The weekend Poliblogs 14th-15th July 2007

Gobbets From The BBC
For those of us who want to see the £3.3bn pa BBC privatised, this has been a good week. Not only have they once again demonstrated their utter contempt for licence payers by puffing and paying £250 grand for the odious Campbell, but their brainless desire for sensationalist celeb telly has led them into a clear act of treason against our own dear Queen.
Burning Our Money

Two Bad Polls for the Conservatives
Two polls are out tonight which are not good news for the Conservatives. At all. Both are by ICM and both show a seven point Labour lead. The News of the World poll shows a vote split of 35-28-13, while the Sunday Telegraph figures are 40-33-19. The ICM NOTW poll also showed that 53% of people felt Gordon Brown was best equipped to lead Britain, compared to 27% for David Cameron. Earlier this year, ICM gave the Tory leader a five-point lead over Mr Brown on their personal ratings.
Iain Dale

The boost continues - Labour lead up to 7 points
An ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph has voting intentions (with changes from the last ICM poll) of CON 33% (-2), LAB 40% (+3), LDEM 19% (+2). Far from the slight drop in the most recent ICM poll representing the end of Gordon Brown’s bounce, it has clearly continued to gather strength in the last week. The 7 point lead for Labour is the largest in an ICM poll since September 2005 and would presumably result in an increased majority if repeated at a general election.
Polling Report

The emerging battleground
Today's columns in the Newcastle Journal and Derby Telegraph focus on Brown's "Queen's Speech" last Wednesday and the emerging battleground for the next general election. Subjects ranged over include the monarchy, housing, counter-terrorism, regional assemblies, supercasinos, marriage and income tax.
Paul Linford

Married couple split because they get more money when they're apart
What a brilliant illustration this morning of the massive problem in the tax and benefit system in this country, and Gordon Brown's stupid tax credit system. The News of the World (which some will dismiss out of hand of course) details how a married couple with one child have decided to split up because staying together will see them almost a £1000 worse off each month.
Dizzy Thinks

Feeble NOTW/Tory spin
Well done to ConservativeHome for pointing out the story in today's News Of The World about the couple who are splitting up because they are financially better-off living apart.
Not so well done to both CH and the News of the Screws for their slant on this story. They both seem to think that this demonstrates (in the words of the Screws) the wisdom of "David Cameron's tax-break pledge to give married couples an extra £20 a week", or (in the more accurate words of CH) "the problem that Iain Duncan Smith's social justice report was attempting to begin to address".
Picking Losers

The Riskiest Blog Entry I Have Ever Seen An MP Post
I'm no lawyer, but were you to decide to post something like this, you might like to think about the following potential actions that could be brought;
Prague Tory

Charisma won’t bring power, David. You need cojones too
The half-hearted do not get to the top. Alastair Campbell’s diaries are gripping because they record the energy, courage and grit of two men - he and Tony Blair - that enabled them to gain and retain supreme political power.
Campbell is a ruthless man who bullied journalists and took revenge on those who crossed him. But he paid a price. The stress of the work, he records, put the relationship with Fiona Millar, his girlfriend, under huge pressure. It often reduced him to sobbing. Blair, who in public rarely appeared flustered, is revealed to have spent many sleepless nights. He would ruminate about issues so much that he might telephone Campbell seven times in an hour.
Michael Portillo

What will be the impact of Lit attending a Labour fundraiser?
There are two major UK politics stories today - the first being news of Southall Conservative candidate Tony Lit’s appearance at a recent Labour fundraising dinner - more details here. With the by-election only four days away, it remains to be seen what chance the Conservatives still have to win.
Political Betting

Indefinite Internment
Are we not such lucky people to have such glorious people looking after out interests?One of Britain's most senior police officers has demanded a return to a form of internment, with the power to lock up terror suspects indefinitely without charge.Yes, he really is saying that. Ahmed, I don't like the look of the cut of your beard. In here please.
Tim Worstall

Boris for Mayor
I am getting slightly nervous of the prospect of having Boris Johnson run for the office of Mayor of London. Boris is a highly intelligent, charming and amusing operator, though I'm not sure he has the skills to manage one of the most culturally diverse and influential cities in the world.
James Edmondson