Assembly, dir Feng Xiaogang Set during and in the decade after the Chinese civil war, the film is based on the true story of a war hero fighting for the honour of his company, who despite fighting to the last man to cover the retreat of their regiment, were listed as Missing In Action instead of killed by the enemy. It is well-written (and well-translated and subtitled too - including, amusingly, a few lines in English spoken by a Yankee tank commander during a scene set in the Korean War), well shot, has an especially good musical score, but is ...
Tue 20th
23:45
Pollwatch Day 15 #GE2010 - Lib Dems still in 1st or 2nd place with 26-34% in today's polls
Four new polls reported tonight - and the Lib Dem surge is holding up: Populus in The Times ... CON 32%(-4), LAB 28%(-5), LIB DEM 31%(+10) Angus Reid for PoliticalBetting ... CON 32%(nc), LAB 23%(-1), LIB DEM 33%(+1) YouGov in The Sun ... CON 31%(-2), LAB 26%(-1), LIB DEM 34%(+3) ComRes for the Independent/ITV ... CON 35%(+3), LAB 26%(-2), LIB DEM 26%(-2) The Lib Dems are above 30% in three of the four polls; only ComRes has us below 30%, though as Anthony Wells notes: "ComRes's fieldwork was done on Sunday and Monday, so this poll is actually a day ...
A wonderful day today! Hazel and I went round a long list of lovely villages including Morland. It really is one of the most charming places in the whole of Cumbria. I may be biased as our family legend says that we used to own a mill there! Certainly I felt the tug of history as I looked down at the mill stream on this most beautiful afternoon.
Wow the Liberal Democrats are still riding high in the polls. Tonight's polls include 3 polls putting the Lib Dems over 30%, two of these put us in the lead. This is truly amazing almost a week after the first leaders' debate with many people out there expecting the Liberal Democrats' poll ratings to nose dive. If anything, these polls are buoying activists, making them work harder to achieve
"I don't want to get in to a hypothetical on that" says a senior politician in response to questions about how they'll behave in the event of a hung Parliament. Sounds familiar? Except its Harriet Harman.
The opinion polls still maintain the ability to shock. The latest survey from YouGov puts the Lib Dems on 34%, the Conservatives in second on 31% and Labour trailing in third on an astonishing 26%. Whether or not you believe the picture the opinion polls are painting, one thing is clear: the Tories are somehow ...
Show your support for the Liberal Democrats in Woking by downloading your own campaign poster here. It's a much more environemtally friendly option! LiberalDemocratsWindowPoster2010
Duncan Borrowman catches Esther Rantzen taking down Liberal Democrat posters in Luton. What he fails to add was that she was later caught persuasing old age pensioners to show their knickers and threatening people with suggestively shaped vegetables. We phoned the Gas Board. "It's nothing to do with us," they said. Despite having Rantzen to contend with, Qurban Hussain's campaign in Luton South has been praised as "an impressive effort" by Michael Crick, says Strange Thoughts. Caron's Musings directs us to the Making Your Mind Up video from Total Politics. Rising from its sick bed for a moment, Love and ...
Anyone notice the similarlity in the pictures on these leaflets from 2005 and 2010 ? This is the 2005 election leaflet from Keith Simpson And this is the 2010 version. Isn't it a little bit vain or even silly to be using a photo which is so obviously out of date ?
I am in Glasgow, having a very pleasant time, but it would be superhuman of me not to point out that I was right and the closure of UK airspace was indeed a weird fearmongering over-reaction. There is no diminution in ash currently in UK airspace, but its danger to aircraft has now been "reassessed", and the health and safety morons have had to admit that there is no overwhelming risk..
A busy day with a very early start attending a 'day job' meeting in Inverness - although it was a sunny but cold day in Inverness, the weather at Dalwhinnie on the road north was something of a return of winter, as the photo (right) shows! On return, this evening I firstly attended the Blackness Primary Parent Council where the issue discussed was road safety and parking issues near the school. I also updated the Parent Council that the City Council has advised me that the long-awaited new school crossing patroller on Blackness Road should hopefully be in place in ...
You know that breed of music fan who is only into bands and artists that are really obscure then abandons them when they become too popular, because they obviously can't be as good now that the masses are into them? Well, meet the political version (pdf file). Sure, the headline there within that YouGov poll ...
When I went to our group meeting last night I drove past a massive poster of Nick Clegg staring down on a marginal Labour ward in Gateshead. It turned out to be a poster for the Sky Leaders' debate on Thursday. An excellent place to put this giant close up of Nick.Today has been another delivery day. And there's plenty more in the pipeline, much of it written by me and ready to be printed. I
Stephanie Flanders has a long discussion of how much of a shock it is. Simon Ward is (typically) hawish, calling for more rate hikes. But the most interesting view comes from an unpublished private note from Jamie Dannhauser of Lombard, who urges people not to be fooled by the shock, and identifies one-offs like the VAT rise, ...
Mark Pack posed the intriguing question this morning on LDV, So, what is the Conservative Party strategy now? I would only question Mark's use of the word 'now': for a long time it's been hard to discern the Tories' strategy beyond their assumption that it was their turn to become the next Labservative government. We've seen yet another example of that today, with the mixed messages sent out by the Tories. On the one hand, they say they will 'focus on the positive'. Yet which advert do they release in order to back up that claim? This one, with a ...
Today's Evening Standard ran this letter from me: The polls are not just a surge in Lib Dems support but bit increase in the number of young backers of the party, and in the number of people saying they will vote overall. For the Tories to counter that energy with negative tactics, including "putting the fear of God into the electorate" over getting Brown again as PM, as Matthew d'Ancona suggests, will be deeply counter-productive, painting the Conservatives ever more distinctly an old party, wedded to the old ways. It's a reaction against all this which is bringing so many ...
For most of today I have been at home sick. I have utterly failed to do anything constructive, and not been able to keep up with ANYTHING. I am therefore having a cut of f-lists.Dreamwidth and LJMy Dreamwidth f-list doesn't need much trimming, and LJ just needs ones that are duplicated on Dreamwidth removing. If you find yourself removed from LJ, you'll still have access on DW, and you can follow me as syndicated on LJ ( [IMG: [livejournal.com profile] ] miss_sb_dw) if that's your preferred reading method. DW has both RSS and atom feeds if that's your bag, and ...
