252 posts from 99 blogs (490 total feeds).
Caitlin Moran makes the point that Boris Johnson's comedic charms make him a poor choice for London mayor. While I agree Ken Livingstone is the more able candidate who...
Paul Collier's insightful comment on the impact of the increasing price of food on Africa, where its impacts are most sharply felt, illustrates the dangers of "agricul...
The results of the local elections in England and Wales are mostly in and even the most fatalistic of predictions have been proven correct. Labour have lost 300 counci...
There has been a great deal of suspicion in the blogosphere regarding the political integrity of Total Politics, the new venture run by several former 18 Doughty Street...
Having spent a year strutting around Holyrood like a brutal prison guard, with a sycophantic anti Labour media urging on the bully. Salmond (the spiv) has been forced ...
Buxom milk maids Apples Orderly queues Ability to tut in the face of terror The long bow Tabloid sleaze Winston Churchill Tendency towards binge drinking Oak trees Hea...
Post election there are a lot of things to analyse. On the whole we feel that Labour posted some good results in north London, from a lower point 2 years ago. Here i...
You may have noticed that I posted earlier about possible Labour London mayoral candidates but I have to confess to committing the most atrocious sin of omission whe...
Confession: as you may know I got to part 2 of this two-part Helen Raynor story a little late: what can I say? If my boys will have a scrap about who gets my attention...
The state of the parties in the Council today is as follows: 1. Labour - 41 seats 2. Conservative - 10 3. Independents - 8 4. CAP - 7 5. Liberals - 4 6. Independ...
Ireland's new Taoiseach Brian Cowen has made an imaginative start with the new cabinet he announced on Wednesday, with the promotion of the able rising star Mary Coug...
Don’t forget the CLP dinner tonight at the Brown Cow in Winton!
See you all there!
Imagine you are a local Tory - it is May 1st and after years of hurt and pain you see that the party nationally is on the up and locally it has won seats and is going ...
In the last set of Mayoral elections, Ken Livingstone’s independence from New Labour effectively meant that he was able to ride out the storm that swirled around it. T...
You couldn't make it up! Boris Johnson has established an independent panel to clean the Augean Stables of City Hall and the London Development Agency of any and all...
I've been looking around Norm's archives, and I've just seen this post that I missed at the time. It's a roundup of Emmylou Harris' back catalogue. I'd broadly agree ...
Another YouGov poll has provided even more bad news for Gordon Brown. Not only has Labour's support slid again, it is now at its lowest level since records began. The ...
Oh dear. I've been publicly named and shamed in the Evening Standard! Yesterday I made the tiny mistake of sending a draft document not yet ready for public consumptio...
I was going to leave the subject of politics at this point but it has just been reported that yet another sitting councillor has deserted the CAP to go independent. Th...
But not quite too busy to comment. On Danny Finkelstein’s look at the latest shift in opinion polls. (I reference another recent column of his, which can be found here.)
I’ve written here before about how easy the Tories find it to revert to type and assume that power is about to be handed back to them on a silver platter. Now...
General Petraeus was briefing the President.
He told the President that three Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq.
To everyone’s amazement, all the colour ...
A round-up of what's been going on at progressive organisations this week, and a look forward to next week ......
It’s great to see that my colleague in the Oxford Labour Party, Cllr Joe McManners, got a motion passed last year to ensure that all City Council employees are ...
This one's for my youngest brother, who I know occasionally looks in on this blog, and who used to be my excuse for watching 'Sesame Street' (via):
This, from the Archbishop of Westminster, is an encouraging sign: I would want to encourage people of faith to regard those without faith with deep esteem because the...
I don’t usually do this kind of thing, but I did this one last year, and Josh asked me if I’d post this year’s version. It’s over the fold̷...
“I’m doing as I damn please for the next two years and to hell with all of them.”
Harry Truman, after the congressional elections of 1946
So. We&#...
A good piece over at Luke’s blog today with a few sensible suggestions about how we collectively take a step back from the abyss in the light of this morning...
Tonight the Warrington Wizards play the Lancashire Lions in the Co-operative Rugby League Conference, one of the lower tiers of rugby league. Long ignored by the BBC, ...
According to commentators of the weekend, last week's election results in London sounded the death knell for environmental policies for...
Next week there are two public meetings in Manchester to celebrate the fourtieth anniversay of the workers and students uprisings that swept the globe in 1968. Paris w...
And so despite our borough's impressive support for Ken Livingstone, Mayor Boris Johnson is a reality. What might it mean for Hackney? Inside Housing reports:
"Jam..."
Is it only me that thinks that Hugo Chavez's threat to intervene in the internal politics of Bolivia is a bit of a needle in the eye of his 'anti-imperialist' approach...
Myself and the indefatigable comrade Hatch have pieces in the latest edition of London Progressive Journal. Take a peek here.
I managed to record my appearance on Tuesday's Simon Mayo show on BBC Radio Five Live thanks to TV Eyes and Gareth Owens. Listen away. So far this year I've managed to...
Before anyone starts this is not a post about the leadership but about transport policy. I noticed this article in the Times. Frankly I’m not surprised because ...
