politics

by 0 comments on "Being prime minister looks prime ministerial and nearly being prime minister…"

Several different polls, by multiple pollsters using different methods, have now shown Ed Miliband’s personal ratings improving sharply after the various not-quite-a-debates. You doubt? Here’s Hopi Sen, presumably tweeting through gritted teeth: Since last poll @Ed_Miliband Lab voters rating went from 60.7 to 63.6, Among Con -50.4 to -42.8; LD -8.9 to +31 (!sample) UKIP…

Read More Being prime minister looks prime ministerial and nearly being prime minister…
by 3 comments on "I invent a tiresome electoral marketing concept"

So, I was out on the #labourdoorstep. And I had an interesting insight. We live in Doorbell Britain, which is divided into two tribes, the Friedlands and the Knockers. The Friedlands have evidently spent a lot of money on the technology of being alerted to visitors at their front door. Sometimes the bell is slickly…

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by 6 comments on "More questions on the Biryani Project."

Randy McDonald, and probably others, seem to have found the Afzal Amin piece baffling, so I thought I’d draft a brief explainer as follows. Afzal Amin, potential Tory MP and ex-army officer, tried to incite the EDL to stage a provocative demonstration in his heavily Muslim constituency during the campaign, while also inciting a group…

Read More More questions on the Biryani Project.
by 21 comments on "ramshackle coalition of interests: black country edition"

My first thought about this story was that it was roughly what would have happened if the surviving characters at the end of Four Lions – the hopeless MP, the sinister-but-pathetic spook, the bungling police negotiator, the windbag imam – had to draw up a policy to prevent this from ever happening again. In fact,…

Read More ramshackle coalition of interests: black country edition
by 6 comments on "Why there won’t be a Labour-SNP coalition"

A quick thought about this story. There are, at the moment, two kinds of politicians in Europe: the Ins and the Outs. The Ins are the respectables, either conservative, liberal, or social democratic. They form governments, run the European Union, and practically drip seriousness. On the other hand, nobody believes a word they say, and…

Read More Why there won’t be a Labour-SNP coalition
by 2 comments on "Would you buy a used Conservative from this man?"

So it seems to be a day for heavy politics like candidate selection. UKIP is tearing itself apart over this issue, which is surely interesting – if you can’t select candidates you’re not a functioning political party. For example, here’s a piece from the Indy‘s Paul Gallagher, describing a wave of resignations, sometimes en masse,…

Read More Would you buy a used Conservative from this man?