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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » YouGov, like Survation at the weekend, finds 61 percent bac

SystemSystem Posts: 11,707
edited January 2014 in General

politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » YouGov, like Survation at the weekend, finds 61 percent back raising the tax rate for high earners to 50p

We’ve now got the second poll on the Ed Balls tax plan announced on Saturday. It’s from YouGov for today’s Times and finds 61% to 26% against. The detail hasn’t been published yes but the paper reports that LAB voters are overwhelmingly supportive, while 52% cent of CON supporters are opposed.45% think the move would help the economy, 19% say it would cause damage.

Read the full story here


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  • Options
    GeoffMGeoffM Posts: 6,071
    edited January 2014
    People are greedy and stupid (Part 34 of a series)
    Tax everyone who earns more than I do and give it to me because that's fair.
    As for the polling methods etc; as we saw in the last thread - people take or leave a poll depending on whether they like the results.
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    GeoffM said:

    People are greedy and stupid (Part 34 of a series)
    Tax everyone who earns more than I do and give it to me because that's fair.
    As for the polling methods etc; as we saw in the last thread - people take or leave a poll depending on whether they like the results.

    Alternatively, those who earn the most convince themselves its "fair" that they should get tax cuts while those who are substantially less well off see their living standards fall or stagnate as a consequence of tax credit and benefit reforms.

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    Happy Days!!
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    GildasGildas Posts: 92
    Just because people personally support a policy does not mean they think it is good for the country as a whole, nor does it always mean they are more likely to vote for the party promoting it. If the policy, however popular, reminds voters of a party's unlikeable aspects, and historic errors, it can be negative.

    "Labour = tax rises" is a terrible meme for Labour to revive. Balls has made a strategic mistake.

    As for the polls, I'm merely a longtime lurker, but isn't this Mike Smithson falling foul of his very own Golden Rule - a rogue poll is a poll whose results you dislike? Tut tut tut.
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    JackWJackW Posts: 14,787
    As I rummage through the clutter of political reminiscences of the 80's and 90's I'm minded to recall the punters were all for tax rises for others until they ventured into the ballot box.

    Meanwhile .... I note Farage is giving the media plenty of ammunition with his "wrong sort of people in Ukip" moment .... Surely he's not got our own venerable Sean Fear in mind or indeed the ever hopeful Mike ?!?
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    The most interesting bit of the Times/YouGov was this

    "40 per cent would want a 50% tax rate on moral grounds even if it raised no more money."

    Something that managed to disappoint and shock me.

    On moral grounds I'd like child allowance to be not paid to people who have children when they are on benefits like JSA.
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    I think it was @MarkSenior who raised this weighting issue within a minute or two of the poll's emergence yesterday evening. Hats off to him.
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    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,078
    edited January 2014
    There's a perception issue isn't there, surely. And it's very important. Another current news item is 200% bonuses for senior staff in a bank which has had to set aside unimaginably large sums to compensate customers for what appears to be almost criminal behaviour, without any guarantee that those staff so recompensed weren't involved in that behaviour.

    Meanwhile ordinary people in shops, offices, factories and hospitals etc are suffering wage freezes and increased prices.

    So for the ordinary person, whose £25-30,000 or so pa is a) frozen (or close to it) and b) buying less the idea that those on £100,000 plus, who are apparently untroubled by either wage freezes or a need for honesty, should pay a bit more is quite attractive.
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    JackW said:

    As I rummage through the clutter of political reminiscences of the 80's and 90's I'm minded to recall the punters were all for tax rises for others until they ventured into the ballot box.

    Meanwhile .... I note Farage is giving the media plenty of ammunition with his "wrong sort of people in Ukip" moment .... Surely he's not got our own venerable Sean Fear in mind or indeed the ever hopeful Mike ?!?

    From memory, the disconnect was more that people said they'd be willing to pay more tax, but voted for parties that did not ask them to.
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    GildasGildas Posts: 92

    I think it was @MarkSenior who raised this weighting issue within a minute or two of the poll's emergence yesterday evening. Hats off to him.

    I can't remember a bad poll for Labour, in the last year, which hasn't been immediately questioned, as to its weighting, by M Smithson, M Senior, tim, and the rest. It is all very predictable.

    The point of the matter is that yesterday Labour went below their crucial 35% threshold for the first time in years. That will worry them.

    Add in the possibility of Scotland voting YES and we could have a flawless constitutional storm on the way: Labour with a small plurality in Westminster in 2015, thanks to impotent Scots Labour MPs, hailing from a country already seceding from the UK.

    What happens then? Parliament in Westminster would be paralysed: entirely unable to pass laws. Presumably we'd have a new GE weeks later, sans Scotland - and then a Tory majority?
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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited January 2014
    On moral grounds the obsequious Cameroons should really shut the flip up about the Kippers being fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists while this friend of Cameron's is the highest paid tory employee in history.
    David Coburn UKIP ‏@DavidCoburnUKip

    Lynton Crosby told Boris Johnson - " Concentrate on Tory voters and not the f*****g Muslims http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2234565/Lynton-Crosby-Foul-mouthed-abuse-campaign-chief-revealed-lands-Tory-post.html
    But then they are the nasty party after all.

    LOL

    :)
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    NeilNeil Posts: 7,983
    This support for their policy is devastating for Labour. They must reverse it immediately if they are to avoid electoral oblivion.
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    SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 38,978
    edited January 2014
    My guess is that most voters had already factored in a 50 pence top rate of tax under a Labour government. I'd be surprised if that produced much switching, especially from Labour to UKIP. Of Comres is the start of something, I think we need to look elsewhere for explanations. As it's a monthly, it could well be a lagging indicator of concerns about Romanian and Bulgarian immigration. The YouGov does not look that extraordinary to my eyes: all parties are within their established ranges. Obviously, a string of similar polls might mean things are changing.
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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited January 2014
    The weighting won't change the overall trend for polling going into the May EU elections which is still going to be a rising kipper vote just like last May.

    Since many tories spinners were trying to lower tory expectations by saying the kippers were always going to do well then how could it possibly be otherwise or come as a shock to them?
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    GildasGildas Posts: 92
    Neil said:

    This support for their policy is devastating for Labour. They must reverse it immediately if they are to avoid electoral oblivion.

    Remember the polling that shows people can vehemently support a policy - until they are told it comes from the Conservatives. This is because the Conservative brand is damaged.

    Tax and spend are THE issues where the Labour brand is damaged. People might like a 50p tax rate, but association of any tax rise with Labour is potentially toxic. If Labour don't get enough cash by squeezing the rich, who will Labour tax next? And what will they waste the money on, this time?

    Plus they have seriously angered and unnerved the business community - not just rich bankers - and not all businessmen are *hated*. The negatives will, over time, outweigh the positives. It's an unforced error.

