Quote on the day: Keep your jacket on, Ed

The Sticks and the City

By Polly Billington

My brother, once he’d got himself set up with a room in a shared house near a tube station after finishing Uni, used to “hilariously” divide England into two parts: London and Not London. While it might have raised a smile at his airs for metropolitan wit back then, the worrying thing is that it is becoming true. This is a problem for England in particular, economically and socially – and for Labour it risks being a political problem too. […]

A message for rUK – the SNP is a centre-right party

By Peter Russell

I found myself one Saturday evening recently arguing the toss on Twitter with Billy Bragg about the Scottish independence referendum. This is the upside of social media – discussion with people whom you otherwise would not get to meet. Does this make me friend to the stars? No, because I disagreed with him and his position that independence would be a good thing, as the constitutional shock of Scotland leaving the UK could lead to devolution for the English regions. […]

Tory Minister Freud says it’s “very hard” to know why people use Food Banks

Tory Minister Lord Freud – who once referred to people on benefits as corpses – has come under fire again after he said that it was “very hard” to know why people use Food Banks. Speaking in the Lords, Freud said: “Clearly nobody goes to a food bank willingly. However, it is very hard to know why people go to them.” People to go them in increasing numbers due to the policies of your government, Lord Freud…

Quite possibly the least funny impression you’ve ever seen

Move over Sarah Teather – another Lib Dem MP has attempted a “comedy routine” at their Spring Conference. Here’s Lorely Burt pretending to be Nigel Farage… Who on earth can ever have thought this would work?

Dave’s long bluff is finally being called

By Stefan Stern

It is probably time to worry when they start laughing at you. The developing world of social media is a pretty raw place. But when David Cameron’s Twitter feed posted a picture of him apparently talking ever so earnestly on the phone to President Obama last week the response was rapid, and brutal. The image was ridiculous, most people seemed to say. Pretentious. Self-serving. If you believe in “the wisdom of crowds” then its conclusions were damning for the Tory […]