From the Guardian: Hunt lobby in covert bid to oust Labour MPs. Is this a bit of American-style politics here to stay? Will “527“-like groups be plaguing our screens/airwaves/papers? I noticed a full-page ad by the GMB in the Independent last week. Under a photograph of a serious-looking Michael Howard was the following text: ACCUSING […]

From BBC news: Rivals hold historic China talks. From the Guardian: Taiwanese opposition leader in Beijing talks. From Xinhua: CPC, KMT leaders shake hands in historic meeting. I’m mildly amused by how UK news outlets refer to Lien Chan as the opposition leader, and how Xinhua refers to him as Chairman of the Kuomintang（国民堂） first […]

Warning, long post ahead. I spent my lunch hour reading all the bumpf that’s been shoved through our letterbox while the cat fought for attention by shedding hair on the leaflets (she didn’t like the Tory leaflets, that’s for sure… Must remember to tell Tory-boy…). I thought I ought to list the key point the […]

I’m a wishy washy, bleeding-heart liberal, according to the Times. I have views somewhere between Noam Chomsky and Tony Benn. Why are comparisons always to men? I’ve also been a little bit bored this evening, and have read recess monkey‘s blog, which is something I’ve not done before as I’ve always been a Backbencher girl […]

Rafael Behr at the Observer blog compares the disappointment of the Star Wars prequels to New Labour. I particularly like this bit about Labour’s second term: Then came Attack of the Clones. A weakly scripted, poorly acted pastiche of what it could have been, dominated by a war launched with subterfuge and cynical manipiulation. —Rafael […]

Chris Lightfoot has a General Election Estimation quiz, which gauges how much you know about the stats behind the campaign. Apart from seriously underestimating how much each ID card would cost the taxpayer, I think I did alright for one who never really thinks about figures. You can choose how many questions you wish to […]

I checked out the “Political Survey 2005” questionnaire this evening. It turns out that, overall, I’m rather more left of centre than I previously thought. In a nutshell, this is where I stand on some issues: Crime and punishment, internationalism Your position on this axis is -6.7 You are likely to be very internationalist and […]

Three fun things to do if you’re tired of the usual election clap-trap: Watch the funniest spoof PEB (Party Election Broadcast) I’ve ever seen on GB Jab. Flash is needed, but even Linux users are supported on that. Googlebomb Kilroy Veritas. Make your own Tory poster. You can change the text, but somehow, the original […]

I sometimes wonder how the people at The Observer ever get their paper out on time. They seem to have too many diversions, which they’ve taken to sharing with the rest of us on their Observer Blog. In keeping with the election theme, they’ve posted about several guides that will help the undecided pick a […]