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Post by David Ashforth on Oct 10, 2023 21:37:40 GMT
... It's surprising in a way that there aren't more books about constituencies, and by elections. I suspect there are many, many doctoral theses though. There is some sort of academic database for them I seem to remember?... from the The British Library. |
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iang
Lib Dem
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Post by iang on Oct 11, 2023 19:39:20 GMT
various books about the SDP (I recall one called Claret & Chips), as well as the Crewe / King book have quite a lot about the by-elections of the early 80s. The edition of the Chris Cook book I have goes up to the 90s - I think it's a really good book. Pippa Norris has written "British by-elections" though if I remember correctly, there's less about individual seats / campaigns, and more "overall"
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weld
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Post by weld on Oct 12, 2023 5:16:34 GMT
I wouldn’t mind reading one about Hamilton 1967 or Glasgow Govan 1973 if anyone has any suggestions.
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Post by kevinf on Oct 18, 2023 15:08:34 GMT
I wouldn’t mind reading one about Hamilton 1967 or Glasgow Govan 1973 if anyone has any suggestions. See my post above for Hamilton |
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Post by islington on Oct 18, 2023 15:39:18 GMT
I know this is not the sort of thing you were after, but Dennis Potter wrote a TV play, Vote, vote, vote for Nigel Barton, about a Labour candidate in the fictional West Barset byelection. It drew on Potter's own non-fictional experience as Labour candidate for E Herts in 1964.
Also, I remember reading years ago a would-be funny novel, actually not very good, about a charlady who stood (if memory serves) as a Tory candidate in a byelection in a rock-solid safe Labour seat and managed to get herself elected by some contrivance or other. The very basic joke being that the practical guile and commonsense of an ordinary person runs rings around the professionalism of party hacks.
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Post by finsobruce on Oct 18, 2023 15:47:18 GMT
I know this is not the sort of thing you were after, but Dennis Potter wrote a TV play, Vote, vote, vote for Nigel Barton, about a Labour candidate in the fictional West Barset byelection. It drew on Potter's own non-fictional experience as Labour candidate for E Herts in 1964.
Also, I remember reading years ago a would-be funny novel, actually not very good, about a charlady who stood (if memory serves) as a Tory candidate in a byelection in a rock-solid safe Labour seat and managed to get herself elected by some contrivance or other. The very basic joke being that the practical guile and commonsense of an ordinary person runs rings around the professionalism of party hacks.
Not that thing with Jane Horrocks "The Amazing Mrs Pritchard"?
I think we had a thread about elections in fiction at one point. |
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mrtoad
Labour
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Post by mrtoad on Oct 18, 2023 16:15:22 GMT
Peter Tatchell wrote 'The Battle for Bermondsey' shortly after the 1983 by-election.
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peterl
Green
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Post by peterl on Oct 18, 2023 20:35:35 GMT
Apparently not a lot of work on by elections from the past 25 years or so. Many interesting contests during that time. Could be an interesting project for a few of us to collaborate on perhaps.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Oct 18, 2023 21:19:56 GMT
There are not many works concentrating on individual byelections, but I'll suggest these:
* "The Battle for Bermondsey" by Peter Tatchell (Heretic Books) has been discussed. Note that the 1st edition (1983) was withdrawn and pulped after a libel action; most copies now in circulation are the 2nd edition (1984).
* "By-Elections in British Politics", ed. by Chris Cook and John Ramsden (Macmillan, 1973) has been referred to. It was republished in 1997 by UCL Press with additional material.
* "By-Elections in British Politics 1832-1914", ed. by T.G. Otte and Paul Readman (Boydell Press, 2013) is a prequel.
* "Labour's Lost Leader: Victor Grayson" by David Clark (Quartet Books, 1985) - chapters 3 and 4 tell the story of the Colne Valley byelection of 1907
* "Labour and Politics 1900-1906: A History of the Labour Representation Committee" by Frank Bealey and Henry Pelling (Macmillan, 1958). Chapter V 'Cotton and Clitheroe' explains the unopposed Labour gain in the Clitheroe byelection of 1902.
* "Tavistock in Parliament: The History of a Constituency" by Gerry Woodcock (privately published, 2014) describes the byelection of 1928, and in a small way the unopposed one of 1942
* "The Road to 1945" by Paul Addison (Jonathan Cape, 1975) covers many of the contested wartime byelections.
