John Longworth, the director general of the Chambers of Commerce, has decided to weigh in on the European debate. Good, you might think – about time the business community spoke up about an issue they tend to remain silent on. Unfortunately, but probably rather predictably, the comments offered were not in any way helpful. “We […]
Archives for February 2015
Is Labour “aggressively pro-business” like Tristram says?
In light of the Tories plan to paint Labour as anti-business, a manoeuvre that any semi-astute watcher of British politics could have predicted in June 2010, Tristram Hunt has been tasked (or taken it upon himself, who knows) to punch back. Excerpts from the Andrew Marr interview Tristram gave on the topic: “I’m enormously enthusiastic […]
Witney is a bit of a dump: a brief examination of why people vote Tory
We drove out to the Cotswolds to stay with some friends over the weekend. On the way, we passed through Witney, which for those who are unaware is David Cameron’s own constituency. Given the fact that it is one of the safest Tory seats in the country, I figured it would be pre-Cotswolds cuteness all […]
Football with the Taliban
It didn’t take me long to figure out that what I had on my hands was not exactly Brazil, 1970 vintage. “Come on, boys,” I said, trying to get into the swing of the whole football captaincy thing and doing an admittedly lame job of it. “If we beat these fuckers we can all go […]
Clegg’s enemies don’t seem to understand that they are constantly helping him keep Sheffield Hallam
Another day, another story about how Nick Clegg is going to lose his seat. Yesterday’s was courtesy of a Unite funded poll that said Labour were going to win Sheffield Hallam by 10 clear points. Whatever the faults you can talk about in regards to Survation’s methodology (this has been brilliantly covered on the UK […]
The great irony of this parliament may turn out to be that the Tories would be on course for victory under AV
I don’t mean to drudge up the good ol’ Alternative Vote anew, but let’s think back a bit to early 2011. AV, although it seems amazing to think of it now, was ahead in the polls against the retain First Past the Post bunch. The Conservative Party was at a cross roads: should it let […]
Will the Lib Dems really get 48 seats?
Professor Paul Whiteley at the University of Essex has made a bold prediction regarding the outcome of the general election: he’s said that Labour will be the biggest party in a hung parliament (so far, not that out of the norm), and that the Lib Dems will again hold the balance of power – this […]
Could the unions in Scotland turn on Labour and support the SNP?
Everyone knows by now the existential trouble the Labour Party faces in Scotland, post indy referendum. Different estimates give the SNP a dozen, two dozen, fifty, every seat in Scotland – take your pick. The counter-narrative runs thus: they’ve got a solid chap in Jim Murphy running the show up there now, and besides, we’ve […]
As the election campaign begins, so the press goes more to the right – and more to the left
As a politico I enjoy reading both the Guardian Politics page as well as the Telegraph’s version of the same. As you would expect, you get a very different take on the political events of the day on each, one of the reasons I read both. However, I’ve found the pair a little hard to […]
Grant Shapps rules out a coalition with UKIP – this should be the most no brainer thing the Conservatives promise this election campaign
Shapps is keeping steady guard of the Tory fortress – although it may not look it at first glance. Last week the Conservative Party chairman seemed to claim that Cameron wanted to do the TV debates – come on the lot of you, let’s see what you’re made of. All right, I’m exaggerating slightly, but […]