Augustus Carp wanders off from his usual subjective enquiries into councillor defections to consider some objective examples of real voters casting real votes for real candidates in the recent local elections. If you are a regular reader of this site, you are probably well aware of the iniquities of our election system. You don't need a lecture from me or, probably, anyone else on the subject, but you might like to consider some of the more unusual results thrown up in the recent county council elections. To set the scene, in order for a candidate - or party - to ...
For most of my lifetime the UK has had a Balance of Payments problem. This is not the much discussed current problem of the government's expenditure exceeding its income, thus appearing to require stern "fiscal rules" (though we've had that as well) but the balance of our our external payments. As a country we have persistently spent more money on the products of other countries, imports, than we have earned by selling British products to other countries, exports. Imports have to be paid for in foreign currencies. Exports earn foreign currencies. The two must, in the long run, balance. One ...
Tired, in actual fact exhausted. Almost no sleep for 24 hours, however it was worth it! There is no better way to enable people to vote in any elections so that they can actively shape the future of their communities, towns, cities and countries, especially when you live abroad. It might have been a small event, however it was a significant and historic moment for the Polish community in Hertfordshire. For the very first time, a polling station for the Polish presidential elections was opened in Welwyn Garden City on Sunday, 18 May. It really felt like a wonderful "democratic ...
South Africa's White farmers—and, face it, most of South Africa's farmers are White Afrikaners—are facing difficulties. Are they being subjected to a government-orchestrated genocide? No, that is a Trumpist calumny of the first order. Are they being buried in their thousands along the road as show in one of the videos that Trump showed in the Oval Office? No, that was a five year-old video showing a temporary memorial to two Boer farmers. What about all the newspaper cuttings that Trump produced in his ambush of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa? Those were all about fighting in the war-torn Democratic ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with the latest MRP projections and party leadership ratings. If you'd like to find out more about how polls work, how reliable they are and how to make sense of them, check out my book, Polling UnPacked: the History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls, or sign up for my weekly email, The Week in Polls: General election voting intention polls PollsterConLabLDGrnRefLab leadFieldwork Techne 17% (-1) 22% (nc) 16% (+1) 9% (nc) 30% (+1) -8% (vs Ref) 21-22/5 GB Find Out Now ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - SATURDAY 24 AND SUNDAY 25 MAY 2025 Shaftesbury Road (Hyndford Street to Seymour Street) - closed from Wednesday 21 May for 2 weeks for Scottish Water work. Hillcrest Road (at Marchfield Road) - closed for one week for Scottish Water work. Blackness Road (at Marchfield Road) - temporary traffic lights for one week for Scottish Work. REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 26 MAY 2025 Blinshall Street (Douglas Street to 50 metres south) - closed until August 2025 for construction works. Douglas ...
This article in Wales-on-line gives me an excuse to talk about one of Wales'most famous hymn writers, Daniel James, known also as Gwyrosydd. They report that pupils have helped to choose the name of a new 350-place special school in Swansea as Ysgol Calon Lan, in recognition of the Welsh hymn penned by Daniel James in the 1890s and set to the music of John Hughes, both of whom lived in Swansea. Calon Lan translates as Pure Heart, which seems an entirely appropriate name for this school. As the Calon Lan Centre website relates, Daniel James was born on 23rd ...
