politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » LAB lead down but Tories trail by 5 percent in first phone poll since the budget
After three online pollsters had reported LAB leads down to just one percent there’ll perhaps be some relief at Miliband HQ that tonight’s ComRes phone poll for the Indy has the margin down to 5%
So it looks very much like the trends identified over the weekend have continued. Has to be a concern for Labour, no? You would expect the only major opposition party at this stage of the electoral cycle to have a substantial lead in the polls (if they have a shot at forming the next government, that is)
DaemonBarber said: Regarding the below debate over sharia law versus English law... Come back FPTP versus AV.
I just don't get religion. Not one bit.
A religion is where a bunch of underachieving neurotic dimwits get together to attack a different bunch of underachieving neurotic dimwits.
If people want to live in a country run by Sharia law there are a lot of basket case countries they can go and live (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia etc) instead of the UK.
But which came first, the basket case country or the basket case religion?
If we were, for example, averaging the last 8 polls, Labour leads of 8 and 4 have been replaced by 5 and 2. Average Labour lead over last 8 polls is now 3%, not so long ago it was over 6%.
If we were, for example, averaging the last 8 polls, leads of 8 and 4 have been replaced by 5 and 2. Average Tory lead over last 8 polls is now 3%, not so long ago it was over 6%.
Yes. Labour will be slightly relieved at first, but shouldn't be. They have shipped a couple of points, only upside is that it isn't going to the Tories in any great numbers.
Tories stay on 36 with YG. That should worry Labour a lot. Lead down to 5 with ComRes should not be reassuring either. The direction of travel is clear which Labour need to address.
Yes. Labour will be slightly relieved at first, but shouldn't be. They have shipped a couple of points, only upside is that it isn't going to the Tories in any great numbers.
If we were, for example, averaging the last 8 polls, leads of 8 and 4 have been replaced by 5 and 2. Average Tory lead over last 8 polls is now 3%, not so long ago it was over 6%.
What are you smoking ?
It's a "Wishful Thinking" flavoured eShisha. Now corrected.
Along with the indyref polling, these are worrying times for little Ed Miliband.
You are right ! 5% lead [ remember, phone polls are better than online poll: PB golden rule ] , majority government. Miliband should be worried.
Are you nicking Hodges' line ?
You remind me of the infamous "PB Tories" just before the last election proclaiming nailed on majorities in the face of narrowing poll leads and swingback. Started from a higher base too IIRC...
Yes. Labour will be slightly relieved at first, but shouldn't be. They have shipped a couple of points, only upside is that it isn't going to the Tories in any great numbers.
Can the Tories better 37% ?
Not that long ago. Before 2012 budget, to be accurate. So, in a word, Yes.
Labour have some work to do for sure. But that split of the right wing vote and consolidation of the left wing vote is an absolute killer for the Tories.
Electoral calculus have this as a Labour majority of 60, despite the two main parties not being far off the reverse of the 2010 result.
If I were Dave, I would be praying for a Cable takeover of the LDs.
In March 2009, for the purposes of comparison, The Tories had a 16% lead with ComRes.
Ed is no Dave
It's a painful comparison but ultimately a slightly odd one. To judge Dave's political virility by anything other than his failure to win in 2010 is strange. Bit like a batsman who failed in test matches telling you he was really great at net practice.
Tories stay on 36 with YG. That should worry Labour a lot. Lead down to 5 with ComRes should not be reassuring either. The direction of travel is clear which Labour need to address.
And, Labour is still at > 37%.
YouGov: Labour 334 seats, majority 18
Comres [ phone poll ]: Labour 354 seats, majority 96.
Tories stay on 36 with YG. That should worry Labour a lot. Lead down to 5 with ComRes should not be reassuring either. The direction of travel is clear which Labour need to address.
And, Labour is still at > 37%.
YouGov: Labour 334 seats, majority 18
Comres [ phone poll ]: Labour 354 seats, majority 96.
Labour should be worried !
Yeah, there were lots of posts like that from the blues just prior to the GE...
In March 2009, for the purposes of comparison, The Tories had a 16% lead with ComRes.
Ed is no Dave
It's a painful comparison but ultimately a slightly odd one. To judge Dave's political virility by anything other than his failure to win in 2010 is strange. Bit like a batsman who failed in test matches telling you he was really great at net practice.
Look at this graph to see this why that comparison is interesting
Labour have some work to do for sure. But that split of the right wing vote and consolidation of the left wing vote is an absolute killer for the Tories.
Electoral calculus have this as a Labour majority of 60, despite the two main parties not being far off the reverse of the 2010 result.
If I were Dave, I would be praying for a Cable takeover of the LDs.
Along with the indyref polling, these are worrying times for little Ed Miliband.
