So the Bastard Nazi Party have got a European Parliament seat in Yorkshire, and may well have one in the North West where I am. They have done this on a turnout of something around 43%. That means that, statistically, more than half of you reading this and eligible couldn't be bothered to vote. I [...]
Today dawned grey and threatening, matching the mood of Stockton Lib Dems. Stories and rumours from verification sessions around the region sounded gloomy. Waiting for the count to start at 6 some of us were occupied by the Fairtrade stall at The Greener Living Roadshow in Preston Park. Although the rain held off it was quite cold and not as many people came this year. Nevertheless we did
We know that the last century was hell for much of Europe. Fascism, the doctrine that believes that what's good for the State is what's good for everyone, has caused so much death and pain, and I think most right thinking people would hope that it would go the way of Feudalism - consigned to the dustbin of history as a really bad idea. Sadly we, the British, are sending a Fascist your way, mixing the charms of Nationalism, zenophobia, racism and hardcore left wing economics. It's clear something's gone horribly wrong with British politics. Perhaps it's generations of people ...
up too late watching results of #eu09 from holiday - desperately hoping home yorkshire region has not returned a BNP MEP {:-(}
Hastily arranged Live Chat below: <a >European Elections Live Chat</a>
It appears that the voters in the East of England have voted pretty much as they did 5 years ago. This must come as a devastating blow to the Greens who have been hoping to win a seat in the East and according to many (and I do know some) had seen it as inevitable that they would pick up a seat. So in the East we still have 3 Tories, 2 UKIP, 1 Lib Dem and 1 Labour MEP.
With attention being paid to the 50th anniversary of Island Records, let's listen to the record that started it all.Millie Small was a Jamaican teenager who reached number 1 in Britain and number 2 in America with this record. She was already recording in Jamaica before the founder of Island, Chris Blackwell, came across her and then brought her to London to make records.Her fame proved short lived, though this 2006 article from the Jamaica Gleaner suggests that she is now living in Britain and still singing.After the success of "My Boy Lollipop" Chris Blackwell started to looks for other ...
Having spent the evening at our count in Darlington, where we were beaten into fourth place by UKIP, as we were in neighbouring Stockton, despite retaining our share of the vote, I dashed home to catch the results on TV, worried that Fiona Hall might lose her seat to UKIP.As it turned out, Fiona retained her share of the vote across the region and the UKIP surge was insufficient to win a seat.
Dear me. Cornwall Euro results: Con 46,589; UKIP 39,954; Lib Dem 29,436; Green 13,361; MK 11,534; Lab 8,483
Just in from the Salford Euro count. Results as follows:- BNP 4,818 Christian Party 627 Conservatives 9,819 English Democrats 1,556 Jury Team 263 LIB DEMS 5,498 No2EU 738 Libertas 206 Socialist Labour 973 Greens 3,210 Labour 10,800 UKIP 7,252 Francis Apaloo 104 Total votes cast 46,050 Void votes 186 Turnout %27.54 Pleased with our share and the fact we beat the BNP by a decent margin. {Share/Save/Bookmark}
I'm back home from Islington's Euro count after the declaration just after 9pm. In fact the count had been over, and the result had shared with agents and ready to declare for about 20 minutes by then, but could not be revealed until the Euro polls closed at 9pm. So we had the surreal scene [...]
Great news for Liberal Democrats in the North East tonight as Fiona Hall is re-elected as a Member of the European Parliament. She's worked really hard, and Derwentside Lib Dems have been delighted to campaign alongside her in both Stanley and Consett. Party Total % Labour 147,338 25.0 (-9.1) Conservative 116,911 19.8 (+1.2) Liberal Democrats 103,644 17.6 (-0.2) UK Independence Party 90,700 15.4 (+3.2) British National Party 52,700 8.9 (+2.5) Green Party 34,081 5.8 (+1.0) English Democrat 13,007 2.2 (+2.2) Socialist Labour Party 10,238 1.7 (+1.7) No2EU 8,066 1.4 (+1.4) Christian Party-Christian People's Alliance 7,263 1.2 (+1.2) Libertas 3,010 0.5 ...
Well, I've just returned from the count in Denbigh, which took far longer than it should have to declare! The results are as follows: Conservatives - 4,959Labour - 2,798Plaid Cymru - 2,314UKIP - 2,292Liberal Democrats - 1,070BNP - 815Green - 628Socialist Labour Party - 251Christian Party - 207No2EU - 161Jury Team - 59 There were 67 spoilt ballot papers, and overall turnout was 28.45%.