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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited January 2014

    My guess is that most voters had already factored in a 50 pence top rate of tax under a Labour government.

    Or simply that the damage has already been done by Osbrowne's omnishambles.
    It drove the softer tory voters away and kickstarted the kippers off of 5% into their long rise.

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    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549
    Poll Lab 38.9% Con 29%.

    Comres makes it: a 1% Labour lead.
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    GildasGildas Posts: 92
    surbiton said:

    Poll Lab 38.9% Con 29%.

    Comres makes it: a 1% Labour lead.

    And YouGov had a 2% lead. ComRes is entirely believable. Suck it up. Or go into denial. OMG they didn't poll enough 13 year old gangstas, its rogue!
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,002
    Comedy results !
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    NeilNeil Posts: 7,983
    Gildas said:

    It's an unforced error.

    Complete wishful thinking unsupported by any evidence.

    The Survation poll found overwhelming support despite associating the policy with Ed Balls personally. In the past Labour made the case for increased taxation to pay for the NHS, they can make the case for those with the broadest shoulders helping out with the deficit; it's not a difficult one.

    Remember that people here were pronouncing Ed's energy price freeze to be an absolute electoral disaster within minutes before they realised it was about to set the political agenda for months and the Tories were scrambling to find a version of their own.
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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    JackW said:



    Meanwhile .... I note Farage is giving the media plenty of ammunition with his "wrong sort of people in Ukip" moment .... Surely he's not got our own venerable Sean Fear in mind or indeed the ever hopeful Mike ?!?

    Imagine he lost the plot completely and called his own base and activists "swivel-eyed loons".
    The outrage from the PB tories would be deafening.

    *chortle*

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    Great stuff.

    Flap flap.
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    If it's necessary to weight so much by age (a 22-year old man polled counts thirteen times as much as a 62-year old one) what else is it necessary to weight a lot by? Location (urban vs suburban vs rural)? Religion? Height? Self-image? No wonder polls bounce around so much.

    I propose a 50% tax (to be paid by the commissioner) on any poll with a sample size of under, say, 5,000...
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    MillsyMillsy Posts: 900

    My guess is that most voters had already factored in a 50 pence top rate of tax under a Labour government. I'd be surprised if that produced much switching...

    I don't think it was really news to anyone, Balls just used it as a fig leaf to cover up his retreat on to Tory ground where the deficit must be eliminated. The BBC online piece on 50p tax was only 2nd most read politics piece over the weekeend (after Million sick claimants 'found fit for work').
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    NeilNeil Posts: 7,983
    RIP Pete Seeger - that's a bad start to the day.
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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,609
    edited January 2014

    If it's necessary to weight so much by age (a 22-year old man polled counts thirteen times as much as a 62-year old one) what else is it necessary to weight a lot by? Location (urban vs suburban vs rural)? Religion? Height? Self-image? No wonder polls bounce around so much.

    I propose a 50% tax (to be paid by the commissioner) on any poll with a sample size of under, say, 5,000...

    Size isn't everything.

    Prior to the general election yougov published a nearly 6,000 respondents VI poll.

    It was less accurate than their previous poll that had less than 2,000 respondents.

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    Neil said:

    This support for their policy is devastating for Labour. They must reverse it immediately if they are to avoid electoral oblivion.

    Sounds like a précis for Dan Hodges' next column!

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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    Meanwhile yet another showdown between Cameroon and his backbenchers looms.
    Sun Politics ‏@Sun_Politics 13h

    .@David_Cameron angers Tory rebels by declaring number of Romanian & Bulgarian immigrants coming to UK 'reasonable': http://bit.ly/1dJ0Sfs
    Those always turn out well for Cammie.
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    GildasGildas Posts: 92
    Neil said:

    Gildas said:

    It's an unforced error.

    Complete wishful thinking unsupported by any evidence.

    The Survation poll found overwhelming support despite associating the policy with Ed Balls personally. In the past Labour made the case for increased taxation to pay for the NHS, they can make the case for those with the broadest shoulders helping out with the deficit; it's not a difficult one.

    Remember that people here were pronouncing Ed's energy price freeze to be an absolute electoral disaster within minutes before they realised it was about to set the political agenda for months and the Tories were scrambling to find a version of their own.
    Unsupported by any evidence apart from recent polling showing a notable fall in the Labour lead?

    We shall see.

    As for the energy wheeze, it was clearly a smart political gimmick from the off: this is the stuff that people want to hear from Labour. Making life more affordable. "Tax rises" even for the mega-wealthy, are very different: they are potentially poisonous when mentioned within the vicinity of "Labour".

    Par example. Hollande's policy of squeezing the rich was very popular in France, at first:

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-02/sarkozy-poll-deficit-grows-after-hollande-floats-milliona.html

    ... but then the polling moved back to Sarko, Hollande only just scraped through, and now Hollande is the most unpopular president in French history.
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    Mick_Pork said:

    Meanwhile yet another showdown between Cameroon and his backbenchers looms.

    Sun Politics ‏@Sun_Politics 13h

    .@David_Cameron angers Tory rebels by declaring number of Romanian & Bulgarian immigrants coming to UK 'reasonable': http://bit.ly/1dJ0Sfs
    Those always turn out well for Cammie.


    Yes I'm losing count of the number of votes the govt has lost this parly. ...
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    Blue_rogBlue_rog Posts: 2,019
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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    Gildas said:


    As for the energy wheeze, it was clearly a smart political gimmick from the off

    Certainly smarter than this energy wheeze political gimmick.
    Millions to see energy bills fall after David Cameron promises tariff reform

    Millions of households will see a fall in their gas and electricity bills after David Cameron said he will force energy companies to give every customer the cheapest possible deal.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/9616124/Millions-to-see-energy-bills-fall-after-David-Cameron-promises-tariff-reform.html
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,002
    Mick_Pork said:

    Meanwhile yet another showdown between Cameroon and his backbenchers looms.

    Sun Politics ‏@Sun_Politics 13h

    .@David_Cameron angers Tory rebels by declaring number of Romanian & Bulgarian immigrants coming to UK 'reasonable': http://bit.ly/1dJ0Sfs
    Those always turn out well for Cammie.

    Dave shares their frustration.
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    Size isn't everything, but accurate representative sampling is.

    If a sample is not representative of the desired population (in this case 2015 voters) then it is not likely to become more accurate by weighting part of the unrepresentative sample.

    In particular I have suspicion of online polls. Those of us online are a different bunch in many ways. Pollsters should spend some effort on getting the right random sample rather than producing frequent noisy polls. Of course rogue polls do make good headlines, and sell copy, so perhaps both pollsters and newspapers are not that bothered re accuracy, and accuracy will not be known for 15 months.


