I'm tired of tweeting. There is a good liveblog on Nate Silver's site too 00:50 Peter Robinson has been defeated. I would hazard that he is having a sh1t few months. The good news is that the party that has won is not aligned religiously. A post 17th century party! 00:45 further gambling update. I ...
23.47 'terribly undemocratic' according to a voter in Sheffield who was turned away from the polling station due to the huge crowds of people voting. Returning officer admits he 'got it wrong'
Remember back to the 2008 US Presidential Election, where there was some concern that Barack Obama's strong pre-election polling wouldn't translate into votes cast. The fear was that voters, though happy to express their pro-Obama allegiances publically, would fall short of making that final leap come decision time; that the prospect of a first African American President would prove too much too soon, and that the people would fall back on what they'd been always been accustomed to. It turned out, of course, to be anxiety over nothing. But if the exit polls are accurate, perhaps that's the kind of ...
Watchin the BBC coverage of the election it seem that early reports are showing that many people have been unable to register their vote with reports voters being turned away. As it it wasn't bad enough the voters are regularly disregarded with the less than democratic first past the post system. Still its reassuring that the beeb have been able to draw on political heavy weights like Bruce Forsythe,Mariella Frostrup and Ester Rantzen Apparently Nick Clegg has gone to apologise to voters in Sheffield about the voting problems, bit like the south African election some years ago, BBC voting story ...
After getting up early to deliver a last minute leaflet, spending the day at school and then being a Meany and sending people out to knock up our supporters, I am now at home under my duvet, watching the BBC (there is only one election service worth watching).One thing that seems to be have happened is more people have gone out to vote. The debates have electrified this election. As I have
They have called it Labour -12, Con +5 but compare: the 2005 result to what has just been announced. The Con share of the vote is down from 22.5% to 21.4%. Am I missing something? Why are the professors calling this a 8pc swing to the Tories? UPDATE: What I think they have done is ...
Ollie Cromwell sitting next to me has just crunched the numbers from the first result just declared in Sunderland South which shows an 8.5% swing from Labour to Conservative. On a swing like that applied nationally, the Conservatives would have around 353 seats, Labour on 212 seats and Lib Dems on 55. It's difficult to extrapolate from this to national trends of course but interesting to note.
11.55 pm The BBC has – belatedly – recognised the story that's been staring them in the face ... thousands of voters disenfranchised: Hundreds of voters across the country have been turned away from polling stations as long queues formed ahead of the 2200 BST voting deadline. Turnout was predicted to be higher than recent elections, including 2005. There were three-hour queues in Sheffield, voters were turned away in Manchester and police said one London polling station was open at 2230 BST. The law says polling station doors must close at 2200 and no-one can be issued with a ballot ...
Chris Giles in the FT: Exit polling in the UK is difficult in any case because there is no official information on the votes cast at individual polling stations, there is no consistent relationship between votes and seats, postal voting is common, and one in six people refuse to answer pollsters' questions. This year the ...
Election Night, bit by bit. Liveblogged. More slowly than my usual pace though. 0050 – let's just say my mood has improved slightly since an hour ago, but that's only because of time. We still need some numbers from a broader region of England. That's where the bulk of this election is to be decided. ...
I predict the Tories will JUST have an overall majority AND the exit poll from BBC/ITV/SKY is badly wrong about the Lib Dem number of seats.
Just seen the BBC/ITV/Sky exit poll. It says: Con: 307 Lab: 255 Lib Dem: 59 Others: 29 Which if right would put Cameron as the leader of the largest single party but 19 seats short of an overall majority. However. I am not totally clear on the methodology they have used for this exit poll. The fact that it has the Lib Dems on 59 seats, 4 less than the party has right now seems pretty odd given how the election campaign has gone. Adam Boulton said as much just now on Sky implying that the picture might well change ...
Had to be done, didn't it? And first up is the NOP/MORI exit poll which gives CON 307 LAB 255 LD 59 OTH 29 leading to.... a hung parliament. Very low LD figures, though these polls do tend to underestimate non-Labservative parties. Remember that these exit polls don't take postal votes into account either. For what it's worth, my predictions (already posted on Anthony Wells' site this morning) were; CON 306 LAB 214 LD 100 OTH 30 Spooky. 10.18 PM - BBC reporter in Salford (Blears' seat) reports "huge turnout" and "many new voters turning up"? Possibly good signs for ...
I've been relieved from my duties telling by the Late Nite Knockup Team, so I've had time to dash home and try and warm my hands back up from two hours in the gloaming outside Nottingham Prison. As I might have mentioned, I've been booked to go and talk about election results on BBC Radio Nottingham from midnight til 6am, so I'm preparing myself mentally for that. I'm not convinced it's a good idea: I do tend to get weepy and morose once things come to an end. University shows always used to end in cast parties, when I didn't ...