I was at the Gateshead count where we got just under 9000 votes to Labour's 13,000. UKIP were 3rd and the Tories 4th. I got home and waited nervously for the North East result to be declared. Our fear was that Fiona Hall could lose out to the UKIP surge. Fiona only just won her seat last time round from Labour. Once the picture of Labour collapse was clear, we knew Labour were not the risk this
I'm just back from Haringey's Euro election count at the Ally Pally. We did very well - vote up around four points, and not far behind Labour, who must have had their worst vote share in history in Haringey. The Tories were pushed into fourth by the greens. BNP and UKIP, making no headway here.Results: Lab 14,093; Lib Dem 11,550; Greens 8,528; Cons 7,396; UKIP 2,164
Whilst Iain Dale on the Internet is reporting local Euro results from boroughs across the country, the BBC interviewed Nick Brown and the French Finance Minster. Is this really election coverage from the BBC or self indulgent waffle ? It's certainly not a proper results service. If you are watching the BBC, turn the volume down and listen to Iain and his team on the internet instead.
The BBC reports that the Conservatives might top the poll in Wales. It's unbelievable. If so, that could just be the straw which breaks Brown.
I am a bit of a geek actually. I am currently sitting in bed watching BBC2 and the results are coming in thick and fast. There are some interesting patterns emerging. I will be in Jersey next week taking my schoolkids on a teambuilding trip so won't be able to comment on the final results. However, here are my feelings: 1. The low turnout is a reflection of general voter apathy and as a protest to the government by Labour voters who cannot bring themselves to vote anything else. I think we would be foolish to think that the share ...
Early indications show UKIP well up but the Tories well down. That is the picture, for example, in Christchurch and North Lincolnshire. That could well take the sting out of the blow for Brown. The BBC's Mark Mardell says that there are rumours sweeping the European Parliament that UKIP have done stunningly well, perhaps coming second with 18 seats. Early indications suggest that this success will be at the expense of the Conservatives. That's the crucial element which may well let Brown off the hook. Mind you, news is coming through that the Conservatives may top the popular vote in ...
I will not last much longer tonight because I'm not feeling very well - way too much excitement for me to cope with. The one result I don't want to find out is the Apprentice one, but I doubt I'll be able to avoid that. This is just a snapshot of how things are at the moment. Anyway, I am so delighted that Fiona Hall has kept her seat for the Lib Dems in the North East of England. It was the only region, I think, not to elect a Lib Dem in 1999 so her place was not secure ...
Well, as I sit here awaiting the trickle of Euro election results, I've been doing a spot of number crunching for my local council in Shropshire, a newly created unitary. You can see the results in the chart below. In light of the reputation of Lib Dem bar charts, I thought I'd go with a pie chart. On the outside, you can see the votes cast, and on the inside, you can see the makeup of the council that those votes produced. As you can see, the wonders of FPTP have struck again. Thank goodness FPTP produces strong, decisive governments. ...
20:59 The BBC's Mike Hamilton has been speaking to the LibDems in Manchester who say it is looking less likely that the British National Party will win a seat in the North West region, because in Burnley, where the BNP is traditionally quite strong - the LibDems are looking as if they will come first and Labour will come second. In Liverpool and Manchester, according to the LibDems, the BNP look on course to come sixth.
{jackie_ashley} In an article just posted on the Guardian's website, Jackie Ashley has explicitly called for Gordon Brown to resign. "To save Labour, Gordon, go with grace and go today" Not a lot more to add, really. Is anyone still on his side?
Mandy stuck up for Gordon Brown on the Andrew Marr show this morning, and last week Gordon vented his own views. I think Mandy put it in the right terminology today, that the media are treating the whole political scene as a live reality show, with the poiticians as contestants, and the media circus treating the whole thing as a joke, goading the contestants on, in an effort to get rid of Brown. I always thought Gordon did a good job as Chancellor. As Prime Minister, like Mandy said today, he is not a pop star, and why should he ...
Just come in from the Euro count taking place in Dunstable. The estimated score there is 42% Tory (25,000 votes); 2nd UKIP 22%; 3rd Lib Dems 15%.
But they are nice Swedish pirates.
Under the rules of the European Parliament elections, exit polls are not to be reported until polls across all of the European Union have closed. This seems to have been lost on the Dutch who once again have released their results early. However according to EUobserver Bulgarian media outlets have released theirs early through the use of the weather, music charts and other clever 'codes'. On a day where the temperatures have in reality reached above 35 degrees, the temperature at the city hall – home to the mayor and leader of the centre-right Gerb party, Boyko Borisov - has ...
