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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Guest Slot: Rod Crosby: The bell tolls for Labour and Milib

SystemSystem Posts: 11,699
edited May 2014 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Guest Slot: Rod Crosby: The bell tolls for Labour and Miliband

Last week Labour beat the Tories in the local elections by just 1%, according to the Rallings and Thrasher NEV (national equivalent voteshare) calculation. This is the last set of locals before the general election. Is there anything we can divine from this performance?

Read the full story here


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Comments

  • Options
    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,785
    First!
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    SlackbladderSlackbladder Posts: 9,712
    Sam Coates Times ‏@SamCoatesTimes · 43 secs
    Speaking this morning to the kind of senior Lib Dems whose support wd be needed to oust Clegg, there just doesn't seem to be the appetite

    Looks like the 'rebels' have only succeeded in wounding the lib dems even further..good job guys
  • Options
    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,785
    And I agree! Wonder how long before the MSM pick this up......
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,561
    Many thanks for this Rod.
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,561
    SeanT said:

    Didn't Rod Crosby get some recent prediction bang on? I forget what it was. But I remember he was right. Wasn't he? But what was it?

    NB Moderators: I'd like this post entered for Vaguest Comment of the Year Award, please.

    Crossover by May.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,002
    Very interesting to read your view, Mr. Crosby.

    I was sceptical, as were many, of your predictions pre-2010, but you were rather closer than most of us then, so this gives me a bit of hope Miliband will fail.

    Mr. Slackbladder, it's the same as when Labour were pathetically inept at trying to oust Brown, or when some more intellectually deficient Conservative backbenchers repeatedly attack Cameron without a hope of ousting him. You've got to be at peace, or kill. Wounding a leader but leaving him in place just harms the party. It's stupid. And it's not like the Lib Dems have an excess of votes to spare right now.
  • Options
    Life_ina_market_townLife_ina_market_town Posts: 2,319
    edited May 2014
    Merely because events happened a certain way in the past does not mean that they will happen in the same way in the future. This sort of "political science" is interesting, but not determinative of the future. The prophetic exegesis of the past, and its champions, whether Joachim of Fiore, Karl Marx or Max Weber, are all out fashion for a reason.
  • Options
    SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    Thanks Rod
    Nice charts, but is the next election really going to be like all the others? I detect a slight difference, unless we can discard UKIP from the equation?
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    SeanT said:

    Doesn't the rise of UKIP f*ck up all these models, though? To put it bluntly?

    You pays yer money...
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,561
    SeanT said:

    Doesn't the rise of UKIP f*ck up all these models, though? To put it bluntly?

    Maybe, then again UKIP are now in a position of taking votes equally from the Tories and Labour (depending on which data set you look at)
  • Options
    corporealcorporeal Posts: 2,549
    Lib Dems 1/3 to win Sheffield Hallam with @WillHillBet starting to feel like that's value.
  • Options
    SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    Damn! I am agreeing with SeanT, I must get off religion and back onto hard drugs.
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    ToryJimToryJim Posts: 3,449
    So in essence the shape of the next election will be broadly similar to last?
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    corporeal said:

    Lib Dems 1/3 to win Sheffield Hallam with @WillHillBet starting to feel like that's value.

    I'm on at 1-4 and whilst it doesn't feel like the best bet I've ever made doesn't feel like th worst. Note that Lib Dem outperformed the local forecast results on that ICM.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,002
    Mr. Eagles, it's not just where they take votes from, but which voters are likelier to drift back come a General Election.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,983
    @Quincel

    Are your payment details the same as I sent to after Wythenshawe? (You swine!)
  • Options
    murali_smurali_s Posts: 3,041
    edited May 2014
    UKIP question - can someone tell me what the ACTUAL breakdown of the UKIP vote is (broken down by say GE 2010 vote). Common perception is that it is largely Tory, but is this true?
  • Options
    AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    SeanT said:

    Doesn't the rise of UKIP f*ck up all these models, though? To put it bluntly?

    Came too soon, Sean.

    A surfeit of booze, fags and special advisors.

  • Options
    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098

    SeanT said:

    Didn't Rod Crosby get some recent prediction bang on? I forget what it was. But I remember he was right. Wasn't he? But what was it?

    NB Moderators: I'd like this post entered for Vaguest Comment of the Year Award, please.

    Crossover by May.
    Point of order Mr Chairman. In true PB pendant fashion I'd like to point out that the good Mr. Crosby did in fact say Crossover by May, which in the normal usage of the English language would normally, by most people, be taken to mean it would occur in or before 30th April. In fact it occurred a little later during the month of May. Therefore Mr. T is in error when he says Mr Crosby's prediction was bang on.

    That said, Mr. Crosby got the last GE about right and I lost money by betting against his predictions. I shall be very careful before I do that again.

  • Options
    SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    @TheScreamingEagles

    It depends on whose votes UKIP targets, and how receptive their original voters and putative new ones react?
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    NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,359
    Essentially in past Parliaments the Opposition picked up a lot of floating votes which then in whole or in part floated back. This time, the Opposition hasn't picked up much (partly because of UKIP), but equally there isn't much to float back. Rod's case depends assuming that people who have been persistently Labour since 2011 would now suddenly vote Tory or LibDem. Looking at the past doesn't give a basis for that.

    The polls and the Euros and the local elections are all pointing to the same modest Labour lead over the Tories. Cameron's hopes really hinge on differential swingback from UKIP.
  • Options
    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    I know just how popular John Rentoul is in some corners on here, so it would be a shame not to link to a relevant article on an appropriate thread:

    http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/labour-has-turned-into-a-party-at-war-with-itself-9431612.html

    "Morale at the top of the Labour Party is so low that the factions are preparing to blame each other for defeat in a general election that is nearly a year away. You would have thought that they would have more pressing business to deal with, such as blaming each other for Labour's disappointing show in the local and European Parliament elections last week. But, no, the party is capable of fighting a civil war on two fronts at once...

    Wait a moment, though. Didn't Labour do well in the local elections? It won control of a lot of councils in London and gained 300 seats. The short answer is no. For the party to be just two points ahead of the Conservatives in the BBC's projected national vote share is "not good enough". It was no coincidence that it was Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor, who said so on TV on Friday...

    There are the Clappers, the sycophants around Miliband who applaud him back to the office after he has made another dreadful speech; and the Ballsites, who are working to ensure the succession of Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, after defeat in the general election. They are obsessed with Miliband's motives, saying that he is preparing for what happens if Labour only just falls short next year. "We know for a fact that he'll try to stay."

