...they'd be pretty sucky. My roundup of polls on Wednesday turned out to be pretty flaky. I'd like to use the excuse that I was only reporting them, not endorsing them, but that's for the birds. First of all, turnout: Mat B correctly predicted that YouGov were probably over-estimating and he was spot on. This raises an interesting question: how can YouGov be so right on the polling figures themselves (Anthony Wells has hailed them as the closest pollsters) and yet so wrong on this statistic? Secondly, the state of the parties in the North West. Here I'm on safer ...
Although the European elections were on Thursday the votes were not counted until last night (as they can't count until all parts of Europe have finished voting). So last night I attended the election count for Haringey at Alexandra Palace. Almost 50,000 votes were cast across the Borough and there were 19 different candidates - so the count took a little while (though sadly over two thirds of the electorate didn't vote). The results for Haringey are here. The results were great for the Lib Dems in Haringey - we increased our vote, whilst Labour got their lowest vote share ...
If you're like me, you'll probably need cheering up after the European Elections (though the locals were pretty good). If you're even more like me, one way is to dip into Doctor Who Magazine's latest special, 200 Golden Moments, featuring absolutely wonderful scenes from every single Doctor Who story. It is, quite simply, a joy. It answers the question I wish fans would ask more often - 'Why is this brilliant?' - across the whole TV series from 1963 to this Easter, and rivals the Radio Times' legendary Tenth Anniversary Special as the most marvellous Doctor Who magazine ever printed. ...
This gets its own post because it's so utterly bizarre... how many of you knew that there used to be a Woody Allen newspaper comic strip? No, honestly. It really exists. This comic ran for *eight years*. Not only that, a book of the comics was released (and is going to be reissued, which is how [...]
Free Family Cycling Days have been organised in parks across Birmingham in June and early July 2009.Each Family Cycle Day will include a cycling stunt show and provide give visitors the chance to have a go on a selection of weird and wonderful bikes. There will also be the opportunity to take part in an escorted 2km, 5km or 10km ride around the parks.Each Family Cycle Day will start at 10am and
For anyone outside the 20 mile orbit of Ashton-Under-Lyne they will probably never have heard of the borough of Tameside. It`s a collection of settlements both depressing and deprived with some leafier bits thrown in. As I went there on the bus I thought `would anyone vote Liberal Democrat here at all?` Surely this will be [...]
He cannot resign. Although Labour is shattered as a Government, it is not yet destroyed. Any views to the contrary are deluding themselves. Yes, Labour have done appallingly. But there are enough seats which will hold on as Labour to make it (almost) impossible for the Liberal Democrats to unseat them as the official opposition. That outcome is the only outcome in which Labour is destroyed. Anything they are doing as a Party now, is to stop the destruction of the Labour Party. It is not to limit their loss of seats, it is not to try to win the ...
Mon 8th
22:48
Had a Quite Day today getting leaflets put together,that time of year when you put on your ipod and ...
Well it's time to start flirting with the riso,and i will not be short of News, trouble is where to fit it all. No rest for the wicked...
An updated profile of Nick Griffin is available on our HOPE Not Hate website click here | The Politics | History | Nick Griffin | Racist party | Democracy & Elections | Extremist Links | Criminality | Antisemitism | Islamophobia | Nick Griffin celebrates in Oldham The [...]
Steve Guy thinks Labour could be facing another 20 years in the wildernessPaul Walter asks if Cameron will now criticise the STV PR system that has just given him a stunning victory in Northern IrelandSkipper reckons that Labour's future's in the balance. He used to teach me politics you know. Sort of.Berkshire's number one blogger and MP for Wokingham John Redwood thinks Caroline Flint did not earn any sort of promotionAnd the first Conservative I ever met who was for electoral reform, Janice Small (She's also Tory PPC for Batley and Spen) writes a very good piece calling for a ...
Elections to the European Parliament are done by Proportional Representation (either STV or party list) as stipulated by the rules for all elections to the European Parliament across Europe. In countries such as Italy, Germany and Spain, parties (or party groupings) present a list to the electorate across the entire country and on the basis of this, seats are allocated to each party. The rules do allow for subdivision of voters and here in the UK we have opted to subdivide by English regions and the principalities of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. What would the outcome of the 2009 ...
Tonight was the annual meeting of the two smallest parishes in Eaglescliffe ward. Neither parish has a hall or a pub nor any other public meeting place other than the open air of the village green and so they assemble in the neighbouring parish. Tonight the discussion included the vexed issue of development control. The village is deemed unsustainable with respect to public amenities and
............have you ever heard us say that as a party? NO. For one good reason. The only parties who preface what they have to say with "We're not racist but............." are the racists! They know that what they are peddling is racism dressed up in an excuse for democracy, they know that when anyone hears what they have to say they are likely to think it is racist.........so they try that simple device. If you are not racist, why on earth would you need to tell anyone? Its like me saying "I'm not tall but............." If its true its stating ...
A ComRes poll for tomorrow's Indy shows Johnson might drag Labour back towards hung Parliament territory. In their wisdom, Labour have chosen electoral oblivion instead.
Busy day with the Equalities Bill in Parliament, so here's our press release: Lib Dems main Euro-winners, with biggest vote increaseLowest ever vote share for Labour in borough electionPoll shock, as local Tories pushed into fourth placeThe Liberal Democrats were the main winners in the European elections in Haringey last night. The party added 4.7 per cent to its tally and dramatically closed the gap on Haringey Labour, whose vote slumped to its lowest ever share in a borough-wide election. It was also a night of disaster for the local Tories, who shocked observers by slumping into fourth place, behind ...
