Dan Hodges @DPJHodges 47s48 seconds ago No major screw ups from Ed. But the medium is the message. And the message I got is "Ed Miliband likes sitting opposite ranting lunatics".
Disappointing, was expecting a better Ed is Crap rant from DH
Dan Hodges @DPJHodges 1m1 minute ago Independent on Ed/Brand: "The interview with Russell Brand that could well win Ed Miliband the General Election". Actual headline. No spoof.
SLAB was already taking on water before Murphy turned up. 2011 Scottish Elections was the first major sign - all the polls said the SNP would be out of office. In fact, they got a majority. Labour's election campaign just collapsed and was unable to keep up with the rising SNP popularity.
The polling for 2011 turned on the debates. The debates turned a Lab Minority into a SNP majority. That's why so much was pinned on the IndyRef debates and why it was such a disaster for Yes when Salmond had a stinker in the first.
And God it's boring. It will shift not a single vote, for or against. I expect most of his viewers will turn it off after 3 minutes.
Tho if I was a tabloid journo I'd be jumping on the chat about "inequality". Two kitchens Miliband talks in Russell Brand's two million pound house about poor people who don't, like Miliband's wife, earn £200,000 a year.
If only Miliband talked about inequality; no, he talks "inequali'ee", "national 'ealth", says Brand is "to'ally wrong", asks if he accepts his "fundamen'al point" .. I can't watch any more or I might punch my screen
Ed's lapse into ultra-Estuary is just weird. By the end he's using more glottal stops than Brand. Gorblimey luvaduck Russ, ya facking muppet.
And God it's boring. It will shift not a single vote, for or against. I expect most of his viewers will turn it off after 3 minutes.
Tho if I was a tabloid journo I'd be jumping on the chat about "inequality". Two kitchens Miliband talks in Russell Brand's two million pound house about poor people who don't, like Miliband's wife, earn £200,000 a year.
If only Miliband talked about inequality; no, he talks "inequali'ee", "national 'ealth", says Brand is "to'ally wrong", asks if he accepts his "fundamen'al point" .. I can't watch any more or I might punch my screen
Ed's lapse into ultra-Estuary is just weird. By the end he's using more glottal stops than Brand. Gorblimey luvaduck Russ, ya facking muppet.
It can happen very easily when you come from a fairly accentless place like Coventry !
it would be hilarious if Labour lost all its Scottish seats and the Tories managed to get 1 - 2 seats. Just imagine the Tories outnumbering Labour in Scotland, that would have seemed like a pipe dream 12 months ago
Be careful what you wish for. If the SNP won every seat in Scotland how would Milliband OR Cameron be able to ignore such an overwhelming mandate while still making the pro-union argument?
Listened to Brand. Is he proposing 20% VAT on books? He seems to suggest that because the basic rate of IT is 20% Amazon should be paying 20% on its 4 billion turnover in the UK.Why did Miliband let him get away with this drivel?
And God it's boring. It will shift not a single vote, for or against. I expect most of his viewers will turn it off after 3 minutes.
Tho if I was a tabloid journo I'd be jumping on the chat about "inequality". Two kitchens Miliband talks in Russell Brand's two million pound house about poor people who don't, like Miliband's wife, earn £200,000 a year.
If only Miliband talked about inequality; no, he talks "inequali'ee", "national 'ealth", says Brand is "to'ally wrong", asks if he accepts his "fundamen'al point" .. I can't watch any more or I might punch my screen
Worth recalling the massive SNP surge and Labour collapse shown in the opinion polls for Holyrood 2011. Then, as now, lots of people couldn't believe it, and thought that on the day Labour would do better than the polls were predicting.
It didn't work out like that. In fact if anything Labour did slightly worse than most polls were showing:
I think this was SLAB's biggest failure - they lost half of their support in 2011 and didn't even notice. The "MSM/Westminster elite" appointment of Jim Murphy just added fuel to the fire, as was flagged by many of us Scots on the site.
And God it's boring. It will shift not a single vote, for or against. I expect most of his viewers will turn it off after 3 minutes.
Tho if I was a tabloid journo I'd be jumping on the chat about "inequality". Two kitchens Miliband talks in Russell Brand's two million pound house about poor people who don't, like Miliband's wife, earn £200,000 a year.
If only Miliband talked about inequality; no, he talks "inequali'ee", "national 'ealth", says Brand is "to'ally wrong", asks if he accepts his "fundamen'al point" .. I can't watch any more or I might punch my screen
Some regional accents are more equal than others
We're not sneering at the accent (tho, let's face it, like Strine or Brum or South African, it's not the nicest English accent), we're sneering at the way Miliband lapses into it so speedily and comically. It's almost surreal. He doesn't talk like that normally. Just weird.
I'd walk out of a room if Brand walked in and started talking so wont be watching it, and agree that the Essex accent isn't the nicest sounding, I am quite conscious of it myself!
But I think Ed often fails to pronounce t's in the way described, so may not be total apeing of Brand
Worth recalling the massive SNP surge and Labour collapse shown in the opinion polls for Holyrood 2011. Then, as now, lots of people couldn't believe it, and thought that on the day Labour would do better than the polls were predicting.
It didn't work out like that. In fact if anything Labour did slightly worse than most polls were showing:
I think this was SLAB's biggest failure - they lost half of their support in 2011 and didn't even notice. The "MSM/Westminster elite" appointment of Jim Murphy just added fuel to the fire, as was flagged by many of us Scots on the site.
I was taught by our very keen pre-history teacher about cubits and hands and all things unmetric.
It's so wonderfully colourful. I hate metric bar millimetres which are great for tiny things in DIY or centilitres for chemistry calculations - otherwise, I'm all Imperial and mentally turn everything metric back into Imperial to get a visual feel for it.
Miss Plato, a few days ago I explained the pre-decimal system of currency we had to an American (he'd read something about Thatcher looking forward to decimalisation), and his gast was utterly flabbered by it.
I rather like the bonkers old systems. There's something soulless about the metric system.
Unfortunately there appears to be at least one mistake. The nautic[al] mile is defined both as 6080 and 6000 (10*100*2*3) feet.
It's been a very 'variable' unit through its history. Now standardised to about 6076 feet (1852m exactly).
One learns something every day on PB! It was originally 1 minute of arc (1/60 of a degree). I always used 6080' in aviation context when on the ground, or 6k' when in the air and didn't care if I was 1.2% out! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_mile
Dan Hodges @DPJHodges 1m1 minute ago Independent on Ed/Brand: "The interview with Russell Brand that could well win Ed Miliband the General Election". Actual headline. No spoof.
Mr. Fernando, because Miliband doesn't know the difference between profit and turnover? Because he lacks the courage to interrupt an idiot peddling nonsense? Because he agrees?
I was taught by our very keen pre-history teacher about cubits and hands and all things unmetric.
