Could someone who’d be 82 actually do it? The visit of Joe Biden to the UK for the funeral of the Queen has prompted me to do a piece that I’ve been meaning to write for some weeks – is the incumbent President who will be 80 in November going to put his hat into the ring for the 2024 presidential race? I have just watched an interview with him in which he was pressed hard on the subject and…
It is very hard not to be impressed by the sheer spectacle of today’s events with powerful images being beamed across the world. They certainly send a message out but I’m not so sure what that is and how it will be regarded. This is one of those days when PB’s focus on political betting should be put aside and I am not going to attempt to change that. All I can do is marvel at what we have seen….
The “Red Tops”” have gone black
One of the striking features of the national grief is how personally affiliated people felt towards the late Queen. A frequent comment from mourners in The Queue and similar vox pops was “it was like losing my granny”. Queen Elizabeth certainly had life well lived, and died peacefully aged 96 surrounded by her family, at home and having kept maintained good health until the last year of her life, and her mental sharpness to the very end. Barring immortality, that…
Political maps of England, whether parliamentary or council, often resemble multi-coloured archipelagos in a sea of blue. While urban areas are battlegrounds contested by all the larger parties, rural areas tilt strongly towards the Conservatives. This reservoir of seats on which the Cons have been able to rely for multiple electoral cycles gives them a solid base from which to reach for a majority, and leaves the opposing parties – Labour, LibDems and Greens – hoping for an occasional edge….
Amongst the oldies the number is 84% After more than a week when the total focus of the vast majority of people in the UK has been on the monarchy, YouGov has produced the above interesting polling which I’ve no doubt will be referred to again and again. The worrying number for the Palace is that 60% of those of 24 or under did not say that they support the monarchy. They are also less likely to have told YouGov…
The leading political scientist and polling expert, Prof John Curtice, has a great piece behind a PayWall in the New Statesman on how the public now views the monarchy. The numbers are not good for the new King who has waited so long. Curtice notes: ….public support for the monarchy has slipped to a new low. According to the most recent BSA, just 55 per cent now say it is important to have a monarchy, an all-time low, while a…