An article EVERY Liberal Democrat should read
http://crossofstgeorge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24677 hehe – apparently I'm a pc drongo and have had values imposed on me. Nah mate – I simply refuse to cowtow to a view of Englishness that is mind-numbingly narrow and parochial. I don't need a party to tell me to be proud to be English – particularly ones that have as elected representatives people who [...]
Surprise, surprise. Despite some calls from the "usual suspects" for Brown to stand down it appears that the PLP meeting that was billed as "make or break" for Gordon has turned out to be "make". Swarms of loyalists are out right now spinning about how there was a small minority against him but the vast majority of the ranks are square behind him. It is starting to look like this rebellion is fizzling out. The cabinet and the PLP are too spineless to do the necessary and defenestrate Brown. It seems that they are so fearful of losing their jobs ...
I know this is heresy, but I'm starting to feel sorry for Gordon Brown. Politics has a habit of projecting the worst kind of horrors onto those it appoints as fall-guy, and it's certainly tough in human terms watching it happen. That said, I believe we are seeing the demise of the last Labour government in history, and possibly the last general election platform by the Labour Party. It has no organising idea, there is no great policy debate between the plotters that might allow it to regenerate in intellectual terms, there is nothing left apart from vague and discredited ...
Because I'm still too furious about the Bastard Nazi Party and racist UKIP getting seats, I can't possibly write about something as pure and good as Seaguy. Not while the acid indigestion is so bad that I can't even think. I'll do a Seaguy review tomorrow if I have the stomach for it, and some [...]
Wow I am so tired and very depressed.
For many politicians it has been a terrible month. The cover has been blown on Westminster's systemic failure and folly and even in Cardiff Bay, there is intense scrutiny of those who are elected; of their wallets and their ethics. Quite rightly, there is anger. Quite rightly, there will be serious recriminations. But we shouldn't for one minute think that it's a bad thing that the Telegraph published, or that the public now wants to see their elected laid bare. In many respects, out of the chaos appears an opportunity to change course. An opportunity we should seize because we ...
You would have to be depressed if you were in the Labour Party right now; drubbed at the polls and you discover your Parliamentary party lacks the spine to depose the leader that has just led you to that defeat. If you are a Brown critic you must wonder what on gods earth will make [...]
It is increasingly apparent that our vote and performance at each election is robust. We don't seem to suffer from wild declines like Labour and the Tories. It's a tribute to our solid work to convince voters of the merits of our team and approach.Just like the locals where we increased our share of the vote to 28%, we've increased the number of seats in the European Parliament.In key marginals we did especially well taking the lead in a whole host of seats where we are hoping to win at the General Election.What is especially satisfying is that we fought ...
On Saturday I wrote about Election Day on Thursday and the verification process that took place on Friday. Yesterday we finally got through the count itself. Once again, the process took over five hours, but, hey, that's democracy. This time the counting clerks had to start by taking the bundles of ballot papers and then assigning them to boxes according to who the elector...
Surely this is the last likely story involving a senior Labour Mp that we expected to read today ?
More a rumour than a story at this point. The PLP appears to have flunked it. Astonishingly, Brown is still Prime Minister. Labour has lost all sense of survival. UPDATE: Rumour unfounded
Local Lib Dem Councillors have praised clean-up staff following recent Oasis concerts in Heaton Park, but voiced concerns that not enough was done to protect local people during the recent events. The concerts, which saw 210,000 people enjoy music in the park over three nights, generated controversy over noise, but passed largely without major trouble. Commenting on the concerts, Cllr Vic D'Albert, Liberal Democrat member for Holyrood and Parliamentary candidate for Bury South said "What's clear is that over 200,000 people came to Prestwich and had a great time. But there were lots of problems for the people that live ...
A colleague of mine started extolling the virtuous of the Green Party today at work. She was polite enough and is someone I generally get on with and respect. However, I got the distinct impression that her view of the Greens was not one that matched up with the reality of what they are like. But I guess we only judge from our own perspectives. The saintly Greens, were simply not capable of being like the other parties. She refused to believe that a senior Norwich Green tried to spoil and gatecrash his way in to a Liberal Democrat meeting ...
My Sunday night was spent having a lot less fun than even the most die-hard Oasis-haters would have had if their ears had been glued to a Heaton Park speaker - I was at the Bury count for the European elections. Bury is one tenth of one small part of one region in one country which is one twenty-seventh of the European Union. I know the elections were important, but I couldn't help but feel that standing their in the leisure centre was the Euro equivalent of being at the count for election of vice-Treasurer of the Prestwich and Whitefield ...
{sweden} Lest we dwell too much on the election of two BNP MEPs in Britain, I thought it would be worth cheering Liberal Vision readers up with some good news from the European elections in the rest of the EU. Though the biggest liberal victory (in terms of seats gained) was in Germany, Sunday's election in Sweden is especially interesting because of the rolling back of the Eurosceptic tide and strong results for broadly liberal forces. Sweden's electorate of seven million elects 18 MEPs this year, down from 19 in 2004. When the Lisbon Treaty is ratified Sweden will gain ...
BNP voters aren't going to listen to me. I don't blame them. But then, this message isn't aimed at BNP voters. This is aimed at those of you still desperately clinging to the idea that No Platform is going to work. As I write this, I'm listening to a live broadcast of a speech by bog-eyed slime ball fuck-wit Nick Griffin. I'm struck by the overwhelming sense that Nick is quite clearly a moron, that he's just another politician like any other, promising truly atrocious policies presented in the sort of style more commonly associated with infomercials and tele-evangelism. It's ...
100 years of continuous service is worth celebrating. Do you know who was celebrating 100 years of service in Consett this year? Read the rest of this entry.