I got home this evening to find a leaflet from the Conservative party waiting for me, urging me to vote for them in the local elections. It says, amongst many other things:If as the polls suggest the Conservative Council is re-elected, we believe Thornton Heath would be best served by having Conservative councillors ... rather than opposition councillors who have no influenceSo I've emailed them to ask:This is remarkably similar to something that Simon Burns MP said in one of his election leaflets years ago when I lived in Chelmsford. Strangely, despite (according to him, and now you) voters being ...
Part of our shared European heritage is Ancient Greece, the birthplace of democracy, where Hephaestus (called Vulcan in Rome) was the god of fire and controller of volcanoes. He was born after his mother was impregnated by a spark from a fire. Thousands of years later, in last Thursday's debate, Nick Clegg provided a spark to our national imagination that was more potent than any of us dared to dream. Now we read that our opponents will try to make Europe the issue of the general election. The same strategy failed badly in 2001 for William Hague. Voters are more ...
Tonight's polls show the Lib Dems either pretty steady, or even gaining ground. Angus Reid/Political Betting: Lib Dem 33%, Con. 32%, Lab. 23% YouGov/Sun: Lib Dem 34%, Con 31%, Lab 26% Populus/Times: Con 32%, Lib Dem 31%, Lab 28% Meanwhile, the ComRes chairman has been tweeting that tonight's poll from them is 'sensational' and a 'humdinger'. Taking these others into account it is hard to imagine anything other than a substantial Lib Dem lead - anything else would be an incomprehensible outlier. We are edging closer to a result where the number of seats (on UNS) starts getting a lot ...
Alex Massie reports on the beginning of the Conservative backlash.Alix Mortimer on LDV asks who exactly are Vote for a Change?Bracknell Blog reports on the latest campaign from Don Haycocks, the man behind "Goodbye Mackay".And I wouldn't normally link to a comment on another blog but John Q. Publican has some very interesting ideas about what is happening with the Lib Dem/Clegg phenomenon in a comment he left on the "Though Cowards Flinch" blog which could be a blog post itself! Tuesday bonus is an amusing "Wonder Woman" spoof of Nadine Dorries, the MP for Mid Narnia. I mean Bedfordshire. ...
Some good news at last.
All the General Election candidates for the new Thornbury and Yate constutuency will be at St Mary's, Yate on Wednesday 28 April from 7.30 to 9.00 pm. Undecided? Want to see the candidates in person? Please come along. (With many thanks to all who organised this event)
Tue 20th
20:30
At a great event hosted by #chelmsford YMCA Hearing about some of their recent project successes
At a great event hosted by #chelmsford YMCA Hearing about some of their recent project successes
Even Guido has succumbed to its force.
Out and about in University, Bricknell and Newland wards today delivering our tabloid. I delivered what is, quite frankly, the oddest round we have in Hull North. In short you have to leave Hull walk past loads of houses and cross back into Hull to deliver around 40 houses. The reason is our absolutely random boundary with the East Riding. The reception from people out and about is still great. People still seem to want to talk about Nick Clegg and the debates. It is interesting that Labour and the Tories are moving into attack mode and it does not ...
The Liberal Democrats have today set out radical plans to reform the banking industry. The plans include: Breaking up the banks and a Banking Levy Getting the banks lending Local Enterprise Funds Regional Stock Exchanges Supporting mutuals Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said: "At the heart of our plans for economic change is a simple insight: we need to devolve and disperse economic power, particularly in the banking sector. "Most people, except perhaps Gordon Brown, now recognise that too much centralisation in politics has led to wasteful bureaucratic public services and a command-and-control state that leeches power away from ...
YouGov has just issued the results its latest poll on voting intentions at the general election: Liberal Democrat 34% Conservative 31% Labour 26% Others 9% What is going on? My impression is that the country is in a mood where it lacks respect for all politicians. Therefore the more that Gordon Brown and David Cameron tell voters that the only choice is between a Labour and a Conservative government, the more those voters are determined to prove them wrong.
It looks like those nice people at Total Politics have been raiding Mr Dale's record collection, at least I hope it was his and now mine. They've even picked up a Diamond and some Bucks Fizz. But I see some of my favourite people in there. Some of the highlights, Harry Cole losing his skirt, Iain Dale failing his audition, plus Mark Thompson, Helen Duffet and others putting on their dancing shoes allegedly. As nominations closed this evening the ballot papers will be getting made up shortly it really is time to make you mind up.
Look, I can understand a good TV performance boosting the Lib Dems in the polls. I can just about understand having several young kids running up to me in the street, looking admiringly at the stakeboard poster and one saying, "Are you voting for that Nick Clegg? I like him!" At a stretch I can even understand The Sun running a positive story about the Liberal Democrats. But Guido producing a wholly positive film about Nick Clegg? That volcanic ash must be hallucogenic.
vote lib dem and you get an alien invasion. I don't think so. ignore the desperate men vote with your heart not your feet peace be with you
I haven't done a round-up for a while, so here's a wee flavour of what I've been enjoying on the blogosphere over the past few days: Have a look at this new and emerging site about women who write about politics - and, women who write about politics, please consider yourself encouraged to introduce yourselves to the people who run Missive Poor, poor Daddy Alex is not well, but he still manages to write brilliantly, giving us 3 snapshots of politicians who are not up to it. All he asks of us to make him better is to make Nick ...
Since Nick Clegg's success in Thursday's TV debate, there have been incredible comments made by high-profile Labour and Conservative politicians that have led to questions about how seriously the establishment takes the Liberal Democrats. On Friday, Michael Gove called the Lib Dems "eccentric" and "outside the mainstream", and Bob Ainsworth called their policy on Trident "silly". How can a political party with 20-30% of voters supporting them be eccentric and outside of the mainstream? Many Labour and Conservative policies could be seen as just that. The suggestions of not replacing Trident, an amnesty for long-term illegal immigrants and cutting class ...
For a laugh, and to see how far out the pollsters can be, I have added at the bottom of the page, an election predictor which takes data from various polling sources and shows it on a cumulative and individual basis, and provides a prediction as to the number of seats each party could win. I ...
This story comes from Andy Strange's "Strange Thoughts" Blog. The cynics among you may think that if a party politician did this Ms Rantzen would be up in arms. Esther and the curious incident of the Lib Dem posters I am grateful to Liberal Cynic for pointing out, in a comment on my previous post, the curious incident of Esther and the Liberal Democrat
A populus poll for the Times just released shows a LibDem surge of 10%. Initial details here.