East Midlands: Bill Newton-Dunn also set to be re-elected. London: Sarah Ludford re-elected. Wales: Conservatives do indeed top the poll. Lib Dems miss out on our first ever Welsh MEP by just 2%. Scotland: awaiting figures from Western Isles, but Lib Dems set to hold seat. Yorkshire & The Humber: Diana Wallis re-elected, but BNP also take a seat. East of England: Andrew Duff's re-election confirmed. Labour finished fourth. Wales: Tories will top the poll. Lib Dems won't gain a seat. East of England: Andrew Duff looks set to be re-elected, finishing ahead of Labour. Other Lib Dem firsts: topped ...
Fantastic news! Everyone will be able to see what a complete burke he is! (Conservative Home are saying that BBC North West are reporting that Nick Griffin is likely to win a seat. Further link will follow as soon as I can find one). The Lancashire Telegraph has a liveblog here which will, no doubt, reveal the news if and when it is confirmed.
Batman! Batman! Batman! Nanananananananananana – BAT-MAN! Morrison and Quitely's Batman & Robin #1 is – until the disturbing last couple of pages – the most fun Batman comic I've read in years. The feeling of it is summed up in the very first panel, where the explosions form the words "BOOM BOOM" in fire – the [...]
{Martin Turner and Lib Dems celebrate} Martin Turner, the local Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman, and Stratford Liberal Democrats celebrate gaining two seats from the Conservatives at last Thursday's County Council elections. Regards, Philip
Right! I thought it was time I updated you all on my addiction to twitter. This has reached terminal proportions and now equals my addiction to chocolate, as a chocoholic of many years standing, I can assure you that IS seriously bad!! Why do I like twitter? It is simple... You can't BS for very long [...]
A mere 72 hours after polls closed on 4th June, the parties and candidates contesting the 72 UK seats available for the European Parliament will know their fate later this evening. Let's remind ourselves what happened five years ago, in 2004, when these seats were last up for grabs: Conservatives: 27% (27 MEPs) Labour: 23% (19) Ukip: 16% (12) Lib Dems: 15% (12) Greens: 6% (2) BNP: 5% (0) SNP: 1% (2) Plaid: 1% (1) N. Ireland: 3 MEPs (1 each for DUP, Sinn Fein, Ulster Unionists) What will happen this time? Will the Tories do better under David Cameron ...
Volunteered as a bouncer for the Keighley Krawl on behalf of the Town Council today. Er, no bouncing; just checking arm bands, thank goodness. Vintage buses went around the pub music venues so people could sample different beverages and music without having to drive. Good stuff.
Good evening, and welcome to Freedom Central's Live Results Service for tonights count. We are expecting results from across Wales from around 8.30pm this evening. We will do our very best to get all the information to you as it happens. Turnout across Wales is 30.5%, down from 2004, but up from 1999, when the elections were also held without local elections in Wales. This is without doubt the most interesting election in many years, with a variety of potential outcomes. We will know soon enough. 19.19 - Counting now well underway, early reports show Labour vote holding up better ...
The BBC has a live Text and Video update here which is strongly recommended. There's some excellent pre-results coming in via Twitter search on #eu09 Liberal Vision has a superb European exit poll thread here. Google's European election news collection is here. PoliticsHome will give regular updates in its Green Box here. The Guardian have started a LiveBlog here. Conservative Home have a live blog here with their usual blue tinge. The EU Information website has a great feed of news here. The official multi-language EU results site is here BBC results site here and their more general European news ...
Don't forget, if you're a party member you can register for the Lib Dem Voice private members' forum. You'll be in good company: there are 957 registered members, all of whom have the opportunity to read and post on a rich variety of topics which don't always make it into the public blog, as well as having the chance to vote in LDV's monthly tracking surveys. Here's a selection of the currently active threads to whet your appetites: General Elections mutterings and party preparedness Now the dust is settling (part 1) Euro vote share predictions AV Plus EU referendum Can ...
So - whilst we're waiting for tonight's results in the Euros - I pause to wonder how the mighty (and not so mighty) are fallen. I guess Caroline Flint has the most egg on face . To support Brown publicly and then execute a complete volte face to diss him certainly doesn't help her message re window dressing. And during her stints as Minister for Housing and Europe she hasn't really registered. I am surprised, however, that Dawn Primarolo, didn't get a promotion - as she has impressed me. She was particularly good at steering through the Embryology Bill - ...
