[IMG: Business Financial Disaster Headlines] For three days this week Manchester played host to the (un)conference Boom Bust Boom Bust: why economics is for everyone. The organisers put together an impressive programme of speakers and participants, including a number of the highest profile academic economists, political economists, and economics commentators in the UK. The programme also included a number of contributions from policy professionals and activitists. The fact that the event was organised by enthusiastic students from Post-Crash Economics Society at the University of Manchester and other UK institutions makes this doubly impressive. A characteristic that united the unconference organisers ...
A few weeks ago the New Walk Centre, for many years the offices of Leicester City Council, were demolished. I photographed the buildings on their last full day and posted a video of their demise. As you can see above, I went back today to photograph the site. But what, I hear you ask, was on this site before the New Walk Centre was built in the early 1970s? Thanks to a new discovery, the University of Leicester's collection of photographs Vanished Leicester, I can show you the site being cleared in 1971, just as it is being cleared now. ...
Colin Hall has represented Wallington South since he was first elected to Sutton Council in 1998. We have been colleagues working together on behalf on the residents of the ward since I became a councillor in 2006. His illness and untimely death has been a shock to me and to the very many people who [...]
King Henry VIII: Her figure's all right. What about her face? Thomas Cromwell: I am assured, sire, it is the fairest in all Normandy. King Henry VIII: What about her... [indicates hourglass figure] Thomas Cromwell: The fullest in all Normandy. King Henry VIII: Has she been chaste? Thomas Cromwell: All over Normandy.When I saw that Carry On Henry was on ITV3 this afternoon, I was interested to see how far Kenneth Williams' interpretation of the role of Thomas Cromwell had influenced that of Mark Rylance in Wolf Hall. However, judging by appearances, it was Kenneth Connor as Lord Hampton of ...
The Times' political coverage is, I tend to think, the best of the non-specialist newspapers (I'm not including the FT in that group). Ok, it's a Murdoch paper and inevitably leans centre-right – but it's no Daily Telegraph. It's also distinguished by having a stable of extremely sensible commentators and columnists. These come from disparate [...]
[IMG: leftrightcross] Remember 'on message, in volume, over time'? There was a bit of a stir a couple of years ago when Liberal Democrats were told that's what we had to do to ensure that the 'stronger economy, fairer society' message was buried into the public consciousness. Which makes it all the stranger that that message (and its later addition 'opportunity for everyone') appears to have disappeared from the party's latest poster. Still, I'm not a campaigning and marketing genius being paid huge sums of money to run election campaigns, so I'm obvious missing the complex subtleties behind the apparent ...
Hastings Independent Press has asked the candidates for the General Election in Hastings & Rye a series of questions, and the answers have been published over the editions before Polling Day. Here is what I said about my vision for Hastings over the next five years: 'Hastings and St Leonards are fantastic places to grow up, live [...]
It would be nice to think that one or a tiny group of business leaders thought that George Osborne had done a cracking job on economic policy, told their pals, and another hundred or so spontaneously jumped in to offer support and put their names to letter which claimed: "We believe the Conservative-led government has been good for business and has pursued policies which have supported investment and job creation." They then go on to advise that voting other than Conservative would be a terrible thing and lead to economic chaos and collapse (I paraphrase this bit as I have ...
I joined our Whickham North Councillors in Swalwell last night for a bit of campaigning. Swalwell was home to me for 15 years. We lived in Napier Road, in two Tyneside flats knocked into the one terrace house. We moved from there to Swalwell 12 years ago but we thought it useful to get a photo in the street. I'm pictured above with local Lib Dem Councillors Chris Ord, Sonya Hawkins and Peter
The Guardian has a story today on DIY dentistry, which is apparently on the rise in the UK due to cost and lack of access in certain parts of the country: In a country that prides itself on free healthcare, DIY dentistry is an almost Victorian notion of hardship. But poverty and inequality - and [...]
Well, you will have heard it time and time before. Commentators will tell us that we simply cannot win, opposition will tell us that we simply don't matter. I can tell you, they are all wrong. This General Election will be the hardest fought in our history. However, there has never been a more important time to stick our head above the parapet and make the unambiguous case for a strong liberal voice in politics. I for one am up for the challenge. I have been an MP for over 30 years (a point my campaign team like to emphasise ...
Lots of social media sharing by parties during/after #LeadersDebate – but little use of petitions etc to get voters' data #MissedOpportunity — Blue Rubicon Digital (@BlueRubiconDigi) April 3, 2015
Let me count the ways I hate you, LinkedIn and the manner in which you encourage people to behave. 1. There's far, far too much willy-waving going on. For some reason that completely escapes me, people write in a strange kind of LinkedIn-ese that you see nowhere else (except on CVs destined for the 'reject' ... Continue reading »
Fri 3rd
14:55
Ssssh! People are excited about the idea of voting and applying to register in record numbers
Remember the drill. Keep this just between you and me because the rules only allow negative stories about the state of our democracy. Rules which everyone must follow. So keep it to yourself, but the phenomenally dull official paperwork known as polling cards is* generating excitement amongst voters: Polling card has arrived. This excites me! — Charlotte Rogers (@charjo75) April 2, 2015
The party issued a new poster today to highlight the raising of the tax threshold which comes into effect on Monday. It means that every taxpayer is £825 a year better off thanks to the implementation of the pledge that was on the font page of our manifesto. [IMG: Tax cuts election poster]
I've never really been the kind of person to give an instant reaction to anything. My sister is the complete opposite: you could tell us both the same news and you'd know instantly what her response was – usually incoherent rage righteous anger. I'm usually slow to react, either because I'm still trying to get my head around what [...]
