Author Archives: tpbale

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About tpbale

I teach politics at Queen Mary University of London.

‘Want to get your research noticed by politicians? Work with a think tank’, Guardian, 27 April 2015

Academic impact on politicians can be a hit and miss affair. Indeed, when it comes to direct influence, it may well be more hit than miss. Carefully crafted press releases and the launch of new institutes is one thing. But … Continue reading

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‘Cameron looks more like a captive than a captain of his party’, ConservativeHome, 26 April 2015

You don’t have to have succumbed to full-blown “Milifandom” to notice that Labour’s leader seems to be having a better election than his Conservative counterpart. He can’t possibly be as ubiquitous in real life as he’s been on Twitter of … Continue reading

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‘UKIP should not be written off yet’, Financial Times, 24 April 2015

The narrative says one thing but the numbers say another. Contrary to common wisdom, the UK Independence party — and its leader — seem to be holding up fairly well under fire. There are plenty of accounts of the campaign … Continue reading

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‘General Election: the Parallels with 1970’s Shock Result’, Financial Times, 17 April 2015

Human beings are hard-wired to search for patterns and parallels — especially those that seem to confirm their existing prejudices. Hardly surprising, then, that politicians are so fond of comparisons between elections past and present, and so inclined to pick … Continue reading

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‘UK general election: ‘Happy Warrior’ confronts bomber pilot’, Financial Times, 10 April 2015

What constitutes a good week for a party leader during an election campaign depends very much on which leader you are talking about, as well as the kind of campaign they have made up their mind to fight. David Cameron, … Continue reading

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‘The Napoleonic truth about coalitions: getting most seats doesn’t mean you win’, Guardian, 6 April 2015

Imagine this. It’s Sunday 18 June 1815 near a little-known place called Waterloo. Battle lines are drawn when word comes down the line that Napoleon Bonaparte is to be declared the winner without a shot being fired. He, after all, … Continue reading

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‘Do party leaders really matter?’, FT, 3 April 2015

As TV debate postmortems continue into the weekend, we would do well to step back and ask ourselves a simple question — one that’s far more fundamental than who won and who lost on Thursday night. Do party leaders really … Continue reading

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‘An over-chillaxed David Cameron drops a brick with his bombshell’, FT, 24 March 2015

Either David Cameron is one of the more unusual men ever to have become British prime minister — one of those rare birds in politics (the last was Stanley Baldwin back in 1937) who quit while they are genuinely ahead … Continue reading

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‘The Labour Campaign, 2015: some educated guesses’, Political Studies Association Media Briefing, 24 March 2015

Labour will: Focus as much as possible on measures contained in three of its five rather vague pledges – particularly on its popular (if not necessarily workable or sensible) offers on university tuition fees (a heat seeking missile aimed directly … Continue reading

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‘It’s competence, stupid: Labour should have done more with the Tories’ mistakes’, New Statesman, 1 April 2015

We live in an era of valence rather than position politics.  Like it or not, most voters prefer good government to grand ideological visions.  This does not mean to say that there is no place for narrative or for values.  … Continue reading

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