Category Archives: Politics

Is Ed Miliband winning back Labour’s heartlands? The Hill View test.

Posted on April 30, 2011 by brian

Much has been written about the forthcoming local elections, and how Ed Miliband needs to win big.   But in large parts of the North, you’d be hard pushed to know there’s an election on, including here in Sunderland. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, The North | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

It’s election time. No politics, please.

Posted on April 14, 2011 by brian

I was very amused to see this announcement in the letters page of tonight’s Sunderland Echo. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Echo does a great job – it’s far superior to the local papers we had to put … Continue reading →

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And the award for this year’s most fascinating election…

Posted on April 11, 2011 by brian

…certainly doesn’t go to the local elections here in Sunderland, where I haven’t seen a single election poster so far.  But over in Canada, the election set for the same week (Canada votes on 2nd May) looks like it might be … Continue reading →

Posted in Everything, Politics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

What happened to the ‘Natural governing parties’?

Posted on March 14, 2011 by brian

At the moment, my favourite TV programme is the Danish crime drama  The Killing. It’s the latest in a line of Scandinavian crime imports which are putting the BBC’s own outputs to shame.  Previously, I was glued to the Swedish Wallander (which … Continue reading →

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I can’t believe it’s not legal : The politics of margarine

Posted on February 17, 2011 by brian

Okay, stick with me.  This is bizzare. Today at work, I found myself reading about public service reform in New Zealand.  I kind of stumbled onto it after reading lots of references to Sir Roger Douglas in Reform’s 2011 Scorecard. … Continue reading →

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Angola – another stain on the Socialist International?

Posted on February 14, 2011 by brian

Labour blogger Luke Akehurst, whose blog is always worth a read, has an interesting list of the World’s remaining authoritarian regimes, based on the list put together by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Given the controversy over the fact that Hosni … Continue reading →

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