It's so wonderfully colourful. I hate metric bar millimetres which are great for tiny things in DIY or centilitres for chemistry calculations - otherwise, I'm all Imperial and mentally turn everything metric back into Imperial to get a visual feel for it.
Miss Plato, a few days ago I explained the pre-decimal system of currency we had to an American (he'd read something about Thatcher looking forward to decimalisation), and his gast was utterly flabbered by it.
I rather like the bonkers old systems. There's something soulless about the metric system.
Maybe it's my interest in WW1 and WW2 battleships as a teen, but I know without Googling that 12 inches is 305 mm (eg. main guns on HMS Dreadnought), 13.5 inches is 343 mm (eg. HMS Iron Duke), 14 inches is 356 mm (eg. HMS Canada), 15 inches is 381 mm (eg. HMS Hood), 16 inches is 406 mm (eg. HMS Nelson) and 18 inches is 457 mm (eg. Japan's Yamato).
Why I wonder would the non imperial (small 'i') Japanese make guns that were 457mm calibre? Why not 450 or 460. Why would the Germans use an 88mm gun, whilst the US Pershing tank had a 90mm one.
And God it's boring. It will shift not a single vote, for or against. I expect most of his viewers will turn it off after 3 minutes.
Tho if I was a tabloid journo I'd be jumping on the chat about "inequality". Two kitchens Miliband talks in Russell Brand's two million pound house about poor people who don't, like Miliband's wife, earn £200,000 a year.
If only Miliband talked about inequality; no, he talks "inequali'ee", "national 'ealth", says Brand is "to'ally wrong", asks if he accepts his "fundamen'al point" .. I can't watch any more or I might punch my screen
It occurs to me that rather than my earlier suggestion of a new Scottish Unionist party, surely the bolt is now shot, and actually what is needed if one wishes to counter the SNP up is a Scottish Federalist Party, in favour of Devo Max and the preservation of the UK - centre right, SNP-lite. Easy to have sister parties in Wales, NI and England too. Broadly centrist, centre right with a focus on the working men and women of the UK. Destroy all the Westminster ducks.
I cannot believe that all parties except the SNP would be wiped out in Scotland, it just does not seem possible. On the other hand it would make a memorable election night.
I was taught by our very keen pre-history teacher about cubits and hands and all things unmetric.
It's so wonderfully colourful. I hate metric bar millimetres which are great for tiny things in DIY or centilitres for chemistry calculations - otherwise, I'm all Imperial and mentally turn everything metric back into Imperial to get a visual feel for it.
Miss Plato, a few days ago I explained the pre-decimal system of currency we had to an American (he'd read something about Thatcher looking forward to decimalisation), and his gast was utterly flabbered by it.
I rather like the bonkers old systems. There's something soulless about the metric system.
Maybe it's my interest in WW1 and WW2 battleships as a teen, but I know without Googling that 12 inches is 305 mm (eg. main guns on HMS Dreadnought), 13.5 inches is 343 mm (eg. HMS Iron Duke), 14 inches is 356 mm (eg. HMS Canada), 15 inches is 381 mm (eg. HMS Hood), 16 inches is 406 mm (eg. HMS Nelson) and 18 inches is 457 mm (eg. Japan's Yamato).
Why I wonder would the non imperial (small 'i') Japanese make guns that were 457mm calibre? Why not 450 or 460. Why would the Germans use an 88mm gun, whilst the US Pershing tank had a 90mm one.
As was pointed out on the utterly brilliant 'Ballot Monkeys' last night, even if Brand had come out and told all his supporters - that he had previously told not to vote - to now vote Labour, the chances are they wouldn't be able to because Miliband was so stupid he waited until after the last registration date had passed before he made an approach to Brand.
So far today Miliband is crap, dangerous, loony, unconstitutional, patronising, stupid, mad.
I will add underestimated as 35% appear willing to vote for him and EICIPM is still favourite according to Betfair and Kelner
If you seriously think Labour are going to poll 35%, then please tell me where you get your seriously strong mind bending drugs from, cos I would like to try.
I cannot believe that all parties except the SNP would be wiped out in Scotland, it just does not seem possible. On the other hand it would make a memorable election night.
I've never believed that the SNP is going to do quite as well as the polls suggest. I can well see canny Scots telling pollsters they'll vote SNP even though they have no intentions of so doing.
But on these sort of numbers, clearly swathes of Labour and LD seats will fall.
And of course, that's as much a disaster for Dave as it is Ed, because he needs LD seats to either go Tory or stay LD if he wants to re-boot the Coalition - his only chance of survival realistically. Seeing them go Labour or SNP is a disaster for him.
What the STV reporting might do is stiffen unionist resolve and encourage more tactical voting.
With Labour on 20% it is unclear in places like Ayr if the correct tactical choice even is Labour !
They'll be hopeful in Edinburgh West too. The borders all have 2 unionist challengers, except DCT and they'll be expecting to come second now in Murphy's seat. This poll makes Tactical voting less likely than before imo.
I've never believed that the SNP is going to do quite as well as the polls suggest. I can well see canny Scots telling pollsters they'll vote SNP even though they have no intentions of so doing.
But on these sort of numbers, clearly swathes of Labour and LD seats will fall.
And of course, that's as much a disaster for Dave as it is Ed, because he needs LD seats to either go Tory or stay LD if he wants to re-boot the Coalition - his only chance of survival realistically. Seeing them go Labour or SNP is a disaster for him.
What the STV reporting might do is stiffen unionist resolve and encourage more tactical voting.
God you are ridiculous. Labour are losing 41 seats and their heartland, the birthplace of the party, probably forever - and to a party that hates them, and wants them dead, in Scotland.
Tories are losing 1 seat, or gaining 1, who knows. But an entirely different party, whose Coalition with the Tories is over, will lose 10 seats.
Yet this is "as much as a disaster for Dave as it is Ed".
Don't be a cretin. Scotland IS a disaster for Labour. A catastrophe. The End. It is just a new situation for David, possibly relevant and irritating, quite possibly not.
The tory vote has held up well considering, and really if you are a unionist and not stupidly left wing you should vote tory not labour.
I cannot believe that all parties except the SNP would be wiped out in Scotland, it just does not seem possible. On the other hand it would make a memorable election night.
I was taught by our very keen pre-history teacher about cubits and hands and all things unmetric.
It's so wonderfully colourful. I hate metric bar millimetres which are great for tiny things in DIY or centilitres for chemistry calculations - otherwise, I'm all Imperial and mentally turn everything metric back into Imperial to get a visual feel for it.
Miss Plato, a few days ago I explained the pre-decimal system of currency we had to an American (he'd read something about Thatcher looking forward to decimalisation), and his gast was utterly flabbered by it.
I rather like the bonkers old systems. There's something soulless about the metric system.
