Another issue about the electoral commission. Surely the "An" shouldn't count for alphabetical order? Do they count the "The" for "The Conservative and Unionist Party"?
An is an indefinite article, The is the definite article.
Sure, but I believe both should be ignored for proper alphabeticalisation.
@rcs1000 - BTW - Thanks for your donation to the Pirate Party cause the other day - we made the amount we were trying to crowd-fund, and suitably, the last donation to push us over the top was made in Bitcoin! :-)
I'm embarrassed I failed to vote... I'd planned to be piratical...
Just looked at the Pirate Party website and policies . So earnest and sensible , so why the name?1!!! Even me who follows politics and small parties to an unhealthy degree would see 'pirate party' and imagine an offshoot of the Monster Raving Looney party with people dressing up as Long John Silver rather than clowns
If that was a genuine question - the linking with the International Pirate Movement (Currently have Pirate MEP's from Sweden) and history of the name. Generally we find it a positive rather than a negative once people overcome the initial hurdle.
Was there a YouGov Westminster VI yesterday? There's nothing on their website and it's usually posted at 6am.
Nick P posted the 2015 VI igures last night. IIRC Lab on 36% with a 3 point lead over Cons.
I'm limited to my phone at the moment, so I keep missing stuff, decided not to bring the netbook as it eats into your 10kg hand luggage allowance. Must get a tablet. Have been trying Dolphin, it seems to be better than Chrome for some websites, and they have seemed to step back from making it really clunky and over-featured. But Chrome syncs with my home PC which is nice.
Why is AIFE not listed under I? Articles are usually ignored when alphabetising. Otherwise all the other parties would be listed under T for The
They are, in 2009, Labour were listed as "The Labour Party" and were on the second half of the ballot paper. The Tories are always listed as "Conservative Party" or "Conservatives".
So not only did the Electoral Commission decide a party with "UK Independence Now" should be allowed despite a party called "The UK Independence Party" already standing, they also put the former at the top of the list in a manner inconsistent with traditional grammar rules.
There are two big decisions to go: whether UKIP are more of a "major" party than a party lower in the polls, and whether UKIP are allowed in the general election debates. If those both go against UKIP we will have confirmation of a very strong anti-UKIP bias.
EDIT: Apparently the Electoral Commission always include the article for alphabetizing. So they're just incompetent rather than malicious in this case.
"And if anyone had Trojan heritage it was allegedly (a) the Scottish royal family"
Which Scottish royal family?
The one headed by Edward Longshanks onwards! I did say 'allegedly' ... The English crown claimed Brutus's ancestry and therefore dominion over Britain as a whole, and the Scots responded by claiming descent from the Greeks ... not an expert in this field, but this gives some flavour (plus what others have remarked here today).
So not only did the Electoral Commission decide a party with "UK Independence Now" should be allowed despite a party called "The UK Independence Party" already standing, they also put the former at the top of the list in a manner inconsistent with traditional rules.
There are two big decisions to go: whether UKIP are more of a "major" party than a party lower in the polls, and whether UKIP are allowed in the general election debates. If those both go against UKIP we will have confirmation of a very strong anti-UKIP bias.
Give me five mins, and Wikipedia will soon disagree with you.
@rcs1000 - BTW - Thanks for your donation to the Pirate Party cause the other day - we made the amount we were trying to crowd-fund, and suitably, the last donation to push us over the top was made in Bitcoin! :-)
I'm embarrassed I failed to vote... I'd planned to be piratical...
Just looked at the Pirate Party website and policies . So earnest and sensible , so why the name?1!!! Even me who follows politics and small parties to an unhealthy degree would see 'pirate party' and imagine an offshoot of the Monster Raving Looney party with people dressing up as Long John Silver rather than clowns
If that was a genuine question - the linking with the International Pirate Movement (Currently have Pirate MEP's from Sweden) and history of the name. Generally we find it a positive rather than a negative once people overcome the initial hurdle.
I always associate it with "The Pirate bay", which is advertising yourselves at the moment.
Was there a YouGov Westminster VI yesterday? There's nothing on their website and it's usually posted at 6am.
Nick P posted the 2015 VI igures last night. IIRC Lab on 36% with a 3 point lead over Cons.
I'm limited to my phone at the moment, so I keep missing stuff, decided not to bring the netbook as it eats into your 10kg hand luggage allowance. Must get a tablet. Have been trying Dolphin, it seems to be better than Chrome for some websites, and they have seemed to step back from making it really clunky and over-featured. But Chrome syncs with my home PC which is nice.
FYI, Dolphin sell unanonymised user data to Russian companies linked with gangsters. If you don't like Chrome try Boat Browser or, if you are lucky enough, the stock Android Browser which will be called "Internet" or "Browser".
So not only did the Electoral Commission decide a party with "UK Independence Now" should be allowed despite a party called "The UK Independence Party" already standing, they also put the former at the top of the list in a manner inconsistent with traditional grammar rules.
There are two big decisions to go: whether UKIP are more of a "major" party than a party lower in the polls, and whether UKIP are allowed in the general election debates. If those both go against UKIP we will have confirmation of a very strong anti-UKIP bias.