The weekend in Prestwich was dominated by the Oasis concerts which saw 150,000 people come to town, and approximately 300,000 shoes ruined by mud. I know a lot of people were disturbed by noise and congestion, but I also know that a lot of people (including me) had a great time enjoying the music at the concerts. So far I've had three complaints, and whilst I have responded to them all and don't doubt their seriousness, is still 209,997 less than the total number of happy concert-goers. Having said that, there were undoubted problems with some aspects of the organisation. ...
Adrian Sanders, Liberal Democrat MP for Torbay, today apologised to Parliament after a member of his staff leaked a sensitive document. From This is Devon: And the MP's researcher is set to be barred from Westminster for 28 days for "serious" contempt in passing on confidential information, and then trying to cover it up. It follows an investigation by the parliamentary sleaze watchdog, which was called in after extracts from a draft report by the Culture, Media, and Sport Select Committee appeared in an article on the Guardian's website. The Committee on Standards and Privileges found no suggestion that Mr ...
Very simple this. TFL allow you to sign up for travel updates by text. I've just got one alerting me of a tube strike tomorrow night. Timely. Relevant. And directs me to the website for more information. Extremely simple but in its own way perfect.
... lovely Dr Cable got rushed to hospital with appendicitis. Luckily, they caught it in time, and after a bit of keyhole surgery he is recovering at home. Get well soon, Vince. ♥
If he's to be consistent, David Cameron should criticise Proportional Representation for giving him a stunning victory in the European Elections in Northern Ireland, the first for the newly formed Ulster Conservatives and Unionists. (After all, he's been slagging off PR constantly for the last few weeks, and William Hague blamed PR for the BNP's two seat victory in the European Parliament elections). It is reasonable to speculate that, if the election had been run on Cameron's First Past the Post system, Jim Nicholson, the Ulster Conservative and Unionist candidate would have come third. That was where he came in ...
Last night, the North west elected Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP to represent them at the European Parliament. The LibDems, Greens, UKIP were all marginally close to winning (another) seat, but the BNP took it. I am appalled, but at a thousand different targets right now. Did the LibDems campaign hard enough? Was the Hope Not Hate campaign both the wrong strategy and organised as a pseudo Labour campaign? Should the Greens have broke the habit of a lifetime and delivered leaflets now? Should MPs mired in expenses scandals be sent a DVD of Nick Griffin's speeches to play ...
We are living in strange and interesting times. One thing that never fails to surprise me is how Prime Ministers never seem to realise when the game is up. They always enter a delusional twilight world where they think they should just go on and on, even when the overwhelming evidence is that they have lost all public support. Labour's humiliation across two sets of elections last Thursday has broken all kinds of records. It must be apparent to Gordon that he is about as likely to win the next General Election as (with apologies to Monty Python) Tarquin Fim ...
The latest results from the local and European elections, as well as reaction from Nick Clegg. Nick Clegg visited Bristol to congratulate council leader Barbara Janke and the local Liberal Democrats European elections results from across the UK. Fiona Hall has been re-elected as an MEP for North East England. Andrew Duff has been re-elected as an MEP for...
Anyone wanting to drown in political nerdy paradise should look at Slugger O'Toole's Live Blog or here on CoveritLive or Tweet search for #EUNI. The Northern Ireland count is absolutely fascinating - bearing in mind it is a STV system, unlike the rest of the UK. Sinn Fein's candidate was the only one to be elected via first preferences. The poor old DUP vote was split. Many of their votes went to Allister of True Ulster Voice. The second stage gave a seat to the Ulster Unionist/Conservative candidate. Now the poor old DUP are having to scrap it out for ...
I do not believe that Conservatives and their forbears have ever failed to win a single council seat in the St Albans parliamentary constituency. Well the impossible happened last Thursday when the Liberal Democrats won every single county council division lying wholly or partly within the St Albans constituency boundaries. As Herts County Council's own website shows, there is a splash of yellow across the middle of the county. The picture above shows seven of the eight LibDem councillors from the St Albans constituency with the road and pavement dossier which has become a metaphor for Conservative failures in Hertfordshire. ...
Let's call a spade a spade: given the BNP electoral successes I think this is probably one of the most important things we can do in politics right now. Last night was not a good set of results for the Lib Dems; anything that places our national vote share behind Labour's simply is not good enough. Rather than do an exhaustive analysis I intend to do something novel, something that has not been done much during this electoral cycle, and focus on a European issue. I remember one of the first blog posts that I wrote critical of a position ...
I am so pleased that Catherine Bearder has been elected as an MEP in my region of the South East from the number 2 spot on the Lib Dem list. I have met Catherine a few times and as I mentioned in an article for Lib Dem Voice recently she is a strong and dedicated campaigner for our party who thoroughly deserves her seat in parliament. I am certain she will make an excellent MEP. With the gloom of the BNP's wins yesterday, I stayed up until I had heard the South East results and at least then there was ...
Over the years, it's easy to accumulate a range of things on your desk. Some of them are even useful. Some of them are, shall we say, rather distinctively you. And so my dilemma... No related posts.
An organisation where people were promoted purely on the basis of office politics, playing off different factions within the company against each other, rather than choosing the best person for the job, would be dysfunctional (many, if not most, British companies were like this pre-1960s and quite a few still are). A company where senior managers were flown in for a few months, a year or two at most, and then moved on just as they were starting to properly get to grips with their role would be having serious problems. (Sometimes called "seagull managers", they swoop in, crap over ...
... as a goth. Yes, I know, I have been in denial for years. But it was in browsing through this page of goth [stereo]types and musing well, I suppose I'm half-way between a rivethead and a metalhead, but neither of them is really ME... that {[info] - personal} matgb pointed out the Geek Goth page, saying look, it's US!. CURSE MY STEREOTYPENESS!!!