    If it's necessary to weight so much by age (a 22-year old man polled counts thirteen times as much as a 62-year old one) what else is it necessary to weight a lot by? Location (urban vs suburban vs rural)? Religion? Height? Self-image? No wonder polls bounce around so much.

    I propose a 50% tax (to be paid by the commissioner) on any poll with a sample size of under, say, 5,000...

    Size isn't everything.

    Prior to the general election yougov published a nearly 6,000 respondents VI poll.

    It was less accurate than their previous poll that had less than 2,000 respondents.

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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,002
    He will learn the lessons too, in a while.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,013
    Good morning, everyone.

    First day of the first test today. Nyooooooooooooom!

    Meanwhile, Christian Horner has complained about a budget cap. Or, to rephrase, man who leads a team with lots of money objects to limit on how much money can be spent:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/25918114
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,002
    I've always wondered about doing a moving average of the sum of ALL the pollsters unweighted data... - surely if pollsters can't reach people it is because they are less likely to vote ?
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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    TGOHF said:

    Mick_Pork said:

    Meanwhile yet another showdown between Cameroon and his backbenchers looms.

    Sun Politics ‏@Sun_Politics 13h

    .@David_Cameron angers Tory rebels by declaring number of Romanian & Bulgarian immigrants coming to UK 'reasonable': http://bit.ly/1dJ0Sfs
    Those always turn out well for Cammie.

    Yes I'm losing count of the number of votes the govt has lost this parly. ...

    Only on minor things like backing military intervention in Syria then? At least you didn't lose boundary changes, oh that's right, you did.

    We'll see just how well Cammie comes out of yet another rebellion having to rely on lib dems to save him. I can't see how a very public tory backbench rebellion on immigration could possibly be of any consequence in the run-up to the May EU elections anyway. It's not as if Farage will think it's yet another political gift from the chumocracy and use that on the doorsteps for the campaign.

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    @Morris Dancer

    Good morning to you. But what has motor racing to do with politics?
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,013
    edited January 2014
    F1: hmm. The Mercedes has a Platypus style nose. Looks nicer than the Ferrari. Red Bull yet to be unveiled.

    Edited extra bit: it's hard to tell because of the photo's angle, but I think the Red Bull has gone for a Rhino-type nose (as most teams have).

    Edited extra bit 2 (edit harder): also, Marussia are not present. This was unplanned and due to a problem building the car in the factory.
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    Foxinsox [8.10am] perhaps both pollsters and newspapers are not that bothered re accuracy, and accuracy will not be known for 15 months

    The first half of that sentence is palpably true - they are bothered by cash-flow. The accuracy of polls that are taken now will never be known. We have a fixed election date and people will change their minds.
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,002

    @Morris Dancer

    Good morning to you. But what has motor racing to do with politics?

    Nothing but we chat a fair bit about sport on here too y'know !
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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited January 2014
    Pulpstar said:

    I've always wondered about doing a moving average of the sum of ALL the pollsters unweighted data... - surely if pollsters can't reach people it is because they are less likely to vote ?

    Keep in mind they still get tested against a real mass of voting results like big sets of local elections or EU elections. If any are hopelessly wrong it very soon shows up. The hard data for turnout will be checked against the weighting assumptions during those times as well.
    It's not unusual for models to change and keep getting 'refined' all the way up to a GE.
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    As we await Q4 2013 numbers, Q1 2014 is already shaping up nicely;
    http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/01/28/uk-britain-economy-output-idUKBREA0R00220140128
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    Pulpstar said:

    @Morris Dancer

    Good morning to you. But what has motor racing to do with politics?

    Nothing but we chat a fair bit about sport on here too y'know !
    Yes but what about motor racing?
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,013
    Mr. Scout, you must unfamiliar with the way F1 teams work. There's more Machiavellian cunning on the pit wall than in Parliament.

    Oh, and Horner reckons the power train might fail as often as 50% of the time in races. So, if you can find the bet and feel lucky, you may wish to back Caterham or Marussia to get their first point this year. (22 cars. If 11 drop out, on average, every races that leaves 11 runners of which 2 will be the backmarkers. Over 19 races you'd expect, if the 50% rate is correct, Caterham or Marussia to score).
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    Pulpstar said:

    @Morris Dancer

    Good morning to you. But what has motor racing to do with politics?

    Nothing but we chat a fair bit about sport on here too y'know !
    COYS!
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    FPT Avery:

    ' Mark Carney at Davos:

    “As good as the numbers have been in the last three quarters in the United Kingdom, we’re talking about three quarters of household-led growth, an economy that’s running 20 percent below pre-crisis trends, that has substantial spare capacity, that has not yet rebalanced. In that environment, exceptional stimulus remains very relevant.”

    Food for thought.

    I think he might have been chatting to another richard. '

    When the BoE start publishing reports in yellow boxes we will know they read PB.

    I would point that not only has the economy not rebalanced it has become MORE unbalanced. The key point being when Osborne realised that rebalancing an economy is a lot harder than talking about doubling exports and the 'march of the makers' and takes a lot longer than his political timetable allowed.

    Economic rebalancing was thus thrown out and a housing and consumer bubble sponsored.

    My economic stat for the day comes from page 44/65 of this:

    http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_347785.pdf

    The fastest rising employment sector is ... estate agents. The big increase coming after Osborne introduced taxpayer backed mortgages.

    Apparantly rising property costs making British exports less competitive and growing socioeconomic inequality being prices worth paying to get the middle classes spending again.

    So when Avery and his accolytes go in ecstasies over the GDP figures it will bring back memories of how the Gordon Brown fan club did so while the economy became ever more unbalanced.

    Osbrowne, its hard to see which side of the coin was originally Osborne and which side Brown.
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    Mr. Scout, you must unfamiliar with the way F1 teams work. There's more Machiavellian cunning on the pit wall than in Parliament.

    Oh, and Horner reckons the power train might fail as often as 50% of the time in races. So, if you can find the bet and feel lucky, you may wish to back Caterham or Marussia to get their first point this year. (22 cars. If 11 drop out, on average, every races that leaves 11 runners of which 2 will be the backmarkers. Over 19 races you'd expect, if the 50% rate is correct, Caterham or Marussia to score).

    I want to like it, I really do. But I can't get over the fact that it's like having two football teams play each other - and strapping one leg behind the backs of one of them. If they gave everyone the same car, it could be superb. But they don't, so it's not.
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    Mick_Pork said:

    TGOHF said:

    Mick_Pork said:

    Meanwhile yet another showdown between Cameroon and his backbenchers looms.

    Sun Politics ‏@Sun_Politics 13h

    .@David_Cameron angers Tory rebels by declaring number of Romanian & Bulgarian immigrants coming to UK 'reasonable': http://bit.ly/1dJ0Sfs
    Those always turn out well for Cammie.