EDIT: Apparently the Electoral Commission always include the article for alphabetizing. So they're just incompetent rather than malicious in this case.
Tin foil hat time.
Next, the EC will be accused of using HAARP to alter completed ballot papers.
(5th voter at 8.40 in rural Surrey, those previous being Another Watcher, and 3 others. Sorely tempted by the Roman).
On the Ed Milliband bacon sarnie... am I the only one who thinks that the Labour Party having a stunt where its leader, a (presumably non-observant) Jew, eats a bacon sandwich in public, is a tad disturbing? Just seems a bit odd to me.
"... in Brussels, even mid-ranking administrators can take home more cash than the Prime Minister. The leaked papers show that EU officials in the “AD 11” grade, a middle management group, have gross earnings of £112,090, including expatriation and household allowances. But because they pay just 13.4 per cent in tax, they take home £83,357 in net pay."
@rcs1000 - BTW - Thanks for your donation to the Pirate Party cause the other day - we made the amount we were trying to crowd-fund, and suitably, the last donation to push us over the top was made in Bitcoin! :-)
I'm embarrassed I failed to vote... I'd planned to be piratical...
Just looked at the Pirate Party website and policies . So earnest and sensible , so why the name?1!!! Even me who follows politics and small parties to an unhealthy degree would see 'pirate party' and imagine an offshoot of the Monster Raving Looney party with people dressing up as Long John Silver rather than clowns
If that was a genuine question - the linking with the International Pirate Movement (Currently have Pirate MEP's from Sweden) and history of the name. Generally we find it a positive rather than a negative once people overcome the initial hurdle.
Morning all. Have just returned from voting in Parkfield ward and was a little surprised to find 2 other people in front of me. Have split my vote this time, CON for local and UKIP for Euro.
Re the comments upthread about Portillo. A mate of mine is a cabbie and has said to me in the past that MP is the worst by far of any of the famous / well known people that he has had in his cab in terms of arrogance, rudeness and general don't you know who I am etc
On the Ed Milliband bacon sarnie... am I the only one who thinks that the Labour Party having a stunt where its leader, a (presumably non-observant) Jew, eats a bacon sandwich in public, is a tad disturbing? Just seems a bit odd to me.
Was it a stunt, maybe he just wanted a bacon sandwich ! He's Jewish by ethnicity but his 'religion' is atheist.
Was there a YouGov Westminster VI yesterday? There's nothing on their website and it's usually posted at 6am.
Nick P posted the 2015 VI igures last night. IIRC Lab on 36% with a 3 point lead over Cons.
I'm limited to my phone at the moment, so I keep missing stuff, decided not to bring the netbook as it eats into your 10kg hand luggage allowance. Must get a tablet. Have been trying Dolphin, it seems to be better than Chrome for some websites, and they have seemed to step back from making it really clunky and over-featured. But Chrome syncs with my home PC which is nice.
FYI, Dolphin sell unanonymised user data to Russian companies linked with gangsters. If you don't like Chrome try Boat Browser or, if you are lucky enough, the stock Android Browser which will be called "Internet" or "Browser".
The stock browser is a sort of stripped-down Chrome which doesn't sync with my home favourites. But will play Flash. Both tend to reload pages if you switch tabs or between apps which is a pain in the a*se if you have a poor connection. Sometimes I would like to be able to cache a thread and read it on the train for example. Thanks for the heads up on Dolphin, I will try Boat.
On the Ed Milliband bacon sarnie... am I the only one who thinks that the Labour Party having a stunt where its leader, a (presumably non-observant) Jew, eats a bacon sandwich in public, is a tad disturbing? Just seems a bit odd to me.
Not in the least odd for you to feel that way, I think. I was also surprised and indeed disconcerted by the return of the Jewish heritage issue to UK politics with Mr M's remarks a few weeks ago vis a vis Disraeli (and not the One Nation thing either), and now this bacon roll stuff.
"And if anyone had Trojan heritage it was allegedly (a) the Scottish royal family"
Which Scottish royal family?
The one headed by Edward Longshanks onwards! I did say 'allegedly' ... The English crown claimed Brutus's ancestry and therefore dominion over Britain as a whole, and the Scots responded by claiming descent from the Greeks ... not an expert in this field, but this gives some flavour (plus what others have remarked here today).
On the Ed Milliband bacon sarnie... am I the only one who thinks that the Labour Party having a stunt where its leader, a (presumably non-observant) Jew, eats a bacon sandwich in public, is a tad disturbing? Just seems a bit odd to me.
Was it a stunt, maybe he just wanted a bacon sandwich ! He's Jewish by ethnicity but his 'religion' is atheist.
Edward Miliband does not look the sort to eat BEER CAN sandwiches (Jamaican pronunciation) ,not because he is Jewish but because he looks like he could be a veggie. I admire him a little more for eating one I must say
Back from casting my vote upon the waters. The funny thing that OGH may be interested in, is that in Richmond, An Alternative to Europe was not at top of ballot: it came second to 4 Freedoms. LOL
It's been a fascinating election here in Newham and one not without a touch of controversy. The Conservatives in 2010 were strongly organised in the Tamil community but this time it seems more like Muslim businessmen are to the fore. The shops have election posters and the houses don't which is curious.