    I think this is a paranoid misjudgement: if Labour loses, Miliband will be out before anyone can ask themselves why they ever thought he could win. But it shows Labour's problem: that, a year before an election, its leaders are preparing for defeat."
  • Options
    dyedwooliedyedwoolie Posts: 7,786

    Essentially in past Parliaments the Opposition picked up a lot of floating votes which then in whole or in part floated back. This time, the Opposition hasn't picked up much (partly because of UKIP), but equally there isn't much to float back. Rod's case depends assuming that people who have been persistently Labour since 2011 would now suddenly vote Tory or LibDem. Looking at the past doesn't give a basis for that.

    The polls and the Euros and the local elections are all pointing to the same modest Labour lead over the Tories. Cameron's hopes really hinge on differential swingback from UKIP.

    You're forgetting the red liberals Labour have picked up from the government. Eds hopes hinge on them not drifting back, too.
  • Options
    corporealcorporeal Posts: 2,549
    Pulpstar said:

    corporeal said:

    Lib Dems 1/3 to win Sheffield Hallam with @WillHillBet starting to feel like that's value.

    I'm on at 1-4 and whilst it doesn't feel like the best bet I've ever made doesn't feel like th worst. Note that Lib Dem outperformed the local forecast results on that ICM.
    Quite a big difference in Paddypower and willhill odds for Hallam

    WH
    LD: 1/3
    Lab 7/2
    Con: 6/1
    UKIP: 10/1

    PP: LD 1/7
    Lab: 5/1
    Con: 9/1
    UKIP: 40/1
  • Options
    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916
    UK taxpayers are spending £30million-a-year sending child benefit to families who live abroad across the European Union.

    David Cameron has admitted it is ‘impossible’ to stop the cash being exported each year by migrant workers whose families are spread across the continent........

    Almost two-thirds of the families are in Poland, claiming for 22,093 children. People in the UK are also sending child benefit to 1,231 families in Ireland for 2,505 children.

    A further 1,215 in Lithuania, 797 in Latvia, 789 in France, 692 in Slovakia and 600 in Spain are all receiving child benefit from the UK Treasury.......

    Speaking earlier this month, the Prime Minister told the BBC: ‘Today if you travel and work from another European country into Britain, you can then claim child benefit and other benefits for your family back at home even though actually they’re not living in the UK and going to UK schools and all the rest of it.

    And under the current rules, it seems extremely difficult, if not impossible, to change that. Now I haven’t met anybody who thinks this is sensible … so that is again a really big change.’

    The government insists that the ‘main purpose of child benefit is to support families in the UK’.

    However, EU rules mean that social security must be paid across borders.

    But ministers are drawing up plans for a new crackdown on migrants’ access to benefits to try to win back disaffected voters from Ukip.

    The new push, which could see unemployed EU nationals kicked out of the country after just six months, was announced yesterday amid continued fallout from the Ukip surge in last week’s elections.

    Currently, new arrivals cannot claim benefits for the first three months in the country followed by six months in which they can.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2632914/Child-benefit-worth-30million-paid-Britain-families-EU-Cameron-admits-impossible-stop-it.html#ixzz32vADmD5f






  • Options
    ToryJimToryJim Posts: 3,449

    Mr. Eagles, it's not just where they take votes from, but which voters are likelier to drift back come a General Election.

    Well in the last cycle UKIP got 2.5m votes in the Euros and dropped to 0.9m come the general. I suspect they will shed votes again and probably be in the 1.5-1.7m votes area or 5-6%. Where the 2.5m votes difference goes is critical but suspect most will go Conservative.

  • Options
    QuincelQuincel Posts: 3,949
    isam said:

    @Quincel

    Are your payment details the same as I sent to after Wythenshawe? (You swine!)

    Should be the same. I feel bad if I'm going to stop you from offering odds in the future, I greatly admire the bravery of people who do so on this site (note that I don't have the guts).
  • Options
    MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    FPT.

    SeanT said:
    » show previous quotes
    200,000-500,000 dead. 2 million refugees. ELEVEN years of carnage, still ongoing.

    Labour's War. Labour's Lies. Labour's Guilt. It is written in every word you say.
    -----------------------------
    The way to end Saddam Hussein's reign in Iraq was lost when Bush senior got cold feet at the end of the successful first gulf war. The Iraqi army was ready to surrender without a fight to General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr's forces, but President Bush vetoed the advance and the fighting ended. Whereupon Saddam carried out a purge of unreliable officers in his forces.

    Had Bush let the advance continue it would have saved a million lives, not least among US soldiers.
  • Options
    Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,820
    Thanks to Rod for this. That regression chart is really quite remarkable: R² of 0.95 - that means it's a pretty damned good fit of the data.
  • Options
    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098
    In note that Mr. Crosby's work above is based on this thing called the National Equivalent Vote Share (NEV). Now, according to OGH last week, by this measure (or projection, if you feel that way) UKIP's showing in the locals was a disaster for them and their public support is actually dropping like a paralysed falcon. So if OGH is correct how much of an impact will UKIP actually have on the GE?
  • Options
    Someone mentioned oakshyte earlier? Innocent face.

    Sam Coates Times @SamCoatesTimes
    "ICM poll does Oakeshott campaign more harm than good since shows only marginal benefit from a leadership / doesn't account for disruption"
  • Options
    DecrepitJohnLDecrepitJohnL Posts: 13,300
    antifrank said:

    I know just how popular John Rentoul is in some corners on here, so it would be a shame not to link to a relevant article on an appropriate thread:

    http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/labour-has-turned-into-a-party-at-war-with-itself-9431612.html

    "Morale at the top of the Labour Party is so low that the factions are preparing to blame each other for defeat in a general election that is nearly a year away. You would have thought that they would have more pressing business to deal with, such as blaming each other for Labour's disappointing show in the local and European Parliament elections last week. But, no, the party is capable of fighting a civil war on two fronts at once...

    Wait a moment, though. Didn't Labour do well in the local elections? It won control of a lot of councils in London and gained 300 seats. The short answer is no. For the party to be just two points ahead of the Conservatives in the BBC's projected national vote share is "not good enough". It was no coincidence that it was Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor, who said so on TV on Friday...

    There are the Clappers, the sycophants around Miliband who applaud him back to the office after he has made another dreadful speech; and the Ballsites, who are working to ensure the succession of Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, after defeat in the general election. They are obsessed with Miliband's motives, saying that he is preparing for what happens if Labour only just falls short next year. "We know for a fact that he'll try to stay."

    I think this is a paranoid misjudgement: if Labour loses, Miliband will be out before anyone can ask themselves why they ever thought he could win. But it shows Labour's problem: that, a year before an election, its leaders are preparing for defeat."

    Rentoul blames Ed Balls for a thus far near-invisible plot to oust Miliband. Hmm. No mention of Blairites as well as Clappers and Ballsites. Double Hmm.
  • Options
    macisbackmacisback Posts: 382
    Even Paddy Power is generous, easy win for Clegg, very affluent seat, potential support for Labour limited and the Tories hardly exist in Sheffield. If the boundaries changed as proposed it would have been totally different. Cynically I suggest this was his main motivation for digging his heals in.
  • Options
    JackWJackW Posts: 14,787
    Golly gosh Roderick .... are you intimating for the uninitiated that .... drum roll ....

