Archive for the ‘British current affairs’ Category
Should the North of England become part of Scotland?
May 16th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Of course, it’s a crazy idea – but tens of thousands apparently support the bizarre notion as you can see here. I have relatives in Scotland, I was brought up in Manchester, and I live in London. I want to see a United Kingdom. Around the world, people think that redrawing boundaries solves political and […]
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British general election (18): some interesting facts and figures
May 10th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The new Parliament has 182 new members, including 74 new Conservative, 53 new Labour and 50 new Scottish National MPs. The new Parliament will see a record number of female representatives, with 191 women (up from 143) which represents 29% (up from 22%). The new Parliament will see a record number of ethnic representatives, with […]
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British general election (17): how did all the polls get it so wrong?
May 9th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The failure of all the polls to predict the actual outcome of the General Election has rightly caused many questions to be asked. There is to be an inquiry commissioned by the British Polling Council into what went wrong. But this is a wider problem than Britain, In other countries, like the USA and Israel, […]
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My short guide to the British political system – an update following the general election
May 8th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
My web site contains around 170 sections. The most visited section is my short guide to the British political system and, in recent days, there have been especially large numbers checking out this section. I’ve now updated it to take account of the recent general election and you can check it our here.
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British general election (16): I officially resign as an election pundit
May 8th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
OK – I’ve now caught up with my sleep, having gone to bed in the early hours when the broad thrust of the General Election result was clear and I could take no more blueness. When I went to bed, I hoped that I would wake up to find that it was just a bad […]
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British general election (15): today’s the day and it couldn’t be closer
May 7th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The front page article in today’s “Guardian” newspaper summarises the position this morning: “Britain is heading for a second hung parliament in succession after the most drawn-out election campaign since the war appeared to be ending in near deadlock with Labour and the Conservatives tied at 35% each according to the preliminary results of the […]
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British general election (14): what does my local Conservative candidate think is the key issue in his campaign?
May 3rd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I live in the constituency of Brent North in north-west London where the sitting Labour MP is Barry Gardiner who is standing for re-election and expected to win. His Conservative opponent is Luke Parker and, in an earlier posting, I highlighted how his initial leaflet supported something called “compassionate reform of the benefit system”. Four days […]
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British general election (13): why has Ed Miliband ruled out a coalition or deal with the SNP?
May 3rd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Some of my Labour-leaning friends cannot understand why Labour Party leader Ed Miliband has been so categorical in ruling out a coalition or even a deal with the Scottish National Party. They look at the polls and see the likelihood of Labour and SNP together winning a majority of seats and think that the arithmetic […]
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British general election (12): when Russell Brand met Ed Miliband
April 29th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
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The crisis in the older democracies
April 25th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Many of the trends that we have seen in recent British General Elections – such as lower turnout, differential turnout, less support for the established parties, more support for an extreme party, and greater volatility in the electorate – are common to several other older democracies in Europe and North America. I have written a […]
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