The good folk at Make Votes Count have been rapidly number-crunching, and come up with the following analysis of the UK's European election results... 1) MOST VOTES ELECTED AN MEP At least 3 out of every 4 votes counted and elected an MEP. Because of the proportional system used for the European elections, a large majority of voters will be represented by an MEP whom they voted for. In most regions, that is the case for at least 75% of voters. In the South East, it is almost 9 in every 10 voters. However, there were some losers; in particular ...
The different strengths and weaknesses of different media channels were very obvious watching the election results over the last few days. The traditional media did a good job of comprehensive analysis both online and offline, but hours after the events, so was usually my last port of call. The legal constraints and lack of imagination of councils mean that while they run the whole process they are very poor at communicating the results quickly or interestingly. Immediacy Twitter wins hands down for being the fastest way to find new information about counts around the country. For instance a Twitter search ...
Now the dust has settled on last nights Euro Election results and the shock of Britain electing two BNP MEP's I would say there is some space for reflection. As I see it there are two twin, not un-related, dangers; ignorance and overreaction. Ignorance would be to ignore the clear signal the result sent to [...]
Even though I know that famouse Doctor Who writer {[info] - livejournal.com} lonemagpie is right when he says thatThe BNP's votes were actually *down* across the board - but because so many mainstream voters stayed home, and because Labour's collapse was even greater than expected, it still allowed them to get in with less votes than last time., I still can't help but feel the same as the lovely Mr Matthewman. I hope all you bastards who stayed at home and didn't vote because they're all in it for themselves and they're all the same and my vote wouldn't make ...
This weeks headline figures:2028 absolute unique visitors since 8th May7115 visitsBusiest day: ThursdayReaders' favourite browser: still Firefox, although it's down to 55.62% ( more Google Analytics statporn under here ) Exciting stats not from Google Analytics:# of unread emails: 155# of websites requiring work: 4# of blog posts I am committed to write that I haven't written yet: 9# of logos/headers to design: 1 (for Sarah at Same Difference)# of Dreamwidth Invite Codes Available for handing out: 0# of people added to reading list this week: 17# of people removed from reading list this week: 2# of times I forgot ...
So, the BNP managed to win two seats on the European parliament. I watched the Yorkshire and Humber results come in on TV last night, and something broke inside me. It was painful to see a party that holds beliefs that I abhor do so well in these elections. The Euro election was the top conversation topic [...]
From the New York Times: Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the number of girls younger than 18 who were allegedly invited to a villa by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy. Mr. Berlusconi is alleged to have invited about 40 women to the villa, but only some of them were allegedly younger than 18 at the time, not all of them.
BNP 4,818Christian Party 627Conservatives 9,819English Democrats 1,556Jury Team 263LIB DEMS 5,498No2EU 738Libertas 206Socialist Labour 973Greens 3,210Labour 10,800UKIP 7,252Francis Apaloo 104 Total votes cast 46,050Void votes 186Turnout %27.54 Pleased with our share and the fact we beat the BNP by a decent margin.
Losing at the Bridge Table Politics is like tournament bridge. It's not the quality of the cards you are dealt that matters. It's how well you play the hand. Cameron was dealt a rotten hand over expenses. His party is a bunch of upper class rotters milking the public purse. Cameron turned this to his own advantage. He summoned the rotters to his study and gave them all a good caning. He also effectively saw off the reform agenda in a cloud of grandiloquent promises. These amounted to a cast-iron commitment to think hard about fixed term parliaments and then ...
MARK THOMAS VISITS HAZEL BLEARS IN SALFORD ROBBING THE BOAT Star Date: 8th June 2009 On Hazel Blears' doorstep Mark Thomas gives it straight... "Your MP is diddling the books..." "This is fraud...this is corruption..." And is Hazel Blears to blame for the BNP getting elected? It's Euro election voting day in Salford, and outside Hazel Blears' house the tv and press [...]
{ros} The palaver over Ros Scott's now-deceased blog seems to have died down, and I can half see why: "Politician decides not to blog" provokes palpitations in only the geekiest of chained-to-laptop types. Surely it's up to her whether or not she writes a blog, some might say, in what seems a pretty damned obvious point prima facie. Yes - but the problem is that this really isn't the issue. Rather this is just a headline that there-under lie several other facts; facts that leave a slight feeling of discomfort, to say the least. Let's take a butcher's in point ...
Woman scorned Caroline Flint was asked by aids to "tone down" her resignation letter. Ms. Flint was advised by staff to omit words such as "sexist pig" and "devious" from her statement and was allegedly heard to refer to the Prime Minister as a "fucking bastard" as she left government. Revelations of Ms. Flint's foul-mouth tirade have come just days after her resignation letter claimed Gordon Brown used her as "female window dressing." The number of female MPs have dwindled since 1997 with Gordon Brown proving to be much less apt at handling the women than Blair was. The Babes ...
Over at the Daily Mail, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable examines how to cope with another surge in oil prices, during a time of recession and rising unemployment. Here's his conclusion: It is more obvious than ever that the future lies with fuel-efficient and low-carbon cars. Those who are able to switch now will save a lot of money. The Government should therefore be more intelligent when it comes to helping the car industry. Labour's scrappage scheme for old bangers is largely a waste of taxpayers' money. It would be more useful to concentrate on swaps for the new ...
The drawn out process that started with abysmal local election results for Labour on thursday and finished with abysmal European election results last night served only to prolong the agony and confirm our fears for the state of british politics. The mathematics of the European elections meant that the collapse in the Labour vote allied to reduced turnout directly related to the fascist BNP leader getting elected last night. The results did favour the Conservatives, undoubtedly- again part of the mathematical process under this style of PR but don't be taken in by Camerons spin on this. Voters were hardly ...
