William Hague was not a very successful leader of the opposition. Against Blair’s prolonged political honeymoon, Hague’s Conservatives were regularly so far behind in the polls as to be out of sight. Not only did they fail to gain a single seat during the parliament but they actually went backwards, losing Romsey to the Lib Dems.
Comments
But someone today sent me a quote from my grandfather to a young American in the 50s:
"The secret to being a successful banker is to lend money to people who don't need and to charge them more than you pay out on deposits."
It really is that simple...
http://www.politicshome.com/uk/article/95012/the_daily_telegraph_saturday_22nd_march_2014
EXCL: Boris Johnson WILL run as an MP in 2015 now PM has cleared the way, friends claim: http://bit.ly/OIBuSn
The reason the tories have traditionallly done well in the Euros are obvious.
Firstly, their support tends to be older and more likely to vote even in elections that don't really matter like these.
Secondly, tories by and large care more about europe than anyone else (we are talking quite a low bar here). Some tories care so much about europe they even vote UKIP.
Thirdly, as David rightly says, the large constituencies rob Labour of most of their tactical advantages. There is no local organisation to talk of and almost no GOTV, no personal vote and who ever heard of a Euro MP doing anything for anybody who did not have a restaurant in Brussels?
No doubt all of these matters contribute to the pathetic turnout which also does Labour no favours.
Having fallen out with some of his paymasters and with his bank in hock I doubt the Labour party will spend a penny more than any euro subsidies they can get on these elections. How useful money is in such a non event is not clear but I have already bet Nick that turnout will fall once again.
So I do not think that a tory success in these elections, which is possible as the UKIP bubble deflates, proves anything very much. Not that I wouldn't enjoy it of course.
Just received an email offering us the opportunity to order *4* tickets to a Kate Bush concert 48 hours before they go on general sale. (Note: from a reputable source)
Bad news:
We might not be able to go.
The quandary: do I order on the off-chance? Ordinarily it would be something that we'd reorganise our lives for (heck, I organised our wedding so I'd still be able to watch the F1 qualifying), but this may be ungetroundable. But we've been waiting almost all our lives for this.
First world problems ... :-)
Not sure that's accurate. Under (my) UNS simulations there still seems to be a bias to Labour under D'Hondt. I haven't done a full calculation using the Brookes algebra (complicated by the fact that the Euros are a multi-party election) but it looks like Labour does better in the smaller/lower turnout constituencies, producing a modest bias in their favour.
Boy is she bitter, LOL.
Richard Nabavi said:
"Even though the markets are now aware of the Miliband risk, I don't think they've quite yet cottoned on to the no-viable-government risk, which IMHO is an even greater worry."
You make it sound like these are different things Richard. Are you sure?
The comments (as always) are far more fun than the article.
Enjoy.
I suspect if you showed most of the the poster in isolation they wouldn't gave realised how incredible, unbelievably and mind blowingly offensive if was...
The telegraph link someone posted of the reaction from the bingo hall summed it up well imo, did they like it yes, would it change their vote no.
So far none from C.
I imagine they must be holding back in order to do a full multi-page spread on this news, since normally they are incredibly hot on statistics comparing how the disadvantaged are doing under the coalition compared with the previous government.
http://www.oecd.org/unitedkingdom/OECD-SocietyAtaGlance2014-Highlights-UnitedKingdom.pdf
No, it's a facet of the system. Smaller as in District Magnitude smaller (there may be minor malapportionment effects too) constituencies e.g. North East/Wales. D'Hondt will disproportionally reward Labour in these strong areas, while ensuring they still receive their proportional entitlement in their weak (large District Magnitude) areas. There seems to be a turnout correlation too...
What's interesting to me is why different bits of social media are dominated by different political blocs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCovGqMiZyA
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/UK_opinion_polling_2010-2015.png
Remember the PB Golden Rule.
The PB tories are always wrong. The PB tories never learn.
Just Charlene @Just_Charlene 7h
Miliband practising for when he becomes Thatcher #indyref #ScotLab14 pic.twitter.com/jqfUqgdmEq
YES Argyll @YesArgyll 35m
#indyref I'll govern like Tory leader Margaret Thatcher,' says Ed Miliband, Express Feb 2014. Today he says SNP will govern like Tories.
Paul Middleton @DrPaulMiddleton 1h
"Tories and SNP mean race to the bottom" says Ed Miliband, without a hint of irony...or self-awareness. #bless #indyref
More from little Ed on Independence please. Much more.
Surely PB's most gullible cretins have told us that UKIP's bubble has burst already?
