Home of the web’s best political conversation

Why not relax, and converse into the night on the day’s events in PB NightHawks, which is Open All Night.

If you’ve always been a lurker, why not delurk tonight, it’ll be Glory Days for you, once you start posting.

The round up of recent events (click on the links below, and it will bring up the relevant story)

• George Osborne ready to sell taxpayers’ stake in Lloyds Banking Group
• Alex Salmond on his youth jobs right, the bedroom tax and why he will win
• Were Boris Johnson, who was Born in the USA, became Tory Leader, the Tories would go up from 30% to 36% according to this yougov analysis 
• 5 ex-ministers Miliband could put in the Shadow Cabinet
• Labour is headed for trouble in next week’s spending review
• There was nothing wrong with fiscal policy under Labour, says top economics prof
• Will the real Ed Miliband please stand up?
• How to write a Dan Hodges column: a step by step guide
• How China bought Britain
• Smokers are ‘drug addicts’, says public health minister Anna Soubry

• David Walliams: ‘I flicked David Cameron’s hair like in Little Britain’

• PMQs review: Cameron wrong foots Miliband on the banks
• Bankers banged up? They need to return to planet Earth first says Polly Toynbee
• Britain’s soft power is greater than Gangnam Style – so appreciate it
• Nigel Farage targets Scotland with boast of success in European elections
• The leader of the Scottish Conservatives was refused alcohol at a Bruce Springsteen concert - because the barman did not believe she was over 18.
• A rail company is offering one couple a chance to get married on a train

TSE

Home of the web’s best political conversation

Why not relax, and converse into the night on the day’s events in PB NightHawks.

If you’ve always been a lurker, you’re on the Edge of Heaven, why not enter heaven tonight and delurk.

The round up of recent events (click on the links below, and it will bring up the relevant story)

• Tories win over Generation Y while losing touch with older voters, David Cameron’s stress on individual responsibility plus a firm approach on welfare resonates with under-33s
• David Cameron should say to Tories thinking of replacing him, I’m your man, for the 2015 election, see this polling analysis from Peter Kellner
• YouGov ask the greatest polling question of all time, they combines four of my favourite things, Amy Pond, Star Trek, James Bond and Scottish Independence, no really they do.
• Freedom, and the cause of Scottish Independence takes a hit tomorrow, as tomorrow is the 707th anniversary of the shellacking the English gave Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Methven 
• Hillary Clinton today gets, Everything She Wants, for her campaign to be President in 2016 , with a first declaration of support from a sitting US senator
• Today is the forty-third anniversary of the 1970 General Election
• Losing to Germany in a World Cup match does have it upsides, as England losing to Germany was blamed for Labour’s defeat in 1970.
• The G8, Obama, and Syria: Why Putin came out on top
• A good interview with one of the Tory Young Guns, Jacob Rees-Mogg
• Ed Miliband needs to hold out against EU referendum, He would be betting the ranch on an issue which is not of primary concern to the electorate
• If Miliband is serious about tackling low pay, he needs to embrace the unions
• Unison set out their expectations for a Labour government
• Whilst the leader of Unison personalises the welfare debate, and goes after one woman in particular, accusing her of ‘having babies to get state handouts’
• To Eurosceptics, Ken Clarke and David Cameron are bad boys, because Ken Clarke writes “The Thatcherite case for staying in the EU“, Whilst Dave says Britain could lose out from trade deal if we pull out of EU 
• Cyprus president calls for bailout overhaul to save economy
• Ukip In Donside By-Election Gaffe After Sending Leaflet To Late MSP Brian Adam
• Museum of Science and Industry ‘saved’ 
• Expect scorching hot summers for the next ten years, Run of wet summers could last another 10 years, Britain has a higher chance of wet summers for up to the next ten years, the Met Office has predicted, after a new weather pattern was identified in the North Atlantic
• One for conspiracy theorists, the Mayor of Watford had to sign the official secrets act because of the Bilderberg meeting.
• Whitby Labour Councillor fathers child with alien queen – his wife is “unhappy”

TSE

Home of the web’s best political conversation

Why not relax, and converse into the night on the day’s events in PB NightHawks.

If you’ve always been a lurker, why not delurk tonight, it will be a Red Letter Day the day you post for the first time.

