Monthly Archives: October 2011

New political grammar: Campaign in poetry, govern in prose, speak in fragments, question in cliche, debate in non-sequiter, trade in insult. Me, yesterday   Yesterday's PMQs left me profoundly depressed. Partly it because in the midst of a great economic crisis … Continued

David Cameron gave us a lesson in how he led the Tory partry to near-victory today, and showed doing so might have been a major mistake. It’s funny that it comes to this. Simmering resentment on the Tory backbenches with … Continued

Amidst all the shrieking and wailing amongst Conservative MPs who have convinced themselves it is essential they take a principled stand for a non-binding motion making vague proposals on an issue that is of significant importance to a tiny fragment … Continued

I’ve said before that the divisions in the Conservative party, and especially those divisions created by the varied passions and interests of the Tory right are something that Labour strategists should consider very carefully as they look for ways to … Continued

Newly Crowned “Blogger of The Year” Sunny Hundal* put an article up last night about the differing approaches on the left to the OccupyLSX movement.  Along with various hated relics of the Blairite right (Step forward Hodges, Painter and Marchant, … Continued

A question for those peturbed, as most of us are, by the disturbing rise in inflation we saw yesterday. What does the 2011 version of “Whip Inflation Now” look like? I feel in my bones that many Tories hunger to go … Continued

A friend of mine used to work for the Conservative party in opposition. He was unlucky enough to have the Schools policy brief when the Tories was going through one of their occasional traumas over whether to make the expansion … Continued

I promise not to go on too much about my running and/or diet here. However, I thought these photos told the story of Sunday’s Great Eastern Run half marathon rather well. I’m tempted to make one my new twitter profile … Continued

Politics is all about plans at the moment. We have plan A, plan B, plan C, plan A plus,  and, today a plan for Jobs and Growth. Politicians love plans. Perhaps we should remember that the one thing most people know … Continued

I’m often surprised how rarely people grasp the dynamics of political tactics. I don’t know why I am so surprised by this, because I can’t operate a drill with more than a fifteen per cent chance of success, and am currently … Continued