Maybe it's my interest in WW1 and WW2 battleships as a teen, but I know without Googling that 12 inches is 305 mm (eg. main guns on HMS Dreadnought), 13.5 inches is 343 mm (eg. HMS Iron Duke), 14 inches is 356 mm (eg. HMS Canada), 15 inches is 381 mm (eg. HMS Hood), 16 inches is 406 mm (eg. HMS Nelson) and 18 inches is 457 mm (eg. Japan's Yamato).
Why I wonder would the non imperial (small 'i') Japanese make guns that were 457mm calibre? Why not 450 or 460. Why would the Germans use an 88mm gun, whilst the US Pershing tank had a 90mm one.
I think a lot of the Japanese Imperial Navy was constructed on Tyneside in the late 1800s. All six Japanese battleships in the Russo-Japanese war were British built, including the Mikasa, which is now a museum ship:
Ed's from London, which has elements of the Essex accent inherently in it (Bear with me on this)...
As being from Coventry when I went to Birmingham I could often pick up a Brummy twang as the Coventry accent (Which is barely an accent I reckon) is like a homeopathically diluted Birmingham one.
It can happen when your own accent isn't particularly strong.
As was pointed out on the utterly brilliant 'Ballot Monkeys' last night, even if Brand had come out and told all his supporters - that he had previously told not to vote - to now vote Labour, the chances are they wouldn't be able to because Miliband was so stupid he waited until after the last registration date had passed before he made an approach to Brand.
So far today Miliband is crap, dangerous, loony, unconstitutional, patronising, stupid, mad.
I will add underestimated as 35% appear willing to vote for him and EICIPM is still favourite according to Betfair and Kelner
If you seriously think Labour are going to poll 35%, then please tell me where you get your seriously strong mind bending drugs from, cos I would like to try.
As was pointed out on the utterly brilliant 'Ballot Monkeys' last night, even if Brand had come out and told all his supporters - that he had previously told not to vote - to now vote Labour, the chances are they wouldn't be able to because Miliband was so stupid he waited until after the last registration date had passed before he made an approach to Brand.
So far today Miliband is crap, dangerous, loony, unconstitutional, patronising, stupid, mad.
I will add underestimated as 35% appear willing to vote for him and EICIPM is still favourite according to Betfair and Kelner
If you seriously think Labour are going to poll 35%, then please tell me where you get your seriously strong mind bending drugs from, cos I would like to try.
Er, YouGov had Labour on 35%, last night.
YouGov - say no more.
Any money anyone likes at Evens that they poll less than 35%
Come on lefties, put your money where your mouth is.
Salmond must really be regretting resigning too quickly.
No. His resignation was one of the most politically brilliant tactical moves ever. He has passed the baton to Sturgeon who is reaching the voters that Salmond couldn't.
I was taught by our very keen pre-history teacher about cubits and hands and all things unmetric.
It's so wonderfully colourful. I hate metric bar millimetres which are great for tiny things in DIY or centilitres for chemistry calculations - otherwise, I'm all Imperial and mentally turn everything metric back into Imperial to get a visual feel for it.
Miss Plato, a few days ago I explained the pre-decimal system of currency we had to an American (he'd read something about Thatcher looking forward to decimalisation), and his gast was utterly flabbered by it.
I rather like the bonkers old systems. There's something soulless about the metric system.
Maybe it's my interest in WW1 and WW2 battleships as a teen, but I know without Googling that 12 inches is 305 mm (eg. main guns on HMS Dreadnought), 13.5 inches is 343 mm (eg. HMS Iron Duke), 14 inches is 356 mm (eg. HMS Canada), 15 inches is 381 mm (eg. HMS Hood), 16 inches is 406 mm (eg. HMS Nelson) and 18 inches is 457 mm (eg. Japan's Yamato).
Nitpick. Yamato had 18.1" guns, of 46cm calibre.
Did you know there were two different 13.5" guns each throwing a shell of different weight?
I was taught by our very keen pre-history teacher about cubits and hands and all things unmetric.
It's so wonderfully colourful. I hate metric bar millimetres which are great for tiny things in DIY or centilitres for chemistry calculations - otherwise, I'm all Imperial and mentally turn everything metric back into Imperial to get a visual feel for it.
Miss Plato, a few days ago I explained the pre-decimal system of currency we had to an American (he'd read something about Thatcher looking forward to decimalisation), and his gast was utterly flabbered by it.
I rather like the bonkers old systems. There's something soulless about the metric system.
Maybe it's my interest in WW1 and WW2 battleships as a teen, but I know without Googling that 12 inches is 305 mm (eg. main guns on HMS Dreadnought), 13.5 inches is 343 mm (eg. HMS Iron Duke), 14 inches is 356 mm (eg. HMS Canada), 15 inches is 381 mm (eg. HMS Hood), 16 inches is 406 mm (eg. HMS Nelson) and 18 inches is 457 mm (eg. Japan's Yamato).
Why I wonder would the non imperial (small 'i') Japanese make guns that were 457mm calibre? Why not 450 or 460. Why would the Germans use an 88mm gun, whilst the US Pershing tank had a 90mm one.
I was taught by our very keen pre-history teacher about cubits and hands and all things unmetric.
It's so wonderfully colourful. I hate metric bar millimetres which are great for tiny things in DIY or centilitres for chemistry calculations - otherwise, I'm all Imperial and mentally turn everything metric back into Imperial to get a visual feel for it.
I rather like the bonkers old systems. There's something soulless about the metric system.
Maybe it's my interest in WW1 and WW2 battleships as a teen, but I know without Googling that 12 inches is 305 mm (eg. main guns on HMS Dreadnought), 13.5 inches is 343 mm (eg. HMS Iron Duke), 14 inches is 356 mm (eg. HMS Canada), 15 inches is 381 mm (eg. HMS Hood), 16 inches is 406 mm (eg. HMS Nelson) and 18 inches is 457 mm (eg. Japan's Yamato).
Why I wonder would the non imperial (small 'i') Japanese make guns that were 457mm calibre? Why not 450 or 460. Why would the Germans use an 88mm gun, whilst the US Pershing tank had a 90mm one.
90mm is three and a half inches.
The Japanese navy was heavily UK/US influenced.
Indeed, the IJN specified speeds for all of its aircraft in knots.
How is that ALL the public funding of political parties goes to Labour? Any wonks out there who can explain?
Short Money (named after Edward Short) is allocated to opposition parties to help them - it is based on the number of votes and the number of seats IIRC. Labour of course have rather a lot of them both.
The lib dems were annoyed to find out that as being in coalition they lost their short money.
Most of the ardent Unionists I know are anything but shy. If you take a look at the "United Against Separatism" facebook page you will see that the posters here are not shy. Before reading the comments, brace yourself if you're of a nervous disposition !!
I think the MSM's assumption that the 55% who voted NO are all Unionists is flawed. I would put the % of Unionists at around 20%, this includes a reasonable % of Tories, Kippers and Loyalists.
