Today will see the writ moved for the by-election in Norwich North where Dr Ian Gibson has resigned. In advance of the poll on 23rd July, the Universities & Colleges Union have commissioned a poll that makes interesting reading. The headlines are, with my comments underneath: Half of people aged 18-34 (48% of people aged [...]

A question posed by Matt Wardman. Here’s the data he presents, from PSR Keele, as a chart. What this tells me is that, in terms of actually winning the election, assuming that Labour do at least moderately well in Scotland and Wales, it’s only England that matters. We need to wait to see what effects [...]

David Cameron wants the UK to withdraw from the social chapter. David Cameron wants to scrap the legal guarantee that gives us four weeks paid holiday. David Cameron wants to scrap the right to be consulted about changes at work. David Cameron wants to scrap our entitlement to parental leave – denying the legal right [...]

Yesterday saw the Progressive London Conference at Congress House in London. All in all, I thought it was pretty good. There seemed to be very few nutty lefties there and I was pleased that there were a few people there I knew and recognised from my CLP, from blogging, from uni and around and about [...]

The Audit Commission has issued a report on how local authorities are dealing with the credit crunch. For the most part, it’s not too bad. From the press release: By and large councils knew this downturn was coming and have planned for it. The pressures are real but councils are coping with them well However, [...]

I mentioned the Tatler Ten a little while ago. Imagine my surprise to tune into the Tory party conference to see Jeremy Brier on stage, having a chat with Alan Duncan, George Osborne and someone I didn’t recognise, only to then see Kulveer Ranger appear in the next segment. xD.

Yes, they’re very representative of Britain today. Half went to Oxford or Cambridge, eight went to university. Six grew up in London or the Home Counties. Four of the eight PPCs are standing for London seats and the other four are standing in the southern half of England. They are the Tatler Ten. Tatler (via [...]

I think there are three points that come out of this. Firstly, I will be interested to see how Mr Davis, now re-elected, keeps the issue in the public eye. I dislike single-issue elections as Mr Davis will represent his constituency on the whole range of public issues. Although David Davis (according to ConservativeHome) has [...]

It is very rare for a politician to volunteer for an election. The risk calculus is pretty simple; even if the chances of you losing are minimal, the consequences for you are (at best) unemployment and the consequences for your party can be even worse. So what to make of David Davis’ decision to resign [...]

Two days ago, David Cameron gave a speech to Relate, formerly the National Marriage Guidance Council. It illustrates two points; firstly, the problems that Mr Cameron is storing up for himself; secondly, the potential contradiction between the free-marketeers and social conservatives in the Conservative party. The speech makes it clear that the Tories believe in [...]