Mmmm, ya ya ya.
At last a long and difficult campaign is over. Don't think I could have managed another week! But a good result to show for it, I got 578, Conservatives 512, Greens 155, Mebyon Kernow 149 and Labour 65 on a turnout of 41%, so LibDem hold! No time to sit about though, I couldn't deal with all the issues raised on the doorstep straight away, so get the ball rolling on them on Monday. Then there's the training, where the Council tries to swamp you with more stuff than you can possibly read, keep you of their backs, and the ...
Boris's Deputy and former Tory Bexley Council Leader Ian Clement has had his credit card confiscated after spending £1500 on a personal car CD player, eating out and personal groceries. See my press comment here.
As predicted on this Blog a couple of weeks ago, Reading's Labour Cabinet endorsed fully the recommendations put forward by Scrutiny to tackle issues connected with private rented housing in the town. This was the culmination of successful local Lib Dem campaign to get these long overlooked issues on to the agenda. The next big challenge will be making sure the Council and other bodies go one further and deliver real change. The Scrutiny Review included a number of recommendations aimed at local universities in Reading, calling on them to share the burden of responsibility for improving student housing and reducing environmental impacts. I wrote to Cllr ...
And by the way: click here for photo of Carla Bruni voting. ITALY Delivered especially for B.Smedley: PDL (centre-right, Berlusconi): 39-43 per cent PD (centre-left): 27-31 per cent Lega Nord (North League): 6.5-10.5 IDV (centrist): 5-8 UDC (Christian, conservative): 3.7-5.7 Communists: 2-4 per cent Sinista e Libertà: 1-3 per cent La Destra-MPA: 1-3 per cent Lista Panella: 1-3 per cent Others: 1-3 per cent Source DENMARK Socialdemokraterne (Social Democrats): 22.7 per cent V Venstre (Liberals): 20 per cent People's Party (Rightist conservatives): 14.9 per cent Socialists: 14.9 per cent Conservatives: 12.8 per cent FRANCE Note: Hat-tip to Burkesworks. Many thanks ...
I've been out today delivering flyers around Magdalen Yard Road and Roseangle advertising next Saturday's West End Fun Day, taking place from 11.30am on Magdalen Green. Delivering hundreds of advertising flyers to households has been a real team effort by the committee members of Friends of Magdalen Green. The Fun Day is a joint venture between the Friends and West End Community Council. There's a whole host of events taking place at the Fun Day - various community group and information stands, children's competitions, a five-a-side football competition for local Primary Schools, Beat the Goalie, Dundee Instrumental Band, Dundee Rep's ...
As I mentioned previously, I have offerred to help Iain Dale out with his election coverage this evening which is on between 6pm - midnight. I will keep the show updated with information from the European election count in Bracknell where I will be. I probably won't be able to blog from there but I will try to keep abreast of things via twitter and tweet about things myself. You can follow me here.
UKIP will do well at the polls tonight. Like the rest of the nation, I don't know how well, but their votes will be pouring in and they may even achieve second place. It's a long way from the way I saw things going a couple of months ago. Then, with UKIP divided, squabbling and still recovering from a couple of corrupt MEPs, I thought they and the BNP would both be coming in around the 8% mark. That isn't going to happen. The BNP and the Green Party will each poll 7-10%, with UKIP up around 20%. So what's ...
On Thursday I managed to hold my county seat by the massive majority of 15 votes!! I'd hoped for a bit more breathing room after winning by 56 votes four years ago, but it wasn't to be. Kenilworth Abbey has always been like this .... Anyway, I'm extremely grateful to everyone who voted for me, and I look forward to an interesting four more years on what will be a very different County Council. The Conservatives now have overall control with 39 of the 62 seats, and two net Liberal Democrat gains put us on 12 seats ahead of Labour's ...
Welcome to the 120th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (31st May - 6th June 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed. As ever, let's start with the most popular post, and work our way down. 1. As Lib Dems Surge To Second Place, Polls and Papers Say - Vote Lib Dem To Really Hurt Gordon Brown on Alex Wilcock's Love and Liberty blog. "... the party to trust on changing things is the one that's always ...