    Yes I'm losing count of the number of votes the govt has lost this parly. ...
    Only on minor things like backing military intervention in Syria then? At least you didn't lose boundary changes, oh that's right, you did



    Those weren't due to Con rebellions - try again.
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    Pulpstar said:

    @Morris Dancer

    Good morning to you. But what has motor racing to do with politics?

    Nothing but we chat a fair bit about sport on here too y'know !
    We also bet a lot on sport as well.

    One PBer has had nearly 30 winning tips/profitable bets this calendar month alone.

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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited January 2014
    Pulpstar said:

    Mick_Pork said:

    Meanwhile yet another showdown between Cameroon and his backbenchers looms.

    Sun Politics ‏@Sun_Politics 13h

    .@David_Cameron angers Tory rebels by declaring number of Romanian & Bulgarian immigrants coming to UK 'reasonable': http://bit.ly/1dJ0Sfs
    Those always turn out well for Cammie.
    Dave shares their frustration.

    You called that one 100% correct. ;)
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,997

    GeoffM said:

    People are greedy and stupid (Part 34 of a series)
    Tax everyone who earns more than I do and give it to me because that's fair.
    As for the polling methods etc; as we saw in the last thread - people take or leave a poll depending on whether they like the results.

    Alternatively, those who earn the most convince themselves its "fair" that they should get tax cuts while those who are substantially less well off see their living standards fall or stagnate as a consequence of tax credit and benefit reforms.

    Probably, you're both right. It's human nature to believe that what is best for oneself is best for society.
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    DecrepitJohnLDecrepitJohnL Posts: 13,300
    Gildas said:


    Tax and spend are THE issues where the Labour brand is damaged.

    Tax maybe but spend? One thing the right got wrong when it imported the "tax and spend" mantra from the United States is that in Britain, government spending is generally popular with voters. In America, the charge has potency as there are many who see the size of the Federal government to be a threat to the individual states. Here, not so much.

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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited January 2014
    TGOHF said:

    Mick_Pork said:

    TGOHF said:

    Mick_Pork said:

    Meanwhile yet another showdown between Cameroon and his backbenchers looms.

    Sun Politics ‏@Sun_Politics 13h

    .@David_Cameron angers Tory rebels by declaring number of Romanian & Bulgarian immigrants coming to UK 'reasonable': http://bit.ly/1dJ0Sfs
    Those always turn out well for Cammie.

    Yes I'm losing count of the number of votes the govt has lost this parly. ...
    Only on minor things like backing military intervention in Syria then? At least you didn't lose boundary changes, oh that's right, you did

    Those weren't due to Con rebellions - try again.
    Ian Geldard ‏@igeldard Aug 30

    Full list of Conservative rebel MPs who sank the Government's #Syria motion Tory MPs http://bit.ly/17q8er4 pic.twitter.com/5nKGc86Zsh
    If you are still delusional enough to think the tory rebellion on Lords Reform had nothing at all to do with the lib dems then dumping Boundary changes then that would be your problem.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,997
    Pulpstar said:

    I've always wondered about doing a moving average of the sum of ALL the pollsters unweighted data... - surely if pollsters can't reach people it is because they are less likely to vote ?

    Not necessarily. Well-off working people are likely to vote, but they're harder to reach by telephone than the unemployed or retired.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,013
    Mr. Scout, you may be interested in Formula E. It launches... next year, I think. I forget the precise specifications, but (I think) the cars are generally very similar and, as you might expect, run on electric power only.

    I can appreciate why people might not be into F1. It's fair enough.

    Mr. Eagles, you've had an excellent run. Will you be pb.com's World Cup correspondent?
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,997

    Size isn't everything, but accurate representative sampling is.

    If a sample is not representative of the desired population (in this case 2015 voters) then it is not likely to become more accurate by weighting part of the unrepresentative sample.

    In particular I have suspicion of online polls. Those of us online are a different bunch in many ways. Pollsters should spend some effort on getting the right random sample rather than producing frequent noisy polls. Of course rogue polls do make good headlines, and sell copy, so perhaps both pollsters and newspapers are not that bothered re accuracy, and accuracy will not be known for 15 months.




    If it's necessary to weight so much by age (a 22-year old man polled counts thirteen times as much as a 62-year old one) what else is it necessary to weight a lot by? Location (urban vs suburban vs rural)? Religion? Height? Self-image? No wonder polls bounce around so much.

    I propose a 50% tax (to be paid by the commissioner) on any poll with a sample size of under, say, 5,000...

    Size isn't everything.

    Prior to the general election yougov published a nearly 6,000 respondents VI poll.

    It was less accurate than their previous poll that had less than 2,000 respondents.

    Most pollsters are very bothered by accuracy. Political polling is worth about 1% of their income, and is often a loss-leader. If they get it right, though, it makes it easier for them to win the market research business which is their mainstay.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Sean_F said:

    GeoffM said:

    People are greedy and stupid (Part 34 of a series)
    Tax everyone who earns more than I do and give it to me because that's fair.
    As for the polling methods etc; as we saw in the last thread - people take or leave a poll depending on whether they like the results.

    Alternatively, those who earn the most convince themselves its "fair" that they should get tax cuts while those who are substantially less well off see their living standards fall or stagnate as a consequence of tax credit and benefit reforms.

    Probably, you're both right. It's human nature to believe that what is best for oneself is best for society.
    There was a split in the polling a couple of days ago. I thought that it was the most interesting piece of data, but it seemed to go unremarked.

    A plurality of voters simultaneously believes that:

    - the country would be better off under the Tories
    - they and their families would be better off under Labour

    That's a very interesting dynamic to consider.
  • Options
    GildasGildas Posts: 92
    edited January 2014

    Gildas said:


    Tax and spend are THE issues where the Labour brand is damaged.

    Tax maybe but spend? One thing the right got wrong when it imported the "tax and spend" mantra from the United States is that in Britain, government spending is generally popular with voters. In America, the charge has potency as there are many who see the size of the Federal government to be a threat to the individual states. Here, not so much.

    Absolute crap. Sorry.

    "polls over the last 18 months show too many people still believe Labour spent too much money. Even polling and focus groups done by the unions (who are opposed to the cuts) show this. And that too from Labour voters!"

    http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/02/02/unfortunately-more-cuts-wont-help-labour-in-the-polls/

    "In fact “Southern Discomfort” suggests a Labour vulnerability on public services. Three quarters of voters believe “a lot” or “most” of the extra money [spent by Labour] was wasted"

    http://www.policy-network.net/pno_detail.aspx?ID=3916&title=Understanding-Labours-political-decay
  • Options
    Unemployment hits a record high in Hollande's France;
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25922231
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    Sean_F said:

    Pulpstar said:

    I've always wondered about doing a moving average of the sum of ALL the pollsters unweighted data... - surely if pollsters can't reach people it is because they are less likely to vote ?