You are right ! 5% lead [ remember, phone polls are better than online poll: PB golden rule ] , majority government. Miliband should be worried.
Are you nicking Hodges' line ?
I've been saying for a year that I think Labour are going to win the next GE, probably with a small overall majority.
I still believe that. But I am much less convinced than I was. Ed is having a bad 2014, no doubt about it.
And Scotland is a huge problem, which Miliband seems unable or unwilling to address. If Labour loses Scotland you are fecked for 20 years.
They are self destructing in Scotland, conference last week was a nightmare and the leaders interviews on TV were just bizarre, incoherent rubbish about 2016 manifesto. Hard to see how they can recover. No talent , no organisation on the ground and no policies. Their red paper mentions SNP 117 times , unbelievable. Everything in their conference was just SNP , Salmond , consumed totally with hatred.
Labour have some work to do for sure. But that split of the right wing vote and consolidation of the left wing vote is an absolute killer for the Tories.
Electoral calculus have this as a Labour majority of 60, despite the two main parties not being far off the reverse of the 2010 result.
If I were Dave, I would be praying for a Cable takeover of the LDs.
Actually I think the only way the Lib Dems can get those voters back is a cast iron guarantee of no deal with the Tories after 2015. Even if they start pedaling back towards a soft left position, the desire of Lib>Lab switchers to see the Tories gone will far outweigh any forgiveness.
Tories stay on 36 with YG. That should worry Labour a lot. Lead down to 5 with ComRes should not be reassuring either. The direction of travel is clear which Labour need to address.
And, Labour is still at > 37%.
YouGov: Labour 334 seats, majority 18
Comres [ phone poll ]: Labour 354 seats, majority 96.
Labour should be worried !
Yeah, there were lots of posts like that from the blues just prior to the GE...
Just remember: Vote Distribution, Same Boundaries.
I would say with UKIP getting 6% of the votes, Tories would need a lead of 8% even to equal their current number of MPs.
Mike, repeatedly writes this but you don't listen, do you ?
Tories stay on 36 with YG. That should worry Labour a lot. Lead down to 5 with ComRes should not be reassuring either. The direction of travel is clear which Labour need to address.
And, Labour is still at > 37%.
YouGov: Labour 334 seats, majority 18
Comres [ phone poll ]: Labour 354 seats, majority 96.
Labour should be worried !
From today's Labour uncut piece... hmm... never see unskewers on PB only unsquirrels.
As the pressure rises, the unskewers’ entreaties not to panic will become more voluble. Loyal front-benchers will take up the cause and we’ll see unskewer analysis regularly retweeted to calm nerves.
The more Labour falls back on this approach, the deeper will be the hole in which the party finds itself. Clinging on to Lib Dem defectors and pointing to Labour’s consistency at 37% in the polls is the last redoubt of those who do not have anything substantive to say on policy or strategy.
In March 2009, for the purposes of comparison, The Tories had a 16% lead with ComRes.
Ed is no Dave
It's a painful comparison but ultimately a slightly odd one. To judge Dave's political virility by anything other than his failure to win in 2010 is strange. Bit like a batsman who failed in test matches telling you he was really great at net practice.
Look at this graph to see this why that comparison is interesting
Tories stay on 36 with YG. That should worry Labour a lot. Lead down to 5 with ComRes should not be reassuring either. The direction of travel is clear which Labour need to address.
And, Labour is still at > 37%.
YouGov: Labour 334 seats, majority 18
Comres [ phone poll ]: Labour 354 seats, majority 96.
Labour should be worried !
Yeah, there were lots of posts like that from the blues just prior to the GE...
Just remember: Vote Distribution, Same Boundaries.
I would say with UKIP getting 6% of the votes, Tories would need a lead of 8% even to equal their current number of MPs.
Mike, repeatedly writes this but you don't listen, do you ?
Tories stay on 36 with YG. That should worry Labour a lot. Lead down to 5 with ComRes should not be reassuring either. The direction of travel is clear which Labour need to address.
And, Labour is still at > 37%.
YouGov: Labour 334 seats, majority 18
Comres [ phone poll ]: Labour 354 seats, majority 96.
Labour should be worried !
From today's Labour uncut piece... hmm... never see unskewers on PB only unsquirrels.
As the pressure rises, the unskewers’ entreaties not to panic will become more voluble. Loyal front-benchers will take up the cause and we’ll see unskewer analysis regularly retweeted to calm nerves.
The more Labour falls back on this approach, the deeper will be the hole in which the party finds itself. Clinging on to Lib Dem defectors and pointing to Labour’s consistency at 37% in the polls is the last redoubt of those who do not have anything substantive to say on policy or strategy.
Some Labour people also do not understand electoral arithmetic.
- The Tories did a great favour by retaining FPTP.