Whilst others have been quick off the mark with 'I agree with Nick' t-shirts, these shoes are fab...
A Harborough constituency hustings due to be held at a school in Oadby this evening has been called off over "to prevent the risk of confrontation," says the Harborough Mail: Chairman of the school governors Graham Wilson said the school had received about 30 letters and phone calls from concerned parents in the last few days. He said there were also suggestions a text message was being passed around, plus Facebook and Twitter messages threatening an anti-BNP protest outside the event. Mr Wilson said the school had raised its concerns with the event organisers, the Oadby Council of Churches, and ...
At the last general election, I voted for the first time, and gave it to Diana Johnson Labour MP for Hull North. When it came to the local election I voted for the Lib Dem candidate. Notwithstanding Dizzy Thinks posting this on the 1st of April, I just had to have a go at it: "For anyone confused about how they might vote at the General Election, Vote Match 2010 has now been launched. It's pretty straight forward multiple choice survey that will match what you think against what the political parties have told Vote Match they think". My score ...
Hola, Je m'appelle Luigi auf der New York Times... Today we had the busiest day ever on the campaign bus, at the morning news conference and during our visit to Chippenham. A large proportion of the journalists were from various overseas newspapers and magazines. Among them we had an Italian journalist, the New York Times and Time Magazine. This afternoon Nick went to a press conference at the Foreign Press Association. All were keen to follow the 'phenomenon' (their word) that is Nick Clegg and the Lib Dem campaign. We started with the morning presser on the theme of helping ...
Resting following a full day of campaigning, off out again as soon as I finish writing this blog! Today I was followed on the campaign trail by BBC Look East and the Financial Times. Their interest in our campaign follows on from when BBC Newsnight came to cover our 'impressive' campaign and ITN News at Ten cited us as the favourites in win in Luton South. I am always pleased for the media to cover our campaign as it provides us an opportunity to show them the town we are proud to call home. Attention from the national media allows ...
As Nick Clegg's leaders debate bounce starts to look more like a trend there must be more and more head scratching and soul searching going on at Tory central office as to how this has happened and how this can be combatted. But can the Tories credibly be portrayed as the party of change? At first we were warned that the knives would be out for Clegg and that his policies would be under scrutiny. The Tories and their commentators talked as if the Lib Dem manifesto was a booby trapped bomb that would explode in their faces once the ...
Should that be the question? Not even sure that the rules of grammar have been obeyed, and they definitely would not be when tweeting – nice short to the point tweets please! Find me on Twitter as chrisLibDemNW1 I will be making comments about local and national political issues, leading up to and after the general and local authority ...
Cornwall Council has just released the list of the candidates standing in Cornwall at the General Election. In North Cornwall they are: Sian Flynn, Conservative Janet Hulme, Labour Miriel O'Connor, UKIP Dan Rogerson, Lib Dem Joanie Willett, MK In St Austell and Newquay Dick Cole, MK James Fitton, BNP Steve Gilbert, Lib Dem Lee Jameson, Labour Clive Medway, UKIP Caroline Righton, Conservative In South East Cornwall Roger Creagh-Osborne, Green Karen Gillard, Lib Dem Roger Holmes, MK Stephanie McWilliam, UKIP Sheryll Murray, Conservative Michael Sparling, Labour In Truro and Falmouth Harry Blakeley, UKIP Charlotte Mackenzie, Labour Sarah Newton, Conservative Loic Rich, ...
Dan Haycocks of Goodbye Andrew Mackay is to stand fo MP in Bracknell. Running under the 'Scrap Members Allowances' part. He is standing with Liam COSTELLO in Northampton Who is running under the same name. This news I'm sure will make the Bracknell election very interesting. Dan in his usual style has made a video of Phillip Lees town centre stall see below.
The Liberal Democrats have just launched plans to give rural communities a fair deal. These include Keep local post offices Improve local bus services Affordable homes for all Regulate supermarkets to ensure fair trade for farmers and a fair price for food A Fair Deal for British Farmers.
Tue 20th
18:03It's too late to get a postal vote (if you cannot get to the polling station) but you can appoint so...
It's too late to get a postal vote (if you cannot get to the polling station) but you can appoint someone to vote for you. See http://is.gd/bAS3U Chelmsford Borough Council - Voting by Proxy is.gd Proxy voting is different to postal voting. This Article describes what proxy voting is and how to appoint a proxy.
Tue 20th
18:018 MP candidates in Chelmsford (up 4 on 2005) but (thanks to our daft system) only two can possibly w...
8 MP candidates in Chelmsford (up 4 on 2005) but (thanks to our daft system) only two can possibly win - Lib Dem or Con. Full list: http://bit.ly/9LEqWJ Chelmsford Borough Council - Nominations for General Election 2010 in Chelmsford bit.ly Time is up and the nominations are in for this year's General Election in Chelmsford. A total of eight candidates have been nominated for election in the Chelmsford constituency as of 4pm today (Tuesday 20 April).
I was in the Lib Dem press office in Cowley Street when a rumour went round that David Cameron had decapitated a chicken... Regrettably for us, but thankfully for all chickens out there, it was the Daily Mirror's man in a chicken costume. For more, see here.
Ever hear of Vote for a Change? Vaguely? Another of the plague-on-all-your-houses, real-reform-now campaigns which have been springing up all over the internet over the past year, right? Yes, that's what I assumed too. Their aim, they say, is to advise people on how to vote tactically in each constituency to bring about a hung parliament. This is what they say about how they made their choices: We began by looking at the latest national opinion polling, which has the Conservatives in first place, Labour in second, and the Lib Dems in third. In each constituency, we assessed how many ...
The North East regional manifesto of the Lib Dems was launched at the Falcons Rugby Club in Newcastle yesterday. Here are a few photos from the event.Neil Bradbury, left, is our candidate in Blaydon.Left to right: Ian Swales (Redcar), Wendy Taylor (Newcastle East), Lord Shutt (Lib Dem Chief Whip in the Lords), Carol Woods (Durham City), Ron Beadle (Newcastle North) and John Shipley, Leader of
I recently meet Mark Ashwell who is an Independent Candidate for Wokingham. He also applied to stand in the Conservative Bracknell open primary. I asked him some questions and here are his answers. 1. You applied to be the Bracknell PPC for the Conservative Party but was not selected for the Open Primary, Why do you think you was not selected? I was not even offered the stage before - a self financed parliamentary assessment board. My very sound application did not get out of the intray and 5 months later(2 months after the Primary). I received a rejection letter. ...