I cannot believe that all parties except the SNP would be wiped out in Scotland, it just does not seem possible. On the other hand it would make a memorable election night.
If you live by FPTP, you can die by FPTP.
And you consider this a bad thing?
I think a system that grotesquely inflates the largest faction, and leaves all other voters unrepresented (as in the Scottish forecast) is bad. It doesn't just happen in Scotland either. All round the country the dominant faction tends to sweep all the seats under FPTP.
I made it to 1:03 before I had to stop viewing. Can anyone top that?
Managed to watch about 30 secs at a time for 4-5 mins.. I instinctively reach for fast fwd button when Brand talks on any show...
Ed speaks exactly the same as always does for the most part, like a posh-ish bunged up Londoner,.. I was about to say he doesn't do any fawning affectations at all, but he did throw in a couple of "aint"s towards the end which may have been soley because of who he was talking to
I don't think it will do him an iota of harm, and possibly quite a lot of good
And God it's boring. It will shift not a single vote, for or against. I expect most of his viewers will turn it off after 3 minutes.
Tho if I was a tabloid journo I'd be jumping on the chat about "inequality". Two kitchens Miliband talks in Russell Brand's two million pound house about poor people who don't, like Miliband's wife, earn £200,000 a year.
If only Miliband talked about inequality; no, he talks "inequali'ee", "national 'ealth", says Brand is "to'ally wrong", asks if he accepts his "fundamen'al point" .. I can't watch any more or I might punch my screen
Some regional accents are more equal than others
We're not sneering at the accent (tho, let's face it, like Strine or Brum or South African, it's not the nicest English accent), we're sneering at the way Miliband lapses into it so speedily and comically. It's almost surreal. He doesn't talk like that normally. Just weird.
I never watch TV so I have no idea what Miliband normally sounds like, but when he goes to Jewish areas, does he say things like "My life already, an election so soon", and when he goes to Scotland does he glue his teeth together and pull faces while talking?
Or is it only the southern working class he patronises in this way?
As was pointed out on the utterly brilliant 'Ballot Monkeys' last night, even if Brand had come out and told all his supporters - that he had previously told not to vote - to now vote Labour, the chances are they wouldn't be able to because Miliband was so stupid he waited until after the last registration date had passed before he made an approach to Brand.
So far today Miliband is crap, dangerous, loony, unconstitutional, patronising, stupid, mad.
I will add underestimated as 35% appear willing to vote for him and EICIPM is still favourite according to Betfair and Kelner
If you seriously think Labour are going to poll 35%, then please tell me where you get your seriously strong mind bending drugs from, cos I would like to try.
Er, YouGov had Labour on 35%, last night.
Do you have faith that YouGov are right?
Part-ELBOW for YouGov-only so far this week: 0.9% Lab lead Part-ELBOW for non-YouGovs so far this week: 0.6% Con lead (official part-ELBOW = 0.4% Lab lead)
Russell Brand might be a prat, but there's no denying that more people in their 20s are going to be more open to watching a video that involves him than any "typical" politics broadcast or interview. it's a good move from Ed.
Listened to Brand. Is he proposing 20% VAT on books? He seems to suggest that because the basic rate of IT is 20% Amazon should be paying 20% on its 4 billion turnover in the UK.Why did Miliband let him get away with this drivel?
Because it's not in Milliband's interest to correct him.
OT. Anecdote. A man came up to me in a cafe this morning and in broken English asked 'if I thought we could do it?'
I looked at him perplexed and noticed him pointing to my Shelter badge which he'd mistaken for the Red of Labour. He clearly wanted to talk and told me he had a doctorate in politics.
This has to be Andrea I thought! (It wasn't). Twenty minutes later I had learnt that UKIP was popular in Italy and they had their own version which was modeled on ours and that he was amazed I thought the Tories had a good chance.
His precis of the British Tories was the best I've heard and I did wonder how an Italian could show so much wit and passion and not sound like a rabid Stretford Ender which is too often how an energized English person sounds.
Jim Murphy’s performance as Labour leader in Scotland has failed to impress voters in its working-class heartland, according to participants in the third of the Financial Times’ pre-election focus groups.
None of them said they were pleased with Mr Murphy, on whom Labour has pinned its hopes of a renaissance in Scotland.
“He is very rightwing for a Labour leader,” said Craig Johnstone, a call-centre manager planning to vote for the Scottish National party in next month’s general election. Mr Johnstone’s comments suggested the SNP’s attempts to highlight Mr Murphy’s background on the Blairite wing of the party are having an impact.
Others said Mr Murphy’s style of delivery might be failing to engender confidence. “He looks like a bag of nerves now,” said Natalie Dines, a former Labour voter now thinking of moving to the Conservatives.
One risk for Mr Murphy appears to be his association with the party in Westminster; he served in a number of front-bench positions in the last Labour government. Tommy Fulton, another Labour voter, said: “His appointment has put me off voting Labour . . . he has just come up from London.”
So someone accusses of him of being too right-wing, while another intends to switch from Lab to Con....
it would be hilarious if Labour lost all its Scottish seats and the Tories managed to get 1 - 2 seats. Just imagine the Tories outnumbering Labour in Scotland, that would have seemed like a pipe dream 12 months ago
Is Gordon Brown still into launching mobiles around the place?
Could be a bit of a mess in his sitting room in the early hours of the 8th...
OT. Anecdote. A man came up to me in a cafe this morning and in broken English asked 'if I thought we could do it?'
I looked at him perplexed and noticed him pointing to my Shelter badge which he'd mistaken for the Red of Labour. He clearly wanted to talk and told me he had a doctorate in politics.
This has to be Andrea I thought! (It wasn't). Twenty minutes later I had learnt that UKIP was popular in Italy and they had their own version which was modeled on ours and Farathat he was amazed that I thought the Tories had a good chance.
His precis of the British Tories was the best I've heard and I did wonder how an Italian could show so much wit and passion and not sound like a rabid Stretford Ender which is too often how an energized English person sounds.
Did he regard Beppe Grillo's "Five Stars" as their equivalent of UKIP?
As was pointed out on the utterly brilliant 'Ballot Monkeys' last night, even if Brand had come out and told all his supporters - that he had previously told not to vote - to now vote Labour, the chances are they wouldn't be able to because Miliband was so stupid he waited until after the last registration date had passed before he made an approach to Brand.
So far today Miliband is crap, dangerous, loony, unconstitutional, patronising, stupid, mad.
I will add underestimated as 35% appear willing to vote for him and EICIPM is still favourite according to Betfair and Kelner
If you seriously think Labour are going to poll 35%, then please tell me where you get your seriously strong mind bending drugs from, cos I would like to try.
Er, YouGov had Labour on 35%, last night.
YouGov - say no more.
Any money anyone likes at Evens that they poll less than 35%
Come on lefties, put your money where your mouth is.