    Ed Miliband Will Never Be Prime Minister
  • Options
    GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,887
    Thanks Rod.

    On your graph it does look as though Ed Milliband is the most ineffective LOTO for Labour since Michael Foot, LOL.

    The writings on the wall for Labour and has been for some time.

    Still think it's going to be Conservatives most votes and seats, but if Labour does lose by 8.4% next year it will surely end up in a Conservative majority.
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,561
    Smarmeron said:

    @TheScreamingEagles

    It depends on whose votes UKIP targets, and how receptive their original voters and putative new ones react?

    Well the front of the Times today says Farage is targeting the Labour heartlands.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    macisback said:

    Even Paddy Power is generous, easy win for Clegg, very affluent seat, potential support for Labour limited and the Tories hardly exist in Sheffield. If the boundaries changed as proposed it would have been totally different. Cynically I suggest this was his main motivation for digging his heals in.

    My examination of the local results compared to the extrapolated results given in the ICM have lead me to the conclusion that Clegg should hang on - though his majority will be severely reduced...
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    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 5,005
    The man himself is live on Radio 5 at this minute.
  • Options
    DecrepitJohnLDecrepitJohnL Posts: 13,300
    Financier said:

    UK taxpayers are spending £30million-a-year sending child benefit to families who live abroad across the European Union.

    David Cameron has admitted it is ‘impossible’ to stop the cash being exported each year by migrant workers whose families are spread across the continent........

    Almost two-thirds of the families are in Poland, claiming for 22,093 children. People in the UK are also sending child benefit to 1,231 families in Ireland for 2,505 children.

    A further 1,215 in Lithuania, 797 in Latvia, 789 in France, 692 in Slovakia and 600 in Spain are all receiving child benefit from the UK Treasury.......

    Speaking earlier this month, the Prime Minister told the BBC: ‘Today if you travel and work from another European country into Britain, you can then claim child benefit and other benefits for your family back at home even though actually they’re not living in the UK and going to UK schools and all the rest of it.

    And under the current rules, it seems extremely difficult, if not impossible, to change that. Now I haven’t met anybody who thinks this is sensible … so that is again a really big change.’

    The government insists that the ‘main purpose of child benefit is to support families in the UK’.

    However, EU rules mean that social security must be paid across borders.

    But ministers are drawing up plans for a new crackdown on migrants’ access to benefits to try to win back disaffected voters from Ukip.

    The new push, which could see unemployed EU nationals kicked out of the country after just six months, was announced yesterday amid continued fallout from the Ukip surge in last week’s elections.

    Currently, new arrivals cannot claim benefits for the first three months in the country followed by six months in which they can.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2632914/Child-benefit-worth-30million-paid-Britain-families-EU-Cameron-admits-impossible-stop-it.html#ixzz32vADmD5f






    Oh FFS. It's not that £30 million is just a rounding error in the budget, it is that Cameron is spinning that UKIP is right about national powerlessness in the face of the EU. How is that expected to win back voters?
  • Options
    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,916
    It's very hard to see Labour winning, on the back of its performance in local elections.

    However, there's always the possibility of a black swan event.
  • Options
    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 5,005
    Just finished. In Thurrock, btw.
  • Options
    ToryJimToryJim Posts: 3,449
    GIN1138 said:

    Thanks Rod.

    On your graph it does look as though Ed Milliband is the most ineffective LOTO for Labour since Michael Foot, LOL.

    The writings on the wall for Labour and has been for some time.

    Still think it's going to be Conservatives most votes and seats, but if Labour does lose by 8.4% next year it will surely end up in a Conservative majority.

    I just whacked some figures into electoral calculus of con 39 lab 31 ld 18 and UKIP 5.5 which gave seats of 327:262:33:0 for a majority of 4.
  • Options
    SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    @TheScreamingEagles

    The "who" not "where". If his manifesto is tailored to the Labour voters, will this not upset his former Tory support, and also lead to the suspicion that he is being an opportunist?
  • Options
    dyedwooliedyedwoolie Posts: 7,786

    Financier said:

    UK taxpayers are spending £30million-a-year sending child benefit to families who live abroad across the European Union.

    David Cameron has admitted it is ‘impossible’ to stop the cash being exported each year by migrant workers whose families are spread across the continent........

    Almost two-thirds of the families are in Poland, claiming for 22,093 children. People in the UK are also sending child benefit to 1,231 families in Ireland for 2,505 children.

    A further 1,215 in Lithuania, 797 in Latvia, 789 in France, 692 in Slovakia and 600 in Spain are all receiving child benefit from the UK Treasury.......

    Speaking earlier this month, the Prime Minister told the BBC: ‘Today if you travel and work from another European country into Britain, you can then claim child benefit and other benefits for your family back at home even though actually they’re not living in the UK and going to UK schools and all the rest of it.

    And under the current rules, it seems extremely difficult, if not impossible, to change that. Now I haven’t met anybody who thinks this is sensible … so that is again a really big change.’

    The government insists that the ‘main purpose of child benefit is to support families in the UK’.

    However, EU rules mean that social security must be paid across borders.

    But ministers are drawing up plans for a new crackdown on migrants’ access to benefits to try to win back disaffected voters from Ukip.

    The new push, which could see unemployed EU nationals kicked out of the country after just six months, was announced yesterday amid continued fallout from the Ukip surge in last week’s elections.

    Currently, new arrivals cannot claim benefits for the first three months in the country followed by six months in which they can.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2632914/Child-benefit-worth-30million-paid-Britain-families-EU-Cameron-admits-impossible-stop-it.html#ixzz32vADmD5f






    Oh FFS. It's not that £30 million is just a rounding error in the budget, it is that Cameron is spinning that UKIP is right about national powerlessness in the face of the EU. How is that expected to win back voters?
    By saying 'you're right, and here's what we are going to do about it'
    Ignoring the Tiger won't make it go away.
  • Options
    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 5,005
    SeanT said:

    MikeK said:

    FPT.

    SeanT said:
    » show previous quotes
    200,000-500,000 dead. 2 million refugees. ELEVEN years of carnage, still ongoing.

    Labour's War. Labour's Lies. Labour's Guilt. It is written in every word you say.
    -----------------------------
    The way to end Saddam Hussein's reign in Iraq was lost when Bush senior got cold feet at the end of the successful first gulf war. The Iraqi army was ready to surrender without a fight to General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr's forces, but President Bush vetoed the advance and the fighting ended. Whereupon Saddam carried out a purge of unreliable officers in his forces.