The Muslim-owned stores are solidly Tory while the Tamil-owned businesses are more Lib Dem. I've not seen this "leaflet" which has caused so much furore though ConservativeHome have raised issues about one of the Conservative candidates and some of his more extreme pro-Muslim utterings.
As I've said, the CPA will be challenging in Canning Town, the Tories will be hoping for something in Royal Docks and perhspa one of the Green Street Wards while the LDs are not completely without hope in East Ham North and Central.
As a market maker, I'd have the spread on Labour seats at 57-58 and the spread on all other parties at 0-1.
On the Ed Milliband bacon sarnie... am I the only one who thinks that the Labour Party having a stunt where its leader, a (presumably non-observant) Jew, eats a bacon sandwich in public, is a tad disturbing? Just seems a bit odd to me.
Was it a stunt, maybe he just wanted a bacon sandwich ! He's Jewish by ethnicity but his 'religion' is atheist.
I assume anything done by a party leader the day before an election is pre-planned. And he obviously doesn't do it very often as he made a bit of a mess of it. He also doesn't seem to be a man of the people who likes a quick bacon butty when peckish, although my apologies to his team if that is, in fact, the case.
"Parliament enacted detailed prescriptive rules relating to electoral administration and campaign conduct; "
The point being that the Electoral Commission is following the directions of Parliament. It is Parliament which has decreed the ballot papers should be in alphabetical order. It is Parliament which allows for a party description on the ballot paper.
Vote cast, for St Dave and the renegotiationists. Polling station quiet, however a few suspiciously well dressed men entered shortly after me, given their age and chronic anger I imagine it's a Kipper landslide in Broadland. Polling clerk noted my address and hilariously asked me to take her down a glass of Pimms and Lemonade for the afternoon. I thought only if I can stand outside with a cudgel and beat any stray lefties who haven't been kettled in the city. J/k lefties ;-)
Anecdote time. my father has just arrived and I asked if he would be voting (fearing a UKIP defection), he 'won't be voting for an illegal institution, it's not what I voted for in 1973' etc.
And final anecdotal evidence for the day. At my parents yesterday tea time, they live in a traditionally extremely Lib Dem ward, usually plastered at election time with orange diamonds. Not a single one on display in the area. Based on that alone, I confidently predict the Lib Dems will come fifth and struggle to get more than one or maybe two MEPs. They are, as the saying goes, done.
@rcs1000 - BTW - Thanks for your donation to the Pirate Party cause the other day - we made the amount we were trying to crowd-fund, and suitably, the last donation to push us over the top was made in Bitcoin! :-)
I'm embarrassed I failed to vote... I'd planned to be piratical...
Just looked at the Pirate Party website and policies . So earnest and sensible , so why the name?1!!! Even me who follows politics and small parties to an unhealthy degree would see 'pirate party' and imagine an offshoot of the Monster Raving Looney party with people dressing up as Long John Silver rather than clowns
If that was a genuine question - the linking with the International Pirate Movement (Currently have Pirate MEP's from Sweden) and history of the name. Generally we find it a positive rather than a negative once people overcome the initial hurdle.
Do you have a presence in Somalia?
Lol!
Keeping dry in Nottingham so far - voting seems steady.
If Labour do badly, the grandees of the party are going to have to move quickly. They need to tell Ed he's not up to it NOW. Do an Australian Labor Party coup, and get Yvette or someone else in. Doomed if they don't.
"And if anyone had Trojan heritage it was allegedly (a) the Scottish royal family"
Which Scottish royal family?
The one headed by Edward Longshanks onwards! I did say 'allegedly' ... The English crown claimed Brutus's ancestry and therefore dominion over Britain as a whole, and the Scots responded by claiming descent from the Greeks ... not an expert in this field, but this gives some flavour (plus what others have remarked here today).
Thought it was the Welsh who were descended from emigre Trojans under Brutus? Allegedly!
Seems to have been one prince each for the Scots, Welsh and English with the latter allegedly dominant as a result! I hesitate to get too involved, because of all the cod-Arthurian stuff, but Geoffrey of Monmouth (who really was producing political propaganda) put forward this sort of thing, see
At first glance my ballot paper didn't even seem to have UKIP on - it had more than a dozen parties and the paper hadn't folded completely out when I opened it.
Polling station was ticking over, which is good, considering it was 10.45AM and turnout in local elections here is around 20%.
"Anyone who inadvertently reveals how someone else votes in Thursday's local and European elections could face a £5,000 fine or six months in prison."
I voted Labour in the Councils and LD in the Euros, Financier, but don't tell anybody.
Voting seemed quite brisk here in leafy Wanstead, but then the locals in Churchill's former parish tend to be quite keen on that sort of thing.
The EU ballot paper is amazingly long but frankly anybody who votes for the wrong team by mistake deserves to be banned from voting for the next five elections.
On the Ed Milliband bacon sarnie... am I the only one who thinks that the Labour Party having a stunt where its leader, a (presumably non-observant) Jew, eats a bacon sandwich in public, is a tad disturbing? Just seems a bit odd to me.