    Not necessarily. Well-off working people are likely to vote, but they're harder to reach by telephone than the unemployed or retired.
    @SeanF

    Do pollsters contact people on mobiles? Many people, myself included, have no landline, as they have no need for one.
  • Options

    Sean_F said:

    Pulpstar said:

    I've always wondered about doing a moving average of the sum of ALL the pollsters unweighted data... - surely if pollsters can't reach people it is because they are less likely to vote ?

    Not necessarily. Well-off working people are likely to vote, but they're harder to reach by telephone than the unemployed or retired.
    @SeanF

    Do pollsters contact people on mobiles? Many people, myself included, have no landline, as they have no need for one.

    ICM do


    UK— ICM Research is adding mobile phone samples to its telephone omnibus and voting intention polls, reflecting the growing number of homes that are ditching landlines in favour of mobiles.

    Research director Martin Boon said the move would save money in the long run by reducing the amount of time interviewers spend chasing hard-to-reach respondents to ensure a representative sample.

    http://www.research-live.com/news/news-headlines/icm-sees-cost-benefit-of-adding-mobile-to-poll-samples/4006998.article
  • Options
    Blue_rogBlue_rog Posts: 2,019

    Sean_F said:

    Pulpstar said:

    I've always wondered about doing a moving average of the sum of ALL the pollsters unweighted data... - surely if pollsters can't reach people it is because they are less likely to vote ?

    Not necessarily. Well-off working people are likely to vote, but they're harder to reach by telephone than the unemployed or retired.
    @SeanF

    Do pollsters contact people on mobiles? Many people, myself included, have no landline, as they have no need for one.
    How do you access the internet then? Genuine question.
  • Options

    Mr. Scout, you may be interested in Formula E. It launches... next year, I think. I forget the precise specifications, but (I think) the cars are generally very similar and, as you might expect, run on electric power only.

    I can appreciate why people might not be into F1. It's fair enough.

    Mr. Eagles, you've had an excellent run. Will you be pb.com's World Cup correspondent?

    @MorrisDancer

    Thank you for the tip. If the cars are fast - and identical - it could be brilliant. What circuits are they using? That is another problem with F1 - many of the races are staged on circuits designed by imbeciles.
  • Options
    Charles said:

    Sean_F said:

    GeoffM said:

    People are greedy and stupid (Part 34 of a series)
    Tax everyone who earns more than I do and give it to me because that's fair.
    As for the polling methods etc; as we saw in the last thread - people take or leave a poll depending on whether they like the results.

    Alternatively, those who earn the most convince themselves its "fair" that they should get tax cuts while those who are substantially less well off see their living standards fall or stagnate as a consequence of tax credit and benefit reforms.

    Probably, you're both right. It's human nature to believe that what is best for oneself is best for society.
    There was a split in the polling a couple of days ago. I thought that it was the most interesting piece of data, but it seemed to go unremarked.

    A plurality of voters simultaneously believes that:

    - the country would be better off under the Tories
    - they and their families would be better off under Labour

    That's a very interesting dynamic to consider.
    Its competance v equality.

    People believe that Conservatives are likely to make the country richer than Labour would but that under the Conservatives the rich would get the benefits.

    This is why the reduction to 45% was so politically damaging - it destroyed the "we're all in it together" meme and confirmed prejudices about Conservatives caring mostly about the rich.
  • Options
    Blue_rogBlue_rog Posts: 2,019

    Mr. Scout, you must unfamiliar with the way F1 teams work. There's more Machiavellian cunning on the pit wall than in Parliament.

    Oh, and Horner reckons the power train might fail as often as 50% of the time in races. So, if you can find the bet and feel lucky, you may wish to back Caterham or Marussia to get their first point this year. (22 cars. If 11 drop out, on average, every races that leaves 11 runners of which 2 will be the backmarkers. Over 19 races you'd expect, if the 50% rate is correct, Caterham or Marussia to score).

    I want to like it, I really do. But I can't get over the fact that it's like having two football teams play each other - and strapping one leg behind the backs of one of them. If they gave everyone the same car, it could be superb. But they don't, so it's not.
    One of the spin offs (apologies for the pun) from F1 is the innovation into motor design and streamlining, KERS, antilock brakes etc. If there were identical cars, there wouldn't be the inventiveness that drips down to the cars we now drive!
  • Options

    Mr. Scout, you may be interested in Formula E. It launches... next year, I think. I forget the precise specifications, but (I think) the cars are generally very similar and, as you might expect, run on electric power only.

    I can appreciate why people might not be into F1. It's fair enough.

    Mr. Eagles, you've had an excellent run. Will you be pb.com's World Cup correspondent?

    I'm balls deep in Uruguay and Suarez outscoring England.

  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,013
    Mr. Scout, that's a fair criticism of F1. Many circuits are fantastic, but most new ones are either tedious street circuits or just badly designed (which is baffling).

    Formula E will be on 10 street circuits, initially. However, the cars will be slower than F1 cars so it's possible that won't be as bad as it sounds.
    F1: The Ferrari's had a reliability failure. It lasted a few corners.
  • Options
    Blue_rog said:

    Mr. Scout, you must unfamiliar with the way F1 teams work. There's more Machiavellian cunning on the pit wall than in Parliament.

    Oh, and Horner reckons the power train might fail as often as 50% of the time in races. So, if you can find the bet and feel lucky, you may wish to back Caterham or Marussia to get their first point this year. (22 cars. If 11 drop out, on average, every races that leaves 11 runners of which 2 will be the backmarkers. Over 19 races you'd expect, if the 50% rate is correct, Caterham or Marussia to score).

    I want to like it, I really do. But I can't get over the fact that it's like having two football teams play each other - and strapping one leg behind the backs of one of them. If they gave everyone the same car, it could be superb. But they don't, so it's not.
    One of the spin offs (apologies for the pun) from F1 is the innovation into motor design and streamlining, KERS, antilock brakes etc. If there were identical cars, there wouldn't be the inventiveness that drips down to the cars we now drive!
    That is undoubtably true. But it doesn't make it an entertaining sport. I like the sound of this Formula E however, where the cars are very similar, I am reliably told.

  • Options
    Blue_rog said:

    Sean_F said:

    Pulpstar said:

    I've always wondered about doing a moving average of the sum of ALL the pollsters unweighted data... - surely if pollsters can't reach people it is because they are less likely to vote ?

