john07
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Post by john07 on May 4, 2024 20:46:55 GMT
It ought to be true. It's the true blue Market Hall ward in Birmingham. People who read the Birmingham Post. The Telegraph for Brummies... Circulation in 2023: 844. Amazing. When I worked in Birmingham the Post was omnipresent. It was the only source of detailed Ward by Ward results across the region. I do remember going into work one Friday at Aston knowing that everyone would be aware that I had been elected to Coventry City Council via the Birmingham Post. My head of department was not best pleased. He took exception to the fact that I had got elected without his permission! It should not have come as a major surprise as I was a parliamentary candidate one year previously. It was not a major issue as Albert Bore was on the staff at Aston and he became leader of Birmingham City Council at the same time. George Lindfield was also an academic staff member and was also on Coventry City Council. Alan Pratt (a prat by name and by nature) thought differently and tried to have me removed from the staff.
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john07
Labour & Co-operative
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Post by john07 on May 4, 2024 16:52:13 GMT
I blame the hanging chads! Saint Chad has, I believe, strong links to the West Midlands. Wot no recount?
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john07
Labour & Co-operative
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Post by john07 on May 4, 2024 16:13:01 GMT
Why would they recount only some districts and not all? Party like florida 2000 I blame the hanging chads!
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john07
Labour & Co-operative
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Post by john07 on May 4, 2024 15:15:47 GMT
John Curtice mentions that the Cons asked for the recount. BBC journalist asks why is that significant. He explains that the party in second place normally asks for it. The BBC journalist is obviously āon the ballā and realised that Street may be asking for a recount to try and push his majority up.
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john07
Labour & Co-operative
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Post by john07 on May 4, 2024 0:56:16 GMT
Has there ever been a case of a council entirely consisting of independents before? When my late wife lived in Amlwch, pre-reorganisation, all councillors appeared to be notionally 'independent'. For her ward, one candidate was a local businesman, one was a trade unionist, and the other was a Welsh Language activist!
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john07
Labour & Co-operative
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Post by john07 on May 3, 2024 23:49:09 GMT
Labour gain John Tizard (Labour) - 40, 738 (40.46%) Festus Akinbusoye (Conservative) - 35,688 (35.44%) Jasbar Parmer (Lib Dem) - 15,857 (16.7%) Waheed Akbar (Workers Party) - 8,396 (8.3%) Not a great year politically for Festus Akinbusoye. Wasn't he in the Addams Family? Or was that his uncle?
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john07
Labour & Co-operative
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Dudley
May 3, 2024 22:10:27 GMT
Post by john07 on May 3, 2024 22:10:27 GMT
Any thoughts on who will control?
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john07
Labour & Co-operative
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Bristol
May 3, 2024 18:31:43 GMT
via mobile
Post by john07 on May 3, 2024 18:31:43 GMT
Frome Valley - 2 Lab(1 gain from Con) Hillfields - 2 Lab Lockleaze - 2 Grn Westbury on Trym & Henleaze - 3 Ld (3 gains from Con) Ashley - 3 Grn (1 gain from Lab) I will probably be visiting Lockleaze next rugby season as local side Dings Crusaders have just been promoted to Moseley's National League 1. Tell me about it. Anything to do with the British Union of Fascists?
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john07
Labour & Co-operative
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Rushmoor
May 3, 2024 2:14:40 GMT
via mobile
Post by john07 on May 3, 2024 2:14:40 GMT
Any reactions to the Labour gain here?
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john07
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Post by john07 on May 2, 2024 22:42:15 GMT
When you have the historical and future context alongside it, that 2015 Lib Dem result looks especially shockingly bad. I wonder if not for Brexit it might have been the start of a stagnation in the area. It looks to me like the electorateās verdict on the coalition. There would be little support from the Tories who would continue to vote Conservative. By contrast the Labour and other party supporters who voted Lib Dem on an anti-Tory tactical vote would not have been pleased. Thatās the problem with your party forming a coalition that will piss-off many of those who voted for you may have unfortunate electoral consequences.
