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Month: December 2010

East Brimstone offers Dave/Nick/Ed his seasonal advice

East Brimstone offers Dave/Nick/Ed his seasonal advice

Cameron – The years of Big Society? You cannot just speak with a passion, but without sense or proportion. You need intellectual basis to your arguments in order to win the electorate to them through slogans and ideas wire tapped into that intellectual base. Without intellectual basis sold to electorate, danger is the Cameron government will ruin its electoral prospects as into ideological void voters instead identify this government as obsessing with price tags, not understanding the value of the…

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Let the battle commence in Old & Sad

Let the battle commence in Old & Sad

Who has got the edge as postal voting begins If things have been going to plan then thousands of electors in Oldham East and Saddleworth will be receiving their by-election voting packs in this morning’s mail. We haven’t got a figure yet on the number of postal votes but at the general election it was 8,316 out of 45,092 votes. Given an expected smaller turnout and the efforts that the red and yellows have been making getting supporters signed up…

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And now the PB Poster of the Year

And now the PB Poster of the Year

Who will you nominate for the site’s annual award? Every year since the site began we have run an election for the “Poster of the Year” when lurkers and commenters can decide who has added most to our discussions over the past twelve months. The process is in three stages. At this stage we are seeking nominations. Who do you think should we should be including on the list of possibles? Can you use the thread below to make your…

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Are the Tories set for a “centenarians’ voting boost”?

Are the Tories set for a “centenarians’ voting boost”?

Does an ageing electorate add to the challenge for the reds? One of the stories carried by several papers this morning is the projection by the Department for Work and Pensions that almost a fifth of Britons will live to 100. This is all based on population trends that point to about half a million people a year celebrating their 100th birthday by 2066, compared with about 10,000 now. But this is not just a long-term development. The figures suggest…

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By-election poll taking place in Old & Sad

By-election poll taking place in Old & Sad

Will the automated phone survey change the betting? I’ve just had word that the automated phone pollster, Survation, is carrying out a survey in Oldham East & Saddleworth ahead of the by-election. The firm carries out surveys, like a number of US pollsters, by automated phone calls. Respondees answer by keying in their answers on the key-pad of their phones. ComRes used something similar for its post-debate general election polling when it was trying to produce an almost instant response….

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Is Michael Gove the value bet as “Next To Leave”?

Is Michael Gove the value bet as “Next To Leave”?

How many mistakes is one too many? Michael Gove appears to have performed so many U-turns this month that perhaps he should have been the cabinet member on Strictly Come Dancing. He’s certainly required fancy political footwork to come out of the episode without too much damage, having firstly changed his mind on the funding of school sports and then again on provision of free books. This comes on top of embarrassments during the summer when his department released inaccurate…

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How many 2011 predictions will John Rentoul get right?

How many 2011 predictions will John Rentoul get right?

Event Rentoul’s Predictions for 2011 Date Oldham E & Saddleworth “Labour gain” 13/01/11 Welsh referendum “Labour-Plaid Cymru gain” 03/03/11 AV referendum “Lib Dem loss” 05/05/11 The economy “Conservative gain” 31/12/11 What do we think of the Blair biographer’s predictions? The Indy on Sunday’s political editor and Blair biographer, John Rentoul, has published a list of his main predictions for 2011 and they are set out in the table above. While I do think that Labour’s got a good chance in…

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The Tories move to 25/1 in Oldham East

The Tories move to 25/1 in Oldham East

Oldham E & Saddleworth by-election betting LABOUR LIB DEMS TORIES Ladbrokes 1/4 4/1 14/1 William Hill 1/6 9/2 11/1 Victor Chandler 1/6 9/2 10/1 PaddyPower 2/11 10/3 12/1 Bet365 1/4 7/2 16/1 SkyBet 2/11 7/2 25/1 Betfair 0.18/1 5.4/1 31/1 Smarkets 1/4 75/20 22/1 Labour remain strong odds-on favourites With the postal vote packs in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election due to be mailed out in the next couple of days the latest by-election betting shows a weakening of…

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