Not in the least odd for you to feel that way, I think. I was also surprised and indeed disconcerted by the return of the Jewish heritage issue to UK politics with Mr M's remarks a few weeks ago vis a vis Disraeli (and not the One Nation thing either), and now this bacon roll stuff.
Miliband himself is a self-declared atheist, a Jew primarily in the ethnic sense. His bacon-eating is neither here nor there. The only issue is how Ed distinguishes himself from Disraeli, a Jew by birth who converted to Christianity while still a child. The cases was made that Disraeli had repudiated his heritage, whereas Ed embraced it, but I'm not convinced.
On the Ed Milliband bacon sarnie... am I the only one who thinks that the Labour Party having a stunt where its leader, a (presumably non-observant) Jew, eats a bacon sandwich in public, is a tad disturbing? Just seems a bit odd to me.
Was it a stunt, maybe he just wanted a bacon sandwich ! He's Jewish by ethnicity but his 'religion' is atheist.
I assume anything done by a party leader the day before an election is pre-planned. And he obviously doesn't do it very often as he made a bit of a mess of it. He also doesn't seem to be a man of the people who likes a quick bacon butty when peckish, although my apologies to his team if that is, in fact, the case.
It's the bacon and flowers strategy, shoring up the pig farming hippy vote. A key demographic.
@rcs1000 - BTW - Thanks for your donation to the Pirate Party cause the other day - we made the amount we were trying to crowd-fund, and suitably, the last donation to push us over the top was made in Bitcoin! :-)
I'm embarrassed I failed to vote... I'd planned to be piratical...
Just looked at the Pirate Party website and policies . So earnest and sensible , so why the name?1!!! Even me who follows politics and small parties to an unhealthy degree would see 'pirate party' and imagine an offshoot of the Monster Raving Looney party with people dressing up as Long John Silver rather than clowns
If that was a genuine question - the linking with the International Pirate Movement (Currently have Pirate MEP's from Sweden) and history of the name. Generally we find it a positive rather than a negative once people overcome the initial hurdle.
Do you have a presence in Somalia?
Lol!
Keeping dry in Nottingham so far - voting seems steady.
Go on Nick, tell us how the last minute canvassing shows a marked surge to Labour which ties in with what your colleagues are reporting. You know you want to ;-) :-D
I'm off to the cinema to watch which has been released today, a film starring a 74 year old gay guy who converts a bunch of talented young people to commit evil because they are persecuted.
My review of X Men : Days of Future Past will be posted on PB this evening.
If Prime Ministers can take selfies at memorial services, it seems a shame not allow voters to take selfies performing their democratic duties.
Foreign Prime Ministers take selfies at memorial services, which doesn't count.
You're quite right. British Prime Ministers merely get within camerashot of the selfie.
Of course, as you would expect of a gentleman: "When a member of the Kinnock family asked me for a photograph, I thought it was only polite to say yes.”
If Prime Ministers can take selfies at memorial services, it seems a shame not allow voters to take selfies performing their democratic duties.
Foreign Prime Ministers take selfies at memorial services, which doesn't count.
You're quite right. British Prime Ministers merely get within camerashot of the selfie.
Of course, as you would expect of a gentleman: "“When a member of the Kinnock family asked me for a photograph, I thought it was only polite to say yes.”
The best bit about that picture, to be fair, was Michelle Obama's face:
At first glance my ballot paper didn't even seem to have UKIP on - it had more than a dozen parties and the paper hadn't folded completely out when I opened it.
Polling station was ticking over, which is good, considering it was 10.45AM and turnout in local elections here is around 20%.
How many times are your telling stations folding the ballots ?! When I went in it was unfolded, the chap who handed it to me folded it once across the middle.
If Prime Ministers can take selfies at memorial services, it seems a shame not allow voters to take selfies performing their democratic duties.
Foreign Prime Ministers take selfies at memorial services, which doesn't count.
You're quite right. British Prime Ministers merely get within camerashot of the selfie.
Of course, as you would expect of a gentleman: "“When a member of the Kinnock family asked me for a photograph, I thought it was only polite to say yes.”
The best bit about that picture, to be fair, was Michelle Obama's face:
The secrecy of the ballot...... Dur dur durrrrrrrrrrrrr
And yet they've overseen a dramatic rise in postal voting.
Shoüld be banned for everyone except people with poor mobility. Everyone else can get their lazy arse to the polling booth.
I tend to go on holiday in May so find postal voting extremely useful. But wonder if a system of in-person early voting like in the USA would be better.
At first glance my ballot paper didn't even seem to have UKIP on - it had more than a dozen parties and the paper hadn't folded completely out when I opened it.
Polling station was ticking over, which is good, considering it was 10.45AM and turnout in local elections here is around 20%.
Actually my local polling station had the EU ballot already unrolled to give to voters. A pleasant surprise.
If Prime Ministers can take selfies at memorial services, it seems a shame not allow voters to take selfies performing their democratic duties.
Foreign Prime Ministers take selfies at memorial services, which doesn't count.
You're quite right. British Prime Ministers merely get within camerashot of the selfie.
