The Conservatives are trailing Labour in the polls, but it's the voters they are losing to Reform that obsess them. This despite the fact that votes they win back from Labour - or from the Lib Dems where we are their main challengers - count double. One on the Tory total and one off the Labour total. It's this obsession with Reform that explains the sudden Tory conversion to National Service. It's pandering to the prejudices of elderly right-wing voters who have somehow convinced themselves they had to do National Service. They didn't: not unless they're into their eighties. The ...
It was off to Cambridgeshire today for Ed Davey, taking the debut ride in his general election battlebus.
On Friday it was announced that Jeremy Corbyn would stand as an independent in Islington North, the constituency he has represented since 1983. Having been evicted from the Parliamentary Labour Party, Starmer was in no mood to let his predecessor back in. Corbyn was the centre of a personality cult up until he led Labour to its worst election performance since 1935. MPs who stand against
There was a motion on the agenda for last Thursday's council meeting in Gateshead, about the importance of policy for women and girls. It led to some reminiscences from Labour Council Leader Martin Gannon about the civic centre when it first opened in 1987. Many of the facilities were totally inadequate for women councillors. The locker room for example had room for about 10 women councillors,
The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is out. As it says: One of my tasks in a previous general election was to organise mass nationwide purchase of Charles Kennedy gnomes. The idea was to purchase enough gnomes to move the 'gnome poll' being carried out by a leading supermarket across marginal seats. We bought many gnomes, we gained seats and I still have two CK gnomes, one in the garden and one visible over my shoulder on Zoom calls. We can agree though, I hope, that gnome purchases are not a great electoral ...
The next few weeks will be dominated by much political froth, lots of it meaningless (mandatory National Service, for goodness sake!) but some if it damaging ( eg as was Ed Miliband's bacon sandwich). Whatever distractions the parties and press conjure up, it is essential for us to have at the front of our minds just how awful the government of Britain has been for the past fourteen years, and for that reason alone it is high time for "the others" to take over. Here's a list of reminders. Lowlights of 14 years of Tory rule Welfare: Two child limit. ...
I don't think it will come as any surprise at all to any of us that our key plan in this election is to gain seats in the "Blue Wall" where we have come second to the Tories. Not all of those seats are in the South East of England. Harrogate, Cheadle, Hazel Grove, are all up north. And then there are all the seats in the south west which came into play when we won Somerton and Frome. Of course, as Alex Cole-Hamilton will tell you, we "have our grappling hooks" into the acid yellow wall of the SNP. ...
Plans have been submitted to develop a privately run, 66 bed care home for the "frail elderly", with associated communal and staff facilities. The large two and a half-storey building will support 24/7 care for the elderly residents including those with dementia and those requiring end of life care. The application has been submitted by Stratmore Estates on behalf Care Developments (Ludlow) Ltd (24/01355/FUL). The site is currently occupied by Oaklands, a large modern detached house with an extensive garden which is largely a lawn. This proposal complies with planning policy, especially as there is an identified need for more ...
Greetings from Whittlesford in South Cambridgeshire, where Ed Davey launched the battlebus in front of an enthusiastic crowd... IMG_1055
Scandals. Lots of them. The sub-postmaster scandal. The contaminated blood scandal. The DWP carer scandal. The continuing Windrush scandal, The Grenfell prosecutions scandal. The HS2 costs debacle. There are others not so much in the headlines. The scandal of unused border facilities post-Brexit. The long list of NHS IT scandals. The TFL and rail contract scandals. Regulation of Thames Water. The Crown Court backlog scandal. The GP appointments and finances scandal. There are dozens more; most the public doesn't get to hear about.. But the general public is the victim, and the general public knows it. There is also an ...
This was one the queues in South Africa in 1994 when people waited hours to cast their vote in the first election in that Country that many were legally allowed to vote in. As Lord Mayor I am following the ... Continue reading →
United Kingdom British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is gambling on British xenophobia to return him to Downing Street. Or at the very least limit the damage to his troubled and divided ruling Conservative Party. Of course, there are other factors he is throwing into the electoral mix. The lowering of inflation, the threat of China and the Ukraine War being a few of the political ingredients he is hoping will counter 14 years of Conservative austerity, corruption and misrule. But playing on the average British voter's deep-seated fear and mistrust of foreigners is one of the few issues the prime ...
Let's start with the trivia. Miles Hunt, the guitarist and songwriter in The Wonder Stuff is the nephew of Bill Hunt, a horn player who followed Roy Wood through The Move, ELO and Wizzard. And The Wonder Stuff shared those bands's West Midland heritage, coming out of Stourport at the same time as Pop Will Eat Itself. Members of both bands had already played together in once called From Eden. The Wonder Stuff album everyone bought was Construction for the Modern Idiot, the last the band released before splitting in 1993 - they were to reform a few years later. ...
Most people who read this site are well used to being sickened to their stomachs by not just Conservative policy ideas but what they have done in practice. In the past few months alone, we've seen them pick on disabled people, sick people, vulnerable people seeking safety in this country, people coming to this country to share their skills in the workplace and pay taxes, trans people and anyone over 50 who isn't working full time. Today their big idea insults a generation of young people who have been failed by the Conservatives in spectacular style. A generation who, for ...
We received residents' concerns about the mess around the Eurobins on the west side of the Polepark Road and raised this with the City Council. Environment management updated as follows : "Thank you for the email regarding the mess at the Eurobins on Polepark Road. Two off our staff members attended the site but due to parked car very little was done. We will monitor it - we are hoping we can make improvements when there's no cars there."
