Trump’s big WH2020 lie could threaten democracy itself

Trump’s big WH2020 lie could threaten democracy itself

The above NBC polling has just come out and raises the worry even more that Trump’s refusal to accept last November’s outcome could have a long lasting impact on confidence in the democratic process itself. Elected politicians get their authority from the fact that they have been elected and if that comes into doubt then very dangerous territory is being entered. We all know the story and we saw on January 6th how dangerous the big lie is. Even though…

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Burnham is overrated as the 22% favourite to succeed Starmer

Burnham is overrated as the 22% favourite to succeed Starmer

I have made this point before but I will make it again that punters are over-rating Andy Burnham’s chances of becoming the next Labour leader. In my view he is favourite in the betting almost solely on the basis that he has higher name recognition and he has competed for the job twice before. What people seem to be forgetting is how poorly Burnham performed when he first ran for the post in the aftermath of the party”s GE2015 defeat…

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Climate change: The huge opinion gap in the US

Climate change: The huge opinion gap in the US

As the world’s focus moves to the Glasgow climate change conference YouGov US has published the above polling which I find quite shocking. The figures for college graduates show the huge gulf that exists with just 21% of Republican ones agreeing with the statement compared with 95% of Democrat college grads. The detail of the polling offered three options and I have chosen the above one to illustrate best the great divide. Maybe the approach of GOP voters is a…

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It’s time to end this clocks moving back nonsense

It’s time to end this clocks moving back nonsense

London and Scotland polling finds support for all year BST Each year on the day the clocks move back I get really irritated because to me it is crazy. During the winter the amount of daylight hours is very limited so why not make it so that we can enjoy what there is to the maximum. Instead, we have light mornings and things go dark in the mid to late afternoon. I am glad to see that I am not…

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Is Gareth Southgate going to follow in Sir Keir Starmer’s footsteps?

Is Gareth Southgate going to follow in Sir Keir Starmer’s footsteps?

Just look at some of the sporting knighthoods awarded the last twenty-five years. Sir Lewis Hamilton, Sir Andy Murray, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Bobby Robson, Sir Kenny Dalglish, Sir Geoff Hurst, Sir Mo Farah, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Sir Geoff. Boycott, Sir Andrew Strauss, Sir Alastair Cook, Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Matthew Pinsent, Sir Clive Woodward, Sir Ian McGeechan, and Sir Ben Ainslie. Looking at that not quite exhaustive list there’s a thread of them being (world) record breaking/world/European champions/Olympic winning…

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It’s the economy stupid?

It’s the economy stupid?

Many people, myself included, think based on the current polling and historical precedents, the government are on course to win a majority at the the next general election. Yet there’s a nagging feeling that there could be a black swan or just a regular swan that might upend those assumptions about the next general election. Looking at those findings from YouGov atop this thread, there’s potential for a cost of living crisis damaging the government. It is possible that any…

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