I might make myself look a fool here (why change the habit of a lifetime I hear you say), but these are my Norfolk election predictions. 1) Norman Lamb to win in North Norfolk with a greater share of the vote than he had in 2005. 2) Keith Simpson (Con) to hold Broadland by 3000 votes 3) Chloe Smith to hold Norwich North by 2500 votes 4) Lib Dems to overtake Labour in North West Norfolk, but a safe Tory hold. 5) Lib Dem vote stays static in South Norfolk 6) Great Yarmouth - Recount 7) Norwich South Lib Dem ...
Now that the 2010 election campaign is finally, mercifully over, the short period between the close of polls and the arrival of the first few results is perhaps a good time to reflect on the last few weeks. (I may even find the time for a late hostage-to-fortune in the shape of a prediction of ...
Here's my guest post for Comment Is Free: Even after exit polls are published at 10:01pm on Thursday night, we'll still all be on the edge of our seats for a good few hours waiting to see quite how the election will pan out. Here then are 10 seats to look out for through the first parts of the night that will give you an indication of quite how well the Liberal Democrats are doing - and how their national share of the vote is really translating into seats in Westminster. Leeds North West (estimated declaration time: 1am) Currently held ...
Woah, the Dow: Megan McArdle considers a number of possibilities. To be honest, none feel good, in the sense of 'I'd like to be Chancellor dealing with THAT' good. Meantime, over here, 5 minutes before the exit polls, our own markets in whether there will be a Hung Parliament goes a bit loopy for a ...
You want the most blatant difference between parties? Tax. The Liberal Democrats would raise taxes on the richest to give a £700 tax cut to low and middle earners; Labour have just raised taxes again on low and middle earners; the Tories claim they want to reverse Labour's tax rise, but won't say how to pay for it - while their biggest commitment is a massive handout to double millionaires. And the simplest way to explain that difference? Remember the last Tory Government's flagship poll tax, taking proportionally most from the poor? Lib Dem fair taxes are the exact reverse. ...
CONSERVATIVES: 35% (+1%) LIB DEMS: 28% (N/C) LABOUR: 28% (N/C) Changes based upon last time (Tuesday). Sample consists of all polls with mid-point fieldwork dates within the last 10 days, including today (n=29). Includes all British Polling Council registered pollsters. The results above are the median figure for each party. Well, well, well. My final ...
I'll be providing running commentary throughout the night. First off, a reminder of how you can follow our coverage and help contribute to it: Our best source of information about how the Lib Dems are faring up and down the country will be you, our readers. Please let us have your latest titbits and tips no matter where you are in the UK. You can contact us in the following ways: By email: voice - voice.hat.libdemvoice.org.spam.com (this is spam bot hidden email address, replace .hat. with @ and remove .spam.com for the real one) By direct message via Twitter: @libdemvoice ...
Yesterday I had the immense pleasure of of talking to Harry and Liam on Nerve Radio, the Bournemouth University Students' Union radio station. It was for their "Party Political Playlist" series of features, which all of the local candidates have taken part in. As well as selecting some of my favourite tracks to be played, we discussed a wide range of issues including the election, immigration, the digital economy bill, tuition fees and local housing. Those discussion parts of the piece have been uploaded to youtube and I'm also embedding them below.
I suggest those of a nervous disposition turn away now. It seems that fellow blogger ECR is only too happy to take the occasional side swipe, has now responded to comments I placed on his site in following manner after removing them. [IMG: whenblogginturnsuglyagain] No threat implied I take it. Does he mean me? I have emailed the great man and made it clear that in future when he makes derogatory comments using my name I will respond in an equally courteous manner. [IMG: ECR sideswipe]
Here's a wild thought. In the event of a Lib-Con hung Parliament could Peter Mandelson still stay on at the Department for Business? I say this because Peter Mandelson himself in the past has said that he is willing to serve in another Government, he has spoken positively about the Lib Dems and is good freinds with Nick Clegg. More importantly he has the respect of business people.
Starting at 9:55pm tonight the BBC general election coverage will be playing on this site embedded below. Enjoy:
it's here. e-day. i woke up at 530am and thought - I need to stop the Tories. So off I trotted to help in Bristol NW constituency to support Paul Harrod for MP. I did three rounds of good morning leaflets in Southmead. The committee room come agent's office was a sea of paper. Leaflets were still being printed and there was a buzz about it despite the fact it was just her. me and the printing machine. Off I plodded in the rain and cold. I had my puffa on which I usually reserve for walking. I had a ...