Most biographies of politicians who fought or won byelections have something in them about the campaign.
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ColinJ
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Post by ColinJ on Oct 19, 2023 9:37:06 GMT
There are not many works concentrating on individual byelections, but I'll suggest these: * "The Battle for Bermondsey" by Peter Tatchell (Heretic Books) has been discussed. Note that the 1st edition (1983) was withdrawn and pulped after a libel action; most copies now in circulation are the 2nd edition (1984). I have a copy of the pulped 1983 edition. I suppose libel law prevents, forty years on, you giving any clues where to look for the offending words? |
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Oct 19, 2023 10:27:21 GMT
There are not many works concentrating on individual byelections, but I'll suggest these: * "The Battle for Bermondsey" by Peter Tatchell (Heretic Books) has been discussed. Note that the 1st edition (1983) was withdrawn and pulped after a libel action; most copies now in circulation are the 2nd edition (1984). I have a copy of the pulped 1983 edition. I suppose libel law prevents, forty years on, you giving any clues where to look for the offending words? The libel claimant was Bob Mellish and the offending words alleged corrupt deals with business figures. |
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Post by aargauer on Oct 19, 2023 10:44:57 GMT
There are not many works concentrating on individual byelections, but I'll suggest these: * "The Battle for Bermondsey" by Peter Tatchell (Heretic Books) has been discussed. Note that the 1st edition (1983) was withdrawn and pulped after a libel action; most copies now in circulation are the 2nd edition (1984). I have a copy of the pulped 1983 edition. I suppose libel law prevents, forty years on, you giving any clues where to look for the offending words? You can't libel someone who is dead - and Bob Mellish is. |
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Post by johnloony on Oct 19, 2023 10:50:25 GMT
There are not many works concentrating on individual byelections, but I'll suggest these: * "The Battle for Bermondsey" by Peter Tatchell (Heretic Books) has been discussed. Note that the 1st edition (1983) was withdrawn and pulped after a libel action; most copies now in circulation are the 2nd edition (1984). I have a copy of the pulped 1983 edition. I suppose libel law prevents, forty years on, you giving any clues where to look for the offending words? Yes, because Bob Mellish is still alive and would not hesitate to sue this forum if you were to do so. |
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Post by finsobruce on Oct 19, 2023 10:53:11 GMT
I have a copy of the pulped 1983 edition. I suppose libel law prevents, forty years on, you giving any clues where to look for the offending words? Yes, because Bob Mellish is still alive and would not hesitate to sue this forum if you were to do so. Er, he died in 1998.
if he was alive he'd be 110.
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Post by johnloony on Oct 19, 2023 11:07:33 GMT
Yes, because Bob Mellish is still alive and would not hesitate to sue this forum if you were to do so. Er, he died in 1998.
if he was alive he'd be 110.
Yes, i know that. That’s the whole point I was making. I am glad that you are agreeing with what I wrote in the first place. The only other possibility is that you are so unbelievably and impossibly stupid that you don’t understand the concept of sarcasticism, but given the fact that you are not Harry Hayfield it is therefore not physically possible for you to be that stupid. |
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Post by therealriga on Oct 19, 2023 13:09:23 GMT
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J.G.Harston
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Post by J.G.Harston on Dec 2, 2023 3:40:24 GMT
A bit of an oddity, I've been listening to The Old Wives' Tales. It's about two sisters, set in 1850-1910, in Burslem. The last part centres around a campaign to rally a vote against the Stoke-on-Trent federation, and ends with victory for the NO side. We know from history that in the long term they failed. |
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Foggy
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Post by Foggy on Dec 2, 2023 20:53:28 GMT
Since the original post didn't specify British by-elections, might I recommend Waitaki Votes: A Study of a New Zealand By-election, written by then-future (UK) Labour MP Austin Mitchell in 1962?
Although as it's now 61 years old I concede it's outside of the time scope specified at the top of the thread. Apologies.
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Post by kevinf on Dec 3, 2023 12:12:34 GMT
Peter Tatchell wrote 'The Battle for Bermondsey' shortly after the 1983 by-election. I was there. It’s an extremely good account. |
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The Bishop
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Post by The Bishop on Dec 3, 2023 12:17:24 GMT
It is a good read, though I do wonder if PT would stand by everything in it now.
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