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john07
Labour & Co-operative
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Oxford
May 2, 2024 15:10:32 GMT
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Post by john07 on May 2, 2024 15:10:32 GMT
Because Cleveland had to be abolished, and that meant either Hartlepool became a unitary on its own, or it was force-merged with Stockton. Whereas taking Oxford out of Oxfordshire would destabilise service delivery from the County Council. But how does that differ from say Leicester and Leicestershire. [Note: I was quite heavily involved in the Leicestershire re-organisation of the mid-nineties, and I suspect the answer comes down to no more than differences in the local political terrain at the time.] The move to two-tier authorities in the mid-1970s caused a lot of grief. Coventry volunteered to go into West Midlands rather than stay in Warwickshire, even though there was little connection. The reason was that Coventry did not want to lose Education and Social Services to Warwickshire. It didnāt work out that well with constant disputes about issues on apparently minor issues such as grass cutting on highway verges. That was something I had to sort out at a crisis meeting in Birmingham. Meantime, the Labour-inclined Leicester City lost key services involving 70% of spending to Conservative Leicestershire. Leicester sorted their issues out while Oxford have not.
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john07
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Post by john07 on May 2, 2024 0:51:41 GMT
An update in the situation in the Jewel after last nights (final of the year) council meeting. As noted elsewhere Cllr Julie Lintern (not up for election) is now sitting as an independent, but not with the Bradford Independant Group, so one off the Labour total and they now need to lose 8 seats to lose control. I am led to believe that neither of the Bradford South Independents will be standing again, although they did have a motion last night and their former colleage came with a petition at a previous meeting so I wonder. I donāt think Ann Hawksworth in Ilkley has made her intentions clear, There was nothing about them last night when as a longstanding member some comment might have been expected if she was planning to retire. Last month the Bradford Independant Group announced that they would be standing 14 candidates in the May elections - all of Bradford West, Keighley Central and West in Keighley, Whindhill and Wrose and Shipley in Shipley, Bowling and Barkerend, Little Horton and Bolton and Underclffe in Bradford East and Wibsey in Bradford South. Last night on a motion on Gaza and related issues no fewer than ten Labour members spoke. Leaving the Leader and Deputy, of the remaining eight, six are up for election, five in wards the BIG say they will contest. All the labour speakers made a point of criticising the BIG for āusing the suffering in Gaza to further their political endsā. I make no comment on the rightness or otherwise of this critisism but report it as evidence that Labour do seem to be taking the threat from the BIG with some seriousness. I am fascinated that Members of Bradford City Council are taking foreign policy seriously, at least as regards to Israel and the middle east! We obviously need more foreign policy discussion in council chambers? I think that the GLC under Livingstone pioneered this?
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john07
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Post by john07 on May 2, 2024 0:01:43 GMT
Why is this seat called 'Old Bexley & Sidcup' and not just 'Bexley & Sidcup' The constituency was known as Bexley from 1945-70. Edward Heath took the seat in 1950, from Labour, and remained there until it was replaced by Sidcup in 1974. Another redistribution in 1983 saw this become Old Bexley and Sidcup.
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john07
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Post by john07 on May 1, 2024 21:20:21 GMT
No constituency should be lumbered with a triple barrel name. How many not from the area have an arse-clue where Great Wyrley is? It sounds like a fairground ride. Pick the biggest settlement and use that name or alternatively use a Staffordshire compass point name. We had the nonsense of the Shrewsbury constituency being called Shrewsbury and Atcham. The former has a population of 76,782 while the latter has 243. The whole system of naming constituencies is riven with anomolies. Why is Hazel Grove so named despite the fact that bits of Hazel Grove (including Norbury) are now within Cheadle Constituency? You could argue that the seat should be renamed as Bredbury, Romiley, Marple, and High Lane (plus a few bits of central Stockport)? The alternative would be to call the seat Stockport East and really bring the pitchforks out. On balance it would be better left as Hazel Grove. That reminds me, which constituency does Alton Towers now fall under? Even that would be a more recognisable and concise name, and spellable, for some reason I keep reading it as Great Wryley. As for HG, Marple alone would be a pretty and literary name. In fact the abandoned review suggested (IIRC) Marple and Hyde, which sounds like a good novel. And a seat that Wragg would have struggled to hold, even without any scandal, though I suspect would have just scraped in, in 2019. Iām surprised you picked on HG when there is Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton. Perhaps on that basis I should have suggested Bury South, Radcliffe South, Whitefield, Prestwich, Kersal and Broughton Park, and Bury North, Radcliffe North, Tottington and Ramsbottom. I picked on Hazel Grove because I lived there briefly (in a bit that is probably no longer in the Constituency) before moving to Adswood and then Cheadle Hulme. I stood in Hazel Grove Ward (Stockport District) and Bredbury & Romiley (GMC) as well as the constituency in 1979. I am sure you can find issues everywhere. The problem is that the Boundaries Commission need to balance out producing Constituencies of approximate equal electorate with trying to keep coherent communities together. It is not always possible to do both.