    Not necessarily. Well-off working people are likely to vote, but they're harder to reach by telephone than the unemployed or retired.
    @SeanF

    Do pollsters contact people on mobiles? Many people, myself included, have no landline, as they have no need for one.
    How do you access the internet then? Genuine question.
    Cable. Virgin do not require you to have a landline.
  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,013
    Mr. Scout, my memory of the cars being similar could be wrong. I read an article about it several months ago, so don't take my word as gospel.
  • Options
    dugarbandierdugarbandier Posts: 2,596

    Size isn't everything, but accurate representative sampling is.

    If a sample is not representative of the desired population (in this case 2015 voters) then it is not likely to become more accurate by weighting part of the unrepresentative sample.

    In particular I have suspicion of online polls. Those of us online are a different bunch in many ways. Pollsters should spend some effort on getting the right random sample rather than producing frequent noisy polls. Of course rogue polls do make good headlines, and sell copy, so perhaps both pollsters and newspapers are not that bothered re accuracy, and accuracy will not be known for 15 months.

    I wonder how for how long it will be true that telephone polling is more accurate.

    At the moment, the older lot use telephones (landlines) and answer them. They're also more likely to turnout. On t'other hand younger folks don't even have landlines, live their lives online etc etc. I'm somewhere in between. I wonder if at some point in the future telephoning will become less accurate than on line at sampling the younger half of the age range
  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,074

    I would point that not only has the economy not rebalanced it has become MORE unbalanced. The key point being when Osborne realised that rebalancing an economy is a lot harder than talking about doubling exports and the 'march of the makers' and takes a lot longer than his political timetable allowed.

    While I would agree with you that the UK economy remains: (a) dangerously consumer driven, and (b) worringly reliant on high house prices, I would point out:

    1. Exports have risen from 28% of GDP in 2009 to 32% in 2012. That is a higher percentage of GDP than China. (Although e have fallen behind both Spain and Portugal on this measure in the last few years.)

    2. Private sector debt-to-GDP has fallen by 33% in the last four years. Yes, it is still elevated at 176% of GDP. However, it is now a lower level than the US or Japan (and probably China too). No country - except Ireland - has done more private sector deleveraging (although Spain is close).

    3. Government spending as a percentage of GDP was 50% in 2007 (when the economy was booming). It has been cut to around 46% in 2013 - and that in difficult economic conditions.

    So, I think your contention that the economy has become more unbalanced is not backed up by facts.
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,091
    Blue_rog said:

    Mr. Scout, you must unfamiliar with the way F1 teams work. There's more Machiavellian cunning on the pit wall than in Parliament.

    Oh, and Horner reckons the power train might fail as often as 50% of the time in races. So, if you can find the bet and feel lucky, you may wish to back Caterham or Marussia to get their first point this year. (22 cars. If 11 drop out, on average, every races that leaves 11 runners of which 2 will be the backmarkers. Over 19 races you'd expect, if the 50% rate is correct, Caterham or Marussia to score).

    I want to like it, I really do. But I can't get over the fact that it's like having two football teams play each other - and strapping one leg behind the backs of one of them. If they gave everyone the same car, it could be superb. But they don't, so it's not.
    One of the spin offs (apologies for the pun) from F1 is the innovation into motor design and streamlining, KERS, antilock brakes etc. If there were identical cars, there wouldn't be the inventiveness that drips down to the cars we now drive!
    I was reading up on this yesterday (sadly I've not been keeping up with the latest regs - too much else on my plate).

    There's quite an amazing rule that's going to cause loads of hassles. The cars can only carry 100 kg of fuel, and the fuel flow is limited to a maximum of 100kg/hour, when a race can be nearly two hours. For this reason, energy recovery and engine management is vital.

    This means that if you have a KERS failure (I'm looking at you, Red Bull), the chances are the cars won't be able to finish, or they will turn the engines down so low that I'd be able to beat them in my Honda Jazz..

    http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/f1/2014-f1-the-power-unit-explained/
  • Options
    rcs 1000

    The Balancing move is certainly in the right direction. But the UK still has a long long way to go. If Labour get in the direction of travel will be reversed.
  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,013
    Mr. Jessop, that is a fun rule. Excellent levels of information relayed to the pits make a failure to finish due to fuel unlikely, but losing the ERS (KERS is so 2013, Mr. Jessop) will cost an enormous amount of lap time.

    Red Bull might not suffer the disproportionately high level of failure with ERS that they did with KERS. With KERS, it was possible to split the system into halves, enabling tighter packaging for aerodynamic purposes but decreasing reliability. The ERS unit has to be whole, so Red Bull won't be able to split it.
  • Options
    GildasGildas Posts: 92
    rcs1000 said:

    I would point that not only has the economy not rebalanced it has become MORE unbalanced. The key point being when Osborne realised that rebalancing an economy is a lot harder than talking about doubling exports and the 'march of the makers' and takes a lot longer than his political timetable allowed.

    While I would agree with you that the UK economy remains: (a) dangerously consumer driven, and (b) worringly reliant on high house prices, I would point out:

    1. Exports have risen from 28% of GDP in 2009 to 32% in 2012. That is a higher percentage of GDP than China. (Although e have fallen behind both Spain and Portugal on this measure in the last few years.)

    2. Private sector debt-to-GDP has fallen by 33% in the last four years. Yes, it is still elevated at 176% of GDP. However, it is now a lower level than the US or Japan (and probably China too). No country - except Ireland - has done more private sector deleveraging (although Spain is close).

    3. Government spending as a percentage of GDP was 50% in 2007 (when the economy was booming). It has been cut to around 46% in 2013 - and that in difficult economic conditions.

    So, I think your contention that the economy has become more unbalanced is not backed up by facts.
    There has also been a large and very necessary shift from employment in the public sector to the private sector.

    And further to point 3 (where your stats are a bit dubious?) public sector spending as a percentage of GDP is not only falling, it is now scheduled to go below 40% in 2017-18, for the first time since 2002 (as Labour have agreed to match Tory spending plans this is now certain to happen - barring unforeseen crises etc)

    http://tinyurl.com/kxp9a57

    Britain is now in a superior place compared to many of her European rivals. Given the apocalyptic mess we inhabited in 2010, that isn't so bad. It's not brilliant but it could be worse. America is not doing much better.

  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,074
    Patrick said:

    rcs 1000

    The Balancing move is certainly in the right direction. But the UK still has a long long way to go. If Labour get in the direction of travel will be reversed.

    I agree 100% - there is lots to do. And this year has the whiff of the 'pre election giveaway'...

    I also agree Labour would be a disaster.

  • Options
    rcs1000 said:

    I would point that not only has the economy not rebalanced it has become MORE unbalanced. The key point being when Osborne realised that rebalancing an economy is a lot harder than talking about doubling exports and the 'march of the makers' and takes a lot longer than his political timetable allowed.

