How his choice could impact on the Dems’ hopes of taking the Senate While we have all been focused on the pandemic there’s been some big movement in the Dems VP nomination betting with Kamala Harris sinking sharply and Warren moving up strongly., The one certainty is that Biden will choose a woman because he has made that commitment. The top three in the betting – Harris, Klobuchar and Warren – are all senators and would have to replaced if…
The big thing politically in the UK this week has been Starmer’s first time out at PMQs and this has got me pondering. We saw how Johnson’s deputy visibly relaxed yesterday after Starmer had ended his allocated six questions suggesting that this was quite an ordeal for the Foreign Secretary. I just wonder how other recent Tory PMs would have coped. My guess is that TMay would have been less phased but that Cameron would have struggled. We’ll know in…
Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania looking OK for the ex-VP As we saw at WH2016 the national US vote totals are irrelvant in deciding the presidency but it is what is going on in the most marginal states that will give us the best indication. So over the coming months indivdual polls from Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvsnia are going to get a lot of attntion. This morning here’ve been new Reuters/Ipsos polls in the three states and they all have Biden leading Trump…
How the referendum divide shows in pandemic polling With the supply of PPE equipment so dominating the news several pollsters have been asking questions like the latest from YouGov above on how Johnson’s government is performing over the issue. The answer overall is not very well with two thirds of voters saying the government is doing a bad job. What is interesting is how the huge divide in opinion over Brexit shows markedly over an issue like this. As can…
For me one of the features of the lockdown has been the gallows type humour it has generated. My WhatsApp groups are a good source and I think it is healthy to have a good chuckle every now and then. I’m sure other PBers have seen the same. If you have got anything that has made you laugh then share it on the thread below.
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…
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…
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…