Well, I was wrong. I was wrong on many counts. First, I thought last night's debate with the seven leaders would be boring but found it was able to cover some issues which would never have been otherwise covered at all - though climate change only got a nod, even from Natalie Bennett. I don't agree with my friend Nick Tyrone that it was dull - not in comparison with the boring snoring (as they say) prime ministerial grilling by Paxman it wasn't. Second, I was wrong that Miliband was recovering his style. I realise this isn't the way the ...
Lib Dems Believe Wordle 15 I really like the shape this one turned out with!
I've always been concerned about what is happening to our environment, but also not convinced by the Greens' socialistic and anti-business stand. I also believe in the individual and the need to enable equality of opportunity for everyone, so when I read the Preamble to the Lib Dem Constitution I thought, that's it! That sums upeverything I stand for too. "The Liberal Democrats exist to build andsafeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity. ...
An envelope has just popped through my door with a cheque for £10 in it. It is one of several that I have received in response to an appeal that we put out to known Lib Dem voters in my ... Continue reading →
Homophobic Tory MP @Stewart4Pboro tells gay constituent to "never bother me again". pic.twitter.com/BQiScIfn1e — Middle Aged Gay (@_MiddleAgedGay_) March 31, 2015
As I walk from door to door, asking questions, discussing political opinions, wondering about the opinions of those who are out, or not answering the door, I have to wonder what actually influences people's decisions. To vote, not to vote, ... Continue reading →
Fri 3rd
11:30Voting intention opinion polls 1943-present: new update as Parliament nears 2,000 polls
[IMG: Poll piechart] Ready for your general election prognostications, the latest quarterly update to my spreadsheet of opinion poll data since 1943 is now up at: http://www.markpack.org.uk/opinion-polls/ You can also sign up on that page to get email notifications about future updates. Remember of course not to get too excited about individual polls showing apparent shifts in support, for the reasons my analysis of YouGov polls demonstrates. But with 1,962* national voting intention polls published so far, there is of course no need to... so enjoy! * That's more than the previous four Parliaments added together: 2005 Parliament: 684 2001 ...
I was worried that last night's leaders debate on ITV would be a fiasco, with seven contending figures, but in fact it held well together under the firm but fair chairmanship of Julie Etchingham. I thought Prime Minister David Cameron looked rather pained for much of the time, but then we all knew he did [...]
Last month, 2,300 people descended on Westminster for the Homes for Britain rally calling for all political parties to end the housing crisis in a generation, and publish a plan within a year of office setting out how they would do this. It was an inspirational moment, and one of the biggest campaign rallies I have ever seen. Many people from took part in the relay leading up to it – walking, running, cycling from all over the country. There was even a bus, Betsy, who journeyed up from Land's End, visiting towns and cities along the way taking the ...
Today is world autism day, and this year's theme is employment (tags: ) How Labour's Zero-Hours policy could make things worse (tags: ) MyAusomeLife has a plan for autism awareness day (tags: ) bird and moon on the difference between venomous & poisonous (tags: ) Do you have Scottish qualifications? Home Office panda to discredit them for teaching ESL. (tags: ) Stunning Terry Pratchett graffiti - Album on Imgur (tags: ) 19 Gentle Giant Dogs with Their Tiny Human Friends ♡♡♡ (tags: ) Yes, no, no, yes, the other kind are better, yes & yes, no, who cares, no it's ...
[IMG: 16831532229_84d1e9411b_z] Click on the photo to enlarge it. Merseyrail's Bank Hall Station on the Liverpool – Southport Northern Line is very drab so this brightly painted 507/8 EMU certainly made a slash when it stopped there. The photo is amongst my Flickr shots at:- www.flickr.com/photos/86659476@N07/
Here's some of the articles that have caught my attention this week... Lib Dems nervously eye post-election future – FT.com Delicious FT snippet on LibDem MP Tessa Munt, who's "gone rogue" in Somerset http://on.ft.com/1I7jElj StephenTall.org Me on why @LordAshcroft's "comfort polling" taunt at LibDems is wide of the mark http://bit.ly/1yExfYQ Lord Ashcroft: Clegg is two points behind Labour in Sheffield Hallam. My latest Lib Dem marginals polling. | Conservative Home Touching Lord Ashcroft assumption of how aware voters are about candidates in their own area http://bit.ly/1C71FD8 YouGov | How campaigns can make a difference Gotta admire Kellner's confidence that pre-campaign ...