Alright, so we didn't win. Nor did our vote share increase. But... 1. We won Cardiff Central (no surprise, really, but last Euro election we did not) 2. We came just over 170 votes behind Labour in Newport East. 3. We came around 300 votes behind Labour in Swansea West. 4. We have shown that Cardiff South and Penarth is a three-way fight. 5. We moved up in Merthyr Tydfil and Pontypridd. 6. We moved up in Brecon and Radnor (good news for Roger Williams). 7. We moved up in Ceredigion (and if the swing was replicated, Mark Williams would ...
Monday: After terrible results in the local elections and terrible results in the European elections, today the Hard Labour party will take a good long look at itself and realise that they cannot win the next General Election. And knowing that, they will think about getting rid of Mr Frown and decide: "why bother?" If they were GOING to do it, they would have done it last Friday; they bottled it, just like the Prime Monster did two years ago. The IRONY is that Mr Frown has done SO BADLY that there's now no point in getting rid of him. ...
My EU blog of 18th May was sent to the local papers on 26th May and finally published on 6th June!! Our 'Party Manifesto' for the EU emerged about 4days before the election. Our first EU Election broadcast never mentioned Europe. Fat lot of good all that was. In the NW,apart from Chris Davies, our local and National EU election effort was invisible.'Don't mention the EU' was like the Fawlty Towers 'Don't mention the War' sketch. If we really are the pro-Europe party then our leaders have got to stop pussyfooting round it and meet UKIP, the BNP & Eurosceptic ...
It was a long night - the North West was the last English region to declare their results, partly I understand due to a re-count in Trafford. I think the North West result mirrors the UK as a whole for the Lib Dems, we held our own (lost a little, perhaps 1%) but Labour took a mauling, mainly at the hands of UKIP. Sadly, the BNP elected Nick Griffin in the North West and 1 other in Yorkshire & Humber - I saw a press conference from UKIP this morning stating that if UKIP had managed 900 more votes, Griffin ...
Today I am writing my congratulations to George Lyon who has this morning become Scotland's new Liberal Democrat MEP. We have, once again, confounded the media commentators and our opponents who said that we could not hold on to any representation because of the reduction in seats in Scotland. I am particularly pleased that we were able to win whilst remaining true to our party's important principle that we are "stronger together and poorer apart" when it comes to the European Union. Our campaign showed the practical action that can make our country safer from international crime, more effective against ...
The problem has been stated in many ways: with each treaty the European Parliament gains more power and importance. Yet time after time, the people of Europe vote on national issues, and the proportion of people bothering to vote at all falls. In the UK, at least half the MEPs are chosen by the national parties: those in the top one or two places on the lists of the Lib Dems, Labour, Tories and UKIP are for the most part a shoe-in. The fate of the other half relies not on whether they'd make good MEPs, nor on what their ...
With the dreadful news that the BNP have got two MEPs elected there is a risk that this news dominates the next news cycle and lets Labour off the hook. But these results in a nationally contested election are the worst in Labour's history for alomst a hundred years. In fact you have to go back to just after they were formed when they were still finding their political feet to see a result so bad. It is amazing to see the party of government in such a state. They have dropped more than 7 percentage points or in other ...
It was galling to just miss out on getting elected to the European Parliament for the second time last night, by an even smaller margin than in 2004. Even though the number of London Euro-seats went down from nine to eight (in response to EU enlargement), I would still have been elected had the Liberal Democrats polled [...]
The blood-curdling advance of the Fascist BNP in the Euro elections will make every reasonable person feel extremely uneasy. My joy at hearing that George Lyon was going to be Scotland's newest MEP was quickly tinged with horror that he would be accompanied by a Fascist from Yorkshire. Waking up this morning to see that Nick Griffin had in fact taken the last seat in the north west region filled me with anger. It's not even as though more people voted for them this time round. Their total vote actually stayed around the same but the collapse in the Labour ...
The evening started with a long journey (I regret by car rather than public transport because of the time of my return journey) from Deal to Southampton. The collation of the South East region's results and allocation of seats took place at The Saints' stadium. Each party had a private box in which we could hide [...]
The CPRE have just launched a survey, calling on residents to submit their views on the use of the green belt in the Bath and Bristol area. The survey is being backed by MPs of all parties, including our own Bath MP Don Foster. The survey comes at a time when large areas of the green belt are being threatened with development, and the CPRE wants to find out what...
East Meade and Lawn Drive - bin collections I received a complaints about pink bins not being emptied on East Meade and also with erratic bin collections on Lawn Drive. There always seem to be places where bin collections get missed off and, given the pathetic fiasco of Labour's recycling bin roll-out, the public end up [...]
The 8th to the 14th June is National Carers Week and this year's theme is: Carers...the UK's Secret Service. This is in recognition that many carers are not known to local authorities or carers organisations and therefore do not have access to the support or assistance that is available to them. Many carers would not see themselves [...]
When I went to sleep last night, after getting home from the Liverpool count, it looked like the BNP hadn't quite managed to get an MEP elected here. When I woke up this morning the first thing I heard was a radio interview with the odious Nick Griffin celebrating his election. I realise the BNP is a legal party and is entitled to stand etc etc .. but that doesn't stop me feeling really sick. Hopefully Griffin and his colleague from Yorkshire will fail to make an impact or will be exposed more widely for what they are. I truly ...