Much of the focus, understandably enough, has been on Nick Clegg's TV debates performances boosting the party's standing. But actually that's not what has most impressed me about the Lib Dem campaign: it's been the disciplined professionalism shown by Lib Dem HQ. Let's start off with the two key campaign themes ... Change that works for you, and Building a fairer Britain. They received a fair amount of derision when they first appeared – and yet they worked, and worked well. (I wonder if we'll read that in the next issue of Liberator?) First, by recognising that this would be ...
One of the tragedies of the general election campaign was the death of John Boakes, UKIP candidate for Thirsk & Malton. As a result polling in the general election there has been delayed until May 27th. These sorts of delayed polls happen thankfully rarely and are not usually of wider political significance. However, if the election result is as close as the polls suggest it will be, May 27th could turn into one of the first significant political tests for whoever is Prime Minster and whatever arrangements they've made (or not made) to get that post. The notional result in ...
7:16:15 PM: I'll be one of the bloggers on LBC's election coverage tonight: 7:19:25 PM: Hard to tell from @glinner's tweets if his Tory tellers were breaking the rules or not. 7:21:38 PM: If they insisted on having his poll number, an offence was made. If they politely asked it's a fine practice we should support ...
A reminder to you all: I am part of a team of 12 bloggers working on the news desk at LBC 97.3 (Londons' leading speech radio station) going to air with Iain Dale as the presenter. Join us on 0845 60 60 973 or TEXT us on 84850. Do you have news or views to share with ...
Just two hours until the exit polls have their say, but if you can't wait for that ... Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight.com site has run through pretty much every poll result permutation to come up with a range of projections as to how the House of Commons will look on 7th May. Here's their official final projection, which shows the Lib Dems in second place by the slimmest of margins (but of course with half the number of Labour MPs) – and the Tories likely to end up running a minority government. But if you don't like that version of events, ...
Paddy Ashdown speaking today about the importance of voting today for the Lib Dems if you want to change the country: (Also available on YouTube here).
If you are reading this and haven't voted please do so. This election is on a knife edge and its between myself and Gordon Brown's man. I hope you will consider voting for real change and a country you can be proud of. We've been going round the constituency getting the vote out and getting a great response. I'm sorry if I haven't been able to call on you in this election but I hope to do so very soon!
On the 15th August 2004 I started looking out for number plates. Consecutively spotting the digits in the middle. 2090 days later I have finally reach the end point which is 999. The last hundred have been hard, and I'm blaming the Labour government for their scrappage scheme in which pretty much any car with the old style plates could be converted into cash towards a new and totally pointless plated one. I'm sure I could pour through the stats finding the days I found the most, the longest period between finding plates, the fastest 100, but instead I'm just ...
...make it this inspired effort from Tom Harris:
You have until 9.55 pm this evening, Thursday 6th May, to make your predictions about the outcome of today's general election. All you have to do is offer up your best guesses for the following four questions: 1. What will be the shares of the popular UK vote recorded by the three main parties in the general election? 2. How many Lib Dem MPs will be elected? 3. Who will be Prime Minister at 5pm on Friday, 7th May? 4. What will the percentage turnout be? All rules etc can be found on the post here. PS: don't forget to ...
The Conservatives don't seem to know their geography so well. Apparently "We're all in this together" unless you live in Orkney or Shetland it appears. So, not entirely together.......
Rather odd behaviour by a Conservative teller in South West Surrey today who turned out to be very reluctant to admit they were telling on behalf of the Conservative Party, as the following video shows: As an aside, one thing this incident does show is how perverse some Returning Officers are in still, well into the twenty-first century, not liking tellers to wear rosettes in party colours and showing party logos. Not only is there no law against it, but the Electoral Commission's guidance has for many years said, "Tellers may ... Display a coloured rosette displaying the name of ...
Although it is LibDem policy to get rid of the Regional Spatial Strategies, this is qualified by the statement that ' we are not intending to disturb the plans already in place for providing traveller sites'. I'm very surprised that policy on Travellers didn't arise during the campaign, considering that the Tories made it clear they did intend to scrap the arrangements that have been set up laboriuusly over the last seven years, from the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act onwards, leaving the grant of planning permission for Traveller sites at the discretion of every single local authority. As very ...
Over at The Guardian's Comment is Free website, LDV Co-Editor Mark Pack, until last year working at the heart of Lib Dem HQ, picks out his ten must-watch seats to find out how the party is faring. They range from northern seats where the main challenger is Labour (eg, Leeds North West and Durham) to southern seats where the tussle is with the Tories (eg, Eastleigh and Guildford). Scotland is represented by Dunfermline and Fife West (2am) Held after his byelection victory by Willie Rennie, this Scottish seat will throw light on not only how the Lib Dem-Labour battle in ...
