Tag Archives: local politics

Lib Dem local parties – 2013

Any local branch of a political party that earns or spends £25,000 in any given year has to report their financial data to the Electoral Commission for public view. Here are the top earners for the Liberal Democrats.

  1. Bermondsey & Old Southwark (£178k)
  2. Sheffield (£163k)
  3. Westmoreland & Lonsdale (£156k)
  4. Twickenham (£137k)
  5. Kingston & Surbiton (£107k)

For more details on previous years, see here. 

Academic posts on the Liberal Democrats this week

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.

Michael Ashcroft Polling on Liberal Democrat marginals

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

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

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?

My first published article

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.

ArticleNew StatesmanPolitical Studies Association blog; Democratic AuditLondon School of Economics Politics & Policy blogLiberal Democrat VoiceMark Pack

Lib Dem article