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john07
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Post by john07 on May 1, 2024 19:06:00 GMT
Questions asked in this poll, in the order they appear in the tables, which I assume is the order in which they were asked: - "What is your main source of getting local news?" - "What are the main national problems?" - "What are the main problems in the area where you live?" - "Can you tell me the name of the MP representing your area?" (83% answered correctly) - "How would you rate Penny Mordaunt?" (only asked to those who had named her on the previous question, ratings from 1 to 10) - "If there was a General Election tomorrow, would you go to vote?" - "Which political party would you vote for?" - "If Penny Mordaunt was not the Conservative Party candidate, which political party would you vote for?" I've seen worse, but this is hardly ideal survey design. Edit: oh, and it might not come as a great surprise to know that the client was Portsmouth North Conservative Association. About as useful as the eponymous leaked Lib Dem ācanvas returnsā.
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john07
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Post by john07 on May 1, 2024 11:44:21 GMT
Nigel Fisher, MP for Surbiton from 1955 to 1983, was a very liberal Tory and friend of Iain Macleod, and came up against opposition from his own party activists. Harold Wilson referred to them as 'skinheads'. His son Mark became Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central,
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john07
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Post by john07 on May 1, 2024 11:29:29 GMT
No constituency should be lumbered with a triple barrel name.
How many not from the area have an arse-clue where Great Wyrley is? It sounds like a fairground ride. Pick the biggest settlement and use that name or alternatively use a Staffordshire compass point name.
We had the nonsense of the Shrewsbury constituency being called Shrewsbury and Atcham. The former has a population of 76,782 while the latter has 243.
The whole system of naming constituencies is riven with anomolies. Why is Hazel Grove so named despite the fact that bits of Hazel Grove (including Norbury) are now within Cheadle Constituency? You could argue that the seat should be renamed as Bredbury, Romiley, Marple, and High Lane (plus a few bits of central Stockport)? The alternative would be to call the seat Stockport East and really bring the pitchforks out. On balance it would be better left as Hazel Grove.
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john07
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Post by john07 on Apr 30, 2024 23:08:15 GMT
Yes, because these are now to a significant degree PERSONAL contests. Back in 2017 both Street and Houchen were barely known - and they also actually campaigned as Tories (remember them?) This really isn't hard to understand, so I don't know why an obviously intelligent person like yourself so disingenuously pretends not to. And wasn't the entire point of introducing metro mayors *was* to make the contests and position personal? "Get some enthusiastic local who will bypass the staid political parties" stuff. It was indeed. This happened when Ken Livingstone won London as an Independent.
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john07
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Post by john07 on Apr 30, 2024 22:53:46 GMT
You can easily make the argument that independence is a Scottish issue and won't be solved in Westminster (that's what being used in Canadian federal elections in case of "sovereignists" running for "federalist" parties). I suppose itās odd because Galloway himself has been hard core unionist for a number of years, indeed his 2021 Scottish Parliament campaign was entirely an anti-independence one issue effort But since that failed he clearly sees more advantage in Batley and Rochdale type campaigns they heavily focus on foreign policy issues, hence him now saying that heās withdrawn from Scottish politics He will clearly run with any lunatic who is prepared to go on his ticket.
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john07
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Post by john07 on Apr 30, 2024 22:42:49 GMT
What do we think of Tottenham? A very lowly, inferior team that gave us a bit of a shock at the weekend. Tottenham are probably Arsenal's last hope of winning the Premier League this season, if they can beat City in a couple of weeks,
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