As expected, I haven't exactly been trampled in the stampede. Labour voters like their leader - all bluff and bluster
Jim Murphy’s performance as Labour leader in Scotland has failed to impress voters in its working-class heartland, according to participants in the third of the Financial Times’ pre-election focus groups.
None of them said they were pleased with Mr Murphy, on whom Labour has pinned its hopes of a renaissance in Scotland.
“He is very rightwing for a Labour leader,” said Craig Johnstone, a call-centre manager planning to vote for the Scottish National party in next month’s general election. Mr Johnstone’s comments suggested the SNP’s attempts to highlight Mr Murphy’s background on the Blairite wing of the party are having an impact.
Others said Mr Murphy’s style of delivery might be failing to engender confidence. “He looks like a bag of nerves now,” said Natalie Dines, a former Labour voter now thinking of moving to the Conservatives.
One risk for Mr Murphy appears to be his association with the party in Westminster; he served in a number of front-bench positions in the last Labour government. Tommy Fulton, another Labour voter, said: “His appointment has put me off voting Labour . . . he has just come up from London.”
So someone accusses of him of being too right-wing, while another intends to switch from Lab to Con....
it would be hilarious if Labour lost all its Scottish seats and the Tories managed to get 1 - 2 seats. Just imagine the Tories outnumbering Labour in Scotland, that would have seemed like a pipe dream 12 months ago
Is Gordon Brown still into launching mobiles around the place?
Could be a bit of a mess in his sitting room in the early hours of the 8th...
As was pointed out on the utterly brilliant 'Ballot Monkeys' last night, even if Brand had come out and told all his supporters - that he had previously told not to vote - to now vote Labour, the chances are they wouldn't be able to because Miliband was so stupid he waited until after the last registration date had passed before he made an approach to Brand.
So far today Miliband is crap, dangerous, loony, unconstitutional, patronising, stupid, mad.
I will add underestimated as 35% appear willing to vote for him and EICIPM is still favourite according to Betfair and Kelner
If you seriously think Labour are going to poll 35%, then please tell me where you get your seriously strong mind bending drugs from, cos I would like to try.
Er, YouGov had Labour on 35%, last night.
YouGov - say no more.
Any money anyone likes at Evens that they poll less than 35%
Come on lefties, put your money where your mouth is.
As expected, I haven't exactly been trampled in the stampede. Labour voters like their leader - all bluff and bluster
What bluster? Most of us are even more pessimistic about Labour's chances than the PBTories are.
The Tories may wish to do more to remind people that the sainted Nicola isn't actually standing for Westminster as many voters in England seem unaware of this. On phoning my usually politically astute centrist friend just now he was being quite complementary about her influence next parliament until I pointed out Salmond rather than Sturgeon would probably be in charge of the Westminster SNP contingent (he didn't realise she was only an MSP) and would be the one making an informal arrangement with Ed as PM. Immediately his attitude completely changed and he was predicting disaster and mayhem and agreed this was an all round bad thing.
As was pointed out on the utterly brilliant 'Ballot Monkeys' last night, even if Brand had come out and told all his supporters - that he had previously told not to vote - to now vote Labour, the chances are they wouldn't be able to because Miliband was so stupid he waited until after the last registration date had passed before he made an approach to Brand.
So far today Miliband is crap, dangerous, loony, unconstitutional, patronising, stupid, mad.
I will add underestimated as 35% appear willing to vote for him and EICIPM is still favourite according to Betfair and Kelner
If you seriously think Labour are going to poll 35%, then please tell me where you get your seriously strong mind bending drugs from, cos I would like to try.
Er, YouGov had Labour on 35%, last night.
YouGov - say no more.
Any money anyone likes at Evens that they poll less than 35%
Come on lefties, put your money where your mouth is.
As expected, I haven't exactly been trampled in the stampede. Labour voters like their leader - all bluff and bluster
What bluster? Most of us are even more pessimistic about Labour's chances than the PBTories are.
I was referring specifically to BJO, who, judging by his posts, seems to think the 35% is "in the bank"
Ukip sources pouring significant amounts of cold water from a great height on this afternoon's Ashcroft polling.
Kippers 3rd in S.Thanet?
I just hope we don't see the idiocy of comparing it with the Survation poll
I noticed on Betfair the UKIP price drifted and Labour price came in massively before his last marginal polling so clearly a few people were in the know. For Thanet Tory and Lab price has come in a bit but UKIP hovering around 1.53 on exchanges, maybe suggests a lead of a few points. Either way it's not going to be a lead as big as 9% Survation, but you are correct most people will compare the 2 and point to a shrinking lead.
I made it to 1:03 before I had to stop viewing. Can anyone top that?
Managed to watch about 30 secs at a time for 4-5 mins.. I instinctively reach for fast fwd button when Brand talks on any show...
Ed speaks exactly the same as always does for the most part, like a posh-ish bunged up Londoner,.. I was about to say he doesn't do any fawning affectations at all, but he did throw in a couple of "aint"s towards the end which may have been soley because of who he was talking to
I don't think it will do him an iota of harm, and possibly quite a lot of good
Ukip sources pouring significant amounts of cold water from a great height on this afternoon's Ashcroft polling.
Kippers 3rd in S.Thanet?
I just hope we don't see the idiocy of comparing it with the Survation poll
I noticed on Betfair the UKIP price drifted and Labour price came in massively before his last marginal polling so clearly a few people were in the know. For Thanet Tory and Lab price has come in a bit but UKIP hovering around 1.53 on exchanges, maybe suggests a lead of a few points. Either way it's not going to be a lead as big as 9% Survation, but you are correct most people will compare the 2 and point to a shrinking lead.
I should say I was referring to Grimsby with the first paragraph.
Indeed, the IJN specified speeds for all of its aircraft in knots.
Since WWII everyone has used knots for speeds, the Germans used kph during that war. IIRC the Chinese uniquely today use metres for height whereas everyone else uses feet - confuses the hell out of pilots asked to descend to 3,000m when their altimeters are in feet!!
How is that ALL the public funding of political parties goes to Labour? Any wonks out there who can explain?
So called Short Money goes to opposition parties to pay for opposition research. Theoretically I assume to hold the government to account and the government is considered not to need it due to having the Civil Service at their disposal.
Normally the Lib Dems would get a chunk of the Short Money but since they are a part of the government they're ineligible now.
Curious if it means the SNP could get a chunk of it next time.
The SNP and the Greens do get a bit at present, but not enough to show up on the chart. If the SNP make a clean sweep of Scotland on 50% of the vote then their Short allocation will rise to about £1m, depending on the exact number of votes they receive. Each vote for an opposition party is worth 14p a year, but parties are only eligible if they have >=2 MPs or 1 MP and >150,000 votes - so the Green party were eligible after the 2010GE, but UKIP were not, and even if Galloway holds on in Bradford West Respect will not be eligible either.
