Tag Archives: british politics

British politics

Academic posts on the Liberal Democrats this week

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The Liberal Democrats held their annual conference this week. There has been a lot of media focus, of course, but also some academic coverage. Most of the main academic blogs have provided insightful articles on the party’s prospects at the next general election beyond. Here are all the ones I’ve come across:

Why so chipper, Lib Dems? Party gears to bounce back. By Emma Sanderson-Nash for The Conversation.

Lib Dems still eyeing the coalition prize. By Andrew Russell for Manchester University Blogs.

Little sign of life, but look closely and the Lib Dems can cling on. By Mark Bennister for The Conversation.

Clegg’s speech a hit with Lib Dem faithful – but will it be enough for voters? By Wyn Grant for The Conversation.

The Lib Dems – Surviving rather than thriving, but surviving all the same. By Craig Johnson (me…) for The Crick Centre.

Prior Liberal Democrat voters who are now undecided will be crucial for the party in the 2015 general election. By Kathryn Simpson for LSE Politics & Policy.

‘Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling’ – Nick Clegg’s Conference Speech. By Andrew Scott Crines.

British politics

PMQs for the people: still happening?

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At last week’s Labour Party Conference, much was made of Ed Miliband forgetting to directly discuss the deficit and immigration in his main leader’s speech. However, one thing I don’t recall hearing at all from anybody last week in Manchester was the idea for a public Prime Minister’s Questions.

The idea was first raised in July by Ed Miliband, when he said the following:

I think what we need is a public question time where regularly the prime minister submits himself or herself to questioning from members of the public in the Palace of Westminster on Wednesdays.

It received a mixed response at the time. Patrick Wintour from the Guardian labelled it a ‘cracking idea‘, whilst Steven Fielding from Nottingham University called it a ‘PR response to a profound problem‘.

Since then, little has been said on the plan, and there’s no news of the speaker receiving more details from the Leader of the Opposition.

A search for ‘Public PMQs’ takes you to all of the media announcements from July. A search for ‘People’s PMQs’ takes you to the Labour Party’s website, where it says that you can ask the Labour leader Gordon Brown a question about the upcoming 2010 general election…

British politics

Michael Ashcroft Polling on Liberal Democrat marginals

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This afternoon, Michael Ashcroft addressed the Conservative Party Conference, providing a host of individual seat polls of interest to them. Of course, many of these will also be of interest to the Liberal Democrats. The polls were each of 1000 people during the July-September period. They should be noted as a snapshot of the time, and not a snapshot of next May.

Continue reading Michael Ashcroft Polling on Liberal Democrat marginals →

British politics

Lib Dem pre-manifesto launched

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The Liberal Democrats launched their pre-manifesto this morning, after postponing it last week due to events in the middle-east. The announcement of Kate and William’s baby won’t have helped matters this morning, but those I doubt the coverage would have been so much more noticeable without it. Continue reading Lib Dem pre-manifesto launched →

British politics

Constituency odds – an update

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Back in April, I blogged about Ladbrokes’ decision to open betting markets on individual constituencies ahead of next year’s general election. I particularly pointed out four constituencies  that might be especially interesting: Bath, Brighton Pavilion, Redcar and Wells. In this post, I’d like to give an update to see if there’s been much change in the last three months. Continue reading Constituency odds – an update →

British politics, Conferences

Ed Davey on prospects of coalition in 2015

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Taken from LibDemVoice.

Huffington Post are reporting on their website that Ed Davey has predicted a Liberal Democrat-Labour coalition after 2015. This is based on an answer he gave to a question asked at the Social Liberal Forum conference on Saturday. Since it was yours truly that asked the question, I thought that my own perspective on it might be useful. Originally, I decided not to blog too heavily on his comments – especially as he’d asked the audience to respect his right to speak freely in a small Q+A without being publicly broadcast. I blog now on it only in light of Huffington Post publishing his answer.* Continue reading Ed Davey on prospects of coalition in 2015 →

British politics, Conferences

Social Liberal Forum Conference

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On Saturday, I went to the Social Liberal Forum Conference, held in the Amnesty International Building in Shoreditch, London. The event was well attended by Liberal Democrat members and activists (I was there in an academic capacity). Speakers included Tim Farron MP, Vince Cable MP and Ed Davey MP.  Continue reading Social Liberal Forum Conference →

British politics

Think you can predict the next general election? What about Aberdeenshire West & Kincardine?

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A little while ago I wrote a blog about opinion polls and what to do with them. It highlighted how interpretation of opinion polling is often more focused on grabbing a headline than trying to actually make use of the data it has provided. It seems to be one of those blogs that I can keep on sharing, because the headlines just keep on coming.

Of course, one popular polling question is to ask the respondent who they will vote for at the next general election. From all the collected responses, people can have a stab at who might form the next government. Opinion polls are important and this regard, and the likes of Electoral Calculus, UK Polling Report and Polling Observatory all do a great job in making predicting the next government a little bit more informed, and quite frankly, a little bit more fun… Continue reading Think you can predict the next general election? What about Aberdeenshire West & Kincardine? →

British politics

My first published article

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A couple of months ago, I wrote a piece entitled ‘Publishing academic work‘, which noted the advice and comments by staff members in Politics at Newcastle that edited academic journals. I mentioned in that piece that I had submitted a piece of work for peer review. The said piece was accepted for publication in the Politics journal, and is now available online. The link to the article and links to blogs/websites that have highlighted it are below.

Article; New Statesman; Political Studies Association blog; Democratic Audit; London School of Economics Politics & Policy blog; Liberal Democrat Voice; Mark Pack

Lib Dem article