Of course, as you would expect of a gentleman: "“When a member of the Kinnock family asked me for a photograph, I thought it was only polite to say yes.”
The best bit about that picture, to be fair, was Michelle Obama's face:
The glare every married man experiences on a regular basis.
The glare that could freeze mercury.
To be fair, he ought to tell her to suck it up and stop being such a fuddy duddy. None wants a celebration of a mans life to be a dirge of self-flagellation, well, except for political expediency
If Prime Ministers can take selfies at memorial services, it seems a shame not allow voters to take selfies performing their democratic duties.
Foreign Prime Ministers take selfies at memorial services, which doesn't count.
You're quite right. British Prime Ministers merely get within camerashot of the selfie.
Of course, as you would expect of a gentleman: "“When a member of the Kinnock family asked me for a photograph, I thought it was only polite to say yes.”
The best bit about that picture, to be fair, was Michelle Obama's face:
The glare every married man experiences on a regular basis.
The glare that could freeze mercury.
To be fair, he ought to tell her to suck it up and stop being such a fuddy duddy. None wants a celebration of a mans life to be a dirge of self-flagellation, well, except for political expediency
I doubt that Michelle Obama's displeasure was caused by lack of reverence.
The secrecy of the ballot...... Dur dur durrrrrrrrrrrrr
And yet they've overseen a dramatic rise in postal voting.
Shoüld be banned for everyone except people with poor mobility. Everyone else can get their lazy arse to the polling booth.
I tend to go on holiday in May so find postal voting extremely useful. But wonder if a system of in-person early voting like in the USA would be better.
Or vote at the embassy if abroad. Yeah' early voting if registered in time for holidaymakers
Was there a YouGov Westminster VI yesterday? There's nothing on their website and it's usually posted at 6am.
Nick P posted the 2015 VI igures last night. IIRC Lab on 36% with a 3 point lead over Cons.
I'm limited to my phone at the moment, so I keep missing stuff, decided not to bring the netbook as it eats into your 10kg hand luggage allowance. Must get a tablet. Have been trying Dolphin, it seems to be better than Chrome for some websites, and they have seemed to step back from making it really clunky and over-featured. But Chrome syncs with my home PC which is nice.
FYI, Dolphin sell unanonymised user data to Russian companies linked with gangsters. If you don't like Chrome try Boat Browser or, if you are lucky enough, the stock Android Browser which will be called "Internet" or "Browser".
The stock browser is a sort of stripped-down Chrome which doesn't sync with my home favourites. But will play Flash. Both tend to reload pages if you switch tabs or between apps which is a pain in the a*se if you have a poor connection. Sometimes I would like to be able to cache a thread and read it on the train for example. Thanks for the heads up on Dolphin, I will try Boat.
Sadly the page reloading issue is not browser related but phone related. Essentially when you use your phone it stores everything in its RAM, but if you multi task then your current usage will push out old tasks from the memory cache. Essentially your phone has poor RAM management or not enough RAM. I would personally recommend the Xperia Z2 if you never want any page reloads as it gas a crapload of RAM and excellent memory management software.
If Prime Ministers can take selfies at memorial services, it seems a shame not allow voters to take selfies performing their democratic duties.
Foreign Prime Ministers take selfies at memorial services, which doesn't count.
You're quite right. British Prime Ministers merely get within camerashot of the selfie.
Of course, as you would expect of a gentleman: "“When a member of the Kinnock family asked me for a photograph, I thought it was only polite to say yes.”
The best bit about that picture, to be fair, was Michelle Obama's face:
The glare every married man experiences on a regular basis.
The glare that could freeze mercury.
To be fair, he ought to tell her to suck it up and stop being such a fuddy duddy. None wants a celebration of a mans life to be a dirge of self-flagellation, well, except for political expediency
I doubt that Michelle Obama's displeasure was caused by lack of reverence.
At first glance my ballot paper didn't even seem to have UKIP on - it had more than a dozen parties and the paper hadn't folded completely out when I opened it.
Polling station was ticking over, which is good, considering it was 10.45AM and turnout in local elections here is around 20%.
How many times are your telling stations folding the ballots ?! When I went in it was unfolded, the chap who handed it to me folded it once across the middle.
UKIP clearly visible with their £ logo...
Twice, so it had four sections. (I had to then fold it a third time to put it in the ballot box!) The woman folded it in front of me. At the end of the day I did remedy the error and take at least a glance at all the parties; I wasn't suggesting it would have posed a UKIP voter must problem.
(Also, the ballot was considerably bigger than the voting "booth"'s little table.)
Final prediction on Council changes of control (Possibles rather than probable have question mark)
Lab Gains
Bristol from NOC Swindon from CON Croydon from CON Harrow from NOC Merton from NOC Redbridge from NOC Bradford from NOC Calderdale from NOC Kirklees from NOC Stockport from NOC(?) Walsall from NOC Amber Valley from CON Cambridge from LD Crawley from CON Tamworth frpm CON Waveney from NOC W Lancs from CON
Con Gains
Kingston from LD Sutton from LD(?) Winchester from NOC(?) St Albans from NOC(?) Purbeck from NOC(?)
