tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-296185132008-05-20T21:14:26.233+01:00snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comBlogger444125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-25575145298887678632008-05-20T20:19:00.003+01:002008-05-20T21:14:26.295+01:00

The Telegraph has a piece about the LibDems deciding to ally with the Conservatives, which confirms an earlier piece in the FT in February that they were considering doing this. According to the Telegraph: Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, will support David Cameron if the Conservatives are the largest party in a hung Parliament. In consultations with senior members of the party, he

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-70005823833259942582008-05-20T20:19:00.001+01:002008-05-20T20:19:28.961+01:00

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-42197048382925094882008-05-18T16:33:00.009+01:002008-05-19T01:11:43.393+01:00

The opinion polls continue to look dire, with YouGov in the Times showing the Conservatives on 45%, Labour on 25% and the Liberal Democrats on 18%. These may of course just be the mid-term blues. But it is possible that Labour will lose the next general election. Before people leap out and call for Gordon Brown to step down and make way for someone else, all polls (including the YouGov one) show

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-24599565116502164932008-05-18T16:10:00.000+01:002008-05-18T16:33:26.754+01:00

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-27019038839984132332008-05-16T14:56:00.008+01:002008-05-17T00:37:06.479+01:00

Many commentators have expressed surprise at how well China has coped with her earthquake, dispatching aid, help and the Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. China, the story went, was a military/communist dictatorship akin to Burma's. It's taken two disasters, in Burma and China, to demonstrate the difference. It's easy to see why the misunderstanding arose: under Mao and his extremist wife, and the

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-51318055628197514842008-05-16T14:55:00.000+01:002008-05-16T14:56:16.286+01:00

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-31301499416228845592008-05-13T20:14:00.005+01:002008-05-13T22:21:20.643+01:00

Never let it be said that Labour does not cut taxes. Not only has the basic rate of tax been cut from 22% to 20%, effective this April, but in a statement in the commons this afternoon, Alistair Darling announced that he was raising the personal tax-free allowance as well. This means that the allowance will have increased from the £5225 in the 2007/8 tax year to £6035 in the 2008/9 tax year, an

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-19068285137538032482008-05-13T20:10:00.000+01:002008-05-13T20:14:28.059+01:00

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-97566476357967002008-05-10T17:05:00.005+01:002008-05-10T17:24:23.563+01:00

Cherie Blair's book is being serialised in the Times and all the papers are full of details about it, including the Daily Mail which dwells on it at some length. In particular the Mail gives prominence to a passage about Cherie's attitude to money and MP's salaries, with quotes from the book: "When the move to Number 10 became a probability the accountant looked at our income and expenditure

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-35765894915920118722008-05-10T17:05:00.001+01:002008-05-10T17:05:40.256+01:00

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-2264227538102618952008-05-06T17:02:00.004+01:002008-05-06T19:35:42.188+01:00

Yay! Go Wendy! I hope Westminster takes notice of what she's saying and gives the referendum the go-ahead. I don't believe that the Scots want independence from the UK. They are not that stupid, and the ties (including family ties and business ties) with England bind tightly and run far too deep, as people have moved freely back and forth over the centuries, settling all over the place and

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-5294315597544775422008-05-06T17:01:00.000+01:002008-05-06T17:02:18.794+01:00

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-77618189557097483142008-05-03T15:51:00.005+01:002008-05-03T17:22:22.630+01:00

Local elections are the great safety valve of British democracy. They offer voters a cost-free way of venting their feelings and sending a message to government without risking anything more important than who does their bin collection (London obviously is the exception). The last time Labour did this badly was in 2004 when people furious about the Iraq war vented their feelings. I was one of

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-45350488500087510472008-05-03T15:51:00.001+01:002008-05-03T15:51:41.143+01:00

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-71440154281910992302008-04-29T19:58:00.002+01:002008-04-29T20:48:20.964+01:00

Barack Obama's campaign is in grave danger thanks to his pastor the Reverend Wright. Just as the whole pastorgate thing looked like it was dying, up pops Wright on national TV and according to the Washionton Post Wright praised Louis Farrakhan, defended the view that Zionism is racism, accused the United States of terrorism, repeated his view that the government created the AIDS virus to cause

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-62389415501553191922008-04-29T19:57:00.000+01:002008-04-29T19:58:20.532+01:00

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-89154938314827672382008-04-27T16:42:00.004+01:002008-04-27T17:19:55.685+01:00

According to the ONS, GDP grew by 0.4% in the first quarter, which is a slowdown from the previous quarter, but still higher than the growth we had going into the 2005 general election. It came as a disappointment to those who were claiming that we were "in recession", but still some papers tried gamely to spin this as "Economic Growth lowest in three years". Looking at the figures, as expected

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-54205329711491239062008-04-27T16:42:00.001+01:002008-04-27T16:42:27.144+01:00

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-19307781384040432932008-04-25T15:18:00.004+01:002008-04-25T16:06:25.755+01:00

YouGov have produced a poll which puts the Conservatives on 44%, Labour on 26%, LibDems on 17% and others on 13% (others broke down as follows: SNP/PC 4%, Green 3%, BNP 3%, Respect 0, other 1%). This gives the Conservatives a huge 18% lead, which comes as a surprise as the ICM poll just three days earlier put the Conservatives on 39%, Labour on 34%, Lib Dems on 19% and others on 9%, giving the

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-45413980989261095562008-04-25T15:18:00.001+01:002008-04-25T15:18:49.087+01:00

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-5289418926563994202008-04-23T20:43:00.005+01:002008-04-24T03:05:30.898+01:00

Gordon Brown got severely criticised by all the talking heads plus the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats for allowing the Olympic torch to enter Downing Street in his presence, and agreeing to go to the closing ceremony, especially as the French announced they would stay away from Beijing unless "certain conditions were met". The Lib Dems indulged in grandstanding to the extent of writing

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-63934297154792284872008-04-23T20:42:00.000+01:002008-04-23T20:43:47.056+01:00

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-3997776220076429832008-04-16T18:44:00.002+01:002008-04-16T19:07:57.575+01:00

Unemployment fell again according to figures out from the Office of National Statistics, and inactivity rates are also falling. The net result is that 74.9% of people of working age are now in work, a total of 29.51 million people, up 152,000 over the quarter and up 456,000 over the year. The number of outstanding vacancies is now 687,600 which is the highest since 2001. This accords with

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-19111278644400249522008-04-16T18:44:00.001+01:002008-04-16T18:44:29.210+01:00

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29618513.post-63501926261023683012008-03-27T11:30:00.003Z2008-03-27T12:14:32.462Z

The Sarkozys are in town lavishing extravagant praise on the British. Most Brits will smile but not take it too seriously. But should they? The most interesting comment about the visit comes from Germany's Deutche Welle, which observed that: Some political analysts have said the French president is reaching out to Brown because he does not get on well with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

snowflake5http://www.blogger.com/profile/14700425293614182769noreply@blogger.com