The round up of recent events (click on the links below, and it will bring up the relevant story)

• Hopi Sen asks, Labour’s polling softening: What’s behind it, and does it matter?
• Remember how Clinton sealed the deal for Obama last year? Blair could do that for Miliband
• David Miliband on what Labour needs to do to win
• How Cameron and Clegg could reach a deal on cutting pensioner benefits
• Coalition seeks shake-up of pensions industry with new “collective defined contribution” plan
• Strictly Come Dorries: Now Tory MP Nadine wants a place on dance show as she attacks ‘idiots’ who think Cameron is a winner
• Supreme Court Cites Bush v. Gore For The First Time Ever
• Huzzah, EU Votes To End Roaming Charges In 2014
• China Crisis? China’s shadow banking system is out of control and under mounting stress as borrowers struggle to roll over short-term debts, Fitch Ratings has warned.
• Michael Gove says ‘Labour’s school policy is so tortured they should send in the UN to end the suffering’
• UKIP councillor says voters mistook him for a woman
• The west’s dominance of the Middle East is ending
• Tomorrow is a great day for fans of Eton College, Coalitions and European Unity, for it is the 198th anniversary of The Battle of Waterloo. If you’re lacking in knowledge about the Battle, read more about it here.
• Or if you prefer a short video about the Battle of Waterloo, click here.
• Borisstan: the independent city state and docking station for global wealth formerly known as London What would the British capital look like in the future if it broke away from the rest of the country?
• Prisons in this country are becoming hotels.
• Kuwait to ‘execute prisoners on live television’
• When Star Wars meets Doctor Who
• Living in Manchester, this is what I have to put up with.
• Following Tony Robinson’s Knighthood, my favourite scene from Blackadder (NSFW or if you’ve got kids in earshot)

TSE

Home of the web’s best political conversation

Why not relax, and converse into the night on the day’s events in PB NightHawks.

If you’ve always been a lurker, why not Take That opportunity which Nighthawks gives you to delurk. It Only Takes A Minute to post, Never Forget, we were all lurkers once.

The round up of recent events (click on the links below, and it will bring up the relevant story)

• Steve Richards says, both Labour and the Tories think they’re going to lose the next election. Maybe they’re both right
• Whilst James Forsyth says Someone has got to win the next election
• Boris Johnson tops David Cameron – and his own party
• A swing of the handbag reveals Mrs May’s ambition
• Street lights may be turned off to help fund elderly care, councils warn
• Labour MP says she thinks the security services are spying on her
• GCHQ intercepted foreign politicians’ communications at G20 summits
• House of Lords could swell to 2,000 to balance ‘immovable block’ of Liberal Democrat peers. Hundreds of new Labour, Tory and Ukip peers would be needed to dilute Lib Dem over-representation
• A Lib Dem Bar chart
• SNP’s Flemish ally warns: Independent Scotland can’t have a-la-carte EU membership

• The Guardian says, Meet Polly Toynbee and Aditya Chakrabortty for a coffee on Tuesday, If you’d like to talk to our columnists face to face, here’s a chance to do so at our new coffee shop in east London, go on, you know you want too.

• Name a college after Thatcher? She might have been good but she does not trump Jesus, says Oxford uni chief Lord Patten
• I recommend the book, but the Inside story of deals that built coalition set to be a TV drama
• The Green Agenda could inspire and challenge this generation – and help Labour take on UKIP and the Tories
• Barack Obama is a Robot in disguise, transformer?
• Psychic Derek Acorah cancels show due to “unforeseen circumstances”

TSE

Home of the web’s best political conversation

Why not relax, and converse into the night on the day’s events in PB NightHawks.

If you’ve always been a lurker, and you have a Desire to post, Nighthawks gives you an opportunity to delurk, posting on pb is the Sweetest Thing, you’ll find today will become a Beautiful Day if you delurk tonight, hopefully at least One lurker will delurk tonight.

The round up of recent events (click on the links below, and it will bring up the relevant story)

• Why Ed Miliband is going to be the next Prime Minister, Do the maths. It will be quite hard for Labour not to be the largest party after the next election.
• Labour must not let Ukip win working-class votes
• Liberal Democrats have created a million jobs – and now want a million more
• Liberal Democrats to put job-creation at heart of election campaign, Strategists hope focus on jobs will make party central to economic debate that is expected to dominate runup to election
• Oh bother, Chinese censors target Winnie the Pooh and Tigger
• Why Defence Secretaries go native
• Blinded by their eurosceptic ideology, the Tories are risking our national security
• What happened next after the general strike failed
• SNP will axe ‘bedroom tax’ after independence
• Scottish independence: UK defence secrets ‘could hit jobs’
• DUP to investigate after councillor takes Bacardi Breezer to meeting, Northern Irish party – whose founder Ian Paisley called alcohol the ‘devil’s buttermilk’ – says it does not condone behaviour
• Pope Francis is emerging strongly from the Vatican’s ‘gay lobby’ crisis
• In case you missed it the other night, For PB’s many fans of ABBA, don’t miss this chance to watch this BBC documentary about celebrating the singing career of Abba performer Agnetha Fältskog

TSE

(Note this was written at 5.30pm BST)

Home of the web’s best political conversation

Why not relax, and converse into the night on the day’s events in PB NightHawks.

