Editor’s notes: Follow the data: Our world is getting safer, richer and healthier February 10, 2017 Towards the end of last year, my colleagues and I made a point of trying to buck the notion (most deep-rooted on social media, it must be said) that 2016 was a particularly dreadful year. Brexit, Trump and a host of celebrity deaths were held up as evidence of a wider disintegration of our fortunes. [...]
New TNS poll shows voters more than three times as likely to be confident in David Cameron than Jeremy Corbyn February 2, 2016 Yet another poll out today shows that voters have more confidence in Prime Minister David Cameron's leadership than that of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. TNS polled more than 1,000 British adults, finding nearly one in three people think Cameron is the UK's "strongest party leader", with more than half saying he will still be Prime [...]
Worrying news from the media coalmine: The “maddest left-wing website in the world” is thriving August 16, 2016 Worrying news from the media coalmine – the canary is alive and thriving. Political website The Canary, described by one Telegraph commentator as “the maddest left-wing website in the world”, is now more popular online than the Spectator, New Statesman and Economist, according to one measure. Read more: Are #CorbynFacts factual when it comes to polls? [...]
Hilary Benn wants his Brexit committee to figure out what the Prime Minister is up to October 23, 2016 Hilary Benn has doubled-down on his calls for a transitional Brexit arrangement and called on the UK government to come clean on what it wants to achieve from the upcoming negotiations. Benn, who was sacked as shadow foreign secretary by Jeremy Corbyn following the EU referendum, said this morning he would use his new position as chair of [...]
Prepare to refight referendum battles: How Brexit will dominate 2017 politics January 3, 2017 Brexit will completely dominate 2017. The big short-term question is whether the government’s initial negotiating position will be enough to keep Leave campaigners onside, or whether they will feel a pro-EU Prime Minister and chancellor have betrayed them. This depends on the nature of the proposed deal on free movement. Anything other than a major [...]
Labour is collapsing because it’s losing the battle of ideas: Free marketeers take note January 6, 2017 The Fabian Society’s latest report, which paints a doom-and-gloom picture of Labour’s chances at the next election, seems to have hit a nerve among the left’s most prominent commentators. Surely this is because there’s some truth to it: the Fabians’ estimation that Labour will struggle to win even 200 seats backs up the other evidence [...]
Oh Jez: Campaign starts to get Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn his dream bike for his birthday January 14, 2016 A crowdfunding project has been set up to give Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn something special for his 67th birthday – his dream bike. In order to secure the funds to buy the bike in time for the big day (26 May if you want to add it to your calendar), fans are being urged to [...]
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn makes further appointments to his front bench following shadow cabinet reshuffle January 14, 2016 And it continues. Despite David Cameron continuing to wind up Jeremy Corbyn over the length of time it took him to finalise his shadow cabinet reshuffle, Corbyn has made further appointments today. The Labour leader has appointed Imran Hussain as shadow minister at the department for international development, while Kate Osamor will become a shadow minister for [...]
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn challenges Prime Minister David Cameron to an annual television debate December 29, 2015 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn believes there should be annual, televised "state of the nation" style debates between Britain's national political leaders, and has challenged Prime Minister David Cameron to take part. Speaking to The Independent, Corbyn said he hoped the Prime Minister would agree to a cross-party initiative to debate the dominant issues of the year, as [...]
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn steps down as head of parliamentary anti-nukes campaign amid Trident row January 12, 2016 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has stepped down from his post as leader of a cross-party group opposing the proliferation of nuclear weapons amid growing discontent over the Labour party's stance on Trident. Corbyn resigned as chair of the Parliamentary Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), and has been replaced by Caroline Lucas, the Green Party announced in a [...]