- The Liberals did a great favour by scrapping boundary changes
Tories stay on 36 with YG. That should worry Labour a lot. Lead down to 5 with ComRes should not be reassuring either. The direction of travel is clear which Labour need to address.
And, Labour is still at > 37%.
YouGov: Labour 334 seats, majority 18
Comres [ phone poll ]: Labour 354 seats, majority 96.
Labour should be worried !
Yeah, there were lots of posts like that from the blues just prior to the GE...
Just remember: Vote Distribution, Same Boundaries.
I would say with UKIP getting 6% of the votes, Tories would need a lead of 8% even to equal their current number of MPs.
Mike, repeatedly writes this but you don't listen, do you ?
Tories stay on 36 with YG. That should worry Labour a lot. Lead down to 5 with ComRes should not be reassuring either. The direction of travel is clear which Labour need to address.
And, Labour is still at > 37%.
YouGov: Labour 334 seats, majority 18
Comres [ phone poll ]: Labour 354 seats, majority 96.
Labour should be worried !
Yeah, there were lots of posts like that from the blues just prior to the GE...
Just remember: Vote Distribution, Same Boundaries.
I would say with UKIP getting 6% of the votes, Tories would need a lead of 8% even to equal their current number of MPs.
Mike, repeatedly writes this but you don't listen, do you ?
As Clinton says: It's arithmetic !
For the first time in a while, I detect subconscious but sincere anxiety in your posts.
WTF are you talking about ?
Given the current boundaries and FPTP, the Tories cannot win a majority.
Hmm, with the other leaders not there, he won't have as much need to go with yellow to distinguish himself. But it's still highly likely.
I'm sure the leaders don't wear ties in their party colours as often as it seems like, but I'm not certain why they seem so keen to perpetuate the idea the political classes truly are identical to the point we need them to be colour co-ordinated to tell them apart.
What are the horrors of the HS2 link? Are these horrors just from the perspective of property owners in the area, or actually bad for the nation as a whole?
Tories stay on 36 with YG. That should worry Labour a lot. Lead down to 5 with ComRes should not be reassuring either. The direction of travel is clear which Labour need to address.
And, Labour is still at > 37%.
YouGov: Labour 334 seats, majority 18
Comres [ phone poll ]: Labour 354 seats, majority 96.
Labour should be worried !
ComRes is the outlier in the light of recent polls.
Tories stay on 36 with YG. That should worry Labour a lot. Lead down to 5 with ComRes should not be reassuring either. The direction of travel is clear which Labour need to address.
And, Labour is still at > 37%.
YouGov: Labour 334 seats, majority 18
Comres [ phone poll ]: Labour 354 seats, majority 96.
Labour should be worried !
Yeah, there were lots of posts like that from the blues just prior to the GE...
Just remember: Vote Distribution, Same Boundaries.
I would say with UKIP getting 6% of the votes, Tories would need a lead of 8% even to equal their current number of MPs.
Mike, repeatedly writes this but you don't listen, do you ?
As Clinton says: It's arithmetic !
For the first time in a while, I detect subconscious but sincere anxiety in your posts.
WTF are you talking about ?
Given the current boundaries and FPTP, the Tories cannot win a majority.
Not 'cannot win a majority'. 'Currently inconceivable they could win a majority'. You have to let people have some hope.
In March 2009, for the purposes of comparison, The Tories had a 16% lead with ComRes.
Ed is no Dave
It's a painful comparison but ultimately a slightly odd one. To judge Dave's political virility by anything other than his failure to win in 2010 is strange. Bit like a batsman who failed in test matches telling you he was really great at net practice.
Look at this graph to see this why that comparison is interesting
I wouldn't take pre-97 polls seriously or OGH might be inclined to fire you as guest editor. Those figures look somewhat strange. ICM had the Tories polling 33% in 2004 and between 32-34% in 2001. They had the Tories around 40% in mid-2009 so no major fall back there. Latest ICM had Labour on 38%, so I would expect a couple of points below next year. 36%?
Labour have some work to do for sure. But that split of the right wing vote and consolidation of the left wing vote is an absolute killer for the Tories.
Electoral calculus have this as a Labour majority of 60, despite the two main parties not being far off the reverse of the 2010 result.
If I were Dave, I would be praying for a Cable takeover of the LDs.
Nigel Farage = Ralph Nader = Alliance'83
The threat is though that the Tories can pick off a few more points from Ukip, on top of those they have just snaffled. The two key groups in this election are the Red Liberals and the Purple Tories.
Tories stay on 36 with YG. That should worry Labour a lot. Lead down to 5 with ComRes should not be reassuring either. The direction of travel is clear which Labour need to address.
And, Labour is still at > 37%.
