Remember the May 2017 locals when TMay was totally dominant and conquering all before her

Remember the May 2017 locals when TMay was totally dominant and conquering all before her

Those seats are up this May Yesterday I attended, online. what was one of the annual political events before the pandemic – the briefing on the coming May elections by the Tory peer, Lord Hayward. There were no elections last year and in England and Wales there have not been any local by-elections. So in large parts of Britain in the first week in May we’ll have the first chance to test the political climate based on real votes being…

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Aside from his vaccine approval and voting bounce the weekend’s other Johnson-Starmer ratings look troubling for the PM

Aside from his vaccine approval and voting bounce the weekend’s other Johnson-Starmer ratings look troubling for the PM

As well as the widely publicised approval and voting numbers in the Opinium poll at the weekend was the above range of questions on how Johnson and Starmer are perceived over a range of different areas. in order to show a comparison in a simplified manner I have taken the net ratings for each of them and then worked out the difference. So on whether the two are decisive or not I have taken the net figure for Johnson, minus…

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Silencing Us

Silencing Us

Picture BBC Lord Sumption has said some silly things lately, a reminder that even experts – once they move beyond their expertise – can be as daft as the rest of us. Still, on the issue of the government’s use of powers to bypass or limit scrutiny to the absolute minimum he is absolutely correct. Consider: –  5 hours to debate the Act implementing the UK-EU Trade Agreement, an Act containing a number of Henry VIII powers allowing the government…

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New polling has voters narrowly opposed to the Clapham vigil but significantly more supporting than other protests

New polling has voters narrowly opposed to the Clapham vigil but significantly more supporting than other protests

As ever YouGov is quick off the mark and has just published the above polling on the public’s reaction to the events last night in Clapham. Inevitably there is a gender divide but the striking feature is the contrast with attitudes to other protests – clearly last night struck a chord with women. So whereas the female part of the sample split 42-39 in supporting the action going ahead on the general issue of protest during the pandemic they are…

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The Met has got this very wrong and something has to change to make women feel the streets are safe

The Met has got this very wrong and something has to change to make women feel the streets are safe

The Mail takes up the Ed Davey call for her to go Given what the issue was that caused the Saturday evening vigil on Clapham Common the way that the Metropolitan Police have handled it looks appalling and naive and the Mail, surely, has read the public mood right in its approach for tomorrow’s front page. The LD leader, Ed Davey, became the first party head to do what appears blindingly obvious when you look at the pictures and see…

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One Woman’s Perspective

One Woman’s Perspective

In 2020 118 women were killed by men. One death every 3 days. Since Sarah Everard went missing on March 3 another 3 women killed by a male perpetrator. Unless they become a news story we rarely know their names, the majority likely killed by a partner or someone known to them, 70% in the home. Even so, the chances for any individual woman of being killed is low; by a total stranger lower still. The murder rate for men,…

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You might need a brave heart for this Scottish bet

You might need a brave heart for this Scottish bet

Betting on Scottish matters has been an enjoyable and very profitable area for myself and many other PBers, from seeing Iain Gray’s collapsing ratings in 2011 indicating the SNP was going to achieve what the voting system was designed to stop, to 2014 referendum, to the SNP tsunami in 2015, the SNP losing their majority which was tipped at 10/1 and 8/1 on the day of the 2016 election, and the 2017 Scottish Tory surge, perhaps it is distance and…

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Here We Go (Again)

Here We Go (Again)

It’s time once again to talk about a key institution: one which politicians feel it necessary to praise and support, whatever their private views, one which many feel we cannot live without, a rather dysfunctional, arrogant one, repeatedly making the same mistakes, mistakes which have caused great harm to those directly affected, repeatedly refusing to learn the lessons and change its ways, hostile to outsiders, an organisation whose senior members rarely seem to bear the consequences of the problems they…

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