When I saw the late, great Spencer Davis play Market Harborough leisure centre, there was a problem with one of the speakers. It was solved by having a roadie lie across it to hold the cable in. "This is just what it was like in the Sixties," he told us. "We're giving you the genuine experience." He also said that it was good to be in Market Harborough, because the Spencer Davis Group had come over this away often in their early days. I've never found evidence that the Spencers played Market Harborough, but they did play South Wigston. This ...
The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is out. As it says: If you look at data for this Parliament, you will find more polls listed by Wikipedia than I have included in PollBase. What's up? Find out more by reading this edition of The Week in Polls here, and you can sign up below to receive future editions direct to your email inbox:
This week in Parliament, Christine Jardine continued her efforts to get the Government to find some way of recording when children are bereaved so that they can get the help and support that they need. This matters to her. She was an adult when she lost her Dad at the heartbreakingly young age of 20, but her sisters were 13 and 8 respectively. She spoke in the debate about how that experience had affected all three of them to this day. Had they had access to counselling and support to help them navigate through the trauma, it might have made ...
Humza Yousaf has been Scotland's First Minister for 5 days and it looks as though he's not going to get a honeymoon. Two polls this week have shown the SNP vote falling and Labour surging while Lib Dems look as though we will gain and, in Alex Cole-Hamilton's catchphrase of the moment, "be part of what's next" A Savanta poll published on Friday put us on 7 seats, giving us and Labour 49 seats between us. Between 2007 and 2011, the SNP minority government had just 47 MSPs. This is the: – Best poll for Labour or any opposition party ...
People in Britain have more confidence in the EU than the UK parliament, reversing a state of affairs that has lasted for more than 30 years.
Sun 2nd
10:58
Government approves just three more police officers for the whole of Leicestershire and Rutland
Hurry over to the website of Rupert Matthews, the eccentric police and crime commissioner for Leicestershire and Rutland, for some exciting news: Yesterday I received a letter from Chris Philps MP, the Policing Minister. It contained the good news that the Conservative Government had agreed to my request to provide the funding for additional police officers in Leicestershire & Rutland. This being government money, there were strings attached. For a start we received the funding for only three extra officers, but it would be churlish to complain ab out (sic) that. If your tea cups are rattling, it's Leicestershire's criminals ...
A friend sent me the link to this video saying "Shakey is now Johnny Cash meets the Manics," and he's right. This is really good. But should we be so surprised? Shakin' Stevens was the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s and has had 33 Top 40 hit singles, including four that reached number 1. Though his band back home in South Wales had supported the Rolling Stones and been produced by Dave Edmunds, he first came to real prominence through appearing in the West End musical Elvis!, which ran for two years from 1977. It's producer Jack Good ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention poll from each pollster currently operating in Britain. If you'd like to find out more about how polls work, how reliable they are and how to make sense of them, check out my book, Polling UnPacked: the History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls, or sign up for my weekly email: "*" indicates required fields Email* Enter Email Confirm Email If you submit this form, your data will be used in line with the privacy policy here to update you on the topic(s) selected. This may including using this ...
It was lovely to be out canvassing with a group from Camden Lib Dems in Leighton Buzzard on Saturday.
USA – Trump I may have written too early and ill-advisedly when last week I predicted the political decline of Donald Trump. His delayed indictment in the Stormy Daniels case has finally hit the newsstands and the ex-president is deftly using his victimhood to rally his political base. "This is," he said "political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history." Clearly the man never studied the classics or medieval European history. But this has not stopped the conspiracy theorists from flooding cyber space with outlandish claims and threats of civil war. Qanon was quick to tweet that ...
From the City Council : "Visitors to Riverside Nature Park are being reminded to take care when navigating the area in order to keep ground-nesting birds safe, ahead of the start of the skylark breeding season. Riverside Nature Park, which was created on an area of landfill by the River Tay, is now home to the largest wildflower meadows in the city and is a popular spot for walkers and dog owners. In order to protect the ground-nesting birds, such as skylarks, the council and the Friends of Riverside Nature Park Group are again asking walkers to be careful at ...