In the US Presidential system there is the phenomenon known as the "insurgent campaign". This is when people like Barack Obama or Bill Clinton can come almost out of nowhere at least in terms of national recognition and take the presidency. It can make the US primary races and the ensuing Presidential races very exciting as we saw recently in 2008. We don't have the same system here. It is not possible for someone to come out of nowhere and enter the Prime Ministerial race. The leaders of the main parties usually have to have been in parliament for a ...
I wanted to let you know that our fantastic mayoral candidate Chris Maines will be standing again this year against Steve Bullock the Labour Candidate. [IMG: Chris with the team] Chris has got a brilliant new website which you can look at here We came second in the Lewisham Mayoral election last time and this time we know we can win with your support.
I am reliably informed that Ladbrokes have shortened their odds on the Lib Dems winning Bosworth - a few weeks ago it was 50/1 for us to win, then it shortened to 15/1, and now I am told that it has gone to 10/1. Interesting times.
Controversial Perth Tory candidate Peter Lyburn has apologised for adding the names of local business leaders to a letter to the press on the Tory proposals for National Insurance without their consent, thus misleading the public. However it's not the first time he's done something like that according to the Daily Record. He's been putting around a leaflet with a picture of Miss Scotland Katharine Brown on it - again without her permission. One mistake could be considered unfortunate. Two shows a disregard and disrespect for other people which is really not big and not clever.
Nick's new note
If THIS is ths sort of lame attack the Tories are getting their bloggers to attack Nick Clegg about. it really is desperation time for the Tories.
Just came across this on Twitter: The Independent: Truth matters It's a short (under 90 seconds) video presentation that tells you some facts that others, who support the old parties, would rather you didn't know or think about. No comments here, leave a comment with the Indy.
A major feature of the joint general and local elections currently underway in London has been outreach to the capital's diverse communities. The other day, Lynne Featherstone (restanding to be MP for Hornsey and Wood Green), Councillor John Oakes (restanding in Haringey), Meral Ece (Chair of Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats) and I were filmed at ...
Liberal Democrat candidate Qurban Hussain's campaign for Luton South is "an impressive effort" according to Newsnight's political editor Michael Crick. Crick, who visited Luton earlier in the campaign, made the comment in a post on his blog last Friday. You can read it in full here; 'Will Lib Dems gain seats on strength of Clegg's performance?'.
The fact that Tim Bale, an academic from Sussex University and author of The Conservative Party; From Thatcher to Cameron, is represented in the FT as attempting to answer a silly question about the Liberal Democrats illustrates the extraordinary nature of the 'debate tsunami' that has struck British politics. It also serves to underline the need to resist any temptation (limited I know so far as most Liberal Democrats are concerned) to build castles in the air, on the basis of a few days of post 'debate' polling. Bale's piece is entitled: 'Lib Dem Revival not yet a Revolution'. There ...
Listen to this masterpiece by Adrian Slade, former President of the Liberal Democrats and brother of the late Julian Slade who wrote Salad Days: I learnt my tricks when in PR: Don't commit, don't go too far, be friendly, frank, but not quite true And never say what you will do.
[IMG: i-agree-with-nick] So I went on-line this morning thinking that I should buy myself an " I agree with Nick" T-shirt - if such a thing existed.....How foolish I was. The worldwide web appears to have spawned some form of virus since there appear to be hundreds of "I agree with Nick" T-shirts. Dont you just love free enterprise???? Two questions. 1. Which Tshirts ensure at least some of the of the money gets to Lib Dem coffers 2. Which is the best ? I think the orange one but suggestions welcome.
Remember 1981? There were riots, unemployment was sky rocketing, the Tory Government under Thatcher was hideously unpopular. I was 13 and being bullied badly at school and the only bright things in my life were the impending marriage of Charles and Diana and the wonderfully trashy primary coloured skirt ripping Eurovision winner from Bucks Fizz. Well, Iain Dale and his mates at Total Politics have used that song as the background to a very amusing video aimed at urging us all to get our backsides to the polls on May 6th. I have 2 comments to make. First, Lynne Featherstone ...
I see that Iain Dale is taking the line that the Liberal Democrats per-plane duty (PPD) is going to be a tax on holiday makers. Here are some facts some facts currently the per-passenger Air Passenger Duty does not cover Air Freight, the Lib Dem proposals do. Second the reason the PPD on domestic flights is going to rise sharply is because alternative and less polluting alternatives are often readily available. Thirdly as we said in raising the personal tax allowance threshold to £10,000 the more you pollute the more you'll be taxed. Whereas Iain strikes out that the average ...
Having a hellish day, so this'll be truncated, but here are three political moments of the day to catch up with. Though my health's usually poor, the last week and a half have been much worse than usual, today far more horrible still. My comfort is that, while this is personally my most frustrating election ever, politically it's looking fantastic, and that's definitely the right way round! But if you've been tuned in to the BBC today, you might have noticed that neither are going well for Liam Fox, Chris Grayling or the world's least competent political Leader, Lord Pearson: ...
As the election day draws closer if you would like to show your support for Julians' Campaign (or the Liberal Democrats more generally) then you can download and print your own "Liberal Democrats - Winning Here" window diamond (as shown on the left). A PDF is available here. If you would like to get involved and help with the campaign please get in touch! NB: Don't have a colour printer? Just drop me an email and I'll send you one in the post.
Earlier today I was lamenting the failure of the Tories to take on board the changed political landscape. We may well be seing the end of FPTP elections and coalitions and minority governemnts could become the order of the day. I've now come across a second right winger trying to reconciole himself to the new situation. I particularly enjoyed his reaction to Iain Dale's assertion that somehow multi party government is intrinsincly evil and un-British: You English, sometimes you are the crazy people. Here's Iain Dale for instance, dismissing any notion of a Tory-Liberal arrangement: All coalitions end in failure, ...
http://twitter.com/bartricketts or text or call ! 07973254169 Bart and Nick !! Can u spot me
Lib Dems leading the election race, and polling above 30% – that's not a line (m)any of us expected to be able to type with a straight face. But it's the present reality. The questions is: can the Lib Dem surge last? Here's what a handful of Lib Dem bloggers think ... James Graham Anyone who claims to know what will happen electorally next month simply doesn't know what they are talking about. But there are a number of reasons to suggest that the Liberal Democrats' poll leap over the weekend might last. Firstly, polls tend to be mutually reinforcing. ...