YouGov: Labour 334 seats, majority 18
Comres [ phone poll ]: Labour 354 seats, majority 96.
Labour should be worried !
Yeah, there were lots of posts like that from the blues just prior to the GE...
Just remember: Vote Distribution, Same Boundaries.
I would say with UKIP getting 6% of the votes, Tories would need a lead of 8% even to equal their current number of MPs.
Mike, repeatedly writes this but you don't listen, do you ?
As Clinton says: It's arithmetic !
For the first time in a while, I detect subconscious but sincere anxiety in your posts.
WTF are you talking about ?
Given the current boundaries and FPTP, the Tories cannot win a majority.
Again, the faint but distinct hyperbole and bad-temper in your remarks betrays a concealed panic. As I said, it is possibly subconscious and you are not even aware of it yourself.
SeanT can add irony to his many strengths. After all, no one does hyperbole and bad-temper quite like him.
In March 2009, for the purposes of comparison, The Tories had a 16% lead with ComRes.
Ed is no Dave
It's a painful comparison but ultimately a slightly odd one. To judge Dave's political virility by anything other than his failure to win in 2010 is strange. Bit like a batsman who failed in test matches telling you he was really great at net practice.
Look at this graph to see this why that comparison is interesting
I wouldn't take pre-97 polls seriously or OGH might be inclined to fire you as guest editor. Those figures look somewhat strange. ICM had the Tories polling 33% in 2004 and between 32-34% in 2001. They had the Tories around 40% in mid-2009 so no major fall back there. Latest ICM had Labour on 38%, so I would expect a couple of points below next year. 36%?
Some of the pre 92 polling was accurate, it was 1992/1997 that the polling wheels fell off.
Bizarre question: has anyone seen the caribou migrations of Nunavut, Canada?
Today the Times asked me to go and write about it. The specialist lodge, where you can see this great spectacle - and which sits on the Arctic tree line - only invites two journalists a year. This year they have invited two Brits: Boris's dad, Stanley Johnson, and, errr, me (via my editor).
However it's a feck of a long way to travel - to go and see a bunch of deer looking slightly confused in the snow.
Hmm. On the upside Stanley and I will be able to discuss Bozza's future as prime minister of England, and the horrors of the HS2 link, now happily cancelled.
Not done the caribou migration. But I have seen the wildebeest migration in Tanzania. Tell your editor you need to do a compare-and-contrast of the two... But the Ngorongoro Crater is worth spending your own money to see in any event.
Tories stay on 36 with YG. That should worry Labour a lot. Lead down to 5 with ComRes should not be reassuring either. The direction of travel is clear which Labour need to address.
And, Labour is still at > 37%.
YouGov: Labour 334 seats, majority 18
Comres [ phone poll ]: Labour 354 seats, majority 96.
Labour should be worried !
From today's Labour uncut piece... hmm... never see unskewers on PB only unsquirrels.
As the pressure rises, the unskewers’ entreaties not to panic will become more voluble. Loyal front-benchers will take up the cause and we’ll see unskewer analysis regularly retweeted to calm nerves.
The more Labour falls back on this approach, the deeper will be the hole in which the party finds itself. Clinging on to Lib Dem defectors and pointing to Labour’s consistency at 37% in the polls is the last redoubt of those who do not have anything substantive to say on policy or strategy.
Some Labour people also do not understand electoral arithmetic.
- The Tories did a great favour by retaining FPTP.
- The Liberals did a great favour by scrapping boundary changes
What's interesting is that when Miliband has these little blips no one on the left advances any a priori reason why he should ultimately beat Cameron (e.g. that he is a greater or a better man, is a better driver or tells funnier jokes than Cameron). You implicitly concede that his best quality is a slight lead in the polls, when he has one.
As dear old Auden put it:
Out of the air a voice without a face Proved by statistics that some cause was just In tones as dry and level as the place: No one was cheered and nothing was discussed.
What are the horrors of the HS2 link? Are these horrors just from the perspective of property owners in the area, or actually bad for the nation as a whole?
No, just from the perspective of property owners in NW1 and NW3. The link might have been great for the nation, but as a property owner in NW1, I don't give a f*ck. The link would have been catastrophic for Camden Town and outlying burbs like Primrose Hill, Dartmouth Park, Hampstead, etc.
Memo to railway planners: if you want to get permission for a hugely disruptive new railway line, make sure you plan to smash it through a poor area, like, say, Yorkshire, Liverpool, or Scotland, not through the most media savvy, politically influential borough in the entire country.
Can't they tunnel it, or was the tunnelling what would cause the disruption.
What are the horrors of the HS2 link? Are these horrors just from the perspective of property owners in the area, or actually bad for the nation as a whole?