I had originally been planning to go to my local count in Bracknell tonight but for various reasons that has proved difficult so instead I am going to be going to the blogger's election night party in Haymarket. It sounds like it should be good craic with loads of other bloggers as well as media etc. and space to bash out some blogposts. Also there will be loads of TVs to help keep track of the results and coverage! I intend to try and get there before 10pm so that I don't miss the exit polls and the start of ...
Just cycled back from Durand School where I did my second two hour stint of telling, this time free of any encounter with Mr Crump. After I'd been there for half an hour or so Kate Hoey arrived on her rounds and we had a nice little chat. She noted that there was no Labour teller, and I said that after 12.00 when I was on my previous stint, there had been no replacement for the Labour teller, who had to leave for work. After Kate left she must have taken steps to remedy the deficiency, because a Labour teller ...
"there are in our existence spots of time That with pre-eminence retain A renovating virtue, whence depressed By false opinion and contentious thought. A virtue by which pleasure is enhanced, That penetrates, enables us to mount, When high, more high, and lifts is up when fallen."
It's not just been the public making up its mind over the last 24 hours – a number of political bloggers have also declared who they'll be voting for in the last day. Mostly, this is along party lines, as you might expect. But some have stood out from the crowd – here are three which have caught my eye ... Why this ex-Tory Boy is voting Liberal Democrat (Jack of Kent) Until this election I have always voted Conservative. ... By background I am a tribal Tory, from generations of Birmingham working class Tories and Tory-Unionists dating back to ...
elvis has left he building after canvassing with 5 buds this morning last one and about 500 houses knocked cheers all you new lib dems lets stick together and make our places better
As Tolstoy was said to have scribbled in the notes of his unpublished economics textbook, before happily switching over to Anna Karenina.* Tyler Alex and I have been arguing beneath an earlier post about Greek/UK differences. I'm on the 'Niall Ferguson Wrong Again' side, but this does NOT mean that I lightly dismiss the problems ...
Okay, so the heady days of 'Cleggmania' – with the Lib Dems briefly in first place in the polls as high as 34% – did not last until election day itself. Few of us expected it to, really, though it was delicious while it lasted. The fact that every single one of the nine final polls showed the Lib Dems in the 26-29% range, neck-and-neck with Labour, would have been beyond our wildest imaginations just one month ago. But, still, there's a percpetion in the media that the Lib Dems have somehow faded in the final week of the campaign ...
1. The FT. Britain is not broken, it has been getting better. It does make you wonder about their Conservative endorsement, huh? FT research shows that even the most deprived local authorities have shown signs of improvement over recent years when looking at figures ranging from crime and truancy to teenage pregnancies and children living ...
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The election campaign is now over, all that remains, is for us punters to go (if you haven't already) and register our votes, in my case after many years weighting up the political parties, what they offer in terms of policy and more importantly treat the electorate, I've settled with Liberal Democrats. As with most elections, the subject of just what your vote is worth, is up for discussion and the cynical suggestion, is often made and true up to a point, that in most constituencies, if you don't vote for the incumbent, your vote is wasted. Still that is ...
Elections in Tower Hamlets are quite unlike those in most of the rest of Britain — and I don't just mean the apparent prevalence of voting fraud, which marred the 2006 local elections and has come back to haunt us all now, with several Labour candidates and activists having to defend themselves against accusations. The biggest ...
[IMG: image365126738.jpg] All, Well - election day is here and I'd like to thank all of my supporters for their help during the campaign, and my well wishers for keeping me cheerful. It will probably be the usual tight run thing between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, with Labour and the Green candidate from Kineton coming way behind. Whatever way you are intending to vote (but preferably Lib Dem!) I urge you all to get out today and choose the candidate you think best for Shipston. It's up to you now! Regards, Philip [Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone] ...
It is called Swingometer and can be downloaded here. Personally, I'd ignore the others now, because this one is more fun, simpler, and enables you to keep an eye on particular seats as the election unfolds. The basic principle is explained in the sheet. Effectively, I am happy (see earlier geek posts) with the idea ...
Following my appointment with the haematology consultant at Kings, Mr M has written to my GP as follows: Mr Avebury was reviewed in clinic today. From the point ofview of his lymphoma, I doubt very much that it will recur: he had a stage I MALT lymphoma erased almost 4 years ago and there have been no symptoms or signs of recurrence. Of more concern arc 2 possibly unrelated symptoms: Firstly, an obvious prominent aortic aneurysm; a CT done in October done in 2009 suggests that llus has reached the size of 56mm and 1 would be most grateful if ...