If you’ve always been a lurker, nighthawks gives you an opportunity to delurk, make some Changes, Tonight, be a Rebel Rebel, and start posting, I’m sure you’ll be Dancing in the Street once you start posting

The round up of recent events (click on the links below, and it will bring up the relevant story)

• I wonder if David Cameron still stands by his twitter maxim, PMQs: Twitter verdict shows David Cameron ‘won.’ Analysis of Twitter activity during PMQs showed that David Cameron beat his Labour opponent, Ed Miliband.
• PMQs review: Cameron profits from Labour’s pensions move (hat tip Carola)
• It is time for Lord Ashcroft and the Tory party to part company
• The rise of Ukip – more blip than permanent shift?As support for the party slips six points following May’s record, there may well be less to Nigel Farage than many of us think
• Nine out of 10 council leaders expect some local authorities to face bankruptcy or fail to deliver essential services over the next three years
• Cameron was a ‘girly swot’ at university, says Boris
• Former Tory MP Andrew Pelling to stand as Labour council candidate
• The SNP’s pledge to design a radically different welfare system in an independent Scotland would result in a “serious risk” of disruption to claimants, a Scottish Government-commissioned panel concluded yesterday.
• Have a look at the 2013 Shed of the Year entrants.
• A man with a beard causes trouble.
• A way of paying the rent in Brighton
• Sony mocks Microsoft Xbox One with PlayStation 4 used games funny video
• For PB’s many fans of ABBA, don’t miss this chance to watch this BBC documentary about celebrating the singing career of Abba performer Agnetha Fältskog

TSE

Home of the web’s best political conversation

Why not relax, and converse into the night on the day’s events in PB NightHawks.

If you’ve always been a lurker, nighthawks gives you an opportunity to delurk, why not take a Walk on the wild side, posting on pb will make it a Perfect Day for you.

The round up of recent events (click on the links below, and it will bring up the relevant story)

• Rightly or wrongly, I suspect this women is about to become the poster woman/family for the debate on benefits in this country.
• Meanwhile does austerity kill people?
• More problems for Syria, Damascus today, it’s just like being in Belfast during the troubles, says Nick Griffin. 
• Diane Abbott is the darling of the reforming Right, as Michael Gove declares his love for her.
• But Ms Abbott says Why I could do without Michael Gove’s declaration of love, I’m no fan of the unpopular education secretary. But I stand by my belief that working-class children need academic rigour
• Boris Johnson sets out his ’2020 vision for London’
• The New Statesman looks ahead to whom may be Labour’s candidate for the London Mayoralty in 2016
• Former Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker conceded Tuesday that mistakes were made in the bailout of Greece — days after a similar admission by the International Monetary Fund.
• Whilst George Galloway is considering running for Mayor of London
• Ed Miliband is trying to build a Britain the Tories can’t break
• Could the electorate conclude that there is precious little difference between the main parties?
• Not quite the leg over incident, but TMS experiences another moment when an double entendre makes a commentator dissolve into a fit of giggles
• This could make for a great plot for the next James Bond film, Is George Osborne’s Cat Freya A Chinese Spy?
• Watch the first trailer for ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’

TSE

Home of the web’s best political conversation

Why not relax, and converse into the night on the day’s events in PB Night Hawks.

If like me, politics and betting is “Always on my mind” for news on politics and betting, you’ve come to the right place.

If you’ve always been a lurker, nighthawks gives you an opportunity to delurk, if you’re thinking, It’s a sin, to post, it isn’t

The round up of recent events (click on the links below, and it will bring up the relevant story)

• Britain faces at least two ‘austerity elections’, says thinktank
• France is gearing up for a war with the United States
• France’s President Hollande confuses Japan and China
• Ukip becomes the official opposition in South Tyneside
• David Cameron is no longer more popular than his party
• Church leaders demand ministers apologise for “misrepresenting the poor”
• Renationalise it: Public say railways would be better and cheaper under public control
• What if Britain had joined the euro?

• Centrica is close to signing a deal to partner Cuadrilla Resources in fracking for shale gas in the north-west of England.

• How to get around a champagne ban
• Morris the Cat is running for mayor of an Mexican city
• 12 Reasons Why Benedict Cumberbatch Should Be The 12th Doctor

TSE

 Note: Mike Smithson is currently on holiday