Andrew Neil’s right – Starmer’s first PMQs showed that the Govvernment is going to have to raise its game

Andrew Neil’s right – Starmer’s first PMQs showed that the Govvernment is going to have to raise its game

Comments 0 Comment

Whenever a new Leader of the Opposition appears at PMQs it is always a big parliamentary occasion and so it was this morning in the very unusual situation of the MPs social distancing and some MPs joining in on Zoom. Starmer’s first big decision, and one which was a real statement of intent, was that unlike previous times when the PM is not available Starmer decided that he would take PMQs facing Raab. It was a PMQs like we have…

Read More Read More

The media is getting a lot more critical of the government

The media is getting a lot more critical of the government

Comments 0 Comment

The stories that won’t go away One of the challenges for the government is that the lockdown demands an enormous lot of the population as a whole which in return ministers have to give the appearance of competence in the management of this huge crisis. It is here that things are starting to fray at the edges. Today’s newspaper front pages above feature several big issues which question how Johnson and his team have been operating. The FT has got…

Read More Read More

The Tuesday PB Nighthawks

The Tuesday PB Nighthawks

Comments 0 Comment

Last night PB made an appeal for help funding the site during the lockdown which has had a dramatic impact on the site’s two main revenue sources – display advertising and affiliate income. The response has been really good with more than 150 PBers making contributions. Can I just say thank you to everyone who has responded which has been far in excess of what we hoped for. Interestingly the majority of responses have been from people who do not…

Read More Read More

Some points from today’s new polling

Some points from today’s new polling

Comments 0 Comment

There’s a huge amount of doubt on whether the 100k a day testing target will be reached How likely or unlikely do you think it is that the government will hit its target of testing 100,000 people per day for coronavirus by the end of the month? (YouGov) Only a third intend to wear a face mask Providing you are able to get one, do you intend on wearing a face mask in public once lockdown is lifted?

The Index Case. Dealing with Covid-19 inside our care homes

The Index Case. Dealing with Covid-19 inside our care homes

Comments 0 Comment

A longstanding PBer tell his story Regular readers of the comments on this site will know that over the weekend, my father died after contracting coronavirus in his care home. The index case (colloquially, ‘patient zero’, but more accurately, the first documented patient in a disease outbreak within a particular population), was a patient recently discharged directly from hospital, into the care home. In the ten days which marked the period of my father’s infection, I understand that somewhere just…

Read More Read More

A message from Mike Smithson

A message from Mike Smithson

Comments 0 Comment

In terms of audience and the length and quality of our comment threads the site is going through just about its strongest period ever. Inevitably the pandemic is keeping many people at home and PB has become a great place to come. Unfortunately there is a downside – the crisis has meant that our revenue sources, advertising and affiliate income from bookmakers have declined to almost a trickle and we are fast getting to a stage where it could my…

Read More Read More

David Cowling examines Cobyn’s claim that LAB would have won GE2017 if it hadn’t been for PLP “coup” move the year before

David Cowling examines Cobyn’s claim that LAB would have won GE2017 if it hadn’t been for PLP “coup” move the year before

Comments 0 Comment

The fact that Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour Leader despite the majority of the party’s MPs voting against him, was certainly a problem throughout his tenure. However, it seems we have a new twist to the saga: Mr Corbyn now appears to believe this was the principal reason why Labour failed to win the 2017 election – a victory that he was otherwise “absolutely confident” that Labour would have won “because it was all absolutely going our way”. What does…

Read More Read More

Johnson pours cold water on the idea of a early end to the shutdown

Johnson pours cold water on the idea of a early end to the shutdown

Comments 0 Comment

With Boris still convalescing after his bout of the virus there have been mixed messages over the weekend about what the government intends to do. First there were reports that we were going to see a partial return to the normal state over a period of months with primary schools going back in a fortnight being the first step. Then it was being briefed that we’d see a much bigger range of shops being allowed to remain open. That has…

Read More Read More