    Had Bush let the advance continue it would have saved a million lives, not least among US soldiers.

    Very probably true. Doesn't exonerate Blair or Bush Jr tho.

    What gets me is Blair's chutzpah, his pathological self-esteem. If he just did the decent thing, and crawled away to some monastery to do penance for the rest of his days - or even if he just retired to spend more time with his money, in some Tuscan villa, and totally Shut The F*ck Up - maybe, just maybe, we could forgive him - or at least forget him.

    But he persists in believing he is in some position to make moral observations, and, moreover, that anyone sane gives a crap when he lectures us on political ethics - or, God help us, Middle Eastern peace.

    I seriously wonder if he has a personality disorder.

    I think he still has an audience in the USA. But as you say, it's hard to think of any segment of British opinion that has the slightest interest in his proposed solutions to international problems ...
  • Options
    dyedwooliedyedwoolie Posts: 7,786
    ToryJim said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Thanks Rod.

    On your graph it does look as though Ed Milliband is the most ineffective LOTO for Labour since Michael Foot, LOL.

    The writings on the wall for Labour and has been for some time.

    Still think it's going to be Conservatives most votes and seats, but if Labour does lose by 8.4% next year it will surely end up in a Conservative majority.

    I just whacked some figures into electoral calculus of con 39 lab 31 ld 18 and UKIP 5.5 which gave seats of 327:262:33:0 for a majority of 4.
    Take 8 off LD and give it to UKIP. That's nearer the mark.
  • Options
    TheWatcherTheWatcher Posts: 5,262
    edited May 2014
    SeanT said:

    MikeK said:

    FPT.

    SeanT said:
    » show previous quotes
    200,000-500,000 dead. 2 million refugees. ELEVEN years of carnage, still ongoing.

    Labour's War. Labour's Lies. Labour's Guilt. It is written in every word you say.
    -----------------------------
    The way to end Saddam Hussein's reign in Iraq was lost when Bush senior got cold feet at the end of the successful first gulf war. The Iraqi army was ready to surrender without a fight to General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr's forces, but President Bush vetoed the advance and the fighting ended. Whereupon Saddam carried out a purge of unreliable officers in his forces.

    Had Bush let the advance continue it would have saved a million lives, not least among US soldiers.

    I seriously wonder if he has a personality disorder.

    He thinks he is a higher being? His dwindling band of little followers clearly view him as a messiah.

  • Options
    RodCrosbyRodCrosby Posts: 7,737
    Smarmeron said:

    Thanks Rod
    Nice charts, but is the next election really going to be like all the others? I detect a slight difference, unless we can discard UKIP from the equation?

    UKIP are in the equation, to the extent that their performance over the recent several local elections has perhaps influenced the net NEV lead of the big two parties.

    Barring a cataclysmic re-alignment over the next 11 months, there will still be the two usual parties vying for government in 2015. UKIP will be also-rans, most likely with zero or a derisory number of seats.
  • Options
    MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    SeanT said:

    MikeK said:

    FPT.

    SeanT said:
    » show previous quotes
    200,000-500,000 dead. 2 million refugees. ELEVEN years of carnage, still ongoing.

    Labour's War. Labour's Lies. Labour's Guilt. It is written in every word you say.
    -----------------------------
    The way to end Saddam Hussein's reign in Iraq was lost when Bush senior got cold feet at the end of the successful first gulf war. The Iraqi army was ready to surrender without a fight to General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr's forces, but President Bush vetoed the advance and the fighting ended. Whereupon Saddam carried out a purge of unreliable officers in his forces.

    Had Bush let the advance continue it would have saved a million lives, not least among US soldiers.

    Very probably true. Doesn't exonerate Blair or Bush Jr tho.

    What gets me is Blair's chutzpah, his pathological self-esteem. If he just did the decent thing, and crawled away to some monastery to do penance for the rest of his days - or even if he just retired to spend more time with his money, in some Tuscan villa, and totally Shut The F*ck Up - maybe, just maybe, we could forgive him - or at least forget him.

    But he persists in believing he is in some position to make moral observations, and, moreover, that anyone sane gives a crap when he lectures us on political ethics - or, God help us, Middle Eastern peace.

    I seriously wonder if he has a personality disorder.

    More than likely the people who hire Blair to speak and cogitate have personality disorders too.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,983
    Quincel said:

    isam said:

    @Quincel

    Are your payment details the same as I sent to after Wythenshawe? (You swine!)

    Should be the same. I feel bad if I'm going to stop you from offering odds in the future, I greatly admire the bravery of people who do so on this site (note that I don't have the guts).
    No dont be silly I dont mind!

    It was my fault for being lairy and trying to tease in ICM lovers that I should have known wouldnt put their money where their mouth was (ICM had UKIP on 20% and I was offering under 26.5% at 5/6)

    I should have made just a one way price rather than offer the over as well

    I have sent the money over, well done

    @rcs1000 I will send you my details as I didnt get that Wythenshaw money from your Dad at DD's

  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,561

    SeanT said:

    Didn't Rod Crosby get some recent prediction bang on? I forget what it was. But I remember he was right. Wasn't he? But what was it?

    NB Moderators: I'd like this post entered for Vaguest Comment of the Year Award, please.

    Crossover by May.
    Point of order Mr Chairman. In true PB pendant fashion I'd like to point out that the good Mr. Crosby did in fact say Crossover by May, which in the normal usage of the English language would normally, by most people, be taken to mean it would occur in or before 30th April. In fact it occurred a little later during the month of May. Therefore Mr. T is in error when he says Mr Crosby's prediction was bang on.

    That said, Mr. Crosby got the last GE about right and I lost money by betting against his predictions. I shall be very careful before I do that again.

    Mr Crosby did clarify prior to the 30th of April to say he meant by May, he meant up to and including the 31st of May.

    Whereas another poster predicted there wouldn't be crossover before the general election.
  • Options
    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 5,005
    p.s. Just to link the two topics of this thread. I think the reason EdM was chosen as Labour leader was because, discounting the obvious non-starter (Diane Abbot), he was the most obvious not-Blair candidate.
  • Options
    saddenedsaddened Posts: 2,245
    edited May 2014
    For all those who are discussing Tony's adventures in Iraq, the video linked below provides an insight that is normally kept from the public of how far the country has fallen.

    IT IS EXCEPTIONALLY GRAPHIC IN WHAT IS SHOWS. REPEAT IT IS EXCEPTIONALLY GRAPHIC IN WHAT IT SHOWS, but what it shows is the reality of what is happening, today, in Iraq.

    MODs, if you feel the link is inappropriate please delete.


    On second thoughts the link is probably a bit strong for this site so have self censored.
  • Options
    AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    JackW said:

    Golly gosh Roderick .... are you intimating for the uninitiated that .... drum roll ....