All, I was reminded this morning that my site's graph was now a little out of date, so I've updated it (see right). As the graph shows, the Liberal Democrats in the Stratford on Avon constituency remain well placed to beat the Conservatives at the next General Election - with the results from this week's County Council results putting us in a strong second place. If enough Greens and Labour supporters voted tactically, John Maples would no longer be our MP. Embarrassingly for Labour, they came a poor fourth across the constituency, with the Greens easily outstripping their vote. Regards, ...
{http://www.wikio.co.uk} On Saturday, at Forbury Fever - I and other councillors signed Reading's Climate Change Pledge. You can too here. Also, the entire Lib Dem group have said they will be signing up to this. The Pledge states you accept that: Climate Change is a reality and primarily man made (although not all national parties believe this!) Climate Change has wide ranging impacts on our environment, health, economy and well-being Climate Change is everyone's issue and I can get involved to reduce emissions Within the following year you will get involved and do at least 5 different things to reduce ...
On Saturday I attended Forbury Fever, which despite the rain had quite a good turnout and I managed to chat to a number of people at various stalls throughout the day. All in all it was still a fun day - although I did have a massive umbrella! First port of call was the bandstand to sign Reading's Climate Change Pledge. In Reading we are quite lucky that all the major parties supported this motion as it went through council, and in fact we asked for the finances to be reviewed so as it would remain fully funded, and not ...
...well, more than usual, at least. They are now shouting at Lord Sugar. How dare the Tories try to take my favourite TV show off air? Alright, so Sir/Lord/Tsar Sugar might (or might not, who knows nowadays in this queasy world of slithering slimy snakes - erm, politicians) become a Labour party peer. Is that much of a change? This guy's been donating money and supporting Labour for years. And anyway, I don't really care. I've already lost one person terribly dear to me (oh, Margaret, Margaret, how I will miss your sweet elitist music... but we all know that ...
I have had a lot of spam lately in Russian and i had no idea what it was. So i had it translated. And i was gob smacked it was from the Russian communist party saying there will always be a place for Hazel in Russia. Siberia.
This is one of the many ideas that seems to be floating around to 'clean-up' politics. David Cameron has certainly raised it and over on another thread I am debating it with 'UK Voter'. It is one of those ideas that sounds good in theory but is less so in practice. Firstly, there is a [...]
Junes's edition of Total Politics carries the second part of a two part series from me about how people in politics can get the most out of Facebook. In the May edition of Total Politics, I went through some of the steps to get started with using Facebook, including getting your privacy settings right and pulling in content from elsewhere. But once you've done that, what next? Facebook groups are a good place to start. You can hunt out groups that cover issues or organisations in your patch and also set up one or more groups to compliment your own ...
I am not buying this "man of the people" ordinary bloke stuff from Alan Johnson. I just caught his interview on the Politics Show where he tried to make out that he has no ambition beyond his current role and is loyal to Brown. The thing is, you don't get Alan Johnson's CV without having a driving ambition to get places. He worked his way up to General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union and was also on Labour's NEC where he was the only Union leader to support the abolition of Clause 4 (he must have had an eye ...
An entertaining couplet of Alan Sugar interviews here on PoliticsHome. He's not joining the government and will be a non-political adviser on business - "a Giant Dragon's Den but not with my money". He says he understands he will become a peer but when asked if he would take the Labour Whip he said: "I'm sorry I'm not sure what that means. I'm not familiar with the technicalities of all this." He also said he had checked his new role with the BBC and it was OK - so Dominic Grieve can go boil his head. But the bit I ...
General Motors, the World's biggest car company, responsible for the world's biggest cars, became the World's biggest BANKRUPT. As the economic output of Great Britain fell by a confirmed 1.9% in the first quarter, with the biggest fall in consumer spending since 1980, and while inflation was marginally better at a manageable-if-still-above-the chancellor's-target-band rate of 2.3%, High Street sales fell back after an unexpected rise in April (possibly down to a late Easter), so the worsening recession continued to hold the attention of the news meeja... ...Oh, who am I kidding! There has only been ONE news story this month: ...
I watched Peter Mandelson's performance on Andrew Marr earlier and Marr struggled to land a punch on him for most the interview. I tweeted that Sophie Raworth would have done a much better job as she did with Mandy a few months ago although he probably would have refused to go on if it had have been her! Paul Waugh tweeted that Mandy had messed up though and had confirmed in one of his answers that Balls had been considered for Chancellor. This is at odds with Brown's protestations that Darling was not considered for the chop. It must be ...
Green - 716 (21%) Conservative - 1196 (35%) Christine Headley (Liberal Democrat) 1061 (31%) Labour - 415 (12%) Turnout 47% While I would have preferred to win, this result is not in the least depressing and reflects the work I have put in over the last year. The next campaign starts now!
