Time For Election Debates On TV
Should the party leaders debate on television during the next General Election? Not, it would seem, if Gordon Brown has anything to do with it.
At today's Prime Minister's New Conference both I and Newsnight's David Grossman invited him to take up the challenge. He refused even though he was wringing his hands only yesterday calling for "a new politics" to counter voter apathy and poor voter turnout.
Tim Bale: The problem of party change
So it looks like the polls, and therefore the party, are back on track after something of an anxious summer. The ‘Brown bounce’ may well be over, its demise apparently hastened by David Cameron’s end of summer ‘fightback’ – a much-welcomed move back on to traditional Tory territory like crime, immigration and Europe, albeit with enough mentions of the ‘broken society’ and ‘three-dimensional approaches’ to keep advocates of the ‘And Theory’ happy.
A long-term game that no one would have the bottle to try
To tax or not tax, to spend or not to spend. Those are the questions, right? Wrong. They're only the questions for the simpletons amongst the party political crowd. Be it the head bangers to the Right who perpetuate not only a mythical belief in a "core strategy" or the unthinking "anything but the Tories" loons to the Left, everything comes down to this simple reductionist worldview.
Has Andy Coulson done a good job so far?
It's time for Cameron to get tough- on his own MPs
There are two big reasons why Conservatives are behind in the polls. The first is that Gordon Brown is seen as ‘macho’ and David Cameron as weak, to say the least (how time have changed in recent months!) The second is that voters do not think the Conservative Party is really changing.
Cameron Puts Brown on the Spot over Debate
Delighted to see David Cameron putting Brown on the spot over his refusal to hold a debate with the other two party leaders during a general election campaign. Here's his letter to Brown...
If Brown doesn’t show up a leaders’ debate should continue
The Prime Minister told the
It grossly contradicts what he said when in opposition- a concept that with which British democracy is all too familiar.
Gordon Brown - serial kleptomaniac of political ideas
Just a few days ago, David Cameron proposed a crack down on violent videos and computer games viewed by kids.
Now Gordonius Brownus has stepped in:
Bob Crow - recruiting sergeant for de-unionisation
I wonder how many workers on substantially lower wages and worse terms and conditions than tube staff have been put off joining a trade union by the RMT's unnecessary 72-hour long act of economic vandalism this week and are cursing Bob Crow and his members as they walk home or queue for overcrowded buses?
Peter Watson looks at the causes of the London Underground strike and how it affects all of us. The Unions are striking again. Up there with the French Air Traffic Controllers and baggage handlers this is yet another summer calendar regular. So firstly I would like to say thanks to the unions for keeping to schedule, cheers fellas! I hope you enjoy the time off.
Will that be “as good as it gets” for Gordon?
It’s a moot point as to whether the honeymoon is finally over, but with the rash of recent polls showing Labour’s lead in the 0-3 point range, it’s generally accepted that the Brown bounce is fading at best (although the Times did note yesterday that Labour are still about 5 points higher than before his arrival). Certainly the polls showing Labour with solid leads of up to 10 points during the summer seem, for now at least, to have evaporated, and an autumn election looks less and less likely, unless there is sufficient improvement in Labour’s position during September such that Parliament could be dissolved by early October at the latest.
Put A Sock In It
Why oh why do some members of the party think that it is a good idea to start in-fighting? It doesn't help anyone except the Labour Party.
Why Ming Must Be Knifed - Could Kennedy Return?
Click HERE to read Danny Finkelstein's 'more sorry than in anger' destruction of Ming Campbell and his explanation of why the LibDems have to get rid of him. There was a time when I thought the LibDems would do just that, or that over the summer we would hear that he had decided to fall on his sword, citing health reasons. He's clearly not enjoying the job.
All right then, a manifesto of sorts
I expect to be away for a few weeks and thought I should leave a substantial article to give contributors something to chew on during that time. One correspondent recently suggested that I should draw up a manifesto for the non-existent party that I hope will arise when the Tories at last shuffle off their mortal coil and go wherever it is dead parties go.
Brown won't risk it
As I said I would, I have been keeping a daily eye on the betting markets for the date of the next election and the chance of an election this year has dropped off the edge of a cliff. Since Monday the implied chance of an election this year has dropped 12.3 percentage points to a touch over a one in ten chance. Even an election this spring is looking less likely now with that dropping 4.7 points to a 16.2% chance. The money has been shifting to dates from 2009 onwards, with all these dates seeing big increases in their likelihood.
3 comments:
Surely you mean 5th September and not 5th August, garbo!
D'oh!!
On the ball as ever, Thunder Dragon!
Well, it's always useful to know what month you're in!
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