The Boris fan club sticks with their man but other national papers are more critical

The Boris fan club sticks with their man but other national papers are more critical

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As can be seen there is quite a divide between how the papers are reporting the TV address by the PM last night. The loyalists try to take the best view for Johnson while others point to the contradictions and difficulties. We’ll get a better idea after this goes to the Commons this afternoon when this will be presented to MPs. The Keir Starmer reaction is going to be key and certainly there are some obvious issues. I thought it…

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Get well soon, Prime Minister

Get well soon, Prime Minister

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Six words brought down a Prime Minister: “Don’t you think she looks tired?” Alright, she was the entirely fictional Prime Minister Harriet Jones in Doctor Who, but the point is a good one. Boris Johnson does not need the interference of a Time Lord for the public to be questioning his health. He looks terrible. For many years, he has traded off looking rumpled. He now looks dishevelled and haunted. Poor man. He succumbed to exactly the virus from which he was supposed to…

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Holyrood 2021: The election that could kill the Union stone dead?

Holyrood 2021: The election that could kill the Union stone dead?

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I’m genuinely looking forward to next year’s Holyrood election, 2011 and 2016 were really profitable elections thanks to Iain Grey’s dire ratings indicating a shellacking for Labour and in 2016 you could get 8/1 on the day of the election on the SNP not obtaining a majority, sometimes betting from distance gives a great perspective. On the political front this might be the most important election this decade, if the the SNP win a majority then it reinforces their mandate…

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Biden’s VP pick: The case for Kamala Harris

Biden’s VP pick: The case for Kamala Harris

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The first of a look at the main options The most lively political betting market at the moment is on who Joe Biden will choose to be his nominee for the vice presidential slot. The party convention is not due to take place until August vote but it is expected that he will make an announcement sometime before then. What makes this more important than usual is Biden’s age, 77, and occasionally the frail way that he appears. It is…

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“Never again” means nothing if we recite the words while forgetting the lessons

“Never again” means nothing if we recite the words while forgetting the lessons

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VE Day was just the end of the beginning We’ll meet again – although probably only the once in that sense. The World War II generation are now very elderly and while some will survive to the eightieth anniversary in 2025, they’ll be few: the youngest in their late-nineties, most past a hundred. Thereafter, the direct link will be broken. In terms of the global political leadership, that link was long since severed. The last British PM to have experienced…

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The voting intention polls since LAB got its new leader

The voting intention polls since LAB got its new leader

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Although there has been no big breakthrough for LAB since double election loser Corbyn was replaced by Starmer a positive is that the party is now out of the 20s and the CON share is edging down. Inevitably during a crisis like this one it is hard for the opposition leader to get a look in because just about the only story being covered by the national media has been the pandemic. A worry for the Tories is the growing…

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The polls aren’t moving but Labour shouldn’t be too concerned

The polls aren’t moving but Labour shouldn’t be too concerned

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Keir Starmer always had a mountain climb and the covid-19 crisis has made his task even tougher. But, argues Joff Wild, writing Labour off at this stage would be a mistake The government is presiding over a mounting coronavirus death toll, many ministers seem completely out of their depth, Keir Starmer is beginning to provide considered and serious opposition, so why aren’t the headline numbers in the polls even hinting at a change of mood?  The two most recent show…

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