No, just from the perspective of property owners in NW1 and NW3. The link might have been great for the nation, but as a property owner in NW1, I don't give a f*ck. The link would have been catastrophic for Camden Town and outlying burbs like Primrose Hill, Dartmouth Park, Hampstead, etc.
Memo to railway planners: if you want to get permission for a hugely disruptive new railway line, make sure you plan to smash it through a poor area, like, say, Yorkshire, Liverpool, or Scotland, not through the most media savvy, politically influential borough in the entire country.
Can't they tunnel it, or was the tunnelling what would cause the disruption.
The current plan is to revive the St Pancras link and compensate the residents of Camden Town by relocating them to Ebbsfleet Garden City.
Sean may even get an extra bedroom and an oblique view of the Thames estuary.
HS2 link would be good for the rest of the country: it would mean Bham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds having a direct rail link to the continent.
What are the horrors of the HS2 link? Are these horrors just from the perspective of property owners in the area, or actually bad for the nation as a whole?
No, just from the perspective of property owners in NW1 and NW3. The link might have been great for the nation, but as a property owner in NW1, I don't give a f*ck. The link would have been catastrophic for Camden Town and outlying burbs like Primrose Hill, Dartmouth Park, Hampstead, etc.
Memo to railway planners: if you want to get permission for a hugely disruptive new railway line, make sure you plan to smash it through a poor area, like, say, Yorkshire, Liverpool, or Scotland, not through the most media savvy, politically influential borough in the entire country.
Can't they tunnel it, or was the tunnelling what would cause the disruption.
It's too expensive to tunnel, right now. Apparently. And too destructive to go overground. They literally wanted to smash through Camden Markets, one of the biggest tourist attractions in the UK, which generates billions. Insane.
But in all honesty the whole thing is daft. At some point - given that we aren't in Schengen - we would need to check passports of people going to Europe anyway, so "through trains" are a delusion. We might as well do it in Euston or St Pancras. Ergo people from Brum or northern cities or Scotland will have to get off at Euston, then stand on a travelator for 3 minutes (the latest plan) then get their passports checked, then get on a new train at Kings X.
It's not exactly the Holocaust.
Hm, perhaps scope for a future project to tunnel it. Is a bit stupid not to do it at the same time though.
What are the horrors of the HS2 link? Are these horrors just from the perspective of property owners in the area, or actually bad for the nation as a whole?
No, just from the perspective of property owners in NW1 and NW3. The link might have been great for the nation, but as a property owner in NW1, I don't give a f*ck. The link would have been catastrophic for Camden Town and outlying burbs like Primrose Hill, Dartmouth Park, Hampstead, etc.
Memo to railway planners: if you want to get permission for a hugely disruptive new railway line, make sure you plan to smash it through a poor area, like, say, Yorkshire, Liverpool, or Scotland, not through the most media savvy, politically influential borough in the entire country.
Can't they tunnel it, or was the tunnelling what would cause the disruption.
It's too expensive to tunnel, right now. Apparently. And too destructive to go overground. They literally wanted to smash through Camden Markets, one of the biggest tourist attractions in the UK, which generates billions. Insane..
Is this actually, for lack of a better word, true?
HS2 link would be good for the rest of the country: it would mean Bham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds having a direct rail link to the continent.
Would they actually have had trains which went all the way to the Continent, or would a change be required?
Along with the indyref polling, these are worrying times for little Ed Miliband.
You are right ! 5% lead [ remember, phone polls are better than online poll: PB golden rule ] , majority government. Miliband should be worried.
Are you nicking Hodges' line ?
And Scotland is a huge problem, which Miliband seems unable or unwilling to address. If Labour loses Scotland you are fecked for 20 years.
The bizarre thing is, Labour posters on here keep asking 'When is Cameron going to do something about it?' Since over 80% of Scottish Conservatives are going to vote for the Union, his work is done.....
Frustratingly close for the tories but no banana. 3 polls in a row showing a Labour lead of 1%. What are the odds on that? Natural variation and a desire of a headline should have moved one over the line. And now a tel poll showing an improvement but a bigger gap.
I am not sure it gets much worse for Labour than this. Their leader has confirmed himself as a prat, they are falling apart in Scotland, their bank is up the spout and Ed Balls is still shadow Chancellor. Rather than relying on wishful thinking about trends tories need to think just what is it going to take to get a lead?
A tory lead in the next week or so remains a possibility but my guess is that it is no longer a probability. Which is a pity because you can't help feeling that an opinion poll lead is all that stands between Labour and a total melt down. What is the point in pretending that Ed is the answer if you are not even winning? I really don't think there is a coherent answer to that question.
What are the horrors of the HS2 link? Are these horrors just from the perspective of property owners in the area, or actually bad for the nation as a whole?
