Tonight marks the start of the PB Night Hawks Cafe – a sort of regular open thread to take us through the night until day-break comes. This will go up several nights a week at about this time. Marf’s all-colour illustration is several times bigger than above and looks splendid. I’m hoping that she might be able to make prints available. Have a good night. @MikeSmithsonPB
Is Huntsman crazy to suggest otherwise? There’s a new poll out, from PPP, in Iowa – the first state to hold a primary – in which those sampled were asked whether they believed in evolution or not – a question that has become something of an issue. To the British eye the responses are startling. This is from the Iowa Independent:- “Perry’s drawn some attention in the last week for his statements about global warming and evolution and although he’s…
And Clegg’s party edges up to 17% For the second month running Britian’s most accurate pollster when tested against real national elections, ICM, is recording a one point lead for the Tories. It also has the Lib Dems on 17%. The survey for the Guardian, carried out from Friday until Sunday, has the Tories standing still on 37%, Labour on 36% and the Lib Dems moving up a point to 17%. The detail of the poll shows a sharp reduction…
Indy The biggest story after Libya this morning on the BBC news website is the allegation that News International was secretly funding Andy Coulson for several months after the ex-NOTW editor became David Cameron’s press chief in 2007. It’s said that the newspaper group was covertly making payments to it ex-employee and Tom Watson MP has called on the Electoral Commission to hold an inquiry. On the face of it this does sound serious but there might be a simpler…
New poll from Derby shows 13 point CON>LAB swing At the general election in May 2010 the East Midlands was one of the most crucial CON-LAB battle-grounds. Of the 46 seats at stake more than a quarter were gained by the Tories – It went from a pre-election notional split of CON 19: LAB 26: LD 1 to CON 31 and LAB 15. However the boundary changes work out it’s clear that this will be a keenly contested region once…
More of Marf’s work can be found at http://www.londonsketchbook.com/
BBC news After a dramatic day in Tripoli it seems that we might be getting to the point when we have to change the terms we use – the moment when “rebels” cease to be rebels and when the old regime is finished. We are not there yet but it doesn’t look as though it will be too long. What happens to Gadaffi then becomes the next question. Will he be able to get out or has he already gone?…
What’ll be the domestic fall-out of the dictator going? I don’t know whether this is being a bit premature but it does start to look as though the Gaddafi era in Libya is coming to an end. Things have moved very fast in the past couple of days with fighting now moving into the capital, Tripoli. Whether this will take hours, days, or even weeks it is hard to see the dictator remaining in power. Close aides have begun to…