Ukip sources pouring significant amounts of cold water from a great height on this afternoon's Ashcroft polling.
Kippers 3rd in S.Thanet?
I just hope we don't see the idiocy of comparing it with the Survation poll
I noticed on Betfair the UKIP price drifted and Labour price came in massively before his last marginal polling so clearly a few people were in the know. For Thanet Tory and Lab price has come in a bit but UKIP hovering around 1.53 on exchanges, maybe suggests a lead of a few points. Either way it's not going to be a lead as big as 9% Survation, but you are correct most people will compare the 2 and point to a shrinking lead.
Presumably, the Ashcroft poll won't have named candidates.
Given the recent Ashcroft polls from Castle Point, Thurrock, and Rochester & Strood, I'd be surprised if Farage wasn't in the hunt.
'If only Miliband talked about inequality; no, he talks "inequali'ee", "national 'ealth", says Brand is "to'ally wrong", asks if he accepts his "fundamen'al point" .. I can't watch any more or I might punch my screen'
It must be a result of all that media training Ed's been getting, how to fake the common touch etc.
The Tories may wish to do more to remind people that the sainted Nicola isn't actually standing for Westminster as many voters in England seem unaware of this. On phoning my usually politically astute centrist friend just now he was being quite complementary about her influence next parliament until I pointed out Salmond rather than Sturgeon would probably be in charge of the Westminster SNP contingent (he didn't realise she was only an MSP) and would be the one making an informal arrangement with Ed as PM. Immediately his attitude completely changed and he was predicting disaster and mayhem and agreed this was an all round bad thing.
The power of personality methinks.
In an interview on R4 ~5pm the other day, she was adamant that she would dictate the way that the SNP would vote in Westminster as she is the party leader and not Alex Salmond who may be the senior MP there. She said that is what the party leader does and that Alex Salmond is no longer the leader and so does not have the power to make those decisions.
I cannot believe that all parties except the SNP would be wiped out in Scotland, it just does not seem possible. On the other hand it would make a memorable election night.
If you live by FPTP, you can die by FPTP.
Indeed. I might actually stay up next Thursday night instead of going to bed at my usual 11pm.
A law stopping the Government raising the rates of VAT, NI and Income tax, so what happens if we get another financial shock in the next 5 years? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32498460
A week tomorrow, as Big Ben Strikes 10pm, and the nation breathes a collective sigh of relief, you're either thinking a) phew, that’s over. Or b ) if you're me, just beginning.
The Exit Poll will be shown to a few of us just moments before we go live on a 20 hour election marathon special. Even David Dimbleby and our Editor get just a ten minute warning.
Politicians will by then have a pretty good idea of whether to expect good news or not. Their agents will have been phoning through snippets from marginal seats all day. But it is a rare party chairman who puts their neck on the block the minute the polls close. The broadcasters do and if it goes wrong (most famously in 1992) we will be hearing about it for the next 30 years.
So how do we put the Exit Poll together - where is it strong and where should we admit its weaknesses? Well - at the crack of dawn a team of 140 researchers from NOP and Ipsos Mori fan out. They head to 140 (mostly marginal) seats across Great Britain. They will be carrying a stack of ballot papers and their own ballot boxes. Every 10th person coming out of the voting booths is asked to write down how they voted and put their piece of paper in the box. The results are phoned through to one tiny room in a secret location in London.
Waiting to receive the data is a small team of psephologists lead by three men - the BBC's John Curtice, Sky's Michael Thrasher and ITN's Colin Rallings. They're the holy trinity of the whole exercise. The three broadcasters sink or swim together on this one. Joining forces means we can afford a bigger sample and we are likely to get a better result.
This exercise won't tell them who has won the most votes. They have no idea If turnout has crashed in some areas and soared in others. But they think they can work out who has won the most seats. And they do this by measuring how many votes have changed since they visited the same polling stations in 2010.
Measuring the change means that the postal votes shouldn't matter. They assume that the change in the postal votes will be about the same as among the ones cast on the day. And they don't assume some kind of universal swing. They work out if, say, student seats are acting differently and use the census to factor all those tiny differences in.
15 minutes before David stands in front of his screen they will come up with some numbers. This time they're going go to try and predict seat totals not only for Cameron, Clegg and Miliband. They're going to try and predict some for UKIP, Plaid, Greens and the SNP too. They've never had to do his before - but this is a different kind of election.
We ask our psephos to put their necks on the block. And thankfully they do. The Exit poll is of course just a sample - adjusted as real results declare. But that's the moment the giant touch screen will come to life. This time around we will not only be bringing real results as they happen - but using the Exit poll to try and determine just where we will see seats change hands. Bare with me - it’s a massive leap forward - but it could be quite an exciting on
I made it to 1:03 before I had to stop viewing. Can anyone top that?
Managed to watch about 30 secs at a time for 4-5 mins.. I instinctively reach for fast fwd button when Brand talks on any show...
Ed speaks exactly the same as always does for the most part, like a posh-ish bunged up Londoner,.. I was about to say he doesn't do any fawning affectations at all, but he did throw in a couple of "aint"s towards the end which may have been soley because of who he was talking to
I don't think it will do him an iota of harm, and possibly quite a lot of good
Bullet calibers are very confusingly inconsistent and inexact. And they are freely described in both metric and imperial. A smaller pistol round is a 9mm but a larger one is a .45 for example! Basically, 1 inch is 2.54 millimetres. Therefore a '30 calibre' bullet (=0.3 inches) is 7.62mm. But '30 calibre' can cover a range of bullet sizes of approximately that diametre. 7.62mm Nato is actually the same as .308 Winchester. One reason for the looseness of description is that the calibre of the barrel can refer to either the larger groove to groove diametre inside the barrel or to the smaller land to land diametre (remember the lands and grooves of the rifling give the cross section of barrels a sort of castle battlements shape) and there is no standard industry naming convention.
Some confusing examples include the very, very common 5.56mm Nato round - which is driven by the land to land diametre. The bullets are actually 5.70mm in diametre. .270 Winchester is actually .277 for the same reason (only imperial rather than metric). The famous .303 is actually .311 in diametre.
Also the 'calibre' of the barrel is not necessarily the full description of the round. Nato 7.62mm rifles and Russian 7.62mm AK types have a similar barrel profile but the Nato rounds (and therefore chambers) are alot longer - so ammunition is not at all compatible.
God I'm a geek! My father was an arms dealer before he retired and I used to shoot an awful lot before the law changed.
A law stopping the Government raising the rates of VAT, NI and Income tax, so what happens if we get another financial shock in the next 5 years? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32498460
We ask our psephos to put their necks on the block. And thankfully they do. The Exit poll is of course just a sample - adjusted as real results declare. But that's the moment the giant touch screen will come to life. This time around we will not only be bringing real results as they happen - but using the Exit poll to try and determine just where we will see seats change hands. Bare with me - it’s a massive leap forward - but it could be quite an exciting on
Why I wonder would the non imperial (small 'i') Japanese make guns that were 457mm calibre? Why not 450 or 460. Why would the Germans use an 88mm gun, whilst the US Pershing tank had a 90mm one.