Yesterday, local canvassing. The response was good, but I think Kate Hoey, our Labour MP, has done a very good job and is well-known for having a mind of her own, so she will probably survive the swing against Labour. I did a two-hour stint telling from 11.00 to 13.00 this morning, and the presiding officer came outside to tell me he had 'a number of complaints' about my conduct. I told him that only one person had said anything to me personally, and that my standard approach is 'Would you be kind enough to let me know the number ...
Turn out is up. It is certainly higher at the polling stations in Birkdale than it was in 2005 and that is before you take into account the extra postal votes that have been registered. I would say that we will be over 75% by the end of polling. I was up early for a good morning drop in Ainsdale and have done some delivery in Bikdale this morning. I've had more people in the street wishing me luck that normal and I have had one outburst of vitriol from a resident who I understood would be voting UKIP-their voters ...
[IMG: http://www.wikio.co.uk] Hehe! Got ya... [IMG: Voting] I'm sure you were never in any doubt!
OK. I am going to stick my neck out here and predict what will happen in terms of number of seats: Conservative: 295Labour: 235Lib Dems: 100Other: 30 I am not basing this on anything other than gut instinct. I think the Lib Dems will do slightly better in seat share than the UNS calculators are predicting because UNS breaks down once the party gets beyond the mid 20s. I also think that the Conservatives have such an electoral mountain to climb that they will just not be able to get into overall majority territory in one leap from their position ...
Lib Dem Voice reported eight of the final day polls yesterday – there was just one last polling company, Ipsos MORI, due, and their figures have now been published by the London Evening Standard: CON 36%(nc), LAB 29%(-1), LIB DEM 27%(+4) The average of these nine final polls is reported by the Standard as follows, with changes from 2005 in brackets: CON 36%(+3), LAB 28%(-8), LIB DEM 27%(+5) There were apparently 91 polls published during the 2010 general election campaign, compared with 30 five years ago.
Years and years of waiting have finally come to an end. Big elections, like this one, don't come round often enough for political animals like me. Who cares about mere trifles like the local council results in the Vale of White Horse? They are as insignificant as Channel 4's attempt to make the election funny ...
[IMG: pollingstation] From media reports and anecdotal experiences, it seems as if turn-out is going to be notably high today. Voting at around 8am this morning, I had to queue for 20 minutes. Upon leaving, the queue was three times longer than when I'd arrived. Disorganisation seemed partly to blame, but there seems little doubt that people are skipping along to the polling stations in higher numbers than in recent GEs. Typically this is said to favour Labour, whose voters are often less committed to the old ballot-crossing than their Tory counterparts. As West Hampstead now turns from chilly grey ...
I was telling first thing this morning here in Sandhurst and it was good to see so many people turning out to vote. There was good debate and banter between the three of us telling from the three main parties and I am looking forward to going down and doing my second shift imminently. Hopefully the volume I was seeing this morning bodes well for a large turnout.
While the outcome today is still in flux (and I snatch a brief moment in between dispatching activists), remember this one fact. Whoever wins this election will be required to make the most swingeing cuts in a generation. Those cuts will almost inevitably be across the board, and they will inevitably lead to misery. And ...
One of the most amazing – and welcome – aspects of this election campaign has been how Nick Clegg has completely stolen the show, as Jonathan Freedland noted in his Guardian article yesterday. But it's not just at home that 'Cleggmania' has been in evidence: the foreign press in particular have been fascinated by his rise without trace. Here, for example, is how a major feature in the New York Times begins: LIVERPOOL, England — Chris Garlick arrived a skeptic, but departed a convert. "I think he's refreshing," Mr. Garlick said of Nick Clegg, the earnest, fresh-faced leader of the ...
[IMG: IMG_0374[1]] One for the album: me and my parents at the polling station at Pennycross primary school
Over at The Guardian's Comment is Free website, author and historian Timothy Garton Ash delivers a passionate call for public to ignore any thought of tactical voting, and vote Lib Dem today to compel the real change Britain needs. Here's an excerpt: This time, vote Liberal Democrat. Vote Liberal wherever you can. Vote Liberal as if your life depended on it. Vote Liberal if you want a transformed politics and a modern, free country with a realistic view of its place in the world. No matter if you didn't last time; no matter if you won't next time. This time: ...
Good luck to all my friends who are standing for elecion today. And thank you to all those who are going out to vote - whoever you vote for, that little cross on a ballot paper is important. Here's hoping we get the result that's best for our country and its people.