No, just from the perspective of property owners in NW1 and NW3. The link might have been great for the nation, but as a property owner in NW1, I don't give a f*ck. The link would have been catastrophic for Camden Town and outlying burbs like Primrose Hill, Dartmouth Park, Hampstead, etc.
Memo to railway planners: if you want to get permission for a hugely disruptive new railway line, make sure you plan to smash it through a poor area, like, say, Yorkshire, Liverpool, or Scotland, not through the most media savvy, politically influential borough in the entire country.
Can't they tunnel it, or was the tunnelling what would cause the disruption.
It's too expensive to tunnel, right now. Apparently. And too destructive to go overground. They literally wanted to smash through Camden Markets, one of the biggest tourist attractions in the UK, which generates billions. Insane.
But in all honesty the whole thing is daft. At some point - given that we aren't in Schengen - we would need to check passports of people going to Europe anyway, so "through trains" are a delusion. We might as well do it in Euston or St Pancras. Ergo people from Brum or northern cities or Scotland will have to get off at Euston, then stand on a travelator for 3 minutes (the latest plan) then get their passports checked, then get on a new train at Kings X.
It's not exactly the Holocaust.
Camden's a shithole. Demolishing it to build a decent railway would improve the area.
As for your ludicrous suggestion that the markets generate billions? Lay off the Morrisons Amarone.
What are the horrors of the HS2 link? Are these horrors just from the perspective of property owners in the area, or actually bad for the nation as a whole?
No, just from the perspective of property owners in NW1 and NW3. The link might have been great for the nation, but as a property owner in NW1, I don't give a f*ck. The link would have been catastrophic for Camden Town and outlying burbs like Primrose Hill, Dartmouth Park, Hampstead, etc.
Memo to railway planners: if you want to get permission for a hugely disruptive new railway line, make sure you plan to smash it through a poor area, like, say, Yorkshire, Liverpool, or Scotland, not through the most media savvy, politically influential borough in the entire country.
Can't they tunnel it, or was the tunnelling what would cause the disruption.
It's too expensive to tunnel, right now. Apparently. And too destructive to go overground. They literally wanted to smash through Camden Markets, one of the biggest tourist attractions in the UK, which generates billions. Insane.
But in all honesty the whole thing is daft. At some point - given that we aren't in Schengen - we would need to check passports of people going to Europe anyway, so "through trains" are a delusion. We might as well do it in Euston or St Pancras. Ergo people from Brum or northern cities or Scotland will have to get off at Euston, then stand on a travelator for 3 minutes (the latest plan) then get their passports checked, then get on a new train at Kings X.
It's not exactly the Holocaust.
Hm, perhaps scope for a future project to tunnel it. Is a bit stupid not to do it at the same time though.
I think the real answer to this is political.
Cameron charged 'Professor' Higgins with the task of reducing overall cost (to defuse Labour criticism and to gain cross-party support) and to increase investment and employment in the North (to woo the desolates to the Tories).
Higgins obliged. The periphery of any large infrastructure is always the first to be chopped in austere times, so starting in the North protects that area from later cost cutting. It also builds demand and encourages 'joined up' thinking. That makes it much easier for a government to approve the join at a later date.
With current costs of the London link being £500-£700 million the scale of investment required, even after a long delay, will always be within reach for government capital expenditure.
I think Josias is right that it will reappear under a revised plan once work gets underway in the provinces.
HS2 link would be good for the rest of the country: it would mean Bham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds having a direct rail link to the continent.
Who wants to go all the way from Newcastle to Cologne by train? Flying is better. London to Brussels or Paris just about works, but it's almost more convenient (and cheaper) to fly to Amsterdam rather than take the train.
HS2 link would be good for the rest of the country: it would mean Bham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds having a direct rail link to the continent.
Who wants to go all the way from Newcastle to Cologne by train? Flying is better. London to Brussels or Paris just about works, but it's almost more convenient (and cheaper) to fly to Amsterdam rather than take the train.
here is another thing I have always wondered about Eurostar. Given that an official language of one the the two countries it goes to is Dutch, why are all the signs bilingual in English and French?
HS2 link would be good for the rest of the country: it would mean Bham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds having a direct rail link to the continent.
Who wants to go all the way from Newcastle to Cologne by train? Flying is better. London to Brussels or Paris just about works, but it's almost more convenient (and cheaper) to fly to Amsterdam rather than take the train.
Fear of flying.
Many northerners have never seen an aeroplane let alone boarded one.
HS2 link would be good for the rest of the country: it would mean Bham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds having a direct rail link to the continent.
Who wants to go all the way from Newcastle to Cologne by train? Flying is better. London to Brussels or Paris just about works, but it's almost more convenient (and cheaper) to fly to Amsterdam rather than take the train.