{janek} Admittedly it's only "Jane Kennedy," who was apparently some kind of Environment minister. As minor as she is, this remains portentous. The slow trickle of resignations, if it continues, will bring down Gordo by the end of the week. Source: Guido
Hmm, so what to make of all that, then? Here's the headline results (comparison with 2004 results in brackets): Conservatives: 27.7 % (+1.0%), 25 MEPs (+1) UK Independence Party: 16.5% (+0.3%), 13 MEPs (+1) Labour: 15.7% (-6.9%), 13 MEPs (-5) Liberal Democrats: 13.7% (-1.2%), 11 MEPs (+1) Greens: 8.6% (+2.4%), 2 MEPs (0) British National Party 6.2% (+1.3%), 2 MEPs (+2) SNP: 2.1% (+0.7%), 2 MEPs (n/c) Plaid Cymru: 0.8% (-0.1%), 1 MEP (n/c) Others: 8.2% In a sense, the Euro results show the reverse for the Lib Dems of what happened in the English local elections held on the ...
{Smannell Road drainage} Local residents are questioning why so much work is being carried out along Smannell Road. A number of different contractors are involved laying fibre optic cables, building additional roundabouts and eventually traffic signals at Tescos. In addition work is being carried out to improve drainage along the road and on the adjacent open space which has been prone to flooding in the past. As a result a number of the existing trees have been removed to facilitate this work. Council officers have worked with the contractor to avoid loss of as many trees as possible and have ...
Not me. A system of proportional representation doesn't cause people to vote for extreme parties. But, thank God, it does give some fair representation to the normal, ordinary people who feel desperate enough to vote for extreme parties. The alternative is: masking that dissent and making people more angrier because they are unrepresented and thereby building up an even more dangerous political pressure cooker. I am delighted to see Nick Griffin disporting himself around the airwaves. People will plainly see what a complete burke he is. A man who is completely deluded and who has no practical civilised answers but ...
A response to the RSS petition on the number 10 website has been published: http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page19493 The CPRE have just launched a survey, calling on residents to submit their views on the use of the green belt in the Bath and Bristol area. The survey is being backed by MPs of all parties, including our own Bath MP Don Foster. The survey comes at a time when...
When George Lyon is formally declared as the eleventh Liberal Demorcat MEP later today he will actually be in a minority. He will be one of five male Lib Dem MEPs to the six women who will be representing us. Last week on one of my colleagues blogs or Facebook, and just now I can't recall which, somebody complained that the Lib Dems by not using zipped lists and proportionality were not getting a balance of people. Well without doing so we have achieved sexual parity. Sarah Ludford in London, Fiona Hall in the North East, Liz Lynne in the ...
Well, most of the results are in. Labour have had a terrible time of it, and we held our own, though I'm disappointed not to have two Lib Dem MEPs in the North West. Instead the xenophobic conspiracy theorists in UKIP did well and we have two facists to represent Yorkshire and the Humber and [...]
I'm sure you will all have seen that the Liberal Democrats made the big news in last Thursday's local elections, winning 4 seats to gain overall majority of Bristol Council - an excellent achievement! If you want to look in detail at any of the figures please see this site: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/item/elections/ Here's a...
If there's anything worse than going to bed knowing that a Fascist has been elected to a Parliament, it's waking up to see Nick Griffin's odious little mug over the news,celebrating his win in the north west. I want to write a separate post about those rather sinister developments to explore some ideas about how we could deal with them and whether there is anything that the rest of the UK can learn from the Scottish experience. My first reaction on seeing our vote was that, well, we'd done ok. Going into this campaign, even before the expensses stuff, I ...
{East Anton} I have had a number of complaints from residents about East Anton construction traffic using Icknield Way north to Newbury Road. The council's planning legal agreement (section 106) is quite clear that all construction traffic must access the site via Smannell Road not Icknield Way nor Viking Way. I have reported a number of lorries who have ignored this agreement to both the highways department and the site manager. Any lorry driver ignoring the agreed route will be ordered off site and not allowed to return. If you see construction traffic using the wrong route please note their ...
Labour MP's today need to ask themselves what they value more, doing the right thing for the country or getting the best for themselves. If they want to do their best for the country then they must force Gordon Brown to either quit or call an immediate election. Their all time record low of 15% of the vote in the Euro elections shows that they no longer have any mandate to govern. If they believe that the British people really want them to carry on as they are then let the British people have their say on this. However these ...
As usual I will be taking part in National bike week as will many other Liberal Democrat Councillors in the local area I wonder how many Tories have a bike and how many will take part. Bath and North East Somerset Council is encouraging people to get on their bikes for national Bike Week 2009 by organising and supporting a series of events across the district. The Council organised...
Quite a night. The Tories win Wales for the first time since 1918! The governing party on 15.7%! I would have thought that Labour activists, MPs and supporters are seething with embarrassment that they let in Nick Griffin and that a second BNP MEP was elected. That is likely to shock them to the core and make them deeply ashamed of themselves. Tonight's Parliamentary Labour Party meeting will be an angry one. But my guess is that Brown will survive. What is the alternative? Milliband obviously doesn't want to take over for 9 months then lose an election, so he's ...
Political Betting is regarded as the top political blog of the UK yet the way it has worked over the last couple of days is shambolic. The site has been down for the last couple of days and Mike has been trying to write about how to access the threads on Wordpress via the Blogger site. Mike wrote three blog posts here, here and here about how the site was down yet personally he could have easily sorted out the problem if he didn't have the Wordpress bug. The future of the site? Elections will come and go and if ...
Like many others this morning I am sickened by the fact that the BNP has won two seats in the European parliament following the count overnight. I had to endure the sight of fascists being interviewed on TV knowing they now have a 5 year elected platform from which to espouse their hate as well as all the funding that comes from the result. I have already seen that William Hague has been on the radio this morning trying to argue that Proportional Representation is to blame for the result. I completely reject that argument. The BNP has got in ...
