Category Archives: Uncategorized

‘Forward Together: What the Tory manifesto says about Europe’, UK in a Changing Europe, 21 May 2017

Ah, Hear’Say! Not ‘hearsay’, as in stuff that you can’t really substantiate, but Hear’Say – the reality-TV band who went up like a rocket and down like a stick at the beginning of the noughties. Even if you can’t remember … Continue reading

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‘Greens can thrive as a party on the margins’, Times, 31 May 2017

The Greens are clearly the most left-leaning of all the parties that won significant support in 2015. Whether they can repeat their performance then (3.8 per cent and one million votes) is a moot point but even if they end … Continue reading

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‘Four reasons why the Lib Dem fightback may fall flat’, Times, 30 May 2017

Tim Farron’s party had high hopes for this election, based on its claim to represent the fabled 48 per cent who voted to remain in the EU last summer and on the impressive increase in membership it has seen since … Continue reading

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‘Ukip seems to be facing a pretty bleak future’, Times, 1 June 2017

Theresa May isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but she has been extraordinarily successful in winning over the support of many of the nearly four million people (12.6 per cent of the electorate) who voted for the populist radical right United … Continue reading

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‘After an enormous victory in local elections, should the Tories fear voter complacency in the General? No’, CityAM, 8 May 2017

If your team is 3-0 up at half-time, then you can be fairly confident that you’re going to pull off an easy win. But even so, you need to guard against complacency. Remember the 2005 Champions League final, when the … Continue reading

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‘Britain’s Labour Party is seeing a flood of new members. That’s why it’s in such trouble.’, Washington Post, 10 May 2017

Whether you look at the opinion polls or at the beating it’s just taken in a slew of local elections, Britain’s Labour Party is in a lot of trouble. Theresa May, the country’s Conservative prime minister, called for an early general election next month. … Continue reading

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‘What matters for Labour is not the general election but what happens next’, New Statesman, 19 May 2017

A handful of recent polls suggest Labour is doing better than many expected at the start of the campaign.  Whatever the reason, though, the gap between it and the Conservatives is still a yawning one.  Bluntly, it remains the case … Continue reading

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‘Theresa May announces dramatic re-think on “dementia tax”‘, 22 May 2017

In a hastily-scheduled (and totally-hypothetical) media appearance, Mrs May said the following: ‘Governing is about making hard choices but it’s also about listening and, wherever possible, about building a national consensus. In the last few days it’s become clear to … Continue reading

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Theresa May’s offer on ‘workers’ rights’: how does it stack up against past Tory governments?

Most Conservative governments in the 20th century couldn’t really be said to have positively increased workers’ rights.  Indeed, some of them actually eroded them – most obviously the Thatcher government but also, one could argue, the Baldwin government (with its post- … Continue reading

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‘Lights, camera, discussion? The role of televised debates in modern elections’, Centre for Public Impact, 26 April 2017

Theresa May, it would appear, has poured water on the idea of televised leader’s debates during the ‘snap’ UK general election she’s just called.  Depending on your point of view, this means either that she is ‘running scared of the … Continue reading

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