Competition. Some will be happy to sit on a train for 8 hours to get somewhere they can fly in 2 to save £££.
Frustratingly close for the tories but no banana. 3 polls in a row showing a Labour lead of 1%. What are the odds on that? Natural variation and a desire of a headline should have moved one over the line. And now a tel poll showing an improvement but a bigger gap.
I am not sure it gets much worse for Labour than this. Their leader has confirmed himself as a prat, they are falling apart in Scotland, their bank is up the spout and Ed Balls is still shadow Chancellor. Rather than relying on wishful thinking about trends tories need to think just what is it going to take to get a lead?
A tory lead in the next week or so remains a possibility but my guess is that it is no longer a probability. Which is a pity because you can't help feeling that an opinion poll lead is all that stands between Labour and a total melt down. What is the point in pretending that Ed is the answer if you are not even winning? I really don't think there is a coherent answer to that question.
It's worth a reminder, I think, that in 2010 the vote share was:
CON 36 LAB 29 LIB 23
And that wasn't enough to give Cameron a majority.
Will Orkney and Shetland join the micro nationalists? As Scotland debates splitting from the UK, some of its islands are now demanding the right to their own independence vote. Where will it all end?
Will Orkney and Shetland join the micro nationalists? As Scotland debates splitting from the UK, some of its islands are now demanding the right to their own independence vote. Where will it all end?
What are the horrors of the HS2 link? Are these horrors just from the perspective of property owners in the area, or actually bad for the nation as a whole?
No, just from the perspective of property owners in NW1 and NW3. The link might have been great for the nation, but as a property owner in NW1, I don't give a f*ck. The link would have been catastrophic for Camden Town and outlying burbs like Primrose Hill, Dartmouth Park, Hampstead, etc.
Memo to railway planners: if you want to get permission for a hugely disruptive new railway line, make sure you plan to smash it through a poor area, like, say, Yorkshire, Liverpool, or Scotland, not through the most media savvy, politically influential borough in the entire country.
Can't they tunnel it, or was the tunnelling what would cause the disruption.
It's too expensive to tunnel, right now. Apparently. And too destructive to go overground. They literally wanted to smash through Camden Markets, one of the biggest tourist attractions in the UK, which generates billions. Insane.
But in all honesty the whole thing is daft. At some point - given that we aren't in Schengen - we would need to check passports of people going to Europe anyway, so "through trains" are a delusion. We might as well do it in Euston or St Pancras. Ergo people from Brum or northern cities or Scotland will have to get off at Euston, then stand on a travelator for 3 minutes (the latest plan) then get their passports checked, then get on a new train at Kings X.
It's not exactly the Holocaust.
Camden's a shithole. Demolishing it to build a decent railway would improve the area.
As for your ludicrous suggestion that the markets generate billions? Lay off the Morrisons Amarone.
Camden's a shithole. OK, tell that to my neighbours. This is literally 2 minutes walk from my flat:
Drive over the canal from Parkway, to Regents Park and you might as well be journeying to the Moon. You're deluding yourself if you think that Arlington Road is the Outer Circles little cousin.
The Park is Bentleys and serenity, Camden is 'dogs on string' and the horrors of Chalk Farm and deprived council estates.
If you had the cash, you'd be off to the former like a shot, or somewhere decent south of Hyde Park.
Comments
Show me the cwossover, where is the cwossover?
[Dwops nut and stamps little paws.]
With YouGov, the Lab lead doubles
YouGov/Sun poll tonight- Labour lead shrinks to just two points: CON 36%, LAB 38%, LD 10%, UKIP 10%
http://comres.co.uk/polls/070187_Independent_Political_Poll_25th_March_2014.pdf
Where is tim when you need him ?
Ed is no Dave
DaemonBarber said:
Regarding the below debate over sharia law versus English law...
Come back FPTP versus AV.
I just don't get religion. Not one bit.
A religion is where a bunch of underachieving neurotic dimwits get together to attack a different bunch of underachieving neurotic dimwits.
If people want to live in a country run by Sharia law there are a lot of basket case countries they can go and live (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia etc) instead of the UK.
But which came first, the basket case country or the basket case religion?
Are you nicking Hodges' line ?
Yes. Labour will be slightly relieved at first, but shouldn't be. They have shipped a couple of points, only upside is that it isn't going to the Tories in any great numbers.
Electoral calculus have this as a Labour majority of 60, despite the two main parties not being far off the reverse of the 2010 result.
If I were Dave, I would be praying for a Cable takeover of the LDs.
@Sun_Politics describe tonight's YouGov poll as "Labour lead shrinks"
Eh? It is up from 1 to 2. This is one for you Mr. Gove
YouGov: Labour 334 seats, majority 18
Comres [ phone poll ]: Labour 354 seats, majority 96.