I expect a u-turn on that soon enough like on every other subject they are 100% wrong on.
*chortle*
There has been a clear tightening in the polls and if this continues I can see the YES price moving in with NO moving out. The prices, seen in the chart, are quite generous and my guess is that they will move.
Again it will come as no surprise that the obsequious posh twerps who were hysterical over Osbrowne's scottish 'intervention' have been made to look like complete idiots yet again.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26693266
Michael Gove News @MichaelGoveNews 9h
Michael Gove attacks David Cameron's 'preposterous' inner circle of old Etonians - The Independent http://q.gs/66Yod
Damn you lefty class warrior Gove!
LOL
labour now supporting pension reform probably since the yougov poll of 66% popularity.
Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn 28m
EXCL: Boris will run as an MP in 2015 now - but suspicions grow he has done a deal with the PM for No10 http://bit.ly/OIBuSn
Boris Johnson for Louth and Horncastle in 2015 looks rather likely
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/UK_opinion_polling_2010-2015.png
SuperbikeAl @SuperbikeAl 3h
"@2tweetaboutit: Labour hires dedicated Ukip monitor as Farage... http://dailym.ai/1nK80DM " Be better off hiring a dedicated Milliband watcher
Also agree that calling people out is the right thing to do, but sometimes it is one long rant and it gets over the top. Doesn't do you any favours either as it loses all effect.
Ed Miliband warns that independence of Scotland will be a ‘race to the bottom’: SCOTTISH independence and a... http://bit.ly/1evSWTQ
NConway @NConway2 5m
Labour to vote for Osborne's welfare cap next week - http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/03/labour-vote-osbornes-welfare-cap-next-week … @TheHeraldPaper @Leasky @TheScotsman @The_SSP_ @YesScotland
Unspoofable.
Lots of talk about whether Boris might stand in Louth or South cambs...why is no one suggesting South Suffolk?
Thankfully my opinion on such matters is of course irrelevant to people supportive of such positions, but you will surely accept it as not being 'spin' to agree that making the same joke over and over a million times, no matter how funny or bitingly satirical it may have initially been, makes it lose its effectiveness, even if the point is still true.
Good night all.
Could Farage's 'weakness for women' be his Achilles' heel in May? http://dailym.ai/1hheVMY - hasn't done Boris Johnson any harm. FACT!
Not quite any harm but a valid point nonetheless.
More interesting though would be the effect if Boris did get back in on the kippers and tory backbenches since Farage has been making Boris friendly noises before now.
norman smith @BBCNormanS May 13
Nigel Farage #ukip says if Boris Johnson or Michael Gove led the Tory party "we wd certainly b prepared to have a conversation" about a deal
No doubt that was done primarily to cause mischief among a tory party sill inclined to run around like headless chickens over Europe. If Cammie did lose though then Farage's words would certainly be remembered by tory backbenchers in any leadership contest. You also have to wonder just how 'strenuously' Farage and the kippers would campaign against Boris in 2015 if he does go for a seat.
For one I'm not a bloody Tory, all you are doing is becoming a parody, which is a shame.
It's absolutely 100% spin to try to caricature a posters remarks in that amusingly crude manner again and again and again.
The fact that Gove attacking the chumocracy upsets certain people to such a frankly incredible degree is far more indicative of where they stand and their inability to take even the mildest of criticism or jokes.
Everyone knows this is nowhere near the first time Cammie, the chumocracy and the tory party have been criticised for this. It's not EVEN anywhere near the first time they have been attacked for being out of touch by their own MPs and cabinet colleagues. Yet still it produces this incredible touchiness and sensitivity from tories and their hangers on. Because it clearly hits the nail on the head. Every single time.
James Corden's Sun Interview With David Cameron Reveals PM's Footballing ... - Huffington Post UK http://q.gs/67LGu
Jane Merrick @janemerrick23 14h
Best exchange in Cameron/Corden iview is DC saying SamCam "does yoga and things like that" JC: "Oh, she's one of them" DC: "Yes" #namaste
Remind me why Cammie is too scared to debate Farage?
*chortle*
Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf6qYtl-FoY
1) Lab voters can't be arsed with these non-Prime-Minister-choosing elections, whereas Con-sympathetic demographics are civically-engaged / bored enough to turn out.
2) UKIP have a hard time getting traction. (Otherwise the older Tory-sympathetic demographic go to them instead.)
(2) is the unlikely part, although there is some sign that the right-wing populist movements around the world are past their peak, so it's not unthinkable that they'll fizzle.
