Gordon’s Alive!

Consensus is now the order of the day in Westminster, and bloggers have been following suit – declaring Brown victor at the dispatch box, as PMQs returned this week. Labour councillor Bob Piper had a few nerves on Tuesday, and was hoping for a commanding performance from the dear leader to maintain his post-conference momentum:

"A good solid performance at PMQs will also stiffen the backbone and [...]

Ready to Gove-ern

“It’s not the same as the old days,” a moustachioed conference attendee adjudged. “The atmosphere in ’81, when Heath launched into Thatcher from the platform – that was electric. It’s not like that now.” Indeed it is not. Unity and suppressed smirks (grinning excessively when the markets are in freefall is indecent) were the order of the day at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham.

At [...]

Half Madchester

Labour had to call on previously untapped depths of optimism to get through conference – stretching the nation’s credulity in the process. “Go fourth” the stickers adorning the crowd proclaimed, as Brown appeared on stage to the strains of Jackie Wilson’s ‘Higher and Higher’ for his keynote speech. At a time when the party’s poll rating has plummeted to historic lows, it verged on the surreal. But [...]

The Bournemouth Identity

Bloggers rarely get the recognition they deserve – so it’s a good thing that the Liberal Democrats take time out to honour their keyboard warriors at conference. This year’s Lib Dem Blog Awards was a rout for Alix Mortimer’s intelligent and playful People’s Republic of Mortimer.

Mortimer’s blog attracts a keen following because she approaches issues with humour, honesty and genuine insight – but [...]

Crow was Crow without fail…

The Large Hadron Collider apparently hasn’t matched speculation that it would generate a black hole capable of sucking in all light and humanity. But perhaps its effects were localised to Brighton – because a downbeat TUC, meeting this week, certainly seemed drained of all life.

Jon Rogers sits on the National Executive Council of UNISON. His unpretentiously named site, Jon’s Union blog, covered a [...]

Lead on, Salmond

Alex Salmond is either Scotland’s wise and benevolent national father, or an irresponsible toadman squatting in a rank pool of ideologically incoherent populism. This week, the SNP leader and First Minister unveiled the Scottish government’s legislative agenda for the coming year.

Jeff on SNP Tactical Voting was “honestly, genuinely impressed and excited”. Responding to the party’s plans to tackle binge drinking (by banning cheap booze, [...]

Cakes and Ale

This week David Cameron took his second summer holiday. In July he wandered Cornish beaches gazing into the middle distance as only the ruling classes can. Meanwhile, Brown glumly fed ducks, all of which doubtless choked to death on whatever bread he offered them.

Now Dave is taking his actual holiday, sunning it up off the coast of Turkey. Rupa Huq thought he was a wally [...]

An unhappy birthday

It was warrior-poet turned California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who first predicted the current world's economic crisis. “Crunch, squeeze, crunch,” he explained in his seminal fitness video.

One year ago this week, the global credit crunch began. Yet while Mervyn King forecasts stagnation and recession for us limeys – the American economy continues to enjoy a comparatively healthy 1.5 percent growth rate. Mortgage rates also remain low [...]

Tblisi or not Tblisi

The Beatles assured us in their crap 1968 song ‘Back in the USSR’ that Georgia was on their mind. Oddly though, you don’t hear Paul McCartney commenting much on South Ossetia nowadays.

The war in the Caucuses has inflamed the passions of bellicose and half-witted bloggers from here to Vladikavkaz. Fortunately, a few are actually worth reading. Donald Rayfield on Open Democracy did readers [...]

Rat attack

I smell a rat. No, we did Miliband last week. It’s the twitchy creatures who inhabit our nation’s hospitals, at least according to figures uncovered by the Conservatives- and reported here on June Sarpong’s supercool Politics and the City. The Tories were apoplectic! Conservative Home’s thread on the issue prompted Mary O’Boyle to posit that:

“[The] only way to go is back to Seperate Domestic services [...]