the betting markets. I’m not as convinced as some by the theory that Ed will scoop up the…