The surprise of the election campaign thus far has been the fact that Labour seem to still be slightly ahead in the polls. As things stand, unless there’s some sort of late surge towards the Tories, Ed Miliband will be in prime position to form the next government. This is a position for which he […]
Archives for April 2015
Both David Cameron and Ed Miliband want Britain to remain in the EU. So why are neither of them willing or able to put forward their case for this?
Yesterday, Ed Miliband gave a speech on immigration in Great Yarmouth. It’s a seaside town, one of those seats in which the Tories, Labour and UKIP are basically neck in neck in the polls. So I slightly shuddered beforehand, particularly given a great deal of what Labour has said on this topic during the last […]
Is the SNP surge the future of British politics?
In the wake of the seven way leaders debate a couple of weeks ago, many a left-winger took to social media to ask “Can I vote for the SNP if I live in England?” The answer is, of course, no and more pertinently, will never be yes. The SNP are specifically a party relevant to […]
My review of last night’s #bbcdebate for the “challengers”
As I said in my preview to last night’s debate, this pretty much came down to Miliband v Sturgeon with some background fuzz. Wood made a valiant start, not even mentioning Wales once in her introduction. However, she just couldn’t help herself and soon enough had a sort of Cymru related tourettes condition throughout most […]
My preview of tonight’s “challengers” debate
This evening, the BBC hosts a “challengers” debate, one involving five of the seven from last time, so minus the “governing leaders”, namely Cameron and Clegg. The idea, I suppose, is to give voice to those party leaders who haven’t been governing recently or ever, but may be doing so in the future. Or something […]
What does it really mean to be “left-wing” anymore?
When I was a teenager, I thought of myself as left-wing. I loathed conservatism with every fibre of my being: the idea that those who were born without wealth somehow automatically deserved that lowly position in the socio-economic scheme of things made me furious; the xenophobia of nationalism I despised; the persecution of minorities and […]
The Lynton Crosby led Tory campaign is directed at UKIPers, not swing voters – which is why Cameron is in trouble
I’ve never thought the Tories bringing back Lynton Crosby to run their 2015 election campaign was a good idea. I said so two years ago on the New Statesman website, comparing Crosby to Monty Panesar (makes sense in context, trust me). I now feel vindicated given the Tories’ poor start to the campaign. But while […]
The Green manifesto: I examine how wacky/sensible it actually is
Everyone’s putting out their manifestos this week, so I decided that I would review the Greens version. Why not Labour, Tory, Lib Dem, UKIP even? Lots of people are going to do that. Not many are going to give the Greens some serious analysis – it’s that darn Westminster elite, plotting against the Greens and […]
A quick lesson on the difference between debt and deficit: Ed Balls hopes you don’t know the difference
I recall being at a panel event given by a think tank a few years back in which a journalist from a well known newspaper asked about how quickly George Osborne was shrinking the debt. One of the panellists, an economist, told the journo that Osborne isn’t shrinking the debt, nor is even trying to […]
Despite all of the rhetoric, it looks likely the Lib Dems will be kingmaker once again – thanks to First Past the Post
There was a very good Peter Kellner article in the Sunday Times yesterday entitled, “The new forecast takes account of Labour’s parlous prospects in Scotland – and the Tory failure to make progress in the rest of Britain”. Despite the Lib Dems not featuring in the title however, they loomed over the whole piece like a […]