I was delighted to be invited to take part in this morning's election debate on Radio Norfolk. Please let me know what you thought by voting below. Thank you. Who won the debate? Who won the BBC Radio Norfolk election debate Tues 20 April 2010 Liberal Democrat candidate Jacky Howe Conservative candidate Chloe Smith Labour candidate Peter Smith Green candidate Adrian Ramsey view results
I'm delighted to see that Jewish News are encouraging participation in this election by running an online poll. It asks people who they will vote for in the General Election; at time of writing, the Lib Dems are running second. Why not click here and vote yourself?
I'm delighted to have signed up to the Vote for Students pledge to oppose any increase in top-up fees in England. The Lib Dems have a proud record of opposition to tuition fees, and we recognise that not only would an increase harm English students, but would have a knock on effect on Scottish universities ...
To vote in the General (and local) Election, you must be registered. If you are not currently registered to vote, you can do so at www.aboutmyvote.co.uk Applications must be received not later than 5:00pm ...
In West Lindsey, we have as a whole a higher than the national average life expectancy, a number of areas within the District have significantly lower and overall premature death rates. The "Early Presentation of Cancer Pilot" (EPOC) is a project designed to raise awareness of the signs of cancer. The project covers the whole of Gainsborough and 5 other areas of Lincolnshire. The scheme is
I just sent an email to Feedback on Radio 4. I restrained myself a lot more than I wanted to:What is the radio 4 news team playing at? On the Today programme AND the World at One today, there have been two separate items in two separate held Liberal Democrat seats about how people who live there need to vote out the sitting Lib Dem MP in favour of a Tory because if they vote Lib Dem they'll get Labour. Clearly, at least in those two seats, if they vote Lib Dem they'll get Lib Dem because that's what they ...
The video below from the Telegraph shows Esther Rantzen out campaigning on the door steps of Luton South. However, the real star of the video is the "Lib Dem canvasser" she meets about halfway through. I can reveal that this mystery canvasser is in fact Luton councillor Martin Pantling. Martin being a friendly sort of chap wishes Esther good luck – that is – good luck on her saving her deposit!
I was just listening to the World at One and there was a piece about Goldman Sachs and banking in general. They discussed the situation with the legal proceedings against the bank and then they moved on to the political aspects to this. They had a clip from Nick Clegg from his press conference this morning where he was castigating the bankers for their excesses. Not the Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Or the Leader of the Opposition David Cameron. But Nick Clegg. Then they had a politician with their party's Treasury brief in the studio to interview about the subject. ...
The Liberal Democrats have today set out radical plans to reform the banking industry.
As I said the other day, this has been a truism for years. Now we have proof (caution, opens a .pdf). If you are one of those 49%, I would ask you this: do you REALLY want to stick it to the establishment political parties? The two who think they are entitled to take turns in ruling you are bloody terrified that you do. Vote for us. Take a chance. The first thing we will do is bring in STV, and then you will NEVER have to suffer under that sense of entitlement ever again. There will be no such ...
... or at least, that may be how things look soon if inflation continues doing what it has just done – rise faster than expected. Because while my original points about base effects and so on are correct, it is no good if the actual index rises 0.6 points in a month like this. Perhaps ...
The Barking campaign is remarkable. Most notable have not been the antics, or should that be the absence, of Nick Griffin. Instead, it has been the response of the other main candidates – Margaret Hodge (Labour) and Simon Marcus (Conservative) – to the issue of immigration. Hodge and Marcus have both rightfully slammed Griffin and the BNP, but then courted BNP voters and potential BNP voters with anti-immigrant rhetoric. Asked about immigration by Eddie Nestor, host of a BBC Radio London one hour debate on Barking (April 16th), Hodge had not one positive word to say about immigrants. Instead, her ...
Oh, this is fab! Well done the team at Total Politics for putting this together!
Not much time at the moment, but you might like to have a look at this interview from the Guardian in which SNP candidate for Glasgow East outlines his rather controversial position on gay rights. You thought Chris Grayling was bad....... Can you imagine any b and b owner saying to any of their guests that they can't share a bedroom and they have to guarantee that there will be no "carnality"? This is the relevant section of the interview: "I asked if he would agree with Chris Grayling's position - that the bed and breakfast owner had the right ...
First rule of spam e-mails must be to get your spelling and grammar right: Due to grastic increase on online fraud, HSBC Bank Plc has developed a new security system. this is the highly renouned security system wich is linked with your registered phone numbers with us. our system automatically calls your registred numbers when you attempt to make payments. this is to ensure that only you have access to your online banking.
When you get a phone call saying will you be in a little film to encourage voting and say yes - be afraid - be very afraid. Here is the Total Politcs film - 'Make your mind up'.
Today's Leicester Mercury reports that Parmjit Singh Gill is now the bookies' favourite to win Leicester South, the seat he won at a by-election in 2004 but lost at the following year's general election. The paper goes on to quote De Montfort University public policy lecturer Alistair Jones as saying: "The entire tone of the election campaign has turned based on 90 minutes of television. It is incredible and it has taken everyone by surprise. "Labour and Tory incumbents who felt they were safe will now be looking over their shoulder at Liberal Democrats." We should be wary of the ...
(via Charlotte Gore, Count Packula, and Mark Reckons) Clearly Lynne Featherstone and Phil Willis are the stars of this, but the freakiest bit is Nigel Farago doing his being taken from behind motion... * shudder * Although the prominence of Mad Nad and Anne Widdecombe preening are both worrying too. And as for The Egregious Tory Tosser's failure to get rhythm... ;) Alastair Campbell wasn't bad, though.
I've not seen this reported elsewhere and it's from the latest Angus Reid poll (which had Con 32%, Lib Dem 32%, Lab 24%, fieldwork 16-19 April): Liberal Democrat Held Seats After what appeared to be a shaky February result, the Liberal Democrats are once again in command of these seats, with almost half of respondents (49%) expressing a willingness to support the Lib-Dem candidate. Labour has plummeted to single digits (9%) and the Conservatives are stable (28%).
