Wikipedia International leaders to keep an eye on as the year unfolds 3. LK Advani (BJP, India) The US may claim to be the world’s greatest democracy, but India has no rivals as the world’s biggest. This massive country will hold the world’s longest general election this spring, with voting taking place from 16 April to 13 May – and in terms of leaders could also be the world’s oldest matchup, with current PM Manmohan Singh of Congress, 76, facing…
An update from Peter the Punter A positive response has been received from Pbers to the Party invitation put out recently and it is beginning to look as though we may get a bumper crowd. Among the acceptances are Cicero, NickM, NickP, David Herdson, Gideon, Augustus Carp, Chris A, Hertsmere Pubgoer, James Burdett, Jonny Jimmy, Richard Nabavi, Morus, Marf, Paul Maggs and Mike Smithson. The date chosen is Monday March 23rd 2009 which is exactly five years after Mike began…
Sky News But should we be betting on things like this? William Hill has put out this press release:- Following the ‘green custard’ attack on Peter Mandelson, bookmakers William Hill have opened a book on which popular dessert will next be thrown over any British government minister, and have installed Spotted Dick as their 3/1 favourite. ‘Of course this should not be regarded as a trifling matter’ said William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe, ‘But over the centuries British democracy has…
PoliticsHome Would it have been different if other words had been used? There’s a poll finding out overnight which seems to suggest that voters have had enough with the media and Tory demands for Brown to say “sorry” for his past mistakes on the economy. Labour is taking great comfort in the survey and, indeed, Nick Palmer MP was posting here at 2am to alert us. But is the poll all it seems and is the simplified way the PH…
Lindsey Duncan in BBC’s “Margaret” leaving Number 10 I’ve just got round to viewing the BBC film “Margaret” in which Lindsey Duncan portrays the Tory leader who was famously ousted in November 1990. It’s a good watch, very well made and I’d thoroughly recommend it to those who haven’t seen it. For its focuses not on one plot to bring down a Tory leader but two. Mrs Thatcher, of course, became leader of the party fifteen years earlier after being…
Tory Party website And is this Tory “effort” silly or smart? You got to feel a bit sorry for Gordon. Wherever he goes these days and faces questioning from serious journos he’s pressed to say “sorry”. It happened in the Oval Office and Tuesday and last night Sky News did an analysis of the words and phrases used in yesterday’s Congress address building up to the punch-line that the number of times he had said sorry was zero. Now the…
Hopefully things be more interesting next week? Just skimming through this morning’s papers or looking at Newsnight last night I can only sympathise with a comment by Sally C that “politics is boring without Dave”. That’s absolutely spot on. Whatever your allegiance, whether you like Cameron or not, it’s hard to deny that he’s the one that politics is about at the moment and in his absence things seem to lack any spark. Is he indeed going to make it…
BBC Online But how long will it last? So there we have it. Brown’s address to Congress with its series of what was it seventeen separate standing ovations. The big question is whether it will help Labour’s standing in the polls. For the whole visit, particularly this event, is being reported in positive terms and there’s little doubt that for a British PM to be seen to be lauded in this way will go down well. My guess is that…