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The biggest British political event of 2014 is, potentially, the vote on Scottish independence onSeptember 18. I say “British”, but it is of course just Scottish residents who will be voting “yes” or “no” to breaking free from the United…
As psephological indicators go, the Any Questions audience is not entirely reliable. All through the 1980s audience members would applaud panelists who declared that teachers and nurses clearly deserved to be better paid, and if that meant…
I am not quite myself this morning. In fact, I feel like a new man. I’ve changed. The reason is clear. I spent the weekend in the delightful part of southern England that is West Berkshire. This is Cameron country – at least, the part of…
I don’t think I realised, during 1992, how much people would still be going on about 1992 20 years later. But they are. General elections that year on both sides of the Atlantic proved to be turning points in a number of ways, and continue…
What’s the big idea? That’s the question often asked of opposition parties as they make their pitch to the electorate. If voters are going to be persuaded that it’s “time for a change”, there has to be something of substance to change to…
In politics the best way to keep a secret, it is said, is to make a speech in the House of Commons about it. The gag is only slightly unfair. Of course parliamentary debates are not reported to the same extent that they were in previous…
Sometimes the old ones are the best. When a senior manager at Ford was showing off a new automated production line to Walter Reuther, leader of the United Automobile Workers union, in the early 1950s, he asked: “Walter, how are you going to…
There are certain truths in politics that are held to be self-evident. The electorate doesn’t like divided parties. General elections are usually a battle between “time for a change” and “don’t let the other lot ruin it”. And, of course…
Were you standing near the junction of Downing Street and Whitehall at around 7.30 pm on Wednesday 19th September last year? You weren’t? Me neither. And that means we have something else in common. Neither you nor I know for sure exactly…
Have you met “Laura Smith” yet? She’s the rather unconvincing star of the latest ad for Halifax bank. Well, I say “ad for Halifax bank”. If you watch this clip you’ll see that (spoiler alert!) for the first 45 seconds out of a minute of…
It’s time to think briefly about 1992, again. Watching David Cameron’s made-for-television speech in Manchester last week some observed that he was trying to position himself as a kind of John Major figure, in contrast to a Kinnockish Ed…
Scorpions. Great survivors. As a species they are more predator than producer. You have to handle them with care. You know the old fable about the scorpion and the frog? The frog wants to cross the river, and the scorpion asks for a lift…
