Zoe Williams has written a piece today about the term “metropolitan elite” and how it has become a catch all phrase for the political class to essentially try and either distance itself from everything modern Britain increasingly dislikes, or to self-immolate with, depending on how you see things. This, by the way, is not the […]
Archives for May 2015
Could Labour lose the north of England like they lost Scotland?
Douglas Carswell wrote a piece on his website yesterday about how UKIP could seriously challenge Labour in the north, taking seats off them sooner than some might expect. He described his party breaking up a “one party state” and claims that UKIP do not need to move to the left in order to achieve this; […]
When will the polls return? And what will they tell us?
One of the stories of the general election was how wrong all of the polls were during the run in. The day of the election itself had both the Tories and Labour tied; none of them predicted the Tory landslide on the way. Or at least what looked like a landslide after what the polls […]
Andy Burnham’s Observer interview demonstrates why he’d be a terrible Labour leader
Yesterday, The Observer ran an interview with Burnham which beautifully illustrated everything I’ve been saying about the impending disaster of his leadership of the Labour Party. There’s lots to talk about here, so let’s begin. We’ll start with the headline, which often times in a newspaper article is a little unfair on the interviewee since […]
Is the “new” politics dead? It was a myth to start with
We all thought we were now firmly in the era of hung parliaments. Gone would be the days of one party majorities ruling over us in a way that had become the norm since 1945. Then the Tories proved us all wrong. Into this idea of the “new” politics was that parties were going to […]
Will the next five years be rebellion city for Cameron?
The Conservatives are really talking up last Thursday’s result. I don’t blame them – when all of the discussion leading up to an election is about how no one can win, getting a majority, even one of 12, looks like a massive triumph. The question now is this: will Cameron be held to ransom by […]
Chuka departs the contest. What does the Labour leadership race look like from here?
Following Chuka Ummuna’s departure from the battle to be the next leader of the Labour Party, how this is all going to play out comes into sharp focus. Only three days after launching his campaign to become Labour leader, Chuka’s resignation statement was odd to say the least. He talked about himself and his family […]
Why Farage hanging around like a bad smell is great for British pro-Europeans
Yesterday, UKIP went into a meltdown that has no precedent in British politics. Usually when something as epic as what has just occurred takes place, it involves people slagging each other off to journalists behind a shroud – the “senior source” of political journalism infamy. This grinds down morale and public trust in a party […]
The Left has just wasted five years. I hope it doesn’t waste the next five
During the parliament that has just elapsed, most of what came from left of centre voices in this country was ill-informed, reactionary and often downright childish. I know that’s a harsh opening statement, but now is not the time to be mealy mouthed. It started with the cuts marches being endorsed by Ed Miliband in […]
My one on ones with Ed Miliband: the gossipy stuff I’ve kept back for just such an occasion
Now that Ed Miliband has disappeared from front line politics, almost certainly for good (unless the Labour Party has really lost its mind), I thought I’d divulge the few times I ever met the man face to face. The first thing to say as a preface is that he is kind of weird. I know […]