Why the state won't shrink
The CityUnslicker asks, mournfully, "Will taxes ever be cut in the
In my view, not by any significant amount, the reason being that people expect the state to do more now than they did, say, thirty years ago. This was an insight gained through my brief experience of working in the public sector.
Have the Newbie's Been Promoted Too Early?
I'm doing some research for an article I am writing for Parliamentary Monitor magazine (published at the party conferences) and I have calculated that of the 52 Conservative MPs elected for the first time in 2005*, a massive 30 of them now have positions on the front bench - three of them in the shadow cabinet.
Cameron fails to convince Tories of his electability
Writing in today's Independent, Michael Brown suggests that David Cameron has failed to even convince his own team that he can win the next General Election.
The main evidence for this is the comparative inactivity of the Tory front bench with that of Labour during the summer of 1996:
Conservatives ARE the Agenda
I had said some time ago that I felt it was complacency on the part of "Team Cameron" that led to the shaky start to the Brown Premiership for the opposition. Whereas the LibDems took the novel approach of saying and doing nothing - which, to be fair, has paid off - the Conservatives got themselves tangled up in all sorts and ended up 10 points behind the polls.
Tories will fight next election on social - not economic – issues
David Cameron gives a revealing interview to today's Yorkshire Post in which he puts social breakdown at the heart of the Conservative pitch for the next General Election:
Louise Bagshawe: Reasons to vote Conservative
Moving house is always a stressful thing. In our case, we are this week preparing for a move into the constituency. I was always clear that being a parliamentary candidate meant total commitment to the area you hope to represent. Our family story is just one amongst thousands – Conservative activists giving up their time, knocking on doors, standing as local councillors, donating, writing to the local paper, marching for their local hospitals, serving in their Associations, even starting blogs! We are a team. And when we are united we are an unstoppable team.
The Sick Man of
Yesterday, evidence was presented that confirmed that
Loose interpretations
Andrew Anthony scores several direct hits in his critique of the liberal left, but he should try to develop a deeper understanding of true liberalism.
Is Labour about to lose its poll lead?
Could Nick Palmer be right about the next round of surveys?
In a post last night Nick Palmer - the Labour MP for Broxtowe and the first of any party to contribute to Politicalbetting under his own name - made an extraordinary prediction about the next round of polls.
The Tories' 'dodgy' hospital dossier?
The Tory leader is - yet again - on the defensive, this time over the accuracy of his party's list of proposed hospital closures and downgradings .
As per usual the problems for Mr Cameron have come mainly from within. Henry Bellingham, the shadow justice minister and MP for
Sharpen Up!
Arthur Ma discusses his disapproval of David Cameron.
Now I know it’s hardly my place to berate Our Dear Leader ™ but David Cameron really ought to sharpen up. With the amount of gaffes he is accumulating he is turning out to be more like Bush than Blair.
Mickey Mouse degrees are just the job
OK then, let's have a good snigger. Let's all look at the list of these so-called degrees, and sneer at the pathetic delusions of the students who are taking them. In the saloon bars of
No certainties
The German leader, Angela Merkel is making her first visit to No 10 during Gordon Brown's premiership. (You might remember it's not the first time they have met as leaders - Gordon Brown raised a few eyebrows by choosing to go first to
I'm told the two leaders are discussing health matters in the developing world. But what is not officially on the agenda, and what at the beginning of the summer Gordon Brown didn't really fancy talking about either, is the draft EU reform treaty.
Nick Robinson (Laura Kuenssberg)
Are we out of step on
Gordon Brown has rejected calls for a
There was one important quote in the BBC report which led me to think the party is out of step on
Norman Lamb and Facebook: descent into farce
OK, this started off rather seriously - someone faking a Norman Lamb MP profile on Facebook. It then got rather bizarre when the computer used to send emails out from the linked fake Homtial address was also used to post comments from eight different aliases to this site trying to shift the blame to UKIP, Labour and the Liberal Democrats (but never the Conservatives).
A month of silver linings
From the absence of John Reid to the elimination of ITN gimmicks, August hasn't been all bad
1 comment:
Iain Dale has some competition then?
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