This evening, 8th June, I'll be debating 'MPs expenses: a triumph for journalism?' at the Frontline Club in Paddington, London, alongside Andrew Pierce, assistant editor of The Daily Telegraph, Heather Brooke, author of 'Your Right to Know', and Independent editor Roger Alton. The evening will be chaired by the Guardian's media commentator Roy Greenslade. You can find further details HERE, and book for the event HERE.
As expected the results of the local elections which came out on Friday and the European elections which were published last night have proven to be at least as bad as the worst projections for the Labour Party. After coming third behind the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in the local elections, their position was even worse in the European elections. Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats having made progress in the local elections could only hold their own in the European elections. Yet for the Conservatives the picture is not one of unalloyed joy either. Apart from the result in Wales ...
Gordon Brown helped Nick Griffin to get elected by being a sh** Prime Minister and a bad leader of the Labour party. Guido has written about how Brown helped Griffin and personally I like it so here it is: Nick Griffin will be thanking Gordon Brown tonight. He could not have done it without him. Brown has achieved one policy goal, he got a British job for one British worker, the British National Party candidate who is going to Brussels. Labour MPs should reflect on that, do they fear losing their jobs in an election more than they loathe the ...
I am a local councillor not a national politician, but even from my humble status you could see the writing on the wall.The issue over expenses was just the final nail in the coffin for so called leaders obsessed with greed and egos to match. I meet people in every day of my working life who [...]
In 1999 a video tape collection was published (which is still available second-hand), and this is my review of it published in the Journal of Liberal History, Issue 23 that year. The eagle-eyed pedant may be a little confused by the start of this videotape. It announces that in 1953 Harold Macmillan stared in the first official party political broadcast, and then goes straight into a Labour broadcast from 1951. In fact, 1951 saw the first political broadcasts during a general election (often called party election broadcasts, or PEBs) whilst 1953 saw the first broadcasts outside election time (often called ...
As I write this the current number of MEP's for each political party (without the Scottish result) is: Conservatives: 24 MEP's Labour: 11 MEP's Lib Dems: 10 MEP's UKIP: 13 MEP's Green: 2 MEP's BNP: 2 MEP's That result has put Labour into third place behind the UKIP and that is going to cause a lot of trouble for Gordon Brown come the Parliamentary Labour Party meeting today. My personal opinion is that Brown should take one of the following two options that I am going to write about below. Brown should call a general election and fight it as ...
PROTEST: Anti-fascist demonstation outside Manchester Town Hall Monday June 8,2009 By Macer Hall Have your say(16) DISENCHANTED Labour voters flocked to the BNP, handing the extremists their first Euro MP. Former National Front leader Andrew Brons will represent Yorkshire and the Humber at the European Parliament. And last night BNP leader Nick Griffin was [...]
First of all apologies for not blogging yesterday I was meant to be joining Conservative Future for a live blog but my Internet connection was down all day so that became impossible. Then I decided to tweet commentary of the results but then my phone died on me so overall I wasn't prepared for a night in which UK politics has been turned around. First of all I am saddened to see that my friend Jonathan Fryer did not get election in London and I wish him the best of luck in what ever he does in his future career ...
There was a spate of alarm about combusting laptops a few years ago, caused by overheating batteries. Now Ian Stafford has reported a colleague's laptop catching fire in the sunshine. Islington Council has introduced free wifi around Upper Street, prompting people to surf in the sun, outside cafes or on Islington Green. Perhaps it's just as [...]
2 Big Stories This morning's two big stories are being combined by most of the newspapers: the European election results and what they mean for Gordon Brown's leadership of the Labour party. From the Guardian: European elections: Brown faces leadership battle amid Labour meltdown and BNP success Gordon Brown today faces a make-or-break challenge to his leadership after Labour looked set to slump to just 16% of the national vote in the European elections and the far-right British National party won two new seats. In a devastating result for the prime minister, Nick Griffin, the leader of the BNP, was ...
I'm doing do some more in depth comment later. But for now here is one personal reflection on the count last night. I was attending the Falkirk Count, good solid Labour territory you would think. However, there was only one Labour representative in the hall as the votes were being counted, Cathy Peattie the MSP for Falkirk East. Now as a Lib Dem in some of the darker parts of the central belt for two Euros in a row now I've been the only Lib Dem at my count (although Kevin McPhillips had company over at Livingston for West Lothian) ...
Mon 8th
08:06
The Euro Elections in pie charts! the tory advantage and how the more parties there are, the less pr...
Yes I know, its not another blog post disgusted at the BNP wins, I've ranted about that enough already. Just a little look at the results and which parties gained most from the system. In terms of proportion of the vote things were relatively mild in terms of differences between the parties: When looking to the results of the voting one can see a big advantage to the Tories and a sizeable disadvantage to smaller parties who don't breach the 10% threshold. There's an interesting paradox here in relation to the party list system. It's designed to be proportional, to ...
I went to the Angel Hotel in Market Harborough this evening to meet my mother from her meeting of the Royal Naval Association. She was a meteorologist in the WRNS in her younger days. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the late Ron Palmer of the Royal Marines, who left money for us all to enjoy a tot of rum in his memory. While I was in the bar waiting for the meeting to finish, I sat in the bar watching England beat Pakistan in the Twenty20 world cup. It was a much better performance and a canny ...
Mon 8th
07:59Thankfully i was born after this birth of this man and his party.i pray to god today i have not seen...
Having predicted for two years that Brown will survive to the general election, I did have a wobble last week when Blears self-destructed. All is back to normal now in the sense that Brown is on the rocks but secure in his hold as Labour leader. The problem for the Labour rebels is that they have no candidate to challenge Brown. And even if they did, they would have to get over the hurdles which
There looks to be a growing story in Berkshire with, amongst other news, a Tory councillor in West Berkshire (Joe Mooney) ordered to stop claiming for first class train travel. More news on Reading List.
