Hello! I'm Mark Pack, author of Polling UnPacked: The History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls (get your own copy here), as well as 101 Ways To Win An Election and Bad News: what the headlines don't tell us. I also maintain the largest database of national voting intention polls in the UK, stretching back to 1943. The next general election is most likely several years away, but political polling of voting intentions for a general election is in full swing. Half-a-dozen firms are polling regularly, with a handful of occasional surveys from others too. Below the table, you'll ...
Second paragraph of third chapter:Glancing over the scavengers' heads, Tom glimpsed a dark silhouette against the distant glare of furnaces. The girl was at the far end of the catwalk, climbing nimbly up a ladder to a higher level. He ran after her and snatched at her ankle as she reached the top. He missed by a few inches, and at the same moment a dart hissed past him, striking sparks from the rungs. He looked back. Two more policemen were thrusting through the crowd with cross-bows raised. Beyond them he could see Katherine and her father watching him. "Don't ...
When I first watched it in 2007, I wrote:Ghost Light is an entirely different matter [from Battlefield]. I approached it with some suspicion, in that I had found several of Marc Platt's other offerings (Downtime, Auld Mortality, Lungbarrow) tough going. And indeed, Ghost Light is tough going too, but I very much felt it was worth the effort: intricately constructed, well acted, beautifully shot; certainly the best story I've seen that was broadcast between Caves of Androzani and Rose. One of my big complaints of Who of this era is that so little effort seems to have been put into ...
The Lib Dems have proposed new legislation to protect Welsh farmers from being undercut by food trade deals that do not meet the UK's environment and animal welfare standards. A private member's bill from Spokesperson for Rural Affairs Tim Farron MP would require the government's Trade and Agriculture Commission to assess the impact of any new trade deal on UK farmers, and guarantee that MPs had the final say on trade deals initiated by the government. This would include an assessment of the impact of new trade deals on farming communities in each region and nation of the UK. Tim's ...
A few years ago, I went to Arkansas and met loads of active Mayors and other politicians. Most of them were very friendly and insisted on buying me a beer because they knew that British men drink a lot of ... Continue reading →
As the fantastic team of over forty volunteers recovers from our collective disappointment, it's worth saying how proud I am of the way people rallied around our fabulous candidate in the depths of winter, against a cynical and purposeful Tory opposition. Disappointing though our loss is, had this not been the case we may not have learnt a vital lesson that I now feel ought to be shared - in particular for the benefit of areas where we are in control of the local council. My reflection is that we lost, not to the Tories, who got nearly the same ...
There is yet another in a long line of covid cash stories in today's Independent, who reveal that a billionaire Tory donor's firm continued to claim millions of pounds' worth of taxpayer-funded furlough money after recording a £75.3m profit. The paper says that Malcolm Healey's company, Wren Kitchens, used public funds to help bankroll its staff costs during the Covid pandemic even though it banked tens of millions of pounds' worth of pre-tax profits in its 2020 accounts. It came as Healey personally donated £500,000 to Boris Johnson's party in December 2020, meaning he has given the Tories over £2.3m ...
Fri, 18:08: Exploding School to Pieces: Growing Up With Pop Culture In the 1970s, by Mick Deal https://t.co/R41z99rpwg Fri, 18:32: Friday reading https://t.co/TPccSaaXxC Sat, 10:45: Here's Why Movie Dialogue Has Gotten More Difficult To Understand (And Three Ways To Fix It) https://t.co/vUarYRDxed Very interesting piece, though the ads on the @slashfilm site are really annoying.
With the May 2022 local elections on the horizon, it is paramount the Lib Dems build up momentum going into the spring by ending the year strong and we did just that! First and foremost, we want to thank all our valued candidates, local parties and an army of steadfast volunteers that gave Lib Dem supporters ample opportunity to support Liberal Democrat Councillors all over the country. There were two gains in Lancaster, one loss and one gain in Hailsham, a heartfelt loss in North Norfolk and in Breckland. Lancaster We begin proceedings in Lancaster where the blue wall suffered ...
Many thanks for being a reader of, or listener to, my output. It would be great if you can take a few minutes to complete my latest reader survey in order to help me make my content and choice of channels interesting, useful and convenient. You can take the reader survey here.
I told you so. In all humility, I was not alone. The WHO issued a veritable flood of dire warnings. Dozens of NGOs did the same. So did an army of globalists who argued that common sense dictated that Covid is a global problem that requires global cooperation to save lives and a world economy of which we are all a part. We argued that Africa, with poor its health conditions and poorer health facilities, was likely to produce a highly transmissible mutant virus that would find its way north and bite a Europe and America that ignored Africa firmly ...
It is Small Business Saturday. Writing in City AM, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey says the Peppa Pig episode showed that Boris Johnson does not take the business community seriously. He says small businesses need help fast and calls for tax cuts which would benefit the smallest companies by an average of £5,000 each. He also wants the Employment Allowance to be quadrupled to £16,000, allowing a small business to employ five people without national insurance contributions. Businesses have been through hell and back over the last two years. From on-off lockdowns to a botched trade deal with the EU... ...
From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee : Our new exhibition in the Tower Foyer Gallery features digital prints by the artist Alex Heywood. Alex studied Animation at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, graduating in 2017. He has since attracted international attention for his unique digital artworks, featuring an extraordinary menagerie of curious yet familiar animals. Each of his illustrations creates an imaginary world teeming with quirky details. The exhibition features a selection of his work alongside some unusual animals from the D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum. It will be open Monday to Friday ...
Katy Balls reports Tory disquiet over their prospects in the North Shropshire by-election: "Despite Paterson holding the seat in 2019 with a majority of 22,949, senior Tories have expressed concern over the vote while the Liberal Democrats are talking up their prospects. One senior Lib Dem source has told the Times that they have put money on a victory for their party." While Ian Dunt detects the formation on of an informal, organic anti-Tory strategic arrangement. Adam Ramsay on his public school days and the building of upper-class solidarity: "I haven't lived with my parents for any significant period since ...
