Comment Archive
Displaying results 1 to 65 out of 119
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PMQs mystery
There is an unwritten rule, seldom broken, that the bigger the expectation before a parliamentary event, the greater the letdown when it happens.
Friday 4th June 2010
In defence of David Laws
The Daily Telegraph's revelations about David Laws reveal a minister in conflict.
Saturday 29th May 2010
Brass bands and humourless police officers
The House of Lords, packed with far-from-understated tiaras, freshly dry-cleaned ermine, and one terrifying-looking man with rolling eyes and Union Jack tie, eagerly awaited the arrival of her majesty.
Tuesday 25th May 2010
Well done - now meet the constituents from hell
John Black, defeated Member of Parliament for Midshire West, has a few words of advice for his successor.
Thursday 20th May 2010
Excuse me, are you a MP?
Nick Assinder grapples with the problem of trying to identify more than 200 unfamiliar faces in the new Parliament.
Thursday 20th May 2010
MPs face up to new politics
The first sitting of the new Parliament is always hard work for the brain to compute, but this year, with 232 new members’ faces to learn, memories are being given a marine-style work out.
Wednesday 19th May 2010
Generation Jones arrives at No. 10
Writer and broadcaster Jonathan Pontell speaks to ePolitix.com about the new generation of MPs. Using statistics from Dods Parliamentary Research Pontell explores the rise in power of ‘Generation Jones’.
Thursday 13th May 2010
Cameron and Clegg, they're here all week
Britain's new prime minister and deputy prime minister gave their first joint performance this afternoon, and judging by the laughter from those gathered to watch, opening night was a hit.
Wednesday 12th May 2010
Did they plan it all along?
So natural did the Lib Dem and Conservative leaders appear together that you could have been forgiven for thinking that they had planned this moment all along.
Wednesday 12th May 2010
Profile: Prime minister David Cameron
The United Kingdom has a new prime minister, David Cameron. Here we profile the nation's youngest leader in almost 200 years.
Tuesday 11th May 2010
Profile: Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg
Nick Clegg has led his party in to government. Here we profile Britain's new deputy prime minister.
Tuesday 11th May 2010
Six constitutional questions
Sam Macrory examines prospects for electoral reform, fixed term parliaments, presidential politics, party funding and the growing tensions within the union.
Tuesday 11th May 2010
Coalition will transform operation of Parliament
In the Palace of Westminster, procedure and protocol never fail to get MPs frothing with excitement, says Sam Macrory.
Tuesday 11th May 2010
Can a Con/Lib pact work?
The bartering has begun, and the Conservative Party's failure to secure any sort of majority will have profound implications for the legislative agenda.
Friday 7th May 2010
Election night winners and losers
Election night is made up of battles for individual seats with individual stories. We examine a few of the surprising, exciting and expected.
Friday 7th May 2010
Clegg's choice
This is a moment of maximum danger for the Liberal Democrats, says Sam Macrory.
Friday 7th May 2010
Election roadtrip: Vale of Clwyd count
The sports hall in the Denbigh Leisure Centre is now a hive of activity as the polls close.
Friday 7th May 2010
Prospects for a hung parliament
If Brown is able to hang on, what will he, Cameron, or Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, be able to do?
Thursday 6th May 2010
What happened to internet voting?
As millions of Britons trudge to their local polling stations to cast their vote, it seems a good moment to ask: What happened to the government's promise of "an e-enabled election some time after 2006"?
Thursday 6th May 2010
Election roadtrip: Crewe
The scene of a famous by-election victory for Tory Edward Timpson, Crewe and Nantwich looks set to remain blue at the general election.
Thursday 6th May 2010
Election roadtrip: Northampton North
After a tortuous journey through London and a zip along the M1, we have arrived in Northampton North.
Thursday 6th May 2010
Election night: Ones to watch
Here is our guide to constituencies to look out for during election night.
Thursday 6th May 2010
Leaders' debates were 'stage-managed, sterile and stiff'
Chris Moncrieff was not impressed with the first-ever live TV debates between the party leaders.
Tuesday 4th May 2010
On the campaign trail: Dominic Carman
Lobby correspondent Nick Assinder visits Barking, where he meets the Lib Dem candidate battling the BNP.
Tuesday 4th May 2010
On the campaign trail: Mary Macleod
Sam Macrory travels to west London to meet the Tory candidate fighting Ann Keen for a seat in the Commons.
Tuesday 4th May 2010
Parliament: Prospects for reform
Ruth Fox of the Hansard Society writes for ePolitix.com on the prospects for constitutional reform in the next Parliament.
Tuesday 4th May 2010
Leaders' debate: The view from the spin room
Along with the election debates themselves, also imported from America were the horrifically, if aptly, named 'spin rooms'.
Friday 30th April 2010
Prime minister Clegg faces wipeout at 2019 election
What if the Liberal Democrats secure enough seats to broker a deal on electoral reform? Sam Macrory looks into the future.
Wednesday 28th April 2010
'No legal rules' for hung parliament
Former attorney general Lord Morris of Aberavon seeks clues from historical precedent on how a hung parliament would operate.
Tuesday 27th April 2010
Culture: The dangers of a digital divide
The next government will have to ensure that interventions support the UK media ecology, argues LSE's Damian Tambini.
Tuesday 27th April 2010
General election focus: the West Country
The West Country may not fall for Tory love-bombing, says Matthew Chorley of the Western Morning News.
Tuesday 27th April 2010
General election focus: East of England
There will be few surprises in the East, explains Graham Dines of the East Anglian Daily Times.