Con losses to NOC
Basildon(?) Basingstoke(?)
Lib Dem losses to NOC
Portsmouth Three Rivers.
Three Rivers will not be a LD loss to NOC . New wards and boundaries sees the council reduced to 39 seats in 13 3 member wards . 7 are safe Lib Dem 3 safe conservative and 1 safe Labour . The other 2 wards are likely to be split Con/LD . Independent Guy Davies may be able to get back in normally safe Conservative Chorleywood North . My forecast for new council is LD 23 Con 12 or 13 Lab 3 Ind 0 or 1
"Parliament enacted detailed prescriptive rules relating to electoral administration and campaign conduct; "
The point being that the Electoral Commission is following the directions of Parliament. It is Parliament which has decreed the ballot papers should be in alphabetical order. It is Parliament which allows for a party description on the ballot paper.
There is a curious dispensation therein (pp 66-67) for parties to label themselves as Scottish on the ballot paper when it is not part of their formal name (the SNP did not need it for obvious reasons).
" (3) The name of the registered party authorised by the nominating officer in accordance with paragraph (2) may be preceded (disregarding, for this purpose, the word “the” where it is the first word of the name) by the word “Scottish” if that word is not used in the name of the party registered under section 28 of the 2000 Political Parties Act. "
Here's a tip for the "Wear Valley Independents" (who won a seat in my ward last year) - why not stand as "An Independence from Durham" next time, and you might sweep the board?
Here's a tip for the "Wear Valley Independents" (who won a seat in my ward last year) - why not stand as "An Independence from Durham" next time, and you might sweep the board?
The SNP should have gone for "An Independence From England"; it would at least have demonstrated that they have a sense of humour.
Problem with early voting is that late breaking stories often break too late to matter, as happened in the Oregon Republican Senate primary this week.
Anyway, don't see how anyone will care much if UKIP comes second over confusion except for UKIP. As Santorum learned in Iowa in 2012, there is no prize for 2nd place, no matter why you took it.
Here's a tip for the "Wear Valley Independents" (who won a seat in my ward last year) - why not stand as "An Independence from Durham" next time, and you might sweep the board?
The SNP should have gone for "An Independence From England"; it would at least have demonstrated that they have a sense of humour.
There's something very interesting about the local ballot - but I don't want to comment on it till polling closes here as I don't know if it's legal to do so!
Was there a YouGov Westminster VI yesterday? There's nothing on their website and it's usually posted at 6am.
Nick P posted the 2015 VI igures last night. IIRC Lab on 36% with a 3 point lead over Cons.
I'm limited to my phone at the moment, so I keep missing stuff, decided not to bring the netbook as it eats into your 10kg hand luggage allowance. Must get a tablet. Have been trying Dolphin, it seems to be better than Chrome for some websites, and they have seemed to step back from making it really clunky and over-featured. But Chrome syncs with my home PC which is nice.
FYI, Dolphin sell unanonymised user data to Russian companies linked with gangsters. If you don't like Chrome try Boat Browser or, if you are lucky enough, the stock Android Browser which will be called "Internet" or "Browser".
The stock browser is a sort of stripped-down Chrome which doesn't sync with my home favourites. But will play Flash. Both tend to reload pages if you switch tabs or between apps which is a pain in the a*se if you have a poor connection. Sometimes I would like to be able to cache a thread and read it on the train for example. Thanks for the heads up on Dolphin, I will try Boat.
Firefox has a "save as pdf" option which is v good for offline reading.
A UKIP candidate is today being investigated by party chiefs over a string of comments left on Facebook.
Liz Mahon, who is standing for the party in Garrison ward, Preston Council, made posts hailing Enoch Powell, criticising Nigel Farage for paying tribute to Nelson Mandela and calling halal food ‘sick evil satanic’.
The politician made a number of her posts on the Facebook pages of the far-right English Defence League and Britain First parties.
Well here in Wales there was no An Independence From Europe on the ballot paper. Britain First 'Remember Lee Rigby' was top. Voting was, surprisingly, brisk. I was expecting to be the only person there, as usual, but three or four others were also in attendance. The rather large ballot papers requiring many folds seemed to be filling up the ballot boxes rather quickly.
A UKIP candidate is today being investigated by party chiefs over a string of comments left on Facebook.
Liz Mahon, who is standing for the party in Garrison ward, Preston Council, made posts hailing Enoch Powell, criticising Nigel Farage for paying tribute to Nelson Mandela and calling halal food ‘sick evil satanic’.
The politician made a number of her posts on the Facebook pages of the far-right English Defence League and Britain First parties.
Well, I've been up to vote this morning, turnout seemed pretty decent. Not quite General Election Levels but busier than you'd expect in the morning, certainly busier than the last euros. No AIFE on the ballot here but I was disgusted at the sight of 'Britain First - Remember Lee Rigby' first up on the paper. How on earth the Electoral Commision allowed that I'll never know.
On the Ed Milliband bacon sarnie... am I the only one who thinks that the Labour Party having a stunt where its leader, a (presumably non-observant) Jew, eats a bacon sandwich in public, is a tad disturbing? Just seems a bit odd to me.
