Clark Hogan-Taylor

Has a change of government changed the political blogosphere?

21st September 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

In the run up to this year’s General Election there was much talk of how a change of government might lead to a change in the political blogosphere. It has had a right wing bias from its inception in the sense that, amongst the most-read, more of them have been right of centre in their output and authors’ political affiliations than centrist or anything further to the left. The oft-cited...

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Finally, the party has started

12th May 2010 | 6 comments | 1 person likes this

There was no point blogging over the last few days as either nothing or everything was happening. Now the dust is beginning to settle, things are becoming slightly clearer. A very neat deal has been done between the Lib Dems and the Tories. Several clever trade offs have been made: Osborne as Chancellor but Cable in the Treasury, Hague stays as Foreign Sec but Clegg gets to carve out his...

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Your options for government

6th May 2010 | 3 comments | 4 people like this

Please choose from one of the following options
Government tariff 1: Pray As You Go: Lib-Lab coalition (24 month contract)*
Hung Parliament. Tories are the largest party but Lib Dems poll well. Labour are nowhere. Tories manifestly do not want a Lib-Tory coalition and Cameron rules it out. He’s playing the long game. Clegg has to stick to his refusal to work with the leader who polled lowest, so has to wait...

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Interview: Tim Archer

4th May 2010 | 1 comments | 2 people like this

Tim Archer is the Conservative PPC for Poplar and Limehouse. Why did I ask him for an interview? Well, apart from the fact that Poplar and Limehouse is my constituency, it's also a very interesting seat. Over to UK Polling Report:
Poplar and Limehouse is perhaps the most surprising seat on the Conservative target list, requiring a swing of just under 6%, the same sort of figure as more obvious targets...

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Bigotgate

28th April 2010 | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree

Finally our gaffe thirst has been quenched, and fairly spectacularly. There's no point me writing it all out here as it's already been copied verbatim around the internet.
Iain Martin - BBC News - Sky News - Iain Dale (see here too) - you get the idea.
Whatever you might think of someone who says, "All these Eastern Europeans what are coming in - where are they flocking from?", she is Labour...

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What is a ‘fair’ electoral system?

27th April 2010 | 4 comments | 1 person likes this

As mentioned in my previous post, I think Cameron's best shot at victory is to steal the reformist mantle from Clegg by proposing something that is perceived by the public to be even more radical. I mean this is his best shot in the same way that jumping out of your car when the brakes don't work and you're heading for a petrol station at 120mph is your best shot, but...

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A coalition post

26th April 2010 | 5 comments | 1 person likes this

Three articles have caught my eye this morning, partly because I was logging on here to write largely the same kind of piece only without the same level of detail, historical analysis or wordsmithsmanship. So instead, what with the wonders of the internet and everything, I will simply link to them and spare you 600 words on why the three party system is anathema to a well maintained and regularly serviced political system.
Telegraph.co.uk: Boris...

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The second debate could seal the deal

22nd April 2010 | 2 comments | 2 people like this

The last seven days have been very strange. Nobody saw the result of the first debate coming. The fallout has been messy and unpredictable - not to mention disgraceful from the Daily Mail - because nobody could really gauge how real Clegg's bounce was. I still don't think they can. The betting markets have been all over the shop and have only just started to calm down. Tonight, I feel,...

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Celebrities and politics make for a depressing cocktail

19th April 2010 | 6 comments | 6 people like this

I was going to post this last week and it's now slightly past its read-by date, but I was deafened by the cacophony of juvenile hysteria with which the public greeted their discovery that Nick Clegg was not ejected from the 3rd round of last year's Britain's Got Talent but is, in fact, a politician who is not a Tory or Labour. "There's a third party?!", they squeeled, like children...

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Clegg shakes things up

16th April 2010 | 1 comments | 1 person likes this

Nick Clegg was only ever going to win last night's debate. All he had to do was not soil himself or suggest introducting sat nav for asylum seekers and he was there. This is, I think, because most people had absolutely no opinion of him. The vast majority of people have made up their mind about GB and DC; they are fixed entities. As such, they would both have to do...

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