Welcome to Go Litel Blog, Go. Reading between the lines, I suspect the author lives in the same road as me. So it is from Little Bowden, actually.
I have for some time been somewhat "Twitter Averse", in that I could see no possible use for it. However, I was also "Apple Averse" and I am getting on famously with my iPod. So after much lobbying from Paul Walter and Irfan Ahmed who cannot believe I have been using Twitter, I will give it a go. If you have a gaping hole in your life and want to follow what I am doing, the big question I would ask is Why ? But if you still want to, I am registered as @Norfolkblogger. Now if someone wants to ...
CHALCOTS: With all what has been going on in Belsize with 133+ children without primary school places and the near collapse of the Government one may wonder what is happening to the Chalcots with "mould" and other serious problems reported in previous blogs. So here is a timely update. After many high level meetings with Camden who still has yet to officially report back on all of the concerns raised by representatives of residents through the Housing and Adult Social Care Scrutiny and Hampstead DMC. Through the Operational Forum meeting, which meets monthly with representatives from all sides, it was ...
Yesterday, I blogged about the English local election results, and suggested that the Liberal Democrats appeared to have performed very well in the national equivalent vote and, perhaps, not so well in terms of council seats. In today's Sunday Times, Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, co-directors of the LGC Elections Centre and compilers of the Local Elections Handbook, estimate the national equivalent vote as follows: Conservatives 35%, Liberal Democrats 25%, Labour 22% and others 18%. Labour's result is their worst on record and the Conservatives are down 8 points on last year's showing. The Lib Dem figure is 2 points ...
We in Wales already realise the benefits of even a nobbled system of proportional representation to the Conservative Party. Without the top-up list, they would have had no more than one representative in the first Assembly, when there was clearly widespread support for the party across Wales. The party can now point to five AMs elected directly from a constituency, but would it have achieved this success without the credibility which eight AMs elected from the regional list in 1999 gave them? One of those was, and continues to be, Nick Bourne, their leader. Now comes a beautiful example from ...
Back in the 1940s there was general approval for the welfare state - not universal by any means, but it was pretty popular. Oddly, the Manchester Guardian was one of the voices sounding a note of opposition. Why? Probably not for any of the reasons you might think of. The concern at the Guardian was that, instead of being safely removed from the gene pool, the lazy and malformed would flourish. Rather than dying young, the feckless poor would not only live to a ripe old state-funded age, but would breed too. Instead of a population enhanced over time by ...
So the dust is beginning to settle after the local elections. Here is Epping Forest we are celebrating the gain of Epping and Theydon Bois by Janet Whitehouse. A great result. In Buckhurst Hill and Loughton South we were unable to gain the seat, although with the resources that the Conservatives brought in, especially Eleanor Laing at one stage, it proved that they were worried.One thing that
Putting the Euro, Local Elections and near collapse of the Government behind us for a moment. We in Belsize must not forget the plight of the 133 or so children without a Primary school offer for the September 2009 or January 2010 intake and still on the waiting list for one of the preference schools, with many parents on waiting list in the high 30 or 40th or even higher position on the list! Many parents are refusing to accept alternatives being offered because of the travel distance to the alternatives. So the problem continues unabated. Further update it is ...
Here in the NW we couldn't have tried harder to achieve at least one MEP. There are two inputs to a good result – strong showings in the target areas in which we've worked and any increase in Clegg/Cable voting in other areas in places in which we know very little. Good luck to all Liberal Democrats [...]
Martin Bell promised to stand for only one term in Tatton. he said he would not break his promise, and he didn't. You can't fault Martin Bell for his honesty.But Esther Rantzen will make a brilliant politician. A few weeks ago she said:"So I can't tell you at this moment whether or not she will be deselected, but if she stands, I will stand."But now in the Mail on Sunday she seems set to stand
We'll be trying something new here at Freedom Central with a live results service from 8pm tonight for the Euro results. It will be largely focussed on Wales, but we'll try to add in interesting titbits from elsewhere. Tune in tonight from 8pm for more. *We'll be helped in this if Haverfordwest, where the count is taking place has a good mobile signal. I seem to remember last time it didn't. I also remember a distinct lack of places you could get food or drink on site.... Related posts:Europe Elects 2009 - Live Results ServiceMore allotments needed
Tommorow i will start to deal with one more case of homeliness, in a modern society if we can't find homes for the residents of this city,then we are failing in our task to govern or represent the basic needs of the people. When that happens we must seek change. I think we need to throw away the [...]
