"If anyone asked me why I continue to fight," said Lord Bonkers, "I should show them this." "This" is a video of the beloved novelty dance act Wilson, Keppel and Betty rehearsing at Dudley Hippodrome in 1949. Dudley Hippodrome was demolished last year after a long campaign to save it. The last star to perform their before it became a bingo club in 1974 was Roy Orbison. It must have looked great at night when those tall windows were still glazed. And you can read about Wilson, Keppel and their various Bettys in an article by Luke McKernan. Here they ...
A cracking piece of coverage from BBC London, reporting on how the Conservative grip on Parliamentary seats in Surrey is under threat.
Given the terrible cards he has been dealt (some of them by himself) I think poor Rishi Sunak puts on a pretty good show. He took on the premiership after twelve years of Conservative rule with very little positive to crow about, other than, perhaps, equal marriage; followed the two most scurrilous and disastrous prime ministers in our history; and with only one of the five pledges for his own time in office (bringing down inflation, the one over which he had least control) having any measure of success. In such circumstances it takes considerable chutzpah to be optimistic. His ...
The heavens passed their verdict on this sorry government yesterday, as a waterlogged PM announced a July General Election. Many were surprised that he jumped before he was pushed. Cynics might say that, clutching at straws, he was perhaps hoping for a good run for the England team in next month's Euros to brighten the gloom and to improve his chances. However he should remember what happened to a previous much fancied England team, whose exit from the World Cup contributed, some argued, to the Labour government's surprise defeat back in 1970. To be honest, after 14 years of basically ...
Party President Mark Pack gives the answer – NO! He writes: Q. Do leaflets work? A. Yes. Q. Really? A. Yup. There's plenty of evidence, both internal party evidence (e.g. tracking changes in canvass data in the aftermath of leaflets) and also from academic research. Examples of the latter are here and here, and there's also polling evidence of voters remembering getting leaflets and being influenced by them. Plus there's the evidence of what other parties have done when they've walloped us in elections. Q. OK, one leaflet I understand. But why so many? A. The typical leaflet gets only ...
Thu 23rd
13:08
Sunak takes questions from two "members of the public" who turn out to be Conservative councillors
Rishi Sunak is very bad at politics. So bad, it seems, that his handlers are afraid to let him meet any voters. Here's Adam Bienkov for Byline Times: Rishi Sunak has been accused of faking support for the Conservative party, after taking two questions from supposedly ordinary members of the public, who turned out to have been Conservative Councillors. Broadcasters on Thursday morning carried footage of an individual wearing a hi-vis jacket, asking the Prime Minister a question about his Rwanda scheme, during an event at McVitie's Biscuit warehouse in Derbyshire. The man told Sunak that "the biggest issue is ...
So, only 6 months before we expected it, Sunak yesterday called the election. Standing in Downing Street to announce the date, it rained, and rained, and rained. Poor Richi got an absolute soaking. Is it an omen for the rest of his campaign? Will it be a washout or will he close the gap on Labour? Still it was tempting to imagine Morecombe and Wise dancing across Downing Street with their
I have spent much of my time these last few months trying to compose bits of advice of the form "so you want to do an Industrial Strategy? Here is what I learned". For I am meant to have a unique perspective here: special adviser TWICE when the government was trying to get a strategyContinue reading "Being proactive about industrial strategy, for once."
Ed Davey speaks after the announcement of a General Election.
If there was one thing that Welsh First MInister, Vaughan Gething needed, it was a distraction, something to take his own party's mind off the dodgy donation scandal, the deleted WhatsApp messages, the failed trip to India to meet Tata executives who had just returned from London, and the sacking of a Minister over disputed evidence of a leak. And now he has it; a general election in which nobody in Welsh Labour will want to rock the boat too much in case they disrupt the campaign. Of course, none of this will stop the opposition focussing on all the ...
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, The Week in Polls: Sign up to The Week in Polls "*" 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 ...
Michael's ward surgeries take place today and every Thursday during school term time. They are as follows : Thursdays at 5.45pm prompt - West End Campus (come to reception area of St Joseph's RC and Victoria Park Primary Schools) Thursdays at 6.30pm prompt - Harris Academy reception area All welcome - no appointment necessary!