From Simon Hoggart's affectionate portrait of Sir Peter in this morning's Guardian: "I am told that the Liberal candidate is conducting a campaign based entirely on the email."
I posted a few days ago about the roadworks in Mole Road, Sindlesham for the replacement gas mains. Giant traffic queues in that area - and the polling station for half of Winnersh is right slap bang in the middle of it. I asked for some common sense. And - I got some. Southern Gas Networks are going to withdraw from the site for election week, so that there is no problem with access to the polling station on election day. Liberal Democrats really do make a difference! PS Those mentions of Wokingham, John Redwood, General Election, Mark Ashwell, George ...
[IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] [IMG: torystrike.jpg] Quite often the CONservatives like to attack the Liberal Democrats for having, in their view, a weak stance on crime. Well, I've been looking into the Tory position on crime and frankly, it just doesn't add up! I could mention that they fudged the statistics... as it appears that their Shadow Home Secretary has been accused of using misleading figures... but I think I'll leave that spat between them and the Labour party. Tories talk tough on crime, but they do nothing about the causes of crime. With re-offending rates for short-term custodial sentences being from ...
Cross-posted from the International Business Times: Forget a week being a long time in politics. In this hyped-up, ultra-connected world 90 minutes on television can see your electoral fortunes transformed. And so it is that, as I write, the Lib Dems have just been placed in the lead in the opinion polls for the first in the party's modern history, with 33% of the vote, leading the Tories on 32% and Labour slipping back to just 26%. This is heady stuff for a party accustomed to being sidelined by the national media as a distracting irrelevance from two-party politics. All ...
Labour Minister Dawn Butler has issued a legal apology to Sarah Teather for calling her a hypocrite over MPs' expenses. Butler made the accusation while the running of Sarah Teather's office was under investigation. The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner later dropped the investigation because there were no grounds to suspect any wrongdoing by Ms Teather. From the letter (signed by Dawn Butler as well as councillors and senior officials from Brent Central Labour Party): We accept that statements made in those [leaflets] falsely suggested that you are a hypocrite when you speak on the issue of MPs' expenses because your own ...
During the Easter holidays Lincolnshire Police in partnership with TVA have run a fishing project for youngsters from Gainsborough. This project is a funded by LCC Children's services and is a follow on from successful projects from last summer funded by WLDC. It enables teenagers to be rewarded for good behaviour and has proved very successful. The full press release is here
Tonight meeting place for canvassing will be Elverson Road DLR station instead of Hither Green Lane. The time remains the same, 6pm.
I have my own review of the last week of the General Election campaign up on Wales Home
I think Nick Clegg (and the rest of us Liberal Democrats) are letting the media, and the other parties, get away with stabs at his privileged background. You're just the same as Cameron, they say, privileged background, posh school. And they get a defensive and faintly embarrassed response. But that's not the point. You don't get to choose your parents. You don't get to choose where you're born or (rarely at least) where you go to school. What matters is how you react to that when you get to the age and stage where you do make choices. And there ...
This is something else I feel I ought to know more about. For many, the revelations about how Goldmans and their client Paulson & Co operate will be enough; do people really make a career out of this sort of thing – let alone a fortune? Clearly wicked, clearly wrong. But the debate in the ...
I was originally planning a series of three posts today about what exciting outcomes there could be for the Lib Dems from the forthcoming election. Those three posts will still be written, but not all today. The joys of having work to do. The refrain of "Vote Lib Dem, Get Insert Other Hated Party Here" is becoming ...
From the Mail today: "Voters scored him [Cameron] very low indeed for cherished assets such as honesty and charisma - and alarmingly high for slickness and poshness." The rest of the article is the usual tosh.
Tue 20th
10:50
Harriet Harperson sightings? Royal Navy to the rescue or will Baron Mandleson call a friend?
The hunt is still on! No flights are running from the Scilly Isles – has Ms Harperson commandeered a Royal Navy frigate? Rumour has it that she's being mistaken for Jacqui Smith and was constantly being asked, when wandering down the high street in Hugh Town (main island in the Scilly Isles for those who need ...
See if you can spot my extremely brief appearance in this lip-sync video just out today from Total Politics trying to encourage people to vote:
Ayrshire businesses are being betrayed by Conservative & SNP actions on rates as some see rates increases of over 200%. That's according to the Liberal Democrats Westminster candidate for Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock James Taylor following the decision by the SNP and Conservatives to vote down a Lib Dem motion in the Scottish Parliament which ...
Tue 20th
10:40The Independent View: Tory plan for marriage tax allowance flies in face of what Lib Dems stand for
David Cameron's policy to give £3 a week in marriage tax allowance to a third of married couples is to 'send a signal' that marriage is better than any other type of relationship. Today, a new campaign launched to 'send a signal' back: don't judge my family. Inspired by JK Rowlings' attack on the policy last week, The Don't Judge My Family campaign (www.dontjudgemyfamily.com) is seeing people sign up in droves. The issue has clearly touched a nerve: in just a few days 1,500 people had signed up to the Facebook page, before the website had even launched. We're hoping ...
Curious about what the key issues are? Want to know what the LibDems have to say about issues which will impact on your life directly?
Thankfully my appearance in this is mercifully brief...
There has been a wonderful reception to our campaign to get Michael Mullaney elected as the MP for Bosworth - I wont place too much emphasis on the spectacular response to Nick Clegg's debate performance, but it does seem to have had a very positive effect. There are a huge number of people who are acknowledging that we are the only party that works all year round, run an award winning council, and that Michael Mullaney is by far the best candidate in the Bosworth election. It is also amazing how many people have said that they normally would vote ...
I know I'm a bit late in commenting on this item but stay with me. Right wing blogger Guido Fawkes did an posting the other day 'Coalition for Change'. It is well worth reading. It is only example I've come across of the Right facing up to the the new political situation. By and large the Tory line has continued to be 'give us a majority' -blissfully unaware that if they form a government with the support of only 1 in 5 electors they will not have a mandate for painful financial and fiscal reform. Such an outcome would lead ...