The basic thing to remember about First Past The Post is that it is a 'party list system' with the number on the list limited to one. The crude and rigid proportional system we enjoy for the Euro elections has a serious defect. When it comes to determining the last seat, one competitive name left on each list, it becomes in effect 'first past the post' with the winner being the party ahead relative to the others. By this stage normally nobody will have a full quota of votes so it will be the residues that decide it. Something to ...
Who is this marxist Lib Dem woman on the BBC's "Big Questions" promoting a ban on independent schools? Sheesh - she's less Liberal than I am Democrat (unfortunately my digital "switchover" is not playing this morning and I can only get audio at the moment - whichbloodybetter change before the Grand Prix starts!) <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-8502734622986536"; /* 468x15 */ google_ad_slot = "9254756953"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 15; //-->
Now that we have a new Home Secretary many people are looking to him for a new approach. In particular we would like to see Alan Johnson start to reverse the erosion of civil liberties and undo the growth of the surveillance state that has progressed under his predecessors. It does not help therefore that Sir David Pepper, who ran the GCHQ listening centre for five years, has suggested that all internet and phone traffic should be recorded to help the fight against terrorism. In many ways, he would say that wouldn't he. The Liberal Democrats have quite rightly responded ...
Well it seems quite, then you get the blips. Myself and Mole junior have had to deal with a couple of cases this week. The problem is no body wants to give a name in fear of reprisals. One street we visited every house is pristine.But you get one who has to spoil it for everyone.Thank you [...]
I don't normally read Labour List but today I have made an exception. They are carrying the results of a poll of 500 Labour Party members, including 115 councillors, conducted as a follow-up to the grassroots letter to the NEC calling for firmer leadership on the expenses scandal and before the disastrous council results were announced on Friday. The headline results of the survey are: * Almost 80% think the leadership has handled the expenses scandal badly * Almost 50% have felt less likely to campaign for Labour in current circumstances * Almost 65% still do not think the Party ...
I hate counts at the best of times but at least for the most part they are over within hours of the close of polls. The European Elections are different and we have all been forced to wait three days until we find out what has happened. Inevitably, this has spawned a huge amount of speculation, some of it well-informed, some of it not. There are no exit polls and even the verification is little help as the ballot papers are sorted upside down. The reality is that nobody actually knows what is going to happen at 9pm tonight. Of ...
Agree or disagree your choice, i have lived trough Thatcher and i never wish to see it again. All i see is something my own party have failed to produce someone who is good in front of a camera. We have tried to put someone in place who resembles a clone of Cameron it's not [...]
The talk at Gorton Library yesterday on Belle Vue was very good indeed. It's a sign of how well informed local people are that whenever the person giving a talk asked a question, the audience knew it. If the talk come again, it's well worth going to, the history of the 150+ years that Belle Vue was the greatest place in the North for entertainment. At its heyday, over 180,000 people would visit on a Bank Holiday Monday. The photos, posters and other memorabilia are on display at the Library until 20th. Well worth a look.
The LPUK stood their first candidate in the recent local elections. They chose Wisbech in the Fenland which anyone who knows the Megawiki "Pictoral dictionary of colloquialisms" will be familiar with as the definition for the phrase 'the middle of nowhere'. The LP came last of five standing against three paper candidates and the Tories. The seat would have been a good choice had it not been for the fact that the libertarian leaning UKIP were also standing. LPUK 140 (6.9%) Tory 930 (46.2) Lab 212 (10.5) Liberal Democrats 196 (9.7) UKIP 532 (26.4) I pointed in my earlier blog ...
Politicians from all parties must work hard to win back the trust and confidence of disaffected voters by proving that mainstream politics has the answers they seek Politics required a revival of local political culture, a significant shift of power from the centre to the community and politicians who look and sound like the people they [...]
{How Winchester voted - 2009} On Friday, we found out that we had won 6 out of 7 seats in the new Winchester constituency. Across the new constituency, the Lib Dem team got 48% of the vote. The Conservative vote slumped to 38%. Labour collapsed to 4%. UKIP got 6% of the vote and the Greens 3%. These are better results than we achieved at the County Council elections on the same day as we won the 2005 General Election. Compared to 2005, the Lib Dem vote is up. The Conservative vote is down. Overall, we saw a 4.4% swing ...