88mm is 3.4" which was a common calibre for German naval weapons. It was then convenient to standardise on this because when you came to tool things like shell cases and barrel rifling, the piece was not the same, but some other things were.
Peculiar naval calibres usually arose from a previous shell weight. A twelve-pounder happened to fit a three-inch gun. A British 9.2-inch gun fired a shell that weighed exactly 2.5cwt. A 12-inch shell weighed 850lb. Both obviously appealed to someone's sense of neatness.
So it was probably a result of that: their existing weapons were imperial, so they built imperial ones so they could use the same shells?
Plus they were also trying to leapfrog the rival. British battlecruisers had 13.5" guns so the Japanese built theirs with 14". British battleships had 15" guns so the IJN's had 16".
The Germans did the same. Where a British ship had 15" guns a German one would have 38cm. And so on.
Alastair Campbell retweeted ALMR Events@ALMRevents·1 hr1 hour ago Thank you @campbellclaret for your speech & for all the signed 'Winners & How They Succeed' books! #ALMRSpring
A law stopping the Government raising the rates of VAT, NI and Income tax, so what happens if we get another financial shock in the next 5 years? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32498460
There'll be a clause allowing a change on (say) 75% of the vote in parliament. Otherwise it would be so far beyond stupid as to be incomprehensible.
And God it's boring. It will shift not a single vote, for or against. I expect most of his viewers will turn it off after 3 minutes.
Tho if I was a tabloid journo I'd be jumping on the chat about "inequality". Two kitchens Miliband talks in Russell Brand's two million pound house about poor people who don't, like Miliband's wife, earn £200,000 a year.
If only Miliband talked about inequality; no, he talks "inequali'ee", "national 'ealth", says Brand is "to'ally wrong", asks if he accepts his "fundamen'al point" .. I can't watch any more or I might punch my screen
Some regional accents are more equal than others
We're not sneering at the accent (tho, let's face it, like Strine or Brum or South African, it's not the nicest English accent), we're sneering at the way Miliband lapses into it so speedily and comically. It's almost surreal. He doesn't talk like that normally. Just weird.
I never watch TV so I have no idea what Miliband normally sounds like, but when he goes to Jewish areas, does he say things like "My life already, an election so soon", and when he goes to Scotland does he glue his teeth together and pull faces while talking?
Or is it only the southern working class he patronises in this way?
A vehicle for your own stereotypes to be played out... convenient!
He speaks in this interviews almost identically to how he speaks everywhere else, no need for you to worry
A law stopping the Government raising the rates of VAT, NI and Income tax, so what happens if we get another financial shock in the next 5 years? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32498460"
I think it's just a way of ditching Osborne. It got ad agency account director written all over it. First you take away his responsibilities then his desk then his title and eventually he leaves and you can say with a straight face you've never sacked anybody!
Comments
No major screw ups from Ed. But the medium is the message. And the message I got is "Ed Miliband likes sitting opposite ranting lunatics".
Disappointing, was expecting a better Ed is Crap rant from DH
Dan Hodges @DPJHodges 1m1 minute ago
Independent on Ed/Brand: "The interview with Russell Brand that could well win Ed Miliband the General Election". Actual headline. No spoof.
Didn't a poll give them 9% in England?
it would be hilarious if Labour lost all its Scottish seats and the Tories managed to get 1 - 2 seats. Just imagine the Tories outnumbering Labour in Scotland, that would have seemed like a pipe dream 12 months ago
Be careful what you wish for.
If the SNP won every seat in Scotland how would Milliband OR Cameron be able to ignore such an overwhelming mandate while still making the pro-union argument?
Russ an utter utter d*ck as usual.
Jillian Creasy will probably win this one I reckon.
But I think Ed often fails to pronounce t's in the way described, so may not be total apeing of Brand
It was originally 1 minute of arc (1/60 of a degree). I always used 6080' in aviation context when on the ground, or 6k' when in the air and didn't care if I was 1.2% out!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_mile
Funniest post of the day!
GOAAAALLLLLLLL!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDwdkjtXIAAaXqk.jpg:large
Indirectly mocked by a broken record, a new low
Easy to have sister parties in Wales, NI and England too. Broadly centrist, centre right with a focus on the working men and women of the UK.
Destroy all the Westminster ducks.
Ukip sources pouring significant amounts of cold water from a great height on this afternoon's Ashcroft polling.
The Japanese navy was heavily UK/US influenced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Mikasa
So it was probably a result of that: their existing weapons were imperial, so they built imperial ones so they could use the same shells?
As being from Coventry when I went to Birmingham I could often pick up a Brummy twang as the Coventry accent (Which is barely an accent I reckon) is like a homeopathically diluted Birmingham one.
It can happen when your own accent isn't particularly strong.
Admits Lansley reforms would not have been introduced by Hunt
Any money anyone likes at Evens that they poll less than 35%
Come on lefties, put your money where your mouth is.
Personally, I think its a job for International Rescue.
https://twitter.com/Justine_Roberts/status/593400776149598208
The full Russell Brand / Ed Miliband video
I made it to 1:03 before I had to stop viewing. Can anyone top that?
I'd like to see Boris do one, or Gove. The former would be very entertaining.
Did you know there were two different 13.5" guns each throwing a shell of different weight?
The lib dems were annoyed to find out that as being in coalition they lost their short money.
https://www.facebook.com/VoteNo2014
I think the MSM's assumption that the 55% who voted NO are all Unionists is flawed. I would put the % of Unionists at around 20%, this includes a reasonable % of Tories, Kippers and Loyalists.
All round the country the dominant faction tends to sweep all the seats under FPTP.
Ed speaks exactly the same as always does for the most part, like a posh-ish bunged up Londoner,.. I was about to say he doesn't do any fawning affectations at all, but he did throw in a couple of "aint"s towards the end which may have been soley because of who he was talking to
I don't think it will do him an iota of harm, and possibly quite a lot of good
Or is it only the southern working class he patronises in this way?
Part-ELBOW for non-YouGovs so far this week: 0.6% Con lead
(official part-ELBOW = 0.4% Lab lead)
But the Japs did have the first 14 in (356 mm) battleship (Kongo, built by Vickers, incidentally), and the first 16 in (406 mm) battleship (Nagato).
I looked at him perplexed and noticed him pointing to my Shelter badge which he'd mistaken for the Red of Labour. He clearly wanted to talk and told me he had a doctorate in politics.
This has to be Andrea I thought! (It wasn't). Twenty minutes later I had learnt that UKIP was popular in Italy and they had their own version which was modeled on ours and that he was amazed I thought the Tories had a good chance.