If you're eligible to vote in the UK (British, Irish or qualifying EU or Commonwealth citizen, a member of Her Majesty's armed services or a Crown Servant/British Council employee living overseas) then you have until 17:00 BST (16:00 GMT) today to register to vote. If you do not register to vote, you forfeit what small degree of say the current electoral system affords you in how this country is governed. To register, go to the Electoral Commission's About My Vote site. Even if you haven't decided for whom you intend to vote, you need to be registered by that deadline. ...
This morning the Liberal Democrats have set out their plans to reform the banking industry. They include: Breaking up the banks and a Banking LevyGetting the banks lendingLocal Enterprise FundsRegional Stock ExchangesSupporting mutualsFull details on the Liberal Democrats website. Nick Clegg says:"At the heart of our plans for economic change is a simple insight: we need to devolve and disperse economic power, particularly in the banking sector. "Most people, except perhaps Gordon Brown, now recognise that too much centralisation in politics has led to wasteful bureaucratic public services and a command-and-control state that leeches power away from people. "I believe ...
Today's Guardian says that two of the prominent businessmen who helped lead the charge against Labour's rise in national insurance have been nominated to become working peers by the Conservative party. Simon Wolfson and Anthony Bamford were among the high-profile signatories to a letter supporting the Tory proposal to scrap the increase - a move that left Labour flatfooted and gave the Tories an early advantage at the start of the general election campaign. The peerage nominations have been accepted by the appointments commission and will be announced imminently. But the disclosure is bound to raise questions over the party's ...
As Nick Clegg and Vince Cable, the nation's preferred Prime Minister and Chancellor, unveiled positive policies to reform the banking sector at an early-morning press conference, Lord Mandelson and Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox were being interviewed on the Today programme. I didn't listen to the broadcast, as I was watching the presser, but looking at the BBC's live election coverage you get a sense of the bewilderment the Conservatives in particular are finding themselves in as a result of the Lib Dem surge. Just look at this, for instance: 08:23: Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox says a vote for ...
In our winter Focus I promised to campaign for a free to acces out door gym see here. Working with the Lib Dem councillors in Grove, we managed to get funding from developers to purchase some equipment which has now been installed at the War Memorial Park. The park is already popular with joggers and the new gym will inspire more people to keep fit and enjoy the park. Hopefully we can add a few more features when we can secure more funds. People often talk about an Olympic legacy and I think outdoor gyms would be a good way ...
Today's edition of the Northern Echo is full of stories about or including the Lib Dems, including the results of a regional poll conducted largely before last week's Leaders' Debate which, even then, showed Durham City falling to us. Now I think they'd have to add at least three more seats to that one.There is also an article, complete with an artistic photo of me on my knees, about vandalism in
Political Betting this morning draws our attention to something that I was aware but seems to be getting lost in the media Lib Dem surge narrative and how the leader debate has been a "game changer". The surge actually started before the leader debate last Thursday. Mike Smithson points out that there was a marginals poll that showed the Lib Dems were blunting Tory progress there and were up 5 points. That was a week before the debate. He goes on: Then exactly a week later a ICM finalised a standard national poll and found a sharp move to Clegg's ...
I realise now that I posted the previous entry without a word of warning or explanation. Of course, as well as being an incredibly powerful piece in its own right about the savagery of racism, when sung by Billie Holiday (as it was for the first time ...
Thanks to Liberal England for drawing my attention to this video
Tue 20th
09:30
Sky News Election 2010: but where is New Labour's Emily Thornberry? Running scared yet again...?
labour islington fail libdem liberal democrats winning here win bridget fox marginal
If you want to show your support for the Liberal Democrats in Manchester Withington, email me pjankers@yahoo.co.uk with your name and address and join the winning team! We have a number of sizes, John is modelling the largest. NB: You can email me on my Councillor email, but I would prefer less email traffic going through there.
In recent days we've had: It's not happening! It's not happening! Hence Eric Pickles telling the media the weekend that there was no Lib Dem surge detectable in the Conservative Party's canvassing and Boris Johnson writing in the Telegraph that Nick Clegg was "by far the worst". Yeah right. Go right! Go right! Hence William Hague warning of a European Union inspired catastrophe if the Lib Dems win. Guess he's not on talking terms with Eric Pickles or Boris Johnson, because how could the Lib Dems win if they are both right? But also I guess he's hoping we've all ...
It is the last day to register to vote, or to register for a postal or proxy vote, but you are going to have to deliver your registration form by hand if you are going to do so. You can find out more here. Less than eight hours to go to do it.
The Liberal Democrats have today set out radical plans to reform the banking industry. The plans include: Breaking up the banks and a Banking Levy Getting the banks lending Local Enterprise Funds Regional Stock Exchanges Supporting mutuals Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said: "At the heart of our plans for economic change is a simple insight: we need to devolve and disperse ...
Too many children are still leaving school without the knowledge and skills to be successful. Finding a good school is a struggle, lessons don't always stretch the brightest or support those who need more help, and classes are often too big for teachers to control. Every child is different, so schools need to be free to ...
I am taking time out today to familiarise myself with the Liberal Democrat manifesto, in preparation for a podcast later. One of the things that bothers me as a reader of all the manifestos, from the point of view of someone unused to Westminster's interfering ways, is how they deal with everything. And in this ...
There has been much talk lately of the `Clegg bubble` and how it might `burst` within a week. The argument goes that the new LD vote (ie the 22% +) might be ephemeral and could disappear. Fine. Perhaps though one of the reasons for the extra performance is that LABOUR and TORY totals also have a ...
As Mark Pack tweeted last night, that's the percentage of people who according to a question asked in a recent YouGov survey would vote Lib Dem if they thought we could form the next government: 'How would you vote if thought LibDems "had a significant chance of winning the election nationally": LD 49% Con 25% Lab 19% YouGov 18-19/4' We are already above 30% in some polls. I think it is also fair to say that the momentum is with us. Imagine what could happen if more and more people realised that an historic breakthrough is possible. Now I don't ...
It appears that Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie didn't get the memo from CCHQ, yesterday she followed the daily mail with an attack on Nick Clegg rather than debating policy. She then read out, or on occasion misread out a number of Liberal Democrat policies from our manifesto. She then went on to say: "I think the public is going to wake up and understand that the election is about policies." I hate to break it to you Annabel, I think they already have, starting last Wednesday, through Thursday and every day since that is what people have been asking ...
