The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is now out. As it says: There are three possible reasons to dismiss as meaningless the voting intention figures coming from opinion polls at the moment. One bad, one reasonable and one mostly overlooked. So this week, let's step through those in turn. You can join the stepping by reading The Week in Polls in full here, and you can sign up below to receive future editions direct to your email inbox:
The BBC News report he was commenting on tells us: William and Catherine want privacy and a rural setting for themselves and their three children - George, nine, Charlotte, seven, and four-year-old Louis. All the children will be starting at nearby Lambrook School, a private co-educational school near Ascot in Berkshire. The school's prospectus says it has "first-class teaching and superb facilities" - including a 25-metre swimming pool, a nine-hole golf course, an orchard with bees, chickens and pigs, as well as woodland where it says children can get muddy. Sending their three children there as day pupils will cost ...
Holiday Oddities It is bank holiday weekend in the UK. Around the world conflict, droughts and crises continue unabated. UK government has ground to a halt while the Tories fight amongst themselves unwilling to recall parliament and unable to govern. To get away from that as much as we can, here at Lib Dem Voice Towers we have been looking at recent silly season stories. Some are funny, some stupid, some sad, some tending on the serious and some very scary. In compiling this compendium, we have consulted with Larry, the No 10 cat. He says that if the prime ...
Ed Davey has been interviewed by 'Centre Write ' the magazine of Bright Blue - who describe themselves as "an independent think tank for liberal conservatism. We defend and improve liberal society." The interview is billed as talking to Ed about "about coalitions, what it means to be a liberal, and what the future, holds for the party he leads" and Ed provides some robust answers to their questions. When asked if he regrets entering the Coalition he talks about his fighting the Tories over renewable energy - but as a result of winning those fights we have cheaper energy ...
I've been out for an hour with my hoop, bag and litter picker every day for the last three days and collected a bag of rubbish every day. As we Womblers say, "A bag a day keeps the rubbish at ... Continue reading →
I was actually quite surprised with myself. I thought that I would be nervous and stressed when I went with my eldest daughter to collect her GCSE results. Is it because, as a family of European migrants, we have never experienced before the actual exam period in the UK? Often, not knowing what to expect can actually be quite helpful! Having said that, 5-6 weeks of exams and revision were a true rollercoaster of emotions; tiredness, happiness when the exam went well, encouragement and motivation to continue learning even when the energy levels were low. I decided to accompany my ...
Recently opinion writer Noah Smith published a substack post in which he attempts to poke some holes at the discipline of history as it is practised in relation to politics. His primary claim is that historians' use of analogies when discussing current events (e.g. "this guy is acting like X historical figure" or "our current [...]
Sat, 15:02: RT @williamnhutton: It's extraordinary. We watch on helplessly as Truss prepares to form a cabinet populated by misfits, failures,ideologu... Sat, 17:53: Ms Marvel https://t.co/Ug5ITgMXWG Sat, 20:48: Cadastral records next, I hope. https://t.co/5Ar5UpDyrg Sat, 21:48: RT @sivavaid: Sanna Martin should be PM of the whole world and we should all dance more. Sat, 22:08: Saturday reading https://t.co/pHigZMGYgV Sun, 10:45: RT @AndrewPRLevi: To reiterate: Just because Boris Johnson is by far the worst prime minister the UK has ever had, doesn't mean the UK can...
There is an interesting post-script to Emily Maitlis' exposure of the BBC as Tory party enablers in Friday's Guardian. The paper reports that a former BBC executive has claimed he was blocked from a top job at the broadcaster due to fears his background in Labour politics would anger Boris Johnson's government: James Purnell spent almost a decade at the BBC in a variety of executive roles, before leaving two years ago after the arrival of Tim Davie as director general. He had previously been an MP and served as a cabinet minister in Gordon Brown's government. He has now ...
As spotted by Jonathan Calder, the disgraced Conservative MP whose resignation triggered the Tiverton and Honiton by-election is pondering a political comeback: Neil Parish is plotting a remarkable political comeback. The disgraced former Tory MP, who quit after being found watching porn in the House of Commons after claiming he was searching for a combine harvester online, is looking for redemption. And he hopes to find that by standing as an independent in the Tiverton and Honiton seat he was forced out of earlier this year... He rules out running for reselection as a Tory - "once you're out you're ...
It wasn't just British bands who were looking back in the Nineties. When asked, Greed Day cited their influences as the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and The Clash. Sometimes they looked back further and named the Kinks and the Who. Basket Case was one of the band's early singles and a hit in both Britain and the US. Wikipedia tells us: Green Day vocalist/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong said Basket Case is about his struggle with anxiety; before he was diagnosed with a panic disorder years afterward, he thought he was going crazy. Armstrong commented that at the time, "The only ...
Residents have pointed out to us that bus service 39 could perhaps serve the western end of Perth Road, where there may be more potential usage, rather than Mallaig Avenue and Explorer Road. It would also assist tackle the dearth of public transport at the far west end of Perth Road. We raised this with the Managing Director of Stagecoach East Scotland who has replied positively as follows : "I'm pleased to be able to say that we will be offering some journeys on service 39 via this part of Perth Road when our timetables change on 3rd October. Details ...