Tuesday 27th April 2010
Clegg must continue to keep them guessing
There's only one story in the Westminster Village today: the growing possibility of a hung Parliament.
Monday 26th April 2010
On the campaign trail: Esther Rantzen
Nick Assinder on how Esther Rantzen's celebrity has aided her election campaign, and how she helped a Luton local avoid a bad smell.
Monday 26th April 2010
General election focus: the West Midlands
At least West Midlands voters can't complain they're being ignored, says the Birmingham Post's Jon Walker.
Sunday 25th April 2010
Top Ten: Lib Dem 'breakthrough moments'
The Lib Dems could be on the brink of changing British politics - but they have been here many times before.
Saturday 24th April 2010
General election focus: the North West
The Tories are hoping to scalp a few ex-ministers in the North West region.
Saturday 24th April 2010
General election focus: Yorkshire and Humber
The Yorkshire Evening Post's Mark Hookham explains why his patch is a key election bellweather.
Saturday 24th April 2010
"Soul-destroying" parliament of 1974
Veteran lobby journalist Chris Moncrieff recalls the twists and turns of a notorious election that left the government with a wafer-thin majority.
Saturday 24th April 2010
Leaders' debate: The view from the press room
While the party leaders debated in Bristol's Arnolfini gallery, Her Majesty's Press were corralled into a media centre close by.
Thursday 22nd April 2010
Expenses attack a 'sign of desperation'
Conservative and Green parliamentary candidates scuffled over expenses claims during a debate in Brighton yesterday afternoon.
Thursday 22nd April 2010
Tectonic plates shifting
With leaders of the two largest parties seeking to overcome personal problems and the UUP fighting for its survival, it promises to be a dramatic election in Ulster, explains Noel McAdam.
Thursday 22nd April 2010
Communities: Town hall task force
Councils are doing the wrong things and doing them badly, says Tom Shakespear.
Wednesday 21st April 2010
It's the economy stupid: the Scottish campaign
Labour and the SNP are both using the economic downturn to attract votes north of the border, explains the Herald's Robbie Dinwoodie.
Tuesday 20th April 2010
Transport: road network 'not fit for purpose'
Despite an integrated transport strategy, the major road network is the most important part of our transport infrastructure.
Tuesday 20th April 2010
Health: stop arguing about long-term care funding
Long-term care funding is simply not an issue that should be politicised, says James Lloyd from the Social Market Foundation.
Monday 19th April 2010
Health: NHS 'must be willing to learn'
The next government must resist the temptation to sacrifice long-term gains over short-term political dividends, says Professor Chris Ham.
Monday 19th April 2010
London holds the keys to No10
Voters in the capital will decide who forms the next government, says the Evening Standard's political editor Joe Murphy.
Monday 19th April 2010
Enoch Powell and the 1974 election
Veteran lobby journalist Chris Moncrieff recalls the secret collusion between a Labour leader and a Tory MP during the first election of 1974.
Friday 16th April 2010
Manufacturing in the 2020 knowledge economy
Ian Brinkley, associate director of the Work Foundation discusses the future of manufacturing.
Friday 16th April 2010
Austerity is not the best way out of recession
The bond markets want prudent behaviour in the good times, not vicious austerity regardless of the economic weather.
Thursday 15th April 2010
Westminster without MPs 'like a ghost palace'
They say the Palace of Westminster is haunted. Walk its corridors now, when they are free of MPs and many of their staff, and you could easily believe it.
Wednesday 14th April 2010
'High stakes' balancing act to save economy
The success or failure of the next government will depend upon how well it manages the tricky recovery from the current fiscal deficit, says Justin Van de Ven of the the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
Tuesday 13th April 2010
Bashing banks won't fix the economy
Demonising bankers will not pull Britain out of the economic slump.
Monday 12th April 2010
Why this election is impossible to predict
May 6 had been pencilled in on the calendars of most political enthusiasts as the general election date ever since Gordon Brown became prime minister.
Monday 12th April 2010
Tories must win the campaign to take power
Prof Paul Whiteley considers how much of a difference the election campaign is likely to make to the outcome.
Sunday 11th April 2010
The green economy: kicked into the long grass?
All the major political parties bow to the knee to the environment, and demand that their troops do the same.
Sunday 11th April 2010
Moncrieff, Wilson, Home and the 1964 election
The 1964 general election was the first I covered for the Press Association.
Sunday 11th April 2010
General election focus: the North East
The Newcastle Journal's political editor William Green looks at how the North East could hold the key to the election result.
Friday 9th April 2010
General election focus: Wales
Tomos Livingstone, political editor of The Western Mail, considers the 2010 general election in Wales.
Friday 9th April 2010
Bland leaders' debates or car crash TV?
Televised leader debates in Britain? First thought, from my brain: please, no, don't go there.
Friday 9th April 2010
Farewell to the rotten Parliament
So it's finally over. The Rotten Parliament – the name seems to be sticking – is closed for business.
Friday 9th April 2010
Ashok Kumar, my mentor and my friend
Many obituaries have been written and many fitting tributes have been paid to Ashok Kumar since his tragic death recently.
Wednesday 31st March 2010
Narrow polls foretell dull debates
If last night's chancellors' debate is anything to go by, the forthcoming clashes between Brown, Cameron and Clegg are likely to be exercises in little more than damage limitation.
Tuesday 30th March 2010
The glory days of the election battlebus
Howls of protest erupted from newsdesks around the land when they discovered how much it will cost them to send hacks on the party leaders' battlebuses.
Sunday 28th March 2010Displaying results 1 to 65 out of 119
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