His precis of the British Tories was the best I've heard and I did wonder how an Italian could show so much wit and passion and not sound like a rabid Stretford Ender which is too often how an energized English person sounds.
Is Gordon Brown still into launching mobiles around the place?
Could be a bit of a mess in his sitting room in the early hours of the 8th...
"Hobnobs!"
Labour voters like their leader - all bluff and bluster
Could be a bit of a mess in his sitting room in the early hours of the 8th...
No wonder Apple make so much money.
The power of personality methinks.
For Thanet Tory and Lab price has come in a bit but UKIP hovering around 1.53 on exchanges, maybe suggests a lead of a few points. Either way it's not going to be a lead as big as 9% Survation, but you are correct most people will compare the 2 and point to a shrinking lead.
Is that why Ed went round?
IIRC the Chinese uniquely today use metres for height whereas everyone else uses feet - confuses the hell out of pilots asked to descend to 3,000m when their altimeters are in feet!!
The SNP and the Greens do get a bit at present, but not enough to show up on the chart. If the SNP make a clean sweep of Scotland on 50% of the vote then their Short allocation will rise to about £1m, depending on the exact number of votes they receive. Each vote for an opposition party is worth 14p a year, but parties are only eligible if they have >=2 MPs or 1 MP and >150,000 votes - so the Green party were eligible after the 2010GE, but UKIP were not, and even if Galloway holds on in Bradford West Respect will not be eligible either.
Given the recent Ashcroft polls from Castle Point, Thurrock, and Rochester & Strood, I'd be surprised if Farage wasn't in the hunt.
'If only Miliband talked about inequality; no, he talks "inequali'ee", "national 'ealth", says Brand is "to'ally wrong", asks if he accepts his "fundamen'al point" .. I can't watch any more or I might punch my screen'
It must be a result of all that media training Ed's been getting, how to fake the common touch etc.
"Did he regard Beppe Grillo's "Five Stars" as their equivalent of UKIP?"
The name does ring a bell but as I'd not heard of him I didn't keep the name in my head. He did say Farage was well known in Italy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32498460
BBC
A week tomorrow, as Big Ben Strikes 10pm, and the nation breathes a collective sigh of relief, you're either thinking a) phew, that’s over. Or b ) if you're me, just beginning.
The Exit Poll will be shown to a few of us just moments before we go live on a 20 hour election marathon special. Even David Dimbleby and our Editor get just a ten minute warning.
Politicians will by then have a pretty good idea of whether to expect good news or not. Their agents will have been phoning through snippets from marginal seats all day. But it is a rare party chairman who puts their neck on the block the minute the polls close. The broadcasters do and if it goes wrong (most famously in 1992) we will be hearing about it for the next 30 years.
So how do we put the Exit Poll together - where is it strong and where should we admit its weaknesses? Well - at the crack of dawn a team of 140 researchers from NOP and Ipsos Mori fan out. They head to 140 (mostly marginal) seats across Great Britain. They will be carrying a stack of ballot papers and their own ballot boxes. Every 10th person coming out of the voting booths is asked to write down how they voted and put their piece of paper in the box. The results are phoned through to one tiny room in a secret location in London.
Waiting to receive the data is a small team of psephologists lead by three men - the BBC's John Curtice, Sky's Michael Thrasher and ITN's Colin Rallings. They're the holy trinity of the whole exercise. The three broadcasters sink or swim together on this one. Joining forces means we can afford a bigger sample and we are likely to get a better result.
This exercise won't tell them who has won the most votes. They have no idea If turnout has crashed in some areas and soared in others. But they think they can work out who has won the most seats. And they do this by measuring how many votes have changed since they visited the same polling stations in 2010.
Measuring the change means that the postal votes shouldn't matter. They assume that the change in the postal votes will be about the same as among the ones cast on the day. And they don't assume some kind of universal swing. They work out if, say, student seats are acting differently and use the census to factor all those tiny differences in.
15 minutes before David stands in front of his screen they will come up with some numbers. This time they're going go to try and predict seat totals not only for Cameron, Clegg and Miliband. They're going to try and predict some for UKIP, Plaid, Greens and the SNP too. They've never had to do his before - but this is a different kind of election.
e.
And given Ashcroft's performance on H&M, they may have a point.
Bullet calibers are very confusingly inconsistent and inexact. And they are freely described in both metric and imperial. A smaller pistol round is a 9mm but a larger one is a .45 for example! Basically, 1 inch is 2.54 millimetres. Therefore a '30 calibre' bullet (=0.3 inches) is 7.62mm. But '30 calibre' can cover a range of bullet sizes of approximately that diametre. 7.62mm Nato is actually the same as .308 Winchester. One reason for the looseness of description is that the calibre of the barrel can refer to either the larger groove to groove diametre inside the barrel or to the smaller land to land diametre (remember the lands and grooves of the rifling give the cross section of barrels a sort of castle battlements shape) and there is no standard industry naming convention.
Some confusing examples include the very, very common 5.56mm Nato round - which is driven by the land to land diametre. The bullets are actually 5.70mm in diametre. .270 Winchester is actually .277 for the same reason (only imperial rather than metric). The famous .303 is actually .311 in diametre.
Also the 'calibre' of the barrel is not necessarily the full description of the round. Nato 7.62mm rifles and Russian 7.62mm AK types have a similar barrel profile but the Nato rounds (and therefore chambers) are alot longer - so ammunition is not at all compatible.
God I'm a geek! My father was an arms dealer before he retired and I used to shoot an awful lot before the law changed.
Peculiar naval calibres usually arose from a previous shell weight. A twelve-pounder happened to fit a three-inch gun. A British 9.2-inch gun fired a shell that weighed exactly 2.5cwt. A 12-inch shell weighed 850lb. Both obviously appealed to someone's sense of neatness. Plus they were also trying to leapfrog the rival. British battlecruisers had 13.5" guns so the Japanese built theirs with 14". British battleships had 15" guns so the IJN's had 16".
The Germans did the same. Where a British ship had 15" guns a German one would have 38cm. And so on.
Alastair Campbell retweeted
HuffPost UK@HuffPostUK·37 mins37 minutes ago
Why Ed Miliband was right to see Russell Brand - Alastair Campbell (@campbellclaret) blogs http://huff.to/1HQLZLe
Alastair Campbell retweeted
ALMR Events@ALMRevents·1 hr1 hour ago
Thank you @campbellclaret for your speech & for all the signed 'Winners & How They Succeed' books! #ALMRSpring
He speaks in this interviews almost identically to how he speaks everywhere else, no need for you to worry
A law stopping the Government raising the rates of VAT, NI and Income tax, so what happens if we get another financial shock in the next 5 years?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32498460"
I think it's just a way of ditching Osborne. It got ad agency account director written all over it. First you take away his responsibilities then his desk then his title and eventually he leaves and you can say with a straight face you've never sacked anybody!