But is this good news for Labour? Almost every month for getting on for three decades MORI has asked its “most important issues facing the country” questions in exactly the same format. Two points are put, both completely unprompted. Firstly they are asked which is the “most...

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Anyone Take Gordon Brown’s Claim to Create 100,000 Jobs Seriously? Spectator

My new year’s resolution for 2008 was to get my sleeping pattern into check. To help me do this I recorded data about my sleep on a daily basis throughout the year. Although it was clearly impossible to get precise measurements of things such as the time I fell asleep, I managed to make...

This blog does have a tendency to dwell on the views of minor UK leftist sects at times. What about minor US leftist sects? Change.org has a round-up of their important views. It is hardly impressive material. The typical knee-jerk boilerplate found elsewhere. It is the lingua franca of that part...

I have just heard that Sir Alan Walters, Margaret Thatcher's economic guru, has died. He was one of the first economists in Britain to advocate monetary solutions to the inflation of the 1970s. He was a professor at the LSE from 1967 to 1976, before joining the World Bank and becoming a Professor...

There seems to be an outbreak of delusional thinking including the Bush family: George Bush Snr wants Jeb for President You may scream now.

Michael Kennedy is the 2008 PB Forecaster of the Year The final results for the 2008 prediction competition have now been number-crunched - the top 20 are shown above, while the full results are available via the link below. Congratulations to the leading forecasters, with Michael Kennedy finishing...

Prezza on a you tube mash-up. I love it.

So claims Peter Oborne, something which appears to have got the Tories into a right tizzy. Stephen Tall at Lib Dem Voice has debunked most of it so I will try to avoid repeating what he has said. It should also be pointed out that Clegg in particular has been linked to rumours [...]

Guest post by DaveM On 27th December, during its coverage of the Hamas–Israel war, Al Jazeera broadcast a live interview with Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee. He had appeared on Al Jazeera previously, but rightly took exception to Al Jazeera’s coverage of events and put them straight on a few...

1. Getting up at 6.45am. 2. Scraping ice off the windscreen. 3. Train being late or not arriving at all. 4. Forgetting my iPod. 5. People continually asking: "Did you have a good Christmas?" 6. People continually asking: "Did you have a good new year?" 7. People continually saying: "Yes, there's a...

I am sure it came as a surprise to most European Ministers when the new Czech European Presidency said that Israel’s actions were defensive rather that offensive, but the shock waves seem to have gone much further. Either because of International pressure or a complete change of heart the...

He's certainly barefaced Is there anything you wish to tell us Prime Minister? Setting aside Gordo's exclusive and cosy fireside chat with Andy Marr this morning,

During the current fighting, Palestinian and Israeli doctors worked together to save the life of a two-week-old baby boy from Gaza.

Israel's assault on Gaza is causing horrendous loss of life, is the use of overwhelming and disproportionate force as collective punishment against the Palestinian people and should be condemned across the world, and every pressure should be put on the Israeli government to end this now and...

The second Northfield ward forum is due on Thursday at 7.30pm. The venue this time is the Mount Carmel Primary School on Little Ealing Lane. The notes from the last session are here. All newsletters, agendas, etc are here. The venue last time was the Log Cabin, which was a bit [...]

It’s 2009 and Oliver Kamm’s latest two posts on his blog are about some bloke called George Galloway. Topical or what?

WTF are we doing this for? Even allowing for any Daily Mail spin in the story, I find this astonishing. Has Gordon Brown forgotten the 1980s?

- and a year of significant political anniversaries Today is the 125th birthday of the Fabian Society - the world's first "think-tank". And there are several political anniversaries in 2009 which should offer a chance to take the long view on the ebb and flow of political ideas in influencing...