Will the winner be the one with the biggest war-chest?

Will the winner be the one with the biggest war-chest?

Is Iowa down to a battle of money? With just five days to go before the critical Iowa caucuses the heavyweight campaigns for the Democratic nominations are throwing everything at the state to ensure that their candidate comes out on top in the first test of opinion in the 2008 White House Race. ABC News has been reporting overnight how Obama is trying to totally dominate the TV screens on Wednesday evening – on the night before the caucuses. One…

Read More Read More

Was there insider trading on Brown’s election U-turn?

Was there insider trading on Brown’s election U-turn?

Who were those who cashed in on the afternoon of October 6th? While going through some of the old threads during the key moments of 2007 I came across the following discussion, reproduced below, which got by-passed by the dramatic news of Gordon’s general election U-turn on the afternoon of October 6. For it suggests that a gambler or a group of gamblers who had inside information about the Prime Minister’s decision sought to turn what they knew into cash…

Read More Read More

How will Pakistan affect the White House race?

How will Pakistan affect the White House race?

Will McCain and Clinton be the main beneficiaries? With exactly one week to go before the first test of opinion in the 2008 White House race the big question this afternoon is how will such a global event impact on Iowa and New Hampshire – the first states to decide on the candidates? As the Politco site observes – “Bloody images of Pakistan in turmoil, which will dominate newspapers and TV news just as Iowa voters are making their final…

Read More Read More

A double blow for Brown from the Indy

A double blow for Brown from the Indy

Defeat threatened on terror limits and John Rentoul says “it’s all over” On what must be the first “conventional” front page in a long time the Independent, the normally left-leaning paper, reports a ComRes survey of Labour MPs which suggests that the government is heading for a commons defeat if it presses ahead with plans to extend the limit on detention without trial to 42 days The survey found at least 38 Labour MPs would rebel against – four more…

Read More Read More

Was the the 1976 fight even dirtier than Huhne-Clegg?

Was the the 1976 fight even dirtier than Huhne-Clegg?

When David Steel played the toupee card Lots has been written about the nastiness of this year’s battle for the Lib Dem leadership. Certainly the “Calamity Clegg” revelation appears to have been a pivotal moment. But was it as dirty as when David Steel beat John Pardoe for the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1976? In that battle it was thought that Pardoe was the choice of party activists while Steel had the “establishment” and the “armchair members” on…

Read More Read More

…and for Boxing Day the PBC Crossword

…and for Boxing Day the PBC Crossword

Keeping you entertained throughout the holiday Thanks to Rod Crosby for all he did yesterday providing the constant stream of political trivia questions which kept us amused on Christmas Day. This worked brilliantly – there were 275 comments which compares with the paltry 16 contributions that the site got on Xmas Day 2006. For Boxing Day we have StJohn’s PB Cross-word. I have no idea how hard this is going to and I think that keen cross-word experts are going…

Read More Read More

Happy Christmas from PBC

Happy Christmas from PBC

..best wishes for the New Year There was going to be a cross-word this Christmas Day which has been produced by StJohn – one of our most regular contributors. Alas I have found it impossible to format it for the site and this will have to wait. This is our fourth Christmas since the site was started and can I thank all who have made it possible. These include my son Robert and his wife Lucille for the technical infrastructure…

Read More Read More