Last weekend was spent delivering leaflets and keeping an eye on the big election......"Britains got talent" that is! I confess I did vote in that election. Stavros got my vote. Apart from making laugh so much I did like his relationship with his son. There was a lot going on at work again and out of the blue I suddenly had to go to Holland on thursday for a 2 hour meeting with a client. Very exhausting but very worthwhile so I had to leave the team to do their best back in Hillingdon. However having set off at 7am ...
The underlying assumption to this is that Gordon Brown survives whatever level of disaster the voters visited him and the Labour Party when they voted on Thursday and is able to persuade his backbench Labour turkeys not to vote for Christmas when he meets them tomorrow. That's probably more likely than most people in the media are portraying - this is a man who showed enormous stubbornness and made his life a whole lot more difficult than it needed to be for 10 years while his arch enemy Blair was PM, so the current turmoil will be something like a ...
Our poll reveals PM's top men face election disaster if he isn't ousted (l-r): DUMPED: Darling, SIDELINED: Straw, DITCHED: Denham, TURFED: Tess, MAULED: Murphy, BLOW: Bradshaw, BOOTED: Byrne By Ian Kirby, 07/06/2009 SENIOR Cabinet Ministers in Gordon Brown's new Government will lose their seats at a General Election – unless they ditch him. A [...]
Mmmm so now Purnell has gone. Feels like we're living a House of Cards.Who wants To Play the King and get to The Final Cut? The Key question is John when the final hand goes down how many will be left to pick up the prize, And will the prize be worth winning? [...]
Sun 7th
08:32
Housing Minister Margaret Beckett 'to leave Government' it would be great if these people did there ...
var addthis_pub="allpaykp"; TODAY IN HOUSING Housing Minister Margaret Beckett 'to leave Government' Housing minister Margaret Beckett is reportedly leaving the Government after she was not offered another post. It is understood Mrs Beckett, one of the longest-standing and loyal ministers in the Labour government, was holding out for a promotion to full cabinet but handed in her resignation this [...]
Sun 7th
08:21Breaking news we have just had word the meeting take's place to select the MP for Salford Next week ...
Must support Labour Policy Must be over four foot six inches tall in stocking feet. Must have Dark Hair Must live in Salford and if selected and wins seat be prepared to live in a council flat. Must not ride classic Italian motor bikes And finally understand the rules on capital gains tax.
Welcome to the Sunday outing for our Daily View. As it's a Sunday, today it comes with a moving, talking, full colour Hugo Chavez. 2 Big Stories Gordon Brown - too popular for Labour's own good Yes, you read that right. In amongst all the speculation and rumour, the one substantive piece of news is the YouGov poll for Channel 4 of Labour Party members. Although the reporting has hyped up how unpopular Gordon Brown is with party members, the real problem for Labour is actually how much popularity he still retains: Gordon Brown should step down immediately 21% Gordon ...
Back from London & what turned out to be a pan-European (or even global) humanist conference. Brilliant speakers from UK, NL, BE, DE & India # is adjusting to life after Second Life. The withdrawal symptoms are pretty severe. Getting unhooked from absinthe is nothing on this... #
For someone running a political blog it might seem odd that I put my digital pen down for the last couple of days. I don't know about anyone else but this constant torrent of disaster befalling the Government is becoming exhausting. There's so much to write about I don't know where to begin. So the time is coming to move on, but I feel like I want to bookmark this particular chapter. When the economy inevitably started to sour, and Brown's blatant incompetence became apparent to all we saw Labour's polling figures drop behind the Tories for good. It was ...
The Tories idea is `to do a Blair` ie give an analysis of what's wrong without holding out any solutions and just turn up in the marginals saying as many vague things to as many groups of people as possible. It's time to engage them with real issues. They wish use this corrupt political system to [...]
Things are looking glum in Brown Central at the moment; so, since it is Saturday night/Sunday morning I thought I would provide a soundtrack to what is becoming an increasingly desperate scrabble to hang-on to power. This is by no means an exhaustive list, it is more an attempt to get a list going. May see the [...]
Rob Parsons commented: OK, I have a nice letter from the Telegraph. What now? It looks as if Rob got the same letter I did, which read as follows: Thank you for your email of 27 May 2009, which was addressed to telegrapheditorial. While we note your comments, we believe that the above article was written and in a way that will be readily understood by our readers. The facts are not in dispute and Jo Swinson was given full opportunity to respond. Following publication we were contacted by a Liberal Democrat press officer on Ms Swinson's behalf. This was ...