    While I would agree with you that the UK economy remains: (a) dangerously consumer driven, and (b) worringly reliant on high house prices, I would point out:

    1. Exports have risen from 28% of GDP in 2009 to 32% in 2012. That is a higher percentage of GDP than China. (Although e have fallen behind both Spain and Portugal on this measure in the last few years.)

    2. Private sector debt-to-GDP has fallen by 33% in the last four years. Yes, it is still elevated at 176% of GDP. However, it is now a lower level than the US or Japan (and probably China too). No country - except Ireland - has done more private sector deleveraging (although Spain is close).

    3. Government spending as a percentage of GDP was 50% in 2007 (when the economy was booming). It has been cut to around 46% in 2013 - and that in difficult economic conditions.

    So, I think your contention that the economy has become more unbalanced is not backed up by facts.
    That depends upon which facts you use.

    Industrial ouput has gone down
    Retail sales have gone up
    Productivity growth has collapsed (indeed possibly turned negative)
    Government debt has soared (it has directly replaced household borrowing)

    Not much 'march of the makers' there.

    Out of interest what percentage of GDP are imports ?

    If exports are already a healthy percentage of GDP then Osborne's calls for them to double by 2020 were a misconceived.

    The UK doesn't have an export problem it has an import problem, namely our addiction to cheap consumer tat. An addiction that has been funded by debt, firstly household and then government.
  • Options
    The great irony about the 45/50 debate is that the first nine years of the Thatcher government had a top rate tax of 60% and at a much lower threshold.

    That didn't stop the 1980s being far more successful in attracting inward investment than either this government or the previous one has been.
  • Options
    rcs1000 said:

    Patrick said:

    rcs 1000

    The Balancing move is certainly in the right direction. But the UK still has a long long way to go. If Labour get in the direction of travel will be reversed.

    I agree 100% - there is lots to do. And this year has the whiff of the 'pre election giveaway'...

    I also agree Labour would be a disaster.

    Why? They are pegged to Conservative spending plans. Just prejudice?
  • Options
    MonikerDiCanioMonikerDiCanio Posts: 5,792
    edited January 2014
    French speaking plumbers required in London for refugees from Hollande's terror,
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10600331/Wanted-French-speaking-plumbers-for-tax-exiles.html
    Estimated salary between £ 120,000 and 150,000 a year.
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,408
    I am going for 0.7% this morning for Q4. A bit less than I might have hoped during most of Q4 but there are some indications of slightly more mixed figures, especially in Avery's Swift findings which suggested 0.4.

    In January last year, when growth was forecast to be 0.6% for the year, I bravely forecast that the growth figure for the year would have a 1 in front of it. If growth for the year ends up at 1.9%, as seems likely, I will only just have been right and not in the way expected!

    For 2014 I think we will be very near 3% unless something major goes off internationally. Unfortunately there are a few candidates with the EZ and China being the main candidates.
  • Options

    Mr. Scout, you may be interested in Formula E. It launches... next year, I think. I forget the precise specifications, but (I think) the cars are generally very similar and, as you might expect, run on electric power only.

    I can appreciate why people might not be into F1. It's fair enough.

    Mr. Eagles, you've had an excellent run. Will you be pb.com's World Cup correspondent?

    I'm balls deep in Uruguay and Suarez outscoring England.

    Thanks for that image, I'm having breakfast here! Yuck.
  • Options

    Size isn't everything, but accurate representative sampling is.

    If a sample is not representative of the desired population (in this case 2015 voters) then it is not likely to become more accurate by weighting part of the unrepresentative sample.

    In particular I have suspicion of online polls. Those of us online are a different bunch in many ways. Pollsters should spend some effort on getting the right random sample rather than producing frequent noisy polls. Of course rogue polls do make good headlines, and sell copy, so perhaps both pollsters and newspapers are not that bothered re accuracy, and accuracy will not be known for 15 months.

    I wonder how for how long it will be true that telephone polling is more accurate.

    At the moment, the older lot use telephones (landlines) and answer them. They're also more likely to turnout. On t'other hand younger folks don't even have landlines, live their lives online etc etc. I'm somewhere in between. I wonder if at some point in the future telephoning will become less accurate than on line at sampling the younger half of the age range
    I have never grasped the point of having a landline, unless you live in an area with poor reception. Mobiles are better in every way - you can take them anywhere, screen your calls, text with them, even look stuff up to answer a question while engaged in conversation. A landline is just yet another bill you have to handle, for no reason.
  • Options

    Mr. Scout, you may be interested in Formula E. It launches... next year, I think. I forget the precise specifications, but (I think) the cars are generally very similar and, as you might expect, run on electric power only.

    I can appreciate why people might not be into F1. It's fair enough.

    Mr. Eagles, you've had an excellent run. Will you be pb.com's World Cup correspondent?

    I'm balls deep in Uruguay and Suarez outscoring England.

    Thanks for that image, I'm having breakfast here! Yuck.
    Breakfast after 9am?

    You lazy slacker.

    Get some work done.

  • Options
    0.7%
  • Options
    The UK doesn't have an export problem it has an import problem, namely our addiction to cheap consumer tat. An addiction that has been funded by debt, firstly household and then government.

    And energy. If we imported alot less energy (fracking for shale gas anyone?) then the UK financials would improve immeasurably. This (and increased royalty tax receipts) is the main benefit of fracking not potential gas price cuts.
  • Options

    Mr. Scout, you may be interested in Formula E. It launches... next year, I think. I forget the precise specifications, but (I think) the cars are generally very similar and, as you might expect, run on electric power only.

    I can appreciate why people might not be into F1. It's fair enough.

    Mr. Eagles, you've had an excellent run. Will you be pb.com's World Cup correspondent?

    I'm balls deep in Uruguay and Suarez outscoring England.

    Thanks for that image, I'm having breakfast here! Yuck.
    Breakfast after 9am?

    You lazy slacker.

    Get some work done.

    I've been working since 7am thank you - only time now for brekkie at my desk.
  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,074

    rcs1000 said:

    I would point that not only has the economy not rebalanced it has become MORE unbalanced. The key point being when Osborne realised that rebalancing an economy is a lot harder than talking about doubling exports and the 'march of the makers' and takes a lot longer than his political timetable allowed.

    While I would agree with you that the UK economy remains: (a) dangerously consumer driven, and (b) worringly reliant on high house prices, I would point out:

    1. Exports have risen from 28% of GDP in 2009 to 32% in 2012. That is a higher percentage of GDP than China. (Although e have fallen behind both Spain and Portugal on this measure in the last few years.)

    2. Private sector debt-to-GDP has fallen by 33% in the last four years. Yes, it is still elevated at 176% of GDP. However, it is now a lower level than the US or Japan (and probably China too). No country - except Ireland - has done more private sector deleveraging (although Spain is close).