    Ed Miliband Will Never Be Prime Minister

    Ed Miliband will never even be Deputy Prime Minister.

    That's why even Clegg and Prescott are joining in the laughter.

  • Options
    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098



    Oh FFS. It's not that £30 million is just a rounding error in the budget, it is that Cameron is spinning that UKIP is right about national powerlessness in the face of the EU. How is that expected to win back voters?

    You were not a Yes Prime Minister fan, then? See the episode where Hacker gains the premiership by first raising a fairly minor issue with the EU to the status of a crisis, then solving it and basking in the resultant adulation for a UK politician who was prepared to stand up for Britain. The amount of money doesn't matter it is the spin that can be placed on the issue that is important for our very own PR spiv.
  • Options
    RodCrosbyRodCrosby Posts: 7,737
    edited May 2014

    SeanT said:

    Didn't Rod Crosby get some recent prediction bang on? I forget what it was. But I remember he was right. Wasn't he? But what was it?

    NB Moderators: I'd like this post entered for Vaguest Comment of the Year Award, please.

    Crossover by May.
    Point of order Mr Chairman. In true PB pendant fashion I'd like to point out that the good Mr. Crosby did in fact say Crossover by May, which in the normal usage of the English language would normally, by most people, be taken to mean it would occur in or before 30th April. In fact it occurred a little later during the month of May. Therefore Mr. T is in error when he says Mr Crosby's prediction was bang on.
    If your boss told you he expected something delivered "by Monday", would you expect to be sacked at 5pm on the previous Friday?
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,983
    Tim Aker ‏@Tim_Aker 8m

    Last week @Nigel_Farage came to #Thurrock and met voters in Ockendon. Today @Ed_Miliband speaks to hand-picked audience. Speaks volumes
  • Options
    GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,887
    edited May 2014
    Very useful charts BTW Rod.

    Surprised that the Conservatives did so well in the 1977 local elections (almost on a par with Blair's 1995 performance) and surprised Labour didn't do better in 1990 when The Blessed Margaret was destroying herself with that Poll Tax nonsense she got fixated on.
  • Options
    SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    @RodCrosby

    So, UKIP will not win a seat and therefore can be discounted, and its votes divided to suit whatever angle you wish to take. And there was me thinking politics was nuanced and complicated.
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    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098
    RodCrosby said:

    SeanT said:

    Didn't Rod Crosby get some recent prediction bang on? I forget what it was. But I remember he was right. Wasn't he? But what was it?

    NB Moderators: I'd like this post entered for Vaguest Comment of the Year Award, please.

    Crossover by May.
    Point of order Mr Chairman. In true PB pendant fashion I'd like to point out that the good Mr. Crosby did in fact say Crossover by May, which in the normal usage of the English language would normally, by most people, be taken to mean it would occur in or before 30th April. In fact it occurred a little later during the month of May. Therefore Mr. T is in error when he says Mr Crosby's prediction was bang on.
    If your boss told you he expected something delivered "by Monday", would you expect to be sacked at 5pm on Friday?
    No, but I would expect to be in some difficulty if it wasn't on his desk when he arrived for work on Monday morning.
  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,002
    Mr. Isam, be fair. Miliband needs a hand picked audience so they're capable of comprehending his overwhelming intellect.
  • Options
    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,916

    SeanT said:

    MikeK said:

    FPT.

    SeanT said:
    » show previous quotes
    200,000-500,000 dead. 2 million refugees. ELEVEN years of carnage, still ongoing.

    Labour's War. Labour's Lies. Labour's Guilt. It is written in every word you say.
    -----------------------------
    The way to end Saddam Hussein's reign in Iraq was lost when Bush senior got cold feet at the end of the successful first gulf war. The Iraqi army was ready to surrender without a fight to General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr's forces, but President Bush vetoed the advance and the fighting ended. Whereupon Saddam carried out a purge of unreliable officers in his forces.

    Had Bush let the advance continue it would have saved a million lives, not least among US soldiers.

    Very probably true. Doesn't exonerate Blair or Bush Jr tho.

    What gets me is Blair's chutzpah, his pathological self-esteem. If he just did the decent thing, and crawled away to some monastery to do penance for the rest of his days - or even if he just retired to spend more time with his money, in some Tuscan villa, and totally Shut The F*ck Up - maybe, just maybe, we could forgive him - or at least forget him.

    But he persists in believing he is in some position to make moral observations, and, moreover, that anyone sane gives a crap when he lectures us on political ethics - or, God help us, Middle Eastern peace.

    I seriously wonder if he has a personality disorder.

    I think he still has an audience in the USA. But as you say, it's hard to think of any segment of British opinion that has the slightest interest in his proposed solutions to international problems ...
    I did think it would be rather amusing if, in his capacity as Middle Eastern peace envoy, he was kidnapped by Islamists, and we saw him popping up from time to time in videos, denouncing Western forign policy.

    I can't think of another politician who was once so dominant, and whose standing has fallen so low.

  • Options
    DecrepitJohnLDecrepitJohnL Posts: 13,300



    Oh FFS. It's not that £30 million is just a rounding error in the budget, it is that Cameron is spinning that UKIP is right about national powerlessness in the face of the EU. How is that expected to win back voters?

    You were not a Yes Prime Minister fan, then? See the episode where Hacker gains the premiership by first raising a fairly minor issue with the EU to the status of a crisis, then solving it and basking in the resultant adulation for a UK politician who was prepared to stand up for Britain. The amount of money doesn't matter it is the spin that can be placed on the issue that is important for our very own PR spiv.
    Yes but the problem in this instance is that UKIP has shot his Euro-sausage.
  • Options
    ToryJimToryJim Posts: 3,449

    ToryJim said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Thanks Rod.

    On your graph it does look as though Ed Milliband is the most ineffective LOTO for Labour since Michael Foot, LOL.

    The writings on the wall for Labour and has been for some time.

    Still think it's going to be Conservatives most votes and seats, but if Labour does lose by 8.4% next year it will surely end up in a Conservative majority.

    I just whacked some figures into electoral calculus of con 39 lab 31 ld 18 and UKIP 5.5 which gave seats of 327:262:33:0 for a majority of 4.
    Take 8 off LD and give it to UKIP. That's nearer the mark.
    Disagree, think LD more resilient than all that but you end with 340:266:15:0
  • Options
    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 5,005
    Sean_F said:

    SeanT said:

    MikeK said:

    FPT.

    SeanT said:
    » show previous quotes
    200,000-500,000 dead. 2 million refugees. ELEVEN years of carnage, still ongoing.

