Archive for the ‘British current affairs’ Category
Why were the opinion polls so wrong in predicting the result of the British General Election of May 2015?
January 20th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
This week, a report by Professor John Curtice for research agency NatCen was published which essentially concluded that the pollsters failed to obtain a genuinely random sample. As a result, they underestimated support for the Conservative Party. The problem is that some voters are easier to contact than others. Those who are easier to contact […]
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In Britain, the weather in December was crazy
January 6th, 2016 by Roger Darlington
December was the wettest month ever recorded in the UK, with almost double the rain falling than average, according to data released by the Met Office this week. Last month saw widespread flooding which continued into the new year, with 21 flood alerts in England and Wales and four in Scotland in force on Tuesday […]
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It’s never been easier to find a statistic – but so many of us are still massively confused when it comes to basic figures
January 2nd, 2016 by Roger Darlington
If you want to know what proportion of the UK population is obese or immigrant, as with so many questions, you just have to Google it. You might be offered a variety of statistics, but you will certainly have a clear order of magnitude and you will be able to source each and, with a […]
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Whatever happened to Corbynomics?
December 31st, 2015 by Roger Darlington
When Jeremy Corbyn ran for the leadership of the Labour Party, he argued for a radically different approach to the austerity imposed by the Conservative Government. Many of his proposals were borrowed from economist Richard Murphy who was allowed effectively to speak on behalf of the campaign as regards economic issues. Yet, now that Corbyn […]
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Will the British political pollsters redeem themselves in 2016?
December 27th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
As we are reminded in detail by David Cowling – a fellow student politician from my days in the late 1960s – in this piece for the BBC, the opinion polls were spectacularly wrong in predicting the result of the General Election in May 2015. Will they start to get it right in 2016? He […]
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So how has Jeremy Corbyn done in his first 100 days as Labour leader?
December 27th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
In a leader in today’s “Observer” newspaper, we have the following assessment with which I could not disagree: “No leader could make more than fledgling progress on the long road to electability in 100 days. But Corbyn’s first three months leave the impression that he does not even see winning an election as his primary […]
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Happy Christmas story (1): how 18 month old Bella survived the switching off of her ventilator
December 24th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
“A couple who said a final farewell to their baby daughter as her life support machine was turned off told of her miracle recovery. Francesca and Lee Moore-Williams, 41 and 44, cried as they held Bella’s hand and took one final photograph before her ventilator was switched off. The couple even signed a Do Not […]
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Happy Christmas story (2): how three year old Emma saved her pregnant mum and unborn brother
December 24th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
“A girl of three received a bravery award on Wednesday for saving the life of her heavily pregnant mum who tripped and fell downstairs. Little Emma Bazzard called 999 as mum Catherine, 27, lay unconscious on the floor with a ruptured placenta. The toddler calmly gave her name and address and explained what happened during […]
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Labour people are optimists, but this time Polly Toynbee sees no hope
December 22nd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
As a lifelong Labour Party member, I share Polly Toynbee’s despair. I have never known a time in my 46 years of party membership when i thought that Labour was less likely to win the next General Election. Toynbee begins an article for today’s “Guardian” newspaper as follows: “This is the bleakest midwinter of Labour’s […]
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What does the new forum Open Labour stand for?
December 11th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
“Open Labour is a Labour forum aimed at creating a kinder, more active and more equal society. We seek a politics where power and wealth are more widely distributed, and in which we work more cooperatively to make sure that power, wealth and opportunity are for all of us – not just those who already have […]
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