The Westmoreland Gazette reports the good news for the very splendid Tim Farron's re-election hopes: TIM Farron's campaign to retain Westmorland and Lonsdale has received an unlikely boost from his former Labour opponent in the 2005 General Election. In an open letter to voters, John Reardon urged people not to support his old party but instead to cast their votes for the Liberal Democrats to 'keep out the Conservatives'. "I am writing to you asking you to support Tim and the Liberal Democrats at this election," writes Mr Reardon. "Labour cannot win in Westmorland, as I learned with only seven ...
Just hearing that a plane carrying Nigel Farage has crashed near Brackley. I'm hearing rumours that the banner got caught up with the engine. Nigel and the pilot have been rushed to hospital. His injuries are not said to be life threatening but the pilot is more seriously injured. I hope they are OK. BBC local news report here.
Today is the day in which we, as voters, can make a real difference. Whoever you support, you need to go out and vote – place that magic X in the box and make your vote count. Tonight, from midnight, I will be part of the election team at LBC 97.3, with Iain Dale and leading ...
A 'virtual' Good Morning leaflet arrived in Lib Dem members' email inboxes this morning from Nick Clegg: Dear Friend, Today's the day we can deliver fairness for Britain. But we need your help today to make it happen. I know we've all worked so hard in this campaign already. You might already be out and about delivering "Good Morning" leaflets. If so – thank you! But votes don't count until they're in the ballot box. Everything you can do today will make a huge difference. Every door you can knock on or leaflet you can deliver will be vital. And ...
Well I'm prepared to go with the the FiveThirtyEight prediction based on their model of seat allocation.
...regarding the sheer hysterical frothing-at-the-mouth from the Tory press, comes from the consistently brilliant Alix Mortimer, as seen on TV; "when a mainstream political party led by a decent chap constitutes a fundamental threat to the status quo in media, politics and public life, something has gone badly wrong with the system." The best that can be said of The Sun's jawdropping Cameron-as-Obama shtick is that with a bit of luck it might cost the Tories some of the teabaggers'/knuckledraggers' vote. Talking of which... BREAKING NEWS - NIGEL FARAGE injured in plane crash near Brackley; more to follow....
Not a good start to the day in Brent Central, where ballot papers for the wrong Parliamentary constituency had been supplied to all three polling stations Willesden Green ward. Result? Proper voting didn't actually start until nearly two hours late. UPDATE: Another problem, this time reported from York: polling cards issued which said polls were open 7am to 10am (i.e. for just three hours). Ooops: [IMG: Poll card error - York]
It's polling day, and in Lewisham Central there is an excellent Lib Dem team to vote. Max Calò (me), Ingrid Chetram & Dave Edgerton. For Parliament vote Tam Langley for Lewisham Deptford. For mayor vote for Chris Maines, the real opportunity to change Lewisham for the better. I'll be out knocking on doors all day, ...
Today's the day. You've heard the policies, you've seen the debates, you've read the comments. You may even have engaged directly yourself in some way by leafleting, tweeting or discussing the election over a pint. Today is the day to make it all count. Today is the day to make your decision. If you don't vote today, the only thing you can complain about until the next election is the weather. I don't need to remind you why I believe you should vote Liberal Democrat – you can easily read back through my posts to see why. The Guardian is ...
Is this election going to be the Lib Dem version of a velvet revolution? Is this when the powers that be will no longer be able to avoid reforming the British voting system to make every vote count equally? Vote Lib Dem for REAL change. Vote today. Turn off the computer and make your x mark the spot! Britain needs you!
Even if the polls are right and the Liberal Democrats get their best result in decades and even come second in the popular vote, nothing can beat polling day in the Euro elections in 1999 for me. That was the day I took my beautiful baby daughter home from hospital for the first time. She looked so tiny in her car seat - it was incredible that she'd virtually outgrown it within 4 months. Glasgow SNP councillor Alison Thewliss got me all nostalgic on Twitter the other night - she has gone through this election with a rapidly developing bump ...
Excited and nervous is me today. Excited because this looks like an election of a lifetime both nationally - where we can completely overturn the existing political establishment - and locally - where 40 years of Labour rule in Haringey Council is hanging by a thread. Nervous because - quite rightly - this is the day you can sack me from my job or give me another term of office. When it comes down to it, I get no more say than anyone else - we all have just the one vote on the general election ballot paper. I blogged ...
Tomorrow I will be doing my first cover it live for the exciting race for Kingston and Surbiton! admittedly the start of the day will be pretty quiet however after the polls close things will probably pick up! I'll hopefully throw in a couple of other treats, especially if I pass over the 2,000 blog ...