    3. Government spending as a percentage of GDP was 50% in 2007 (when the economy was booming). It has been cut to around 46% in 2013 - and that in difficult economic conditions.

    So, I think your contention that the economy has become more unbalanced is not backed up by facts.
    That depends upon which facts you use.

    Industrial ouput has gone down
    Retail sales have gone up
    Productivity growth has collapsed (indeed possibly turned negative)
    Government debt has soared (it has directly replaced household borrowing)

    Not much 'march of the makers' there.

    Out of interest what percentage of GDP are imports ?

    If exports are already a healthy percentage of GDP then Osborne's calls for them to double by 2020 were a misconceived.

    The UK doesn't have an export problem it has an import problem, namely our addiction to cheap consumer tat. An addiction that has been funded by debt, firstly household and then government.
    Industrial production - although below peak levels - is rising. See: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/industrial-production

    Also, be wary of mixing retail spending numbers (which are not adjusted for inflation) with industrial production ones (which are real, and therefore are).

    Productivity is a made up number. Any country with a high minimum wage has amazing prodctivity, because low productivity workers are priced out the market.

    How much would you have cut government spending? Yes, I agree 50% pre-crisis to 46% or so today is not enough. I would rather we were like Spain or Ireland in the very low 40s. However, can I point you to the examples of Greece, Spain, Portugal to see what happens to an economy when you attempt very rapid reductions in the absolute level of government spending.

    I agree regarding our import problem.
  • Options
    JohnOJohnO Posts: 4,215
    0.7%. Avery will be pleased.
  • Options
    Innocent_AbroadInnocent_Abroad Posts: 3,294
    edited January 2014

    Size isn't everything, but accurate representative sampling is.

    If a sample is not representative of the desired population (in this case 2015 voters) then it is not likely to become more accurate by weighting part of the unrepresentative sample.

    In particular I have suspicion of online polls. Those of us online are a different bunch in many ways. Pollsters should spend some effort on getting the right random sample rather than producing frequent noisy polls. Of course rogue polls do make good headlines, and sell copy, so perhaps both pollsters and newspapers are not that bothered re accuracy, and accuracy will not be known for 15 months.

    I wonder how for how long it will be true that telephone polling is more accurate.

    At the moment, the older lot use telephones (landlines) and answer them. They're also more likely to turnout. On t'other hand younger folks don't even have landlines, live their lives online etc etc. I'm somewhere in between. I wonder if at some point in the future telephoning will become less accurate than on line at sampling the younger half of the age range
    I have never grasped the point of having a landline, unless you live in an area with poor reception. Mobiles are better in every way - you can take them anywhere, screen your calls, text with them, even look stuff up to answer a question while engaged in conversation. A landline is just yet another bill you have to handle, for no reason.
    I presume by mobile you mean smartphone. I have a single contract for landline and internet, and wouldn't care to write at any length on a smartphone keyboard of any type (age, of course). I also have a PAYG mobile of medieval design, but it does what it needs to do.

  • Options

    Mr. Scout, you may be interested in Formula E. It launches... next year, I think. I forget the precise specifications, but (I think) the cars are generally very similar and, as you might expect, run on electric power only.

    I can appreciate why people might not be into F1. It's fair enough.

    Mr. Eagles, you've had an excellent run. Will you be pb.com's World Cup correspondent?

    I'm balls deep in Uruguay and Suarez outscoring England.

    Thanks for that image, I'm having breakfast here! Yuck.
    Breakfast after 9am?

    You lazy slacker.

    Get some work done.

    I've been working since 7am thank you - only time now for brekkie at my desk.
    I feel your pain, as someone who commutes from Sheffield to Manchester on a daily basis, I have to be up at 5.30am.

  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,074
    Patrick said:

    The UK doesn't have an export problem it has an import problem, namely our addiction to cheap consumer tat. An addiction that has been funded by debt, firstly household and then government.

    And energy. If we imported alot less energy (fracking for shale gas anyone?) then the UK financials would improve immeasurably. This (and increased royalty tax receipts) is the main benefit of fracking not potential gas price cuts.

    Although it is worth remembering that North Sea natural gas and oil production is going to continue to fall. We should (obviously) frac. But we should remember that our historic oil and gas fields are in secular decline now.
  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,074
    DavidL said:

    I am going for 0.7% this morning for Q4. A bit less than I might have hoped during most of Q4 but there are some indications of slightly more mixed figures, especially in Avery's Swift findings which suggested 0.4.

    In January last year, when growth was forecast to be 0.6% for the year, I bravely forecast that the growth figure for the year would have a 1 in front of it. If growth for the year ends up at 1.9%, as seems likely, I will only just have been right and not in the way expected!

    For 2014 I think we will be very near 3% unless something major goes off internationally. Unfortunately there are a few candidates with the EZ and China being the main candidates.

    The Smithson 2014 GDP growth forecasts

    Ireland 4.1%
    China 4.0%
    USA 3.4%
    UK 3.3%
    Spain 2.1%
    Italy 1.1%
    Germany 1.1%
    France -0.2%

  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,013
    Mr. Eagles, what do you expect? One does not simply walk into Mordor.
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    Feel the pain...

    George Eaton‏@georgeeaton5 mins
    GDP rose 0.7% in Q4 2013 (down from 0.8% in Q3).

    George Eaton‏@georgeeaton4 mins
    GDP still 1.3% below pre-recession peak. US is 5.6% above.
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,074
    rcs1000 said:

    DavidL said:

    I am going for 0.7% this morning for Q4. A bit less than I might have hoped during most of Q4 but there are some indications of slightly more mixed figures, especially in Avery's Swift findings which suggested 0.4.

    In January last year, when growth was forecast to be 0.6% for the year, I bravely forecast that the growth figure for the year would have a 1 in front of it. If growth for the year ends up at 1.9%, as seems likely, I will only just have been right and not in the way expected!

    For 2014 I think we will be very near 3% unless something major goes off internationally. Unfortunately there are a few candidates with the EZ and China being the main candidates.

    The Smithson 2014 GDP growth forecasts

    Ireland 4.1%
    China 4.0%
    USA 3.4%
    UK 3.3%
    Spain 2.1%
    Italy 1.1%
    Germany 1.1%
    France -0.2%

    Which means I am more pessimistic than the market on China, Germany and France. And more optimistic on Ireland, the UK, the US, and Spain.
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    Feel the pain...

    George Eaton‏@georgeeaton5 mins
    GDP rose 0.7% in Q4 2013 (down from 0.8% in Q3).

    George Eaton‏@georgeeaton4 mins
    GDP still 1.3% below pre-recession peak. US is 5.6% above.

    George reminding us how deep the Brownian depression was ?
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