Was it a stunt, maybe he just wanted a bacon sandwich ! He's Jewish by ethnicity but his 'religion' is atheist.
I assume anything done by a party leader the day before an election is pre-planned. And he obviously doesn't do it very often as he made a bit of a mess of it. He also doesn't seem to be a man of the people who likes a quick bacon butty when peckish, although my apologies to his team if that is, in fact, the case.
What is "pre-planned", as opposed to just "planned"? Are we saying the stunt came before the planning? If so, wouldn't it just be "unplanned"?
I have many reasons to dislike Gordon Brown but his prefixing of unnecessary 'pre's is right up there. Pre-prepared is probably the worst, given that it already has one pre in there to start with.
A UKIP candidate is today being investigated by party chiefs over a string of comments left on Facebook.
Liz Mahon, who is standing for the party in Garrison ward, Preston Council, made posts hailing Enoch Powell, criticising Nigel Farage for paying tribute to Nelson Mandela and calling halal food ‘sick evil satanic’.
The politician made a number of her posts on the Facebook pages of the far-right English Defence League and Britain First parties.
Final prediction on Council changes of control (Possibles rather than probable have question mark)
Lab Gains
Bristol from NOC Swindon from CON Croydon from CON Harrow from NOC Merton from NOC Redbridge from NOC Bradford from NOC Calderdale from NOC Kirklees from NOC Stockport from NOC(?) Walsall from NOC Amber Valley from CON Cambridge from LD Crawley from CON Tamworth frpm CON Waveney from NOC W Lancs from CON
Con Gains
Kingston from LD Sutton from LD(?) Winchester from NOC(?) St Albans from NOC(?) Purbeck from NOC(?)
Con losses to NOC
Basildon(?) Basingstoke(?)
Lib Dem losses to NOC
Portsmouth Three Rivers.
Three Rivers will not be a LD loss to NOC . New wards and boundaries sees the council reduced to 39 seats in 13 3 member wards . 7 are safe Lib Dem 3 safe conservative and 1 safe Labour . The other 2 wards are likely to be split Con/LD . Independent Guy Davies may be able to get back in normally safe Conservative Chorleywood North . My forecast for new council is LD 23 Con 12 or 13 Lab 3 Ind 0 or 1
I have many reasons to dislike Gordon Brown but his prefixing of unnecessary 'pre's is right up there. Pre-prepared is probably the worst, given that it already has one pre in there to start with.
To be fair, a lot of the last government's planning was post-prepared.
"Parliament enacted detailed prescriptive rules relating to electoral administration and campaign conduct; "
The point being that the Electoral Commission is following the directions of Parliament. It is Parliament which has decreed the ballot papers should be in alphabetical order. It is Parliament which allows for a party description on the ballot paper.
There is a curious dispensation therein (pp 66-67) for parties to label themselves as Scottish on the ballot paper when it is not part of their formal name (the SNP did not need it for obvious reasons).
" (3) The name of the registered party authorised by the nominating officer in accordance with paragraph (2) may be preceded (disregarding, for this purpose, the word “the” where it is the first word of the name) by the word “Scottish” if that word is not used in the name of the party registered under section 28 of the 2000 Political Parties Act. "
Well if thats the case, clearly the EC has no choice. However as was pointed out earlier, there’s good evidence to suggest that candidates whose names are at the top of the ballot paper do better than those much lower down.
Betting advice: Steven Gerrard e/w @ 16/1 for SPOTY. It'll be Giggs all over again, with the chance of some World Cup heroics (or, failing that, defeat with honour) adding to his lustre.
Hamilton looks terrible value, given that (a) the sport is only half on BBC, (b) he doesn't pay his taxes and (c) he's black (unfortunately this is still very much an issue with phone votes).
Comments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_articles#Effect_on_alphabetical_order
So not only did the Electoral Commission decide a party with "UK Independence Now" should be allowed despite a party called "The UK Independence Party" already standing, they also put the former at the top of the list in a manner inconsistent with traditional grammar rules.
There are two big decisions to go: whether UKIP are more of a "major" party than a party lower in the polls, and whether UKIP are allowed in the general election debates. If those both go against UKIP we will have confirmation of a very strong anti-UKIP bias.
EDIT: Apparently the Electoral Commission always include the article for alphabetizing. So they're just incompetent rather than malicious in this case.
http://www.boydellandbrewer.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=14374
Prospective Kipper council candidate standing outside the polling station though (no sign of other local election candidates)
Next, the EC will be accused of using HAARP to alter completed ballot papers.
(5th voter at 8.40 in rural Surrey, those previous being Another Watcher, and 3 others. Sorely tempted by the Roman).
To boldly ladle where no man has ladled before
If that's true in many places surely it negates the threat?
Have just returned from voting in Parkfield ward and was a little surprised to find 2 other people in front of me. Have split my vote this time, CON for local and UKIP for Euro.
Re the comments upthread about Portillo. A mate of mine is a cabbie and has said to me in the past that MP is the worst by far of any of the famous / well known people that he has had in his cab in terms of arrogance, rudeness and general don't you know who I am etc
The Muslim-owned stores are solidly Tory while the Tamil-owned businesses are more Lib Dem. I've not seen this "leaflet" which has caused so much furore though ConservativeHome have raised issues about one of the Conservative candidates and some of his more extreme pro-Muslim utterings.