If you're interested in what the parties have to say, you've probably already glanced at their manifestos (available for free online) or bought one of the "Why Vote Party X" books in the shops. I'm not going to do an in-depth analysis of any of them at this stage, though I've read some more thoroughly than others. But even at a cursory inspection, you see something of the parties in them. What are their priorities? What do the covers and contributors tell you about their approaches? What about the gays? And why (surprise) do I prefer the Liberal Democrat publications? ...
'This is it'- Michael Jackson quote. Today is the day of the election and all preparations come down to today. Our house has been used as a base and it has been great fun. Today I got up at 6 am (yes i know it is the earliest i've got up except from once,i got up at 4am) and leafleted Montem Road with 'Good Morning' leaflets. I would like to thank everybody who has read my blog and I wish you goodluck. You will still be hearing from me after the election.
Today marks the last day of the election campaign - the day when voters have a last chance to change the way the country is run.Please make sure you use that vote. I hope you'll use it to vote for your Liberal Democrat candidate (Jacquie Bell in Stockton South or Philip Latham in Stockton North), but whoever you decide to support please use it.Remember that people have died in this country in
After certain recent events I realised something that made me wonder about Lib/Lab pact vs Lib/Con pact. No Labour supporter has ridiculed me for voting Lib Dem, that's not saying that they all have agreed with my choice and that they haven't tried to give me reasons to change, but they have all respected my ...
Don't forget to vote today! King's Hedges has two elections today: one for parliament where the Focus team hope we will elect Julian Huppert. Julian will make an outstanding MP, and follow in the footsteps of David Howarth. For the City Council elections please elect another hard working local councillor for our ward. Simon Brierley hopes to replace Neale as our third City Councillor. He lives in Markham Close and has been active helping the team for several years.
7am, and the polls are open! One day free of commentators and opinion polls. One day in which you, the voters, are very firmly in the driving seat. One day in which you can begin to change politics in our country. Over to you.
I have not had the time to write about this election. However I did find the time on Facebook to suggest why not to vote Labour; "A catastrophic war in Iraq, the never ending war in Afghanistan, failure to stand up to Israel when they invaded Gaza, collusion with torture with the Bush regime, "light touch" regulation of the City, believing that market forces were self-correcting with disastrous economic consequences, failure to reform the finance of political parties - which ... See morenow gives the Tories a massive advantage for decades to come, failure to change the electoral system after ...
Assuming the clock on my website's server is right, then as this post goes live, polling will have started in the General Election. And on this day of all days, I'd like to appeal to activists of all parties to think back over the lessons learned during this campaign and come together as one to ...
A few key pieces of information for polling day: Polling stations are open between 7am and 10pm today. No votes can be cast after 10pm; it's not like the shops where being in the queue at closing time is enough. You don't need your polling card to vote. You have to vote at your local polling station, which is indicated on the card. If you've lost your card and aren't sure where to vote, you can contact your local council. Postal ballots can be handed in at polling stations today. Make sure all the paperwork is completed and put inside ...
Polls are now open. They will stay open to 10pm this evening giving you 15 glorious hours in which to cast your vote. In this election, more than many before. your vote can make a difference. Make it count for a change that works for you and vote Lib Dem. One final comment, some of you have been letting us know that you have not received your polling card. DON'T PANIC you don't actually need this to cast your vote, just turn up at the polling place (station if you are outwith Scotland) and give them your details and you ...
David Cameron, would be a change from the present government like a blue table cloth is different from having a red table cloth, but he does not represent a real change from what goes before. Cameron claimed to be the heir to Blair, whilst Brown was the heir to Blair. They both seek to be the new Tony Blair, and as most of the country knows, we actually don't want another Tony Blair. If you want real change, where fairness is at the very bedrock of every policy. If you want a party that does not duck the issues and ...
Hattip Stephen Tall, who is snorting with laughter. Cameron as Obama? It is an open competition for a caption competition, which LibCon have taken up with glee. My entry would read "VOTE FOR CHANGE. End our 50 years of exile and finally return an Old Etonian Oxford Graduate to Number 10" In a week: Er, ...
Today I am out of interesting things to say - please get out today and vote for change in Blaydon. I will not let you down and be a hard working MP for this area. We can do it!
I am just about to set off to deliver the first polling day leaflets. It is barely light outside and I have had only a few hours sleep. I am not expecting to be get back to my bed for at least another 24 hours. This has been the most extraordinary election and it is not over yet. It is possible that we are on the verge of a tremendous change in the way our country is governed. Every vote will count. I hope that I will not be disappointed.
Arisen early in order to deliver Good Morning leaflets across the constituency. With a possible pause for a famed Lib Dem Bacon Roll around 11 (and a snooze in the late afternoon) I guess it will be solid all the way through until the count tonight. I will be in the Aberdeen Conference Centre, which is also in the constituency, acting as a polling agent. So I hope to see, not merely the re-election of Malcolm Bruce and Sir Robert Smith, but also the election of many new Liberal Democrat MPs too. It has been a long campaign- after all ...