A UKIP fizzle would obviously be encouraging for Con prospects in 2015, but most people are already expecting a squeeze. It's necessary but not remotely sufficient for Con Maj, let alone a landslide.
Scottish Labour move left in bid to outflank the SNP
SCOTTISH Labour leader Johann Lamont will today describe Alex Salmond's economic policies as "Osborne Max" in a hard-hitting attack designed to position Labour firmly to the left of the SNP.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/wider-political-news/scottish-labour-move-left-in-bid-to-outflank-the-snp.23759147
We are hearing a lot at the moment about how ex-Labour voters are emerging as a bloc within the party. But I see another division: between a sensible outfit that wants a classical liberal Britain outside the EU, which I think of as lower-case Ukip; and permanently angry conspiracy theorists whom I think of as UKIP, or maybe UKIP!!!!, whose American equivalents have made the Republicans unelectable.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100264690/ukip-or-ukip-nigel-farage-must-decide-what-sort-of-party-he-wants-to-lead/
I think we see both on here.....Sean Fear of Ukip, for example, then quite a few UKIP supporters......
This is really going left. http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/03/labour-vote-osbornes-welfare-cap-next-week
Miliband holds key role in referendum
Ed Miliband's argument that independence for Scotland would cause a "race to the bottom" is a curiously narrow one.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/herald-view/miliband-holds-key-role-in-referendum.23758714
Consequentially, which political tendency dominates which part of social media is a function of who was in opposition when they rose to prominence: twitter is in the last couple of years; blogs during the long dark years of winter.
Unless of course SLAB isn’t really a socialist party!
But if he continues to struggle to convince, the suggestion Labour voters should consider a Yes vote may well have more traction.
For this reason Mr Miliband's approach in the coming months is likely to take on very considerable significance.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/herald-view/miliband-holds-key-role-in-referendum.23758714
Much as I wrote yesterday........
My eyes glaze over when I read the Telegraph comments. It's hard to know how many posters there who claim to support UKIP are actually involved in the party. Blogs attract people who rant and rave.
They just love him up here.
If a welfare cap is a good idea, why is it also a good idea to exclude pensions? So far as I can see, it's because we effectively have open borders for people of working age but pensioners are pretty immobile. If I were governing a state east of Berlin or Venice, I'd be looking to do something about that.
I'm increasingly of the view that all parties are more or less racist. If you lot want a betting tip it is for race riots in our inner cities on a large scale this summer (assuming it's not a cool, wet one - when did we last have one of those?). Apart from anything else, I suspect such riots would quietly suit the Coalition's electoral planning...
Facebook for people who aren't that into politics but will read a sentence or two if it's from someone they already know for non-political reasons.
Newspaper comments for people who think up to five sentences is okay but any more than that is showing off.
Forums...
Blogs...etc
I think you could possibly match social groups to some of the categories.
Just messing really but some truth in it.
I wonders what that means.
I know nothing of the independent Scotland debate and I couldn't give a monkey's who wins, although I would think it funny that Labour lose all those MPs voting as a herd on matters that don't affect them.
But you seem in a minority of people who actually think Salmond will win it.
I suspect the No campaign will win handsomely. Largely because I can't see all those Scots voting for such a massive change.
The Panelbase survey shows that 45 per cent of people in Scotland believe that Labour has been damaged by being associated with the Conservatives in the 'No' campaign.
According to the poll, that compared to just 24 per cent who do not believe that the party has been damaged.
SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson MP said: "Their alliance with the Tories has backfired badly on the Labour Party.
"By a majority of two-to-one, people in Scotland believe that Labour have been damaged by ganging up with the Tories in the anti-independence campaign - which is two-thirds of people excluding 'don't knows' ".
Mr Robertson added: "A Yes vote in September is about achieving the powers to build a fair society and prosperous economy in Scotland - and having relationship of friendship and equality with the rest of the UK.
"It is a positive vision, which is already attracting the support of over a quarter of Labour voters - and the gap between Yes and No is now down to just 5 points.
"Labour, by contrast, have chosen to stand with the Tories instead of standing up for Scotland - and are paying a heavy price for that foolish decision."
http://www.itv.com/news/border/2014-03-20/labour-leader-ed-miliband-to-claim-a-yes-vote-would-create-a-race-to-the-bottom/
The 'progressive' (LOL) lib dems are now seen as little more than unprincipled yellow tories and they are now a political irrelevance in scotland with a taxi full of MSPs thanks to their 'love in' with the toxic tories.