If anybody were cruel enough to conduct an ideological paternity test on Ken Livingstone’s article in the Guardian this morning, the resultant DNA read-out would sur...
Though sadly their boot boy blogster doesn't realise that Labour and Tories are united in seeing Dick as pariah. The BNP cite Tory Leader Richard Barnes and Labour Le...
Two pieces of good news on reading in schools today. First, Ofsted reports that phonics has become more embedded in primary schools than was thought: there is still a c...
WE HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS IN NEWARK UK NEWS 2008
Dr Ian Cambell has taken over as Chairman of Newark and District Labour Party Branch from ...
From time to time, one reads articles in online newspapers that are written by people who don't have a clue about the subject they are covering. Or are merely paraphra...
Last year the investment trust Caledonia Investments sought shareholder approval at its AGM in July to make donations of up to £60,000 to the Conservative Party. You c...
I am frequently asked; what difference is there between this Labour government and a future Tory one? Part of the answer was provided by a Boris Johnson supporting co...
The best explanation for the bizarre story that circulated earlier this week about the appointment of the next Labour Party General Secretary that I have heard is this...
is the rather unattractive metaphor former Cllr Howarth (prop. Public Impact Ltd - remember "Your better off with Labour"?) has used about the Reading election results...
Some researchers were asked to find out about the links between sex, drink , drugs and young people. Hmmm. They : They questioned young people in nine cities, one ea...
Here's a report by Polly Curtis on the latest effort within the UCU: a motion for the upcoming annual conference, to 'consider the moral and political implications of ...
I went past the synagogue in Strasbourg on the tram this week, and there is a banner outside with pictures of Ingrid Betancourt and Gilad Shalit, who are both being he...
A newly elected Tory councillor has been forced to resign today after his past as a liar and a cheat was exposed by the Daily Mirror. He took time off his job at Tesc...
I still have about a dozen exam scripts to mark, an article for Manchester City Council, a speech to write for tomorrow's Labour Briefing AGM and have just h...
Stephen Pollard (under the title “Is the BBC out of control?”) and the Centre Right Blog at Conservative Home (under the title “Big Brother Corporati...
Venezuela will not stand back with its arms crossed, president tells cabinet
A speeding farmer has been found guilty of causing the death by dangerous driving of Deepings student Katie Shields. According to today's Stamford Mercury, the farmer...
Wellington Chibebe (opposite) and Lovemore Matombo (see this video) are respectively General Secretary and President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. They hav...
Tim Newman spent the first 15 years after his birth in 1977 in an isolated farmhouse without a TV, a mile outside Pembroke in south west Wales. At age 19 he was glad t...
Will have to be quick with this blog entry as I am v.busy. But Alex of Labourhome and Recess Monkey fame organised a Karaoke evening at St.Stephen's Tavern on Wednesday...
Appalling news for Labour In what is perhaps the most sensational opinion poll for decades the pollster that got the London Mayoral election spot on, YouGov is tonigh...
I agree with Kerron on this one. Boris is right on the Tube drinking issue, but please don't put it about that we agree with him ;) It's not Puritanism, or nanny state...
Intrigued to learn from last week's Local newspaper that Brynley Heaven who now lives in a village near Bourne worked closely with Ken Livingstone some three decades a...
Oh, dear. ‘Dave’ has decided to make the abolition of the 10p tax rate a central issue of the Crewe and Nantwich by-election. All very well if you want to...
With gas prices soaring and food prices at a new high, this seems an odd time to raise the subject of things getting cheaper. But in one small corner of our consumer ...
This is great news, and what being Labour should be all about. From the Oxford Mail: "Campaigners fighting for a minimum Oxford wage were celebrating last night afte...
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for. One morning, she realised she was having a massive stroke. She watched as her ...
Remember Derek? 3,000 Facebook unionists came together to get our Canadian pal reinstated in the good book, after he was banned for making friends too quickly, whilst ...
I thought it would get worse and it has. Labour Blogger Bob Piper, in his comment on my post of yesterday, thought Wendy's scheme a good one; and so it is, in theory,...
I find hot weather quite uncomfortable so I’m quite happy for it to be overcast with the odd shower, but today is different. Its Chrystal’s last day at s...
it looks as though the LibDems would prefer a minority Labour administration in Reading. Why? The people of Reading voted for change and you want to give them more o...
I’ve been doing some research and found that:
Overall Ken’s first preference vote increased by 208,239 - 30 per cent, over 2004 - increasing in every GLA...
Petomania alive and well and performed by Mr Methane
Last night, I watched Barack Obama being interviewed on CNN's "The Situation Room". He was thoughtful and articulate and, if I was an American, he would certainly have...
Details received from Abortion Rights: Emergency Protest – as MPs vote on women’s abortion ...
Robert Jospin, French pacifist, socialist, Lavaliste, and father of Lionel; born 9 June 1899, died 9 May 1990.
Yep, the one with the 26% Tory lead. I think it's about right in terms of a snapshot of where we are now - which is a pretty dark place for Labour. I'm not even going...
There was one last night, and it was in line with the main May 1st results (and in a key marginal parliamentary seat): Rochester South and Horsted ward, Medway Counci...