Mon 8th
07:49Well people of Britian Remember From Small Acorns, Read your History we all have to start somewhere ...
BNP leader Nick Griffin hails European election victory Nick Griffin, the British National Party (BNP) leader, described his party's breakthrough in the European elections as "a great moment for democracy" and blamed Labour for alienating voters. By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent Published: 7:30AM BST 08 Jun 2009 Leader of the British National Party Nick Griffin Photo: [...]
It is fundamental in a democracy to assume that people know what they are voting for. So it's clear that over 8% of the electorate carefully researched their policies and decided that this was what they supported. We all know that the BNP are racist, but of course they have shocking policies in other areas too, specifically disability. Their "health policy" is covered by the bland statement that they will work to ensure that the population is "healthier" in the first place. This is of course a euphemism, one that their role model party, the Nazis in Germany used. It ...
It was a long night. It was made longer by the fact that the All-Wales count took place in an unheated hangar/cow shed/factory unit (delete as appropriate) on the edge of Haverfordwest. One suspects that if the electorate had known of its availability earlier they would have voted en masse to detain all the country's politicians there indefinitely. For despite all the political earth-shaking events of the night there was no doubt that the overwhelming verdict was one of a plague-on-all-your-houses both in Wales and across the UK. People turned out to vote against the government and to cast their ...
Of course, the results for Liberal Democrats in Neath and Aberavon were disappointing. We were not alone, though. There was a small rise in the percentage vote in Wales but in England it was down, and, across Europe, Liberal parties suffered losses (though we don't seem to have lost MEPs in Britain). It looks as if ELDR no longer holds the balance of power in Brussels/Strasbourg. However, the rise in the size of the Green bloc means that the Conservative and Socialist groupings will still not have things all their own way. In both our constituencies, the BNP came within ...
Granted the fact that I can't sleep has something to do with being woken-up by my drunken flatmates returning in a blaze of sound and seeming tears but part of me feels that is perhaps appropriate that I can't sleep in any case. Two BNP MEP's; one in my adoptive home region of Yorkshire and [...]
Just settling down to do my half of the live blog of the Turkish GP. Did the report on the IRL Texas race earlier this morning. Need tea. # If this is true http://bit.ly/5RNJk it's way worse than anything UK reality TV ever did. Passports seized, quitting contestants locked up... # Toast and Marmite = good. Listening to Scotland getting spanked in the cricket = not good. Still ahead on balance I think. # Oops. England's first wicket falls on the 8th ball of the match. Looks like our participation in our home World Cup will be somewhat brief. # ...
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but too many people have been stupidly talking up the BNPs chances to the point of self-fullfilling prophecy - often in a genuine attempt to keep them out, but sometimes to frighten their own disillusioned supporters into turning out. The one thing the BNP had none of the resources to do - a get the vote out operation - was done for them by their opponents. But what I want to do here is look at who, with the benefit of hindsight, the anti-BNP voter should have voted for. Mostly to shame everybody else who ...
Via BBC UK Total MEP Seats Votes MEPs Party % +/- % Total +/- CON 28.6 1.2 24 1 UKIP 17.4 0.5 13 1 LAB 15.3 -7.0 11 -5 LD 13.9 -1.1 10 1 GRN 8.7 2.5 2 0 BNP 6.5 1.4 2 2 PC 0.9 -0.1 1 0 SNP 0 0 0 0 SSP 0 0 0 0 OTH 8.6 2.7 0 0 63 of 69 seats declared. Result excludes Northern Ireland
I am appalled that the BNP has won representation in the European Parliament. Their success maybe due to a dishonest campaign including despicable claims to be the only Christian (cit) party, scare tatics and the voice of the white working class communities and feeding off disillusion with mainstream political parties in the midst of an economic recession. Their success though is a stain on our houses so it isesponsibility of all of us to redouble our efforts to campaign and to expose ther true views.I've just received some bad news - the BNP have just won a seat in the ...
Well after the disappointment of my own result on Thursday (missed out again, this time by under 100 votes due to protest votes going Green) I am delighted to see that my long time friend and colleague Catherine Bearder has finally achieved her ambition of becoming an MEP. To celebrate, here is the funniest thing I've seen on YouTube recently:
South West seats result: Con 3 seats, UKIP 2 seats, Lib Dem 1 seat, Green 0, Lab 0 in 5th place - Well done Lib Dem Graham Watson! Full voting figures from BBC here
Well done Fiona Hall and the European election team. The North East has re-elected a great MEP in Fiona and the result was a good one, in the face of a very euro sceptic media. Fiona beat off the challenge of UKIP and the BNP, whilst the Labour party saw a 9% fall in their vote. The local result in Gateshead was very encouraging, with Labours vote falling.
Well the important news - not the European elections but the Blaydon Burn Festival. A great event and well attended. I was dismayed to hear that it is to be the final event as funding has run out. A real shame and I hope that Labour can find the funds to continue it.
The Party's press release sees a positive reaction from Kirsty: Commenting on the Welsh European election results, Kirsty Williams, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats said, 'This evening's results clearly show that where we campaign, we see a return at the ballot box, and the party continues to move forward in these parts of Wales. "I was determined that we would run this campaign in a positive way on the issues really affecting Welsh families. We did that, and despite the hugely negative atmosphere this election was held in, where we worked, we were able to get that positive message ...
Ricky Gervais's Science UK tour comes to The NIA Academy, Birmingham on Wednesday 25th November, Thursday 26th November and Friday 27th November.
