On March 23rd eleven weeks away PB will be celebrating its 17th birthday making the site just about the longest lasting UK political blog. On this day at the start of the new year I’d like to acknowledge all those who have made PB the site that it is. To Robert my son whose idea it was in the first place and who continues to manage PB’s technical side; to TSE for all the support he has given me and…
After the increasingly high drama of the past few years 2021 is going to be a year with a bark but less of a bite – with one notable exception. Covid – For obvious reasons need to start with Covid. Following approval of the Oxford vaccine the rollout of vaccinations happens relatively smoothly (with some disruptions much shared on Twitter). Because of the new variant January and February are not going to be pleasant but by Easter death tolls will be…
Chart of Betfair market from Btdata.io Let there be no mistake about the Georgia runoff elections next Tuesday. These are massive and will have a critical impact on the success of the Biden administration after it it comes into office on January 20th. For if the Republicans hold just one of the two Georgia Senate then they will retain control of the Senate in Washington and that adds enormously to the challenges of the new President as he seeks to…
At the end of April we made an appeal to PBers for support because advertising revenue had almost all dried up because of the pandemic. Response from users was really much more than we thought and it has given us the resources to keep going. It has also given me the confidence to try to make the site in the future not dependent on display advertising revenue. I think it makes for a cleaner and much better site and people…
Back by popular demand – mine. I have to do something to while away the time in my lonely barn halfway up a sheep-ridden hillside, wrapped up in scarves and mittens, pencil stub between my fingers, teeth chattering, the stormy wind howling outside, rain lashing the windows, like some minor character in Dr Zhivago or Jane Eyre with no-… (“Enough with the clichés! Get on with it!” Ed). 1. The Shami Chakrabarti Award for Trashing One’s Reputation – Of course,…
This could get very political very quickly While the United States and the EU continue to deliberate on the Oxford vaccine the big news in the UK is that it has now been approved and that we are told 4 million jabs are ready for distribution. The expectation is very high amongst many who see the vaccine as a way of managing to move on from the dark days of the lockdown which has been going on since last March…
Following in Robert Smithson’s footsteps, it’s time to nail my colours to the mast again. At the end of each year, I like to set out my expectations for the year ahead, not because I’m particularly accurate (I’m not) but because it is useful to see where my expectations went wrong at a later date. My starting point for the year ahead is always the finishing point for the previous year. Where do we start? The whole world has been hit by the…