Should Labour/The Guardian have taken a lesson from Guido?

Should Labour/The Guardian have taken a lesson from Guido?

Comments 0 Comment

SkyNews Where does “Hackergate” go now? One of the key lessons so well demonstrated in April by Paul Staines (AKA Guido), with his “Smeargate” emails is that if you want a story to continue to make the headlines then the news machine needs feeding little by little. You don’t give them all the goodies all at once which I think might have happened to the Guardian’s “Hackergate revelations”. It’s doing its best this morning to keep the story going but…

Read More Read More

Is Cameron’s Coulson approach like his 2005 response on drugs?

Is Cameron’s Coulson approach like his 2005 response on drugs?

Comments 0 Comment

He toughed that one out – can he do the same this time? The apparently audacious Cameron’s response to the Andy Coulson affair that he “believes in giving people second chances” brings back a painful betting memory for me – the time in October 2005 I underestimated the then Tory leadership challenger’s resolve and lost £470. I’d got a spread bet on before the Blackpool conference that he’d win the leadership but then cashed it in for a small profit…

Read More Read More

Do Blair’s wars still cast a shadow over Brown?

Do Blair’s wars still cast a shadow over Brown?

Comments 0 Comment

  At what point does Afghanistan stop being worth it? Afghanistan has always been the worthwhile war, the one for which there was a genuine casus belli and the fighting of which was supposed to make Britain and the world safer. However, the deaths of seven more British soldiers in there this week raises the questions of just what is being achieved and at what cost. It’s well over seven years since the Taliban were deposed from Afghanistan’s government –…

Read More Read More

How dangerous is this for Cameron?

How dangerous is this for Cameron?

Comments 0 Comment

Guardian Can Tory PR boss Coulson survive? The big breaking political story overnight is the Guardian splash revelations that “Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers has paid out more than £1m to settle legal cases that threatened to reveal evidence of his journalists’ repeated involvement in the use of criminal methods to get stories.” This could have big consequences for David Cameron because, as the story states, his PR chief, Andy Coulson, was deputy editor and then editor of the News…

Read More Read More

2012 Prospects: The Barracuda

2012 Prospects: The Barracuda

Comments 0 Comment

A Guest Article from Socrates There has been much talk over Sarah Palin’s shock announcement that she is resigning from her post as Governor of Alaska before the end of the first term. The primary questions in much of the coverage have been “What the hell is she up to?” and “Why on Earth does this help her?” I am convinced the answers are quite straight forward: Sarah Palin has decided to run for the 2012 Republican nomination for the…

Read More Read More

GUEST SLOT: What does the EPP saga say about Cameron?

GUEST SLOT: What does the EPP saga say about Cameron?

Comments 0 Comment

Wikimedia Commons Is Dave’s style to pounce once others have made mistakes? It is clear that David Cameron is a successful leader of the Tory party, while in opposition. All successful leaders have a style, so identifying Cameron’s methods might give valuable insights into the betting value of certain policy announcements. Cameron has been accused of opportunism – grabbing whatever concept is currently popular and going with that. I’m not sure that covers the facts. The way in which the…

Read More Read More

Will this PB post bring a smile back to Gordon’s face?

Will this PB post bring a smile back to Gordon’s face?

Comments 0 Comment

Has he the power to defer the election until 2013? While I was researching the deadline for nominations for the Norwich by-election (4pm today), I found a fascinating research paper from the House of Commons – as reliable a source as could be wished for. It details the timetables for elections to various parliaments, assemblies and councils within the UK as well as giving detail on background and procedure – and contains an amazing loophole relating to the deadline by…

Read More Read More

Has the Beeb made Norwich a big party stitch-up?

Has the Beeb made Norwich a big party stitch-up?

Comments 0 Comment

Are the rules stacked against any indie challenge? A feature of the Norwich North by election which might have repercussions has been the way that the BBC and other broadcasters are able to deem who is a serious candidate or not. And inevitably only those who are representing the main parties are designated the former category and get featured in the coverage. For the others we are usually told to refer to the programme’s website where there is a full…

Read More Read More