Labour should be worried !
http://labour-uncut.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Graph-pic.jpg
With YouGov, the Lab lead doubles
YouGov/Sun poll tonight- Labour lead shrinks to just two points: CON 36%, LAB 38%, LD 10%, UKIP 10%
I do wish we could get a level outlier !
I would say with UKIP getting 6% of the votes, Tories would need a lead of 8% even to equal their current number of MPs.
Mike, repeatedly writes this but you don't listen, do you ?
As Clinton says: It's arithmetic !
As the pressure rises, the unskewers’ entreaties not to panic will become more voluble. Loyal front-benchers will take up the cause and we’ll see unskewer analysis regularly retweeted to calm nerves.
The more Labour falls back on this approach, the deeper will be the hole in which the party finds itself. Clinging on to Lib Dem defectors and pointing to Labour’s consistency at 37% in the polls is the last redoubt of those who do not have anything substantive to say on policy or strategy.
- The Tories did a great favour by retaining FPTP.
- The Liberals did a great favour by scrapping boundary changes
Just leave it alone.
http://www.paddypower.com/bet/politics/other-politics/uk-politics?ev_oc_grp_ids=1657911
Given the current boundaries and FPTP, the Tories cannot win a majority.
I'm sure the leaders don't wear ties in their party colours as often as it seems like, but I'm not certain why they seem so keen to perpetuate the idea the political classes truly are identical to the point we need them to be colour co-ordinated to tell them apart.
What are the horrors of the HS2 link? Are these horrors just from the perspective of property owners in the area, or actually bad for the nation as a whole?
529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters sentenced to death in #Egypt by the #Blair approved military dictatorship. #c4news
Witless NeoCon fools.
As dear old Auden put it:
Out of the air a voice without a face
Proved by statistics that some cause was just
In tones as dry and level as the place:
No one was cheered and nothing was discussed.
PS you are going to lose!
Pitiful even by your standards 'arry.
Tony Blair backs Egypt's government and criticises Brotherhood
Former British PM says Muslim Brotherhood was stealing Egypt's revolution and army intervention has put it on right path
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/30/tony-blair-backs-egypt-military-ruler-abdel-fatah-al-sisi
Reuters Top News @Reuters 14h
Egyptian court sentences 529 Muslim Brotherhood members to death: lawyer http://reut.rs/1eE4wfX
Paul Kershaw @1917paul 13h
The Wall Street Journal said #Egypt needed its Pinochet - "Egypt court sentences 529 Morsi supporters to death" http://is.gd/3eDPlT
Sean may even get an extra bedroom and an oblique view of the Thames estuary.
They released some polling last week, on engagement etc last week.
So they maybe releasing the rest today.
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/
Or are you just comically fumbling about as usual 'arry?
I am not sure it gets much worse for Labour than this. Their leader has confirmed himself as a prat, they are falling apart in Scotland, their bank is up the spout and Ed Balls is still shadow Chancellor. Rather than relying on wishful thinking about trends tories need to think just what is it going to take to get a lead?
A tory lead in the next week or so remains a possibility but my guess is that it is no longer a probability. Which is a pity because you can't help feeling that an opinion poll lead is all that stands between Labour and a total melt down. What is the point in pretending that Ed is the answer if you are not even winning? I really don't think there is a coherent answer to that question.
As for your ludicrous suggestion that the markets generate billions? Lay off the Morrisons Amarone.
Cameron charged 'Professor' Higgins with the task of reducing overall cost (to defuse Labour criticism and to gain cross-party support) and to increase investment and employment in the North (to woo the desolates to the Tories).
Higgins obliged. The periphery of any large infrastructure is always the first to be chopped in austere times, so starting in the North protects that area from later cost cutting. It also builds demand and encourages 'joined up' thinking. That makes it much easier for a government to approve the join at a later date.
With current costs of the London link being £500-£700 million the scale of investment required, even after a long delay, will always be within reach for government capital expenditure.
I think Josias is right that it will reappear under a revised plan once work gets underway in the provinces.
LOL
Which one is lying? Come on chum, speak up!
Many northerners have never seen an aeroplane let alone boarded one.
It really is that desolate up there.
*chortle*
CON 36
LAB 29
LIB 23
And that wasn't enough to give Cameron a majority.
LOL100
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/8690
As Scotland debates splitting from the UK, some of its islands are now demanding the right to their own independence vote. Where will it all end?
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/shortcuts/2014/mar/24/will-orkney-shetland-join-micronationalists-independence-vote
The Park is Bentleys and serenity, Camden is 'dogs on string' and the horrors of Chalk Farm and deprived council estates.
If you had the cash, you'd be off to the former like a shot, or somewhere decent south of Hyde Park.