Christo (who died earlier this month) and Jeanne-Claude were two of our age’s most haunting artists. Their life’s work – because we can fairly see it as a single piece – entailed the planning, project management and execution of the wrapping of ever more unlikely items. Balloons, trees, islands, the Pont Neuf, the Reichstag and the gates of Central Park were all subject to a series of superficially short-lived installations. As one critic said of their work, “to seek ‘the…
I am a great fan of the Opinium weekly poll for the Observer. The firm gets its full datasets out at the same time as when the poll is published on a Saturday evening and it has a series of questions in every survey that are always asked with the result that we can compare changes over time. Opinium also has a range of cross-heads that can really add to our understanding. One group is on CON and LAB leavers…
But I can’t believe that PB has a world exclusive Yesterday I received an email from someone I have never been in contact with before or have any familiarity with which suggested that something might be happening in American politics less than 5 months before the presidential election. This is what it said: I’m passing on to you what a colleague has learnt from a source in the military. The story about Trump visiting the Sterling golf course yesterday, illustrated…
Like David Herdson I’m leaning towards thinking November’s Presidential election will be a comfortable Biden win, certainly that’s what the polling and Trump’s demeanour indicates, a lot of this has been driven by Covid-19 and the administration’s handling of it. An American friend sent me this video of anti-maskers in Florida losing their poop over being forced to wear masks. My friend pointed out to me that to plenty of Americans Covid-19 isn’t really something to worry about. These are…
Ladbrokes have finally put up their next out of the cabinet market and to be honest there’s no value in backing Robert Jenrick. It truly is shameful how shameless Robert Jenrick and the Prime Minister are over this scandal. If Robert Jenrick was a humble councillor he’d had been forced out and facing much worse. So if not Jenrick then who? I’m wondering whether to place my money on the Frank Spencer tribute act Gavin Williamson. Given how badly he…
Interesting angle from the Indy’s John Rentoul on the sacking of Shadow Education Secretary and former unsuccessful leadership challenger, Rebecca Long-Bailey. Rentoul is a long-standing Blairite and has never apologised for that. The tone of this evening’s column is set out in its opening: It would be wrong to gloat. Mustn’t do it. And generally I don’t. But just for a moment, let’s celebrate the end of the paranoid, reactionary, self-righteous politics of the people who ran the Labour Party…
Trump may recover but he could be overwhelmed Donald Trump has always treated his presidency as a game show; one where success is measured in ratings and dollars. Controversy is to be welcomed: it keeps attention on him and his fans love it. As politics, it’s been relatively successful – enough so to win him the presidency, even if his approval figures have never been much to write home about and the mid-terms were a serious set-back. Events, however, have…
But 50% said don’t know The first thing about this YouGov polling is the large numbers of don’t knows – suggesting that what has been a huge issue in Westminster has not really cut through that much yet. But those who had a view, as can be seen were firmly of the view that he should quit as HousingSec. The Tory split should be a possible warning to the PM who has a long record of being reluctant to sack…