The Cornish Democrat (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
Following the Cornish Zetetics call for a coalition of Mebyon Kernow , the Cornish Greens and any other progressive democrats from the Duchy in time for the next general election here's an idea. OK the French Republic is quite different from the United Kingdom, and the problems faced by Brittany and its Celtic sister, Cornwall, are far from identical, but perhaps some ideas can cross the water. To...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
Welcome though the prime minister's promise of a manifesto commitment to a referendum on the voting system might be, it will do little to persuade electors that Labour is serious about change. The Guardian is right to argue that Labour should act while it has the opportunity to do so ( Editorial , 14 November). Although it is not our job to tell parties how to win elections, polling we commissioned...
Cumbrian Patriots (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009
It has been an incredibly hectic schedule and today is the first time I have had to update my blog since last Thursday. . First the Glasgow North East by-election: a close run affair with us missing our 5% and the deposit saved by ....................... 13 votes! Agonising. . The next thresh hold we really wanted to cross to make this result a national news event was to come third, we missed beating...
A Very Public Sociologist (Free subscription) | 15/11/2009
Every so often the state of the far left makes you wonder why you bother. First we have the Glasgow North East by-election. I think everyone's seen the breakdown of the results by now. If not, there's plenty of comment at Socialist Unity. Needless to say, a contest where you have three socialist candidates scrapping for micro percentages doesn't suggest socialist politics is a serious business. It...
Westminster Whispers (Free subscription) | 13/11/2009
Glasgow North-East is being hailed by Jim Murphy, under-employed Secretary of State for Scotland, as a tremendous victory. Murphy is the best, the very best, at arguing a case and convincing the entranced listener that black is white. He believes this to be a victory. On paper it could look that way, but actually two-thirds just put their feet up or went to watch the Christmas lights being switched...
SUBROSA (Free subscription) | 07/11/2009
David Doherty is the Green candidate for the Glasgow NE by-election. He was interviewed on Thursday night by Gordon Brewer. The interview was rather a rushed affair, but for a young man of 24, I think Mr Doherty did rather well. It was obvious he had done his revision and was nervous, but he didn't allow Gordon Brewer interruptions to put him off message. The one criticism I would give is that he...
Button Tree Crafts (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
I am back ~ and I had a very lovely ~ but very WET weekend ~ in the beautiful Highlands of Scotland. The hotel was just as warm and friendly as I remembered and the picture of the Buachaille Etive Mor was taken just as we arrived from our bedroom window! The weather was very typically Scottish and it rained for most of the weekend and rather unfortunately I discovered that my so called waterproof coat...
SNP Tactical Voting (Free subscription) | 03/11/2009
As far as I am aware, tt has been a commonly accepted that younger people tend to vote for the SNP, becoming more Tory or Labour as they get older. Lib Dems and Greens tend to appeal to the younger generation. When the SNP called for 16/17 year olds to have the vote it was derided as a cynical attempt to win votes from a bloc that would always favour the Nationalists. Well, the detail of recent YouGov...
Cllr Fraser Macpherson (Free subscription) | 01/11/2009
The decision of the Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference yesterday to reject Salmond’s independence referendum proposal (see http://tinyurl.com/referdumno ) is a decision I greatly welcome. This effectively kills off the SNP referendum proposal this side of the 2011 election and judging by the latest polls (see http://tinyurl.com/snpdecline ) that show the SNP firmly behind Labour in likely...
SNP Tactical Voting (Free subscription) | 31/10/2009
If you want to see Scotland become an independent country then you might want to be sitting down for this, I have some very bad news. Tavish Scott and his Lib Dem party have decided NOT to back an independence referendum next year despite (allegedly) considering a U-Turn on their policy. I know, I know, devastating stuff but Nationalists will somehow just have to soldier on. Incidentally, there is...
Caron's Musings (Free subscription) | 30/10/2009
Ok, so that's a bit of gratuitous headline grabbing. Alternatively, for those of you who actually know me on real life, it's put you off your dinner. There is more than a grain of truth in it, though, unlike my previous attempt at getting your attention, when I intimated that Charlotte Gore was a witch . Anyway, the reason for this attention seeking is to tell you about a new(ish) collaboration between...
Artery Gallery News (Free subscription) | 30/10/2009
St Andrews, Winter £140 St Andrews is one of the most painted towns of Scotland, with artists of all genres favouring the town's beautiful West Sands beach, or the famous 18th Green of the Old Course. One of our artists, Martin Devine says that St Andrews is one of his favourite subjects to paint, but with his unusual technique, and different outlook of the town, it gives the traditional St...
SNP Tactical Voting (Free subscription) | 29/10/2009
Picture the scene: It's May 2011 and 54 SNP MSPs have just been elected to Holyrood after a bumper election for the Nationalists. Labour has seen its tally dwindle to 38 MSPs while the Tories and Lib Dems are rooted on 13 MSPs each. The Greens have delivered an impressive 10 MSPs with climate change near the top of the agenda during the campaign. The main topic however was an independence referendum....
A Very Public Sociologist (Free subscription) | 27/10/2009
Today our first year politics students had an audience with local Labour politician and American Politics lecturer, Michael Tappin (pictured). Ostensibly his talk was about disenchantment with politics but inevitably it turned to his career as a mainstream Labour representative. Mike began with a potted biography of his career. He was first elected as a councillor in Newcastle-U-Lyme in 1980 and sat...
Two Doctors (Free subscription) | 27/10/2009
A Comres poll for the Independent today shows a pleasingly tiny proportion of BNP voters despite the BBC giving them the biggest publicity spree in their history. As Mike Smithson puts it, " The mid-October poll had 8 respondees saying BNP - tonight's survey has that at 13 ". That's out of 1004 respondents. The same poll shows the Greens on 5% nationally (the actual final results are on...
Videos