Tomorrow, millions of us go to the polls to deliver a verdict either for change or for more of the same. Yet many will try to reflect on the benefits that they have had over the last 13 years through this Labour Government; some will know that there will be tough times ahead; some will know that Labour is on the verge of being in the political wilderness and some will know that a seismic change in politics may have already taken place. Labour cannot be blamed for all of the problems of the last 13 years. There have been ...
As I write these words, we're half an hour into polling day. These last four weeks have been historic. But we'll have time (lots and lots of it) to pick over that in the future. Today, we are greeted by our semi-regular Great British democratic moment. About once every half-decade, we are asked our opinions ...
[IMG: Blue Nun] Are you going to an election night party? Have you secured one of those elusive invitations to the BBC Boat Party? No? Fear not, the real action is, of course, taking place on Twitter. All you need is a bag of Twiglets, a crate of Blue Nun, a Dimbleby on the telly, and fast and furious Twitterfingers. Be sure to use the hashtag #electionparty to follow the party action, #ge2010 for all your election-related tweets, and the official constituency hashtags for the results as they come in. We'll be spinning some discs via blip.fm, playing party games, ...
"There is greatness in people. It's not what we achieve, but the aspiration to achieve it, the desire to attempt the impossible. That ultimately, is the triumph of the human spirit". Andy Hamilton
Here is the latest Northern Democrat, the newsletter I edit for Lib Dems in the North of England.Northern Democrat No 50 Apr 10
Well an amazingly busy last day getting the last minute message across. I saw that Labour sent out a national mailing warning people that voting for me would mean they would get Cameron. Rubbish. There is no risk of the Tories winning here. It is a straight fight between me and Labour. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for a high turnout. If you want a fairer society and real change, vote Lib Dem today. Polls close at 10pm!
Some of these reviews can also be found on Amazon.In April 2010 I read the following books: 1. Jill the Reckless, by P.G.Wodehouse Like much of Wodehouse's work, this is a light-hearted, fairly short work, that you'll be able to knock off in a coupla days. It has such Wodehouse perennials as a domineering aunt, an uncle, and Bertie Wooster (although with a different name). I dare say little more without giving some of the essntials away, but you will enjoy this book. If you don't, you are broken. 2. Iron Sunrise, by Charles Stross This sequel to Singularity Sky ...
Yes, folks, truly this is The Sun's election day front page ... It is, to put it politely, woeful. Not only does it make the assumption that Sun readers will instantly recognise the Obama imagery – by no means a certainty – but it fails the crucial credibility test. The famous Kinnock light-bulb front page of 1992 captured, cruelly but brilliantly, the nation's last minute doubts that the Labour leader was prime ministerial. But is there anyone who really looks at David Cameron and thinks, "There's our Obama"? No. I was fully expecting a full-tilt Sun attack on either/both Clegg ...
All those folk who say the BNP are just like any other party... they're not! They're thugs, hooligans, and criminals masquerading as a political party. See ...
Before all this started, I was a humble Liberal Democrat blogger, sat behind a keyboard writing blog posts and generally ranting about the state of the country thanks to Gordon Brown's ineptitude. Like most of you out there in the real world i was mad about the expenses scandal and the way that politicians had ...
There was a moving article on the BBC news yesterday evening about the way that English people may have to sell their house to pay for their care but if you live in Scotland then house sales are not a factor. It is an issue that is costly to the government and it is certainly contentious, but this one issue is a microcosm of the whole political agenda. If you support the Tory views in general then you will support the idea of paying a few thousand pounds for social care. The problem with this is it doesn't help the ...
So we've reached the end of our General Election campaign 2010 here in Manchester Withington. It's been an exciting and eventful few weeks, packed full of visits to local schools and businesses and chats on the doorstep – we've been working tirelessly to get our message out to all constituents. We've also seen excellent performances ...
Thu 6th
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Time To Vote. Time To Get the Vote Out. And If You Have Any Spare Time... Lib Dems To Enthuse You
With just twenty-two hours left of the most exciting election in our lifetimes, you probably don't want to read even more political analysis and predictions - not with the real thing nearly decided. So I'm looking at no bets or polls tonight, but I've read some brilliant pieces from people about why they're voting, and what's worth voting for. Take a peek: these are some of the best, most inspirational pieces of political writing I've come across in the last few days (if you read no others, David Matthewman's "Why I'm A Liberal Democrat" blogs are heartfelt, intelligent and personal). ...
