Date archive for February, 2010
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Standard City Hall editor’s blog is back
The Evening Standard’s City Hall editor Pippa Crerar recently returned from maternity, and now her Standard blog is back.
It’s a welcome return, adding an extra dimension to online City Hall-watching. Here’s her take this week on the confirmation hearing for Kit Malthouse’s appointment, and possible future directions for the MPA.
Read Pippa’s blog here. -
NS: One third of Tory PPCs cite Thatcher as their political hero
This week’s New Statesman includes an exclusive ComRes poll that shows the Thatcherite character of the new breed of Tories standing for Parliament under David Cameron’s leadership.
“Three-quarters of Conservative prospective parliamentary candidates want to renegotiate the UK’s relationship with the EU as a matter of priority and 91 per cent back a cap on immigration,” says the NS, adding: “The survey shows that the shadow of Margaret Thatcher still looms large over the Tories only weeks before a general election.”
The [...] -
Malthouse appointment = broken Boris promise
Dave Hill has a preview of today’s confirmation hearing for Kit Malthouse to become chair of the police authority – a clear cut broken promise by Boris Johnson who pledged to do the job himself.
Dave looks at the recent resignation of Bob Purkiss from the race and faith inquiry, amid questions over Malthouse’s role in that affair.
Meanwhile in the Standard Pippa Crerar reports that the incoming chair has a poor attendance record at MPA meetings, despite being the mayor’s lead on [...] -
Cameron – trying to browbeat attention from the real choice
Gordon Brown’s opponents are desperate not to fight the election on the real choices on offer and instead want to talk about process and personal attacks.
(For different reasons – largely because it’s easier to explain and more personally dramatic – much of the media prefer that terrain too. And some of it’s just cynical).
That’s the real context of the frenzy over the last forty-eight hours: endless coverage of personalised claims instead of say, discussion of the economy or the cancer [...] -
Bad right wing art
Iain Dale has been getting himself tangled up in the world of political art, having published two pieces of ‘art’ by Louis Sidoli caricaturing Gordon Brown, one as Hitler. Defending their publication, he says “The left will no doubt go apoplectic with rage, but they should calm down and remember the hideous political art of the 1980s featuring Margaret Thatcher. This is mild by comparison.”
It’s mildly rubbish, unfortunately.
In case we haven’t got what he’s trying to say, the artist helpfully [...] -
More Shed Seven than Morning Glory
Clifford Singer’s mydavidcameron spoofs of Tory poster campaigns have been brilliantly effective at insidiously undermining Cameron’s expensive ads. But he’s now quit while he’s ahead, saying he’s got other ideas up his sleeve. “Shortly after we spoofed the first Tory election poster, I acknowledged that this project had a limited shelf-life,” he writes.
I caught Clifford’s excellent talk in the new media session at the Progressive London where he warned there was a danger of overstaying the welcome. “Drag it out [...] -
Irish unity on the agenda
Recent massive strides forward over policing in the north of Ireland are a tangible example of how the dynamic of the peace process continues to unfold.
The greatest force in delivering a peace process must ultimately be the people and parties on the ground – but the commitment that has been shown by the British government to bringing lasting peace to the north of Ireland over the last thirteen years is one of the best examples of what a Labour government can [...] -
Boris Johnson – dodging public accountability
Boris Johnson’s appearance on LBC’s Nick Ferrari show this morning highlights two clear issues with his administration.
The first is broken promises. In his manifesto Boris Johnson gave a commitment [pdf, see page three] that he would reintroduce tidal flow in the Blackwall tunnel. Now he says he can’t do it for legal reasons.
There are two options. Either he was right during the election, in which case it is simply incompetent not to implement his promise. Or he is right now, in which [...] -
Cash back or not, Tories don’t deserve to win Westminster North
Last night Iain Dale was “astonished and gutted” over the announcement that the Tory candidate in Westminster North, Joanne Cash, had stood down amid party infighting. Now there is a mad scramble to try clear up the mess as Paul Waugh reports this afternoon.
Cash has tweeted today in such a way to indicate that ‘rumours’ should not distract from the election – but according to the Daily Mail Conservative central office had already confirmed that Cash had resigned. However, he added: [...] -
Housekeeping – new links
Now that it’s back online, I’ve been able to do a little housekeeping and update some of the links on this site. One that I’ve added is my Labour colleague Tulip Siddiq. Amongst many other things (including working for the London Labour party) Tulip is a Labour candidate for Regent’s Park ward.
In her latest post Tulip draws attention to David Cameron’s comments about the hijab. She writes:
Has anyone else read Cameron’s outrageous comment about how Muslim peer Sayeeda Warsi would [...]