    Labour's War. Labour's Lies. Labour's Guilt. It is written in every word you say.
    -----------------------------
    The way to end Saddam Hussein's reign in Iraq was lost when Bush senior got cold feet at the end of the successful first gulf war. The Iraqi army was ready to surrender without a fight to General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr's forces, but President Bush vetoed the advance and the fighting ended. Whereupon Saddam carried out a purge of unreliable officers in his forces.

    Had Bush let the advance continue it would have saved a million lives, not least among US soldiers.

    Very probably true. Doesn't exonerate Blair or Bush Jr tho.

    What gets me is Blair's chutzpah, his pathological self-esteem. If he just did the decent thing, and crawled away to some monastery to do penance for the rest of his days - or even if he just retired to spend more time with his money, in some Tuscan villa, and totally Shut The F*ck Up - maybe, just maybe, we could forgive him - or at least forget him.

    But he persists in believing he is in some position to make moral observations, and, moreover, that anyone sane gives a crap when he lectures us on political ethics - or, God help us, Middle Eastern peace.

    I seriously wonder if he has a personality disorder.

    I think he still has an audience in the USA. But as you say, it's hard to think of any segment of British opinion that has the slightest interest in his proposed solutions to international problems ...
    I did think it would be rather amusing if, in his capacity as Middle Eastern peace envoy, he was kidnapped by Islamists, and we saw him popping up from time to time in videos, denouncing Western forign policy.

    I can't think of another politician who was once so dominant, and whose standing has fallen so low.

    Yes, he'd be a very low value hostage indeed.
  • Options
    Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,820
    ToryJim said:

    Disagree, think LD more resilient than all that but you end with 340:266:15:0

    That would be a nice result.
  • Options
    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098

    SeanT said:

    Didn't Rod Crosby get some recent prediction bang on? I forget what it was. But I remember he was right. Wasn't he? But what was it?

    NB Moderators: I'd like this post entered for Vaguest Comment of the Year Award, please.

    Crossover by May.
    Point of order Mr Chairman. In true PB pendant fashion I'd like to point out that the good Mr. Crosby did in fact say Crossover by May, which in the normal usage of the English language would normally, by most people, be taken to mean it would occur in or before 30th April. In fact it occurred a little later during the month of May. Therefore Mr. T is in error when he says Mr Crosby's prediction was bang on.

    That said, Mr. Crosby got the last GE about right and I lost money by betting against his predictions. I shall be very careful before I do that again.

    Mr Crosby did clarify prior to the 30th of April to say he meant by May, he meant up to and including the 31st of May.

    Whereas another poster predicted there wouldn't be crossover before the general election.
    Fair go, Mr. Eagles, I missed that clarification. I withdraw my pendant point.

    However, I stand by my view that Mr. Crosby is a jolly clever fellow and betting against his advice is something that should only be done after the most careful consideration.
  • Options
    dyedwooliedyedwoolie Posts: 7,786
    ToryJim said:

    ToryJim said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Thanks Rod.

    On your graph it does look as though Ed Milliband is the most ineffective LOTO for Labour since Michael Foot, LOL.

    The writings on the wall for Labour and has been for some time.

    Still think it's going to be Conservatives most votes and seats, but if Labour does lose by 8.4% next year it will surely end up in a Conservative majority.

    I just whacked some figures into electoral calculus of con 39 lab 31 ld 18 and UKIP 5.5 which gave seats of 327:262:33:0 for a majority of 4.
    Take 8 off LD and give it to UKIP. That's nearer the mark.
    Disagree, think LD more resilient than all that but you end with 340:266:15:0
    Either would do ;-)
  • Options
    GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,887
    edited May 2014

    ToryJim said:

    Disagree, think LD more resilient than all that but you end with 340:266:15:0

    That would be a nice result.
    Not for the Lib's it wouldn't, but we don't really care about them facing oblivion do we? ;)

  • Options
    BobaFettBobaFett Posts: 2,789
    @SeanT makes a decent point. This forecast does not account for the Ukip effect.

    Also, I noted this morning that Rod got his forecast royally wrong on Sunday night, when some of us collected handsomely by ignoring him.

    He is often right, but he is far from infallible.
  • Options
    volcanopetevolcanopete Posts: 2,078
    What everyone seems to forget is there are no like-for-like comparisons for a 5 year fixed term parliament and therefore it is just as likely there could be widening variation as crossover.There are also any number of competing long-term trends both for and against your position,one or more is going to be broken.Also,a head and shoulders chart position could indicate strategic weakness
    It will pay to keep all options open because this is uncharted territory and it could pay to be a contrarian.
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,137


    Take 8 off LD and give it to UKIP. That's nearer the mark.

    LibDems - "go back to your constituencies and prepare for interment!"

  • Options
    dyedwooliedyedwoolie Posts: 7,786
    Anecdote
    My mother, who is not very interested in politics, announced today 'those liberals are finished aren't they?'
    Mohawhawhaw
  • Options
    Blair, rather like Clegg, is a mountebank that people have seen through. The result is that it is impossible to take either of them seriously, and when they enter public debate, they are rightly not just derided, but pitied. Despite his lack of principles, it looks as if Cameron will avoid a similar fate, if only because he is a less convincing seller of snake oil than Blair was thought to be until he went on crusade in the middle east...
  • Options
    SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    @volcanopete

    Just before the elections it was noted that the polls were "all over the place", I still reckon it will be a month before the fog clears.
  • Options
    corporealcorporeal Posts: 2,549

    Anecdote
    My mother, who is not very interested in politics, announced today 'those liberals are finished aren't they?'
    Mohawhawhaw

    I hope you informed her she was incorrect and launched into a detailed explanation of electoral history?
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,137



    Mr Crosby did clarify prior to the 30th of April to say he meant by May, he meant up to and including the 31st of May.

    Whereas another poster predicted there wouldn't be crossover before the general election.

    Should we send flowers or charity donations to mark our respects for Compouter?
  • Options
    GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,887
    edited May 2014
    BobaFett said:

    @SeanT makes a decent point. This forecast does not account for the Ukip effect.

    Also, I noted this morning that Rod got his forecast royally wrong on Sunday night, when some of us collected handsomely by ignoring him.

    He is often right, but he is far from infallible.

    You can't deny that there's a very clear pattern there, though, between mid term local election performance of the Opposition and what happens in the general election?

    Of course you can always make the argument that "this time will be different" (I did in the last Parliament for the Conservatives, based on the horror show that was Gordon Brown) but the pattern is clear.
  • Options
    SimonStClareSimonStClare Posts: 7,976
    It is broadly in accord with the Lebo and Norpoth PM approval model.

    Sorry for being thick, but what is 'lebo' pls?
  • Options
    dyedwooliedyedwoolie Posts: 7,786


    Take 8 off LD and give it to UKIP. That's nearer the mark.

    LibDems - "go back to your constituencies and prepare for interment!"