As I've said, the CPA will be challenging in Canning Town, the Tories will be hoping for something in Royal Docks and perhspa one of the Green Street Wards while the LDs are not completely without hope in East Ham North and Central.
As a market maker, I'd have the spread on Labour seats at 57-58 and the spread on all other parties at 0-1.
I am on Linkedin, though I'm not really sure why.
"Parliament enacted detailed prescriptive rules relating to electoral
administration and campaign conduct; "
The point being that the Electoral Commission is following the directions of Parliament. It is Parliament which has decreed the ballot papers should be in alphabetical order. It is Parliament which allows for a party description on the ballot paper.
Staff at polling stations have been told to stop people taking selfies - even though it is not against the law.
The Electoral Commission fears the craze for taking self-portraits on phones and posting them on social media threatens the secrecy of the ballot.
Anyone who inadvertently reveals how someone else votes in Thursday's local and European elections could face a £5,000 fine or six months in prison.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27486392
Anecdote time. my father has just arrived and I asked if he would be voting (fearing a UKIP defection), he 'won't be voting for an illegal institution, it's not what I voted for in 1973' etc.
And final anecdotal evidence for the day. At my parents yesterday tea time, they live in a traditionally extremely Lib Dem ward, usually plastered at election time with orange diamonds. Not a single one on display in the area. Based on that alone, I confidently predict the Lib Dems will come fifth and struggle to get more than one or maybe two MEPs. They are, as the saying goes, done.
Keeping dry in Nottingham so far - voting seems steady.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DGRrF0CV8BYC&pg=PA41&lpg=PA41&dq=brutus+scotland+geoffrey&source=bl&ots=AKMNbkU0No&sig=wtXTQJ4jMpMSSP7GIh8Uh1D9vI4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aMp9U9vZNpSO7Abp0YGwBQ&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=brutus scotland geoffrey&f=false
Polling station was ticking over, which is good, considering it was 10.45AM and turnout in local elections here is around 20%.
"Anyone who inadvertently reveals how someone else votes in Thursday's local and European elections could face a £5,000 fine or six months in prison."
I voted Labour in the Councils and LD in the Euros, Financier, but don't tell anybody.
Voting seemed quite brisk here in leafy Wanstead, but then the locals in Churchill's former parish tend to be quite keen on that sort of thing.
The EU ballot paper is amazingly long but frankly anybody who votes for the wrong team by mistake deserves to be banned from voting for the next five elections.
A key demographic.
I'm off to the cinema to watch which has been released today, a film starring a 74 year old gay guy who converts a bunch of talented young people to commit evil because they are persecuted.
My review of X Men : Days of Future Past will be posted on PB this evening.
@DuncanStott Electoral Commission TOP TIP: improve turnout amongst younger voters by being killjoys over polling booth selfies
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/14/helle-thorning-schmidt-selfie-mandela-denmark
Poor Barack. He must have suffered that evening.
UKIP clearly visible with their £ logo...
The glare that could freeze mercury.
(Also, the ballot was considerably bigger than the voting "booth"'s little table.)
There is a curious dispensation therein (pp 66-67) for parties to label themselves as Scottish on the ballot paper when it is not part of their formal name (the SNP did not need it for obvious reasons).
" (3) The name of the registered party authorised by the nominating officer in accordance with paragraph (2) may be preceded (disregarding, for this purpose, the word “the” where it is the first word of the name) by the word “Scottish” if that word is not used in the name of the party registered under section 28 of the 2000 Political Parties Act. "
Anyway, don't see how anyone will care much if UKIP comes second over confusion except for UKIP. As Santorum learned in Iowa in 2012, there is no prize for 2nd place, no matter why you took it.
A UKIP candidate is today being investigated by party chiefs over a string of comments left on Facebook.
Liz Mahon, who is standing for the party in Garrison ward, Preston Council, made posts hailing Enoch Powell, criticising Nigel Farage for paying tribute to Nelson Mandela and calling halal food ‘sick evil satanic’.
The politician made a number of her posts on the Facebook pages of the far-right English Defence League and Britain First parties.
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/ukip-probes-preston-candidate-s-comments-on-facebook-1-6630946
Top group !
Ed M - how can anyone vote for an anti-bacon butty party? Ed is Genius!!!
I have many reasons to dislike Gordon Brown but his prefixing of unnecessary 'pre's is right up there. Pre-prepared is probably the worst, given that it already has one pre in there to start with.
Who looks after (guards) the ballot papers while they are waiting to be counted for Sunday?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-27517591
There was BBC magazine article recently on the subject:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27426319
Hamilton looks terrible value, given that (a) the sport is only half on BBC, (b) he doesn't pay his taxes and (c) he's black (unfortunately this is still very much an issue with phone votes).
The European Parliament is lucky to have a such a talented and perceptive person.
Here is an example of his scholarly work, from 2007.
'Shortly there will be an election, in which Labour will increase its majority'
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/conference/2007/09/labour-majority-increase