A new report suggests Lincolnshire has the most dangerous roads in the country. In 2014, 40 people died and 292 were seriously injured on roads in the county. People living in rural communities are the most likely to be "killed or seriously injured" on the roads, according to findings by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety and Direct Line Car Insurance. The Daily Telegraph and The Times covered this story recently. Our recent holiday in Shropshire brought this home to us with all kinds of wild driving going on around its country roads. I was even harried by an ...
Yesterday I got an email from Ed Miliband, which included part of his online Q &A session: "I am stuck as to whether to vote Labour or Lib Dem. I am not interested in past records either, I am looking to the future. Many people fall in an "in-between zone", not poor enough to receive help with living costs, but not rich enough to be able to stay on top of general living costs. How would Labour deal with this? — Zoe, Norfolk Ed: Hi Zoe, you're absolutely right that the problem in our economy right now is that recovery ...
[IMG: itvleaders] [IMG: yougovleaders] As I said in my post last night, one explanation for the differing results given in the post-debate opinion polls was that they could be asking different questions. Having had a chance to look at some of the reporting of the polls, it seems they were – or, at least, they asked a variety of questions but the headline results given were in response to different questions. ICM for the Guardian are unclear what they asked in the report on their site but the Guardian's liveblog reports the question as 'who do you think won the ...
Last night's leaders' debate. I don't want to say I was breathless with anticipation in the run up, but I was looking forward to the whole thing. But by the half way point of last night's proceedings, I really had to push myself to keep watching. Not because it was a depressing indictment of modern politics or anything that grand – it was just really, really boring. The format didn't work at all, I mean at all. I figured it wouldn't, but not in the way it actually played out. I thought it would be a sort of entertaining mash-up, ...
Thanks to the Metro, we have our Headline of the Day,
1, the moderator totally needs a mike-cutting button for each participant. Cameron & Farage in particular kept shouting over her, and I thought it was incredibly rude. 2, the polls of who won are going to be stuffed with party partisanship. Much more interesting to me are the polls of who people thought did worst, because with 6 enemies to choose from the partisans are going to be more honest. The other interesting - and sobering - stats were the questions most Google during the debate. 3, ITV want to be quite careful about political balance given the relative amount ...
Having had residents' complaints about the poor state of the pavement on the east side of Norwood Crescent, I took this up with the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership. I have now received a response as follows : "I ... would advise that the Roads Maintenance Partnership inspector for the area has arranged for several holes to be filled on the grano section from number 1 to Blackness Road."
The Test Centre explains: Pedigree Mongrel is an album by Jonathan Meades composed of specially-recorded readings from his books Pompey, Museum Without Walls and An Encyclopaedia of Myself. Combined with the distinctive soundscapes of Mordant Music, it is both a unique retrospective of Meades' fictional and essayistic writings, and a new and significant standalone work.You can read more about the project in an interview the great man gave to The White Review: "Even though he lived well into the period of sound recording, one of the great regrets is that there's nothing by A. E. Housman. Housman reading Shropshire Lad ...
Yes, it really is Enoch Powell doing this. Here's the official description of the photograph from Getty: "Face tense, knees braced, Homburg firmly set up and down he goes in Belgravia, the envy of every child in sight. Mr Enoch Powell (1912-1998), 49-year-old Minister of Health, is demonstrating the correct use of the pogo stick." The photo got a little revival in 2003 (the fuller story behind which is here) and pops up from time to time on social media, as with Lord Bonkers. UPDATE: @markpack In terms of great politician photos, I've a soft spot for "levitating Richard Nixon" ...
One of the first rules of successful engagement on social media is that you should manage it yourself so that people know that they are talking with the politician in person rather than some apparatchik. Some politcians get away with having staff manage their account, others have suffered embarrassment as employees get carried away and post things on behalf of their boss that go that little bit too far. The secret though must surely be not to allow others to see that it is not the politcian posting. Thus posting tweets whilst engaging in a live debate on television in ...
Mark Hunter brought Deputy PM Nick Clegg to meet Dan and Joanne Thompson on Thursday. Dan and Joanne founded Millie's Trust after the tragic death of their nine month old daughter Millie at Ramillies Hall School, Cheadle Hulme in 2012. Deputy PM Nick Clegg and Mark Hunter with Dan and Joanne Thompson, pictured with baby Leo, and Amy McGagh with her baby Sophie – photo from MEN Supported by Mark, Dan and Joanne have battled to change the law. The fight has been successful – from next year new nursery staff will need to have a paediatric first aid qualification. ...
It was great to see three women in the leaders' debate last night. Despite being a political junkie, I actually hate these debates and was not intending to watch. But I got sucked in. On the whole, I was impressed that, across the board, the leaders seemed reasonable and normal. I was particularly impressed by Leanne Wood. I thought Nick Clegg made a great point when he rounded on Ed Miliband and asked him to apologise for being part of the Labour government that "crashed the economy". It's a great point. Ed Miliband was there with his faux outrage about ...