As the Liberal Democrat poll surge continues, panicked spin doctors from Labour and Tory have been heard muttering darkly about the need for more scrutiny of the Liberal Democrats. In reality, that's actually pretty easy.If ever a party wore its heart on its sleeve, it's us. We are by a million miles much more open and transparent in our policy making process than either of them so any questions you have are easily answered from our online resources. Our manifesto is available here in full so you can see exactly what we stand for. It tells you also how much ...
Second Lib Dem leaflet in Broadland (well third in mine, but that's because my ward got an extra one !)
Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black body swinging in the Southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant South, The bulging eyes and the twisted ...
Not all is well with the Labour Party in Stoke-on-Trent. The row over the selection of media don and Mandelson protege Tristram Hunt for Stoke-on-Trent Central is well documented, with the secretary of the constituency party now standing as an Independent against him. Hunt, incidentally, is on Twitter as @hunt4stoke. I asked there the other evening whether this meant he was having trouble finding the constituency again. More serious is the situation in Stoke-on-Trent South, where the sitting MP is using the familiar Labour trick of talking up the BNP. The BBC News website quotes a letter Robert Flello has ...
I am a genuine local girl - from Highate Primary school, to Muswell Hill Youth Club, to my aunt's net curtaining shop in Wood Green High Road - where my mother used to drop me sometimes to play in the back while she went to work - to getting married at the Civic Centre. In this film I talk about my roots in the constituency and some of the issues I have taken up on behalf of the 28,000 people I have helped over the years. So here's the film: (Also on YouTube here.)
I love this video explaining Lib Dem policies; who would have thought the manifesto could be such fun? I believe in fairness video Thanks to Jennie Rigg, Alex Mortimer, Simon Goldie and to Stuart Bonar for featuring it on their blogs. I don't know who created it, but thank you anyway.
They often say that the Scots are a canny lot with money, according to John Curtice in today's Scottish Edition of the Times* it seems that stretches to Government money too. He looks at the two YouGov Scottish opinion polls the first of which during the first week of the campaign had the SNP down at 21% the other taken from Wednesday to Friday last week had them at 20% only just ahead of the Lib Dems. In his conclusions he points out that the SNP malaise is not so much because of the Lib Dem surge nationally nor because ...
For the avoidance of doubt this is cumulative and I recording these figures on i-player :-) 10. Die Walkure (Wagner) (new entry) 9. Girl from Mars (Ash) (+1) 8. I Am the Resurrection (The Stone Roses) (-) 7. Don't look back in anger (Oasis) (new entry) 6. Welcome to the jungle (Guns n Roses) (new entry) 5. I'm not calling you a liar (Florence & the Machine) (new entry) 4. Generation Sex (The Divine Comedy) (-) 3. Gimme some lovin'(Blues Brothers) (new entry) 2. The Fear (Lily Allen) (-) 1. Dog Days Are Over (Florence & the Machine) (-)
Today is the deadline for registering to vote. If you're not yet registered, download a form from about my vote and take it in person to your local town hall before it closes today. While I'd love it if you were to vote lib dem (and download a poster to show your support) the important thing is that you vote, and vote with your heart. If you want to know who to vote for, try VoteMatch. Thank you.
Politicians of all parties interviewed by the media are prone to tell of the vital political messages they are receiving "on the doorstep." My own experiences on the doorstep are very different. The vast majority of people are "out." A few, once they realise what you are, don't answer the door. The overwhelming majority, when asked for their vote, are :"Still thinking about it"; "Haven't made our minds up yet"; or "Will think about it." A disturbing number say they're not interested and in any case haven't time to discuss it. Maybe my technique is wrong, but I find it ...
So, despite knowing that there were no flights David Cameron missed the Scottish Conservative manifesto launch (I say Conservative as there is only one Westminster seat they hold up here in Scotland) in Melrose, a beatiful town in the Liberal Democrat constituency of Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk. There are trains "Dave". But "Dave" was in fact still in London. Anyway, Annabel fell into a trap yesterday, and spent around five minutes of her speech ranting and attacking the Liberal Democrats (you know you have them rattled once they start attacking you) with a mild dose of hypocrisy and nonsense. Perhaps ...
Back to school today so it means that campaigning time is much less, but with the election approaching fast it means more work to do. So I am doing more in less time (same story for most Lib Dems at the moment).So after work, I started printing the next leaflet and then after a quick nap, I finished art working the back of the leaflet (the front was already done) and drafting some more letters
I've been fascinated by the Tory reaction to the Leaders' Debate last Thursday. I was listening to Norman Tebbit at lunchtime on Radio 4 in his reedy sneering voice goading Cameron on to attack Cleggy's international policies with the classic line ...
Just had a quick look at the fallout on Conservative Home and the Tories are pulling their hair out trying to understand the Lib Dem surge. Harry Phibbs on his view of expenses says: `Three of the Tory targets are Lib Dem MPs in outer London seats – Susan Kramer in Richmond Park, Tom Brake in ...
Quite what Labour candidate for Blaydon, David Anderson was thinking of when he came up with this idea is not clear, but launching a petition on his website calling on Gordon Brown not to introduce a particular Tory policy strikes me as rather odd.Mr Anderson has a go at the Tories over what he claims is a policy to "massively put up rents", end secure tenancies and generally eat your babies for
My busy day's campaigning ended in a Nepalese-owned restaurant at Ealing Broadway, for a three-party hustings with representatives of a wide variety of groups linked to BOPIO: the British Organization of People of Indian Origin. Concerns ranged from educating teachers and parents in cultural awareness (in order to improve education for ethnic Indian children) to ...
Europe's airlines and airports are in chaos. Thousands of holidaymakers are stranded abroad. I don't think crisis is too strong a word. Now if you are on holiday on the far side of Europe and you were desperate to get home, how would you do it? Well you could wait for the dust to settle, literally and metaphorically and catch the next available plane but this may not be quick enough for you. An alternative is to plan a route by land and sea but this would take some planning. You would need cooperation from the rest of Europe. You ...
"In so many ways, a vote for the Lib Dems is a vote against Murdoch and the media elite." Amid all the media hysteria about the prospects and consequences of a hung parliament, possibly the most noteworthy contribution was David Yelland's surprisingly thoughtful piece in Monday's Guardian. Yelland speculates that an unexpected by-product of no ...
Download and print your own Lib Dem window poster here.