    They will be swallowed up by the rump Liberal party.
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    peterouldpeterould Posts: 11
    RodCrosby said:

    Smarmeron said:

    Thanks Rod
    Nice charts, but is the next election really going to be like all the others? I detect a slight difference, unless we can discard UKIP from the equation?

    UKIP are in the equation, to the extent that their performance over the recent several local elections has perhaps influenced the net NEV lead of the big two parties.

    Barring a cataclysmic re-alignment over the next 11 months, there will still be the two usual parties vying for government in 2015. UKIP will be also-rans, most likely with zero or a derisory number of seats.
    RodCrosby said:

    Smarmeron said:

    Thanks Rod
    Nice charts, but is the next election really going to be like all the others? I detect a slight difference, unless we can discard UKIP from the equation?

    UKIP are in the equation, to the extent that their performance over the recent several local elections has perhaps influenced the net NEV lead of the big two parties.

    Barring a cataclysmic re-alignment over the next 11 months, there will still be the two usual parties vying for government in 2015. UKIP will be also-rans, most likely with zero or a derisory number of seats.
    Rod - Have you got a full data set (all party shares for LE 1 yr prior to election etc). If so can you send it over? I could then build a slightly more detailed model to address the "what about the size of the other parties" issue.
  • Options
    EasterrossEasterross Posts: 1,915
    Afternoon all and nice article from Rod whose polling advice I rate highly following on from his hung parliament advice pre 2010.

    Will we see the agony for the LibDems continue at 4pm today with the release of the latest Ashcroft poll? Incidentally did we get any YouGov last night?
  • Options
    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    Thanks to Rod for this. That regression chart is really quite remarkable: R² of 0.95 - that means it's a pretty damned good fit of the data.

    Problem is that the 0.95 is driven by two data points (-2, -15) and (+13.5, +7) which means that excel can force a line where there is insufficient data
  • Options
    TCPoliticalBettingTCPoliticalBetting Posts: 10,819
    edited May 2014


    Mr Crosby did clarify prior to the 30th of April to say he meant by May, he meant up to and including the 31st of May.
    Whereas another poster predicted there wouldn't be crossover before the general election.

    Should we send flowers or charity donations to mark our respects for Compouter?
    There was also a Lib Dem poster on here who said my suggestion last year that the LDs would be reduced to 1 MEP was "a wet dream". Name with held to save embarrassment.
  • Options
    NextNext Posts: 826
    Sean_F said:

    SeanT said:

    MikeK said:

    FPT.

    SeanT said:
    » show previous quotes
    200,000-500,000 dead. 2 million refugees. ELEVEN years of carnage, still ongoing.

    Labour's War. Labour's Lies. Labour's Guilt. It is written in every word you say.
    -----------------------------
    The way to end Saddam Hussein's reign in Iraq was lost when Bush senior got cold feet at the end of the successful first gulf war. The Iraqi army was ready to surrender without a fight to General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr's forces, but President Bush vetoed the advance and the fighting ended. Whereupon Saddam carried out a purge of unreliable officers in his forces.

    Had Bush let the advance continue it would have saved a million lives, not least among US soldiers.

    Very probably true. Doesn't exonerate Blair or Bush Jr tho.

    What gets me is Blair's chutzpah, his pathological self-esteem. If he just did the decent thing, and crawled away to some monastery to do penance for the rest of his days - or even if he just retired to spend more time with his money, in some Tuscan villa, and totally Shut The F*ck Up - maybe, just maybe, we could forgive him - or at least forget him.

    But he persists in believing he is in some position to make moral observations, and, moreover, that anyone sane gives a crap when he lectures us on political ethics - or, God help us, Middle Eastern peace.

    I seriously wonder if he has a personality disorder.

    I think he still has an audience in the USA. But as you say, it's hard to think of any segment of British opinion that has the slightest interest in his proposed solutions to international problems ...
    I did think it would be rather amusing if, in his capacity as Middle Eastern peace envoy, he was kidnapped by Islamists, and we saw him popping up from time to time in videos, denouncing Western foreign policy.


    Not much of a kidnapping target, when they would have to pay us money to send him back...

  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,983
    I dont dislike EdM, but FFS stop calling the audience "friends".. it sounds so odd! No one talks like that do they?



  • Options
    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    SeanT said:

    MikeK said:

    FPT.

    SeanT said:
    » show previous quotes
    200,000-500,000 dead. 2 million refugees. ELEVEN years of carnage, still ongoing.

    Labour's War. Labour's Lies. Labour's Guilt. It is written in every word you say.
    -----------------------------
    The way to end Saddam Hussein's reign in Iraq was lost when Bush senior got cold feet at the end of the successful first gulf war. The Iraqi army was ready to surrender without a fight to General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr's forces, but President Bush vetoed the advance and the fighting ended. Whereupon Saddam carried out a purge of unreliable officers in his forces.

    Had Bush let the advance continue it would have saved a million lives, not least among US soldiers.

    Very probably true. Doesn't exonerate Blair or Bush Jr tho.

    What gets me is Blair's chutzpah, his pathological self-esteem. If he just did the decent thing, and crawled away to some monastery to do penance for the rest of his days - or even if he just retired to spend more time with his money, in some Tuscan villa, and totally Shut The F*ck Up - maybe, just maybe, we could forgive him - or at least forget him.

    But he persists in believing he is in some position to make moral observations, and, moreover, that anyone sane gives a crap when he lectures us on political ethics - or, God help us, Middle Eastern peace.

    I seriously wonder if he has a personality disorder.

    narcissitic personality disorder.

    Symptoms:

    1. Expects to be recognized as superior and special, without superior accomplishments CHECK
    2. Expects constant attention, admiration and positive reinforcement from others CHECK
    3. Envies others and believes others envy him/her CHECK
    4. Is preoccupied with thoughts and fantasies of great success, enormous attractiveness, power, intelligence CHECK
    5. Lacks the ability to empathize with the feelings or desires of others CHECK
    6. Is arrogant in attitudes and behavior CHECK
    7. Has expectations of special treatment that are unrealistic CHECK
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986


    Mr Crosby did clarify prior to the 30th of April to say he meant by May, he meant up to and including the 31st of May.
    Whereas another poster predicted there wouldn't be crossover before the general election.

    Should we send flowers or charity donations to mark our respects for Compouter?
    There was also a Lib Dem poster on here who said my suggestion last year that the LDs would be reduced to 1 MEP was "a wet dream". Name with held to save embarrassment.
    Mark Senior ?

    Where is he !
  • Options
    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    Ed's intellectual self confidence in full flow

    @jameskirkup: .@peterdominiczak asks @Ed_Miliband to sum up his leadership in one word. He replies: "One Nation." #OneNationTwoWords
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    SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    @Charles

    Why have you just described SeanT.... to a "T"?
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,983
    edited May 2014
    This is from three years ago.. Ed had the right idea, how has he managed to lose votes to UKIP when he was bigging this up?

