Is it really less interesting than mange tout? In little more than a fortnight, the voters in Norwich North will go to the polls to (probably – see below) elect a successor to Ian Gibson, the Labour MP who resigned following his effective de-selection by Labour. The first postal ballots will be going out in a matter of days. Yet despite the prospect of a direct loss from Labour to the Conservatives, which would be only the second such Tory…
But why not more elections? I’ve just read the full transcript (courtesy of PoliticsHome) of David Cameron’s speech on quangos. He specifically says that what he is proposing is not ‘a bonfire of the quango’ but a deliberate move to limit their scope, number and budgets. Interestingly, he was prepared to single out some large and powerful organisations that will be culled or disempowered should he win power – including OFCOM, NICE, and the QCDA. The argument is simple and…
ICM Guardian polling series Why the only comparisons you can make are with ICM We’ve discussed this before and will, no doubt, discuss it again because there’s a widespread belief out there that the evidence suggests that Labour will recover as we get closer to polling day. Even last week in the FT the eminent telly historian Professor Niall Ferguson and fellow academic Glen O’Hara were comparing the Tory’s current polling shares with the 60+% shares for Labour that were…
How could the public debate be made more accessable? The Sunday Times yesterday led with a story that Whitehall Mandarins are drafting plans for public sector spending cuts of up to 20%. This has not apparently been ordered by the government, and doesn’t form part of the Opposition liaison that takes place in the run-up to a General Election: this appears to be unbidden, out of a fear that such cuts will be required, even if they cannot be discussed…
Could we see support for “others” start to recede? Siesta time on my Spanish holiday and a quick look at PB reveals that there’s a longing for a new poll so people can get a sense of whether things are changing. By my reckoning the next main public poll from one of the mainstream pollsters should come from Populus in the Times tomorrow evening. In June the firm came out with what proved to be the smallest Tory share –…
Is her resignation a masterstroke or a blunder? It could be the start of the 2012 presidential election campaign or it could be the end of that of 2008. Former Republican Vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s decision to resign as Governor of Alaska later this month has raised a lot of questions but answered few. In her announcement, in which she rambled and at times rivalled John Prescott’s ability to string non-sequiturs together, she gave few reasons other than the pressures…
A betting adjudication I might be on holiday but PB seems to follow me everywhere – even to this stunning sherry port of Sanlucar where Jacky and I have just arrived on the next stage of our holiday which marks our 40th wedding anniversary tomorrow. Thanks to those who helped bank-roll the trip – notably all those who didn’t vote in the Euro elections which meant that the big positions I took on turnout being below 35% proved to be…
Peter, Baron Mandelson, President of Europe? It’s not often that I completely disagree with Our Genial Host, but this week he suggested that Peter Mandelson, Baron of Hartlepool and Foy, was perhaps not as masterful at modern politics as had been claimed. Personally, I think he has handled his third time in the Cabinet with more poise and prowess than he brought to his previous times in office. Indeed, he has yet to have a finger laid on him (those…