    "Jonathan Rutherford, one of the central Blue Labour thinkers, warns: "Labour must now have a reckoning with itself. It stopped valuing settled ways of life. It did not speak about an identification and pleasure in local place and belonging.

    "It said nothing about the desire for home and rootedness, nor did it defend the continuity of relationships at work and in neighbourhoods. It abandoned people to a volatile market in the name of a spurious entrepreneurialism".

    He also warns Miliband against becoming associated with a progressive liberal class, at the expense of a wider group in society. "In England's larger cities, and particularly among the educated elite, economic modernisation has led to an affirmation of racial and cultural difference, and a celebration of novel experience and the expanding of individual choice."

    But he says across the country a more conservative culture holds sway which values identity and belonging in the local and the familiar. Economic modernisation, "the new", and difference, are often viewed more sceptically, and as potential threats to social stability and the continuity of community, he writes."

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/may/17/ed-miliband-endorses-blue-labour-thinking
  • Options
    EasterrossEasterross Posts: 1,915

    ToryJim said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Thanks Rod.

    On your graph it does look as though Ed Milliband is the most ineffective LOTO for Labour since Michael Foot, LOL.

    The writings on the wall for Labour and has been for some time.

    Still think it's going to be Conservatives most votes and seats, but if Labour does lose by 8.4% next year it will surely end up in a Conservative majority.

    I just whacked some figures into electoral calculus of con 39 lab 31 ld 18 and UKIP 5.5 which gave seats of 327:262:33:0 for a majority of 4.
    Take 8 off LD and give it to UKIP. That's nearer the mark.
    My GE2015 expectation is
    Tory 38
    Labour 32
    LibDem 15
    UKIP 10

    but realise it could be a swap between LibDem and UKIP. If Ed keeps trying hard to show his superior intellect we could see Labour go sub 29.
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,137
    If there isn't a return of voters from UKIP to both Labour and the Tories for the GE next May, then we really are in weird territory. How UKIP handles the precipitous decline from the 2014 locals/Euros and ensuing "busted flush" media commentary will be instructive.

    The real story of the next election though will be the asymmetric nature of that return. I fully expect far more former Tories to return than former Labour voters - entirely down to the "Ed is Crap" effect. Former Tories will be (anecdotally - are) terrified of the possibility of Prime Minister Ed Miliband.

    And to be honest, so are many Labour folk. Those former Labour voters with grave misgivings have a couple of comfortable new homes to choose from - UKIP or the Can't Be Arsed Party.

    Gut feeling is that Rod is very close to the result next May. We still have 4 more quarters of growth to report. Employment will be way above the dire predictions of the Left - and will probably show drastic reductions, constituency by constituency (a very useful tool for Tory candidates). The Cost of Living Crisis will still have some pull for Labour, but be much reduced in potency - and will probably be looking pretty stale by the time it is trotted out yet again. Plus we have a very political Chancellor in a position to offer some very politically tasty candy to the voters.
  • Options
    RodCrosbyRodCrosby Posts: 7,737
    isam said:

    I dont dislike EdM, but FFS stop calling the audience "friends".. it sounds so odd! No one talks like that do they?

    Hughie Green did..
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,137
    RodCrosby said:

    isam said:

    I dont dislike EdM, but FFS stop calling the audience "friends".. it sounds so odd! No one talks like that do they?

    Hughie Green did..
    But he meant it most sincerely folks....
  • Options
    ToryJimToryJim Posts: 3,449

    ToryJim said:

    GIN1138 said:

    Thanks Rod.

    On your graph it does look as though Ed Milliband is the most ineffective LOTO for Labour since Michael Foot, LOL.

    The writings on the wall for Labour and has been for some time.

    Still think it's going to be Conservatives most votes and seats, but if Labour does lose by 8.4% next year it will surely end up in a Conservative majority.

    I just whacked some figures into electoral calculus of con 39 lab 31 ld 18 and UKIP 5.5 which gave seats of 327:262:33:0 for a majority of 4.
    Take 8 off LD and give it to UKIP. That's nearer the mark.
    My GE2015 expectation is
    Tory 38
    Labour 32
    LibDem 15
    UKIP 10

    but realise it could be a swap between LibDem and UKIP. If Ed keeps trying hard to show his superior intellect we could see Labour go sub 29.
    I think it's going to be fascinating. I wonder if all the uncertainty will edge up turnout.
  • Options
    corporealcorporeal Posts: 2,549
    edited May 2014
    SeanT said:

    Blair, rather like Clegg, is a mountebank that people have seen through. The result is that it is impossible to take either of them seriously, and when they enter public debate, they are rightly not just derided, but pitied. Despite his lack of principles, it looks as if Cameron will avoid a similar fate, if only because he is a less convincing seller of snake oil than Blair was thought to be until he went on crusade in the middle east...

    A trifle unfair on Clegg. He was always a lightweight. A lightweight leader of a lightweight party that only got into power by accident, and who have now, not unsurprisingly, been exposed as lightweights.

    That doesn't make him a charlatan on the same scale as Blair. Clegg was a weasel on tuition fees and a poltroon on EU referendums, but he never decided to attack another country on a lie, causing death and disaster for millions.

    Blair will go down in history - but for the wrong reasons. Clegg will be swiftly forgotten the Friday after he retires.

    Lol (at both SeanT and LiaMT)
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    SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    @MarqueeMark

    I would like to know why Dave and George "raised the Titanic" then rebuilt it exactly the same, but without any lifeboats this time, and set sail to break the Atlantic crossing record.
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    NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,359

    Essentially in past Parliaments the Opposition picked up a lot of floating votes which then in whole or in part floated back. This time, the Opposition hasn't picked up much (partly because of UKIP), but equally there isn't much to float back. Rod's case depends assuming that people who have been persistently Labour since 2011 would now suddenly vote Tory or LibDem. Looking at the past doesn't give a basis for that.

    The polls and the Euros and the local elections are all pointing to the same modest Labour lead over the Tories. Cameron's hopes really hinge on differential swingback from UKIP.

    You're forgetting the red liberals Labour have picked up from the government. Eds hopes hinge on them not drifting back, too.
    No, that's the voters I was talking about who have been steadily Labour since 2011. Do you think a sudden LibDem revival is likely? As I've said for at least a year, I'm more confident of these than I am of habitual Labour voters (some of whom have indeed since drifted off to UKIP).

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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,916
    Jim Allister has just been eliminated from the Euro count.

    That leaves Diane Dodds on143,000, Alex Attwood on 112,000, and Jim Nicholson on 99,000.

    With Allister's 86,000 votes to transfer, Dodds and Nicholson will get elected easily.
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