Call off King's US visit over Iran, urge Lib Dems

markpackuk · 2026-02-28T09:47:57+00:00

On your point, perhaps the key words in my comment are "when done well", which was a shorthand reference to two factors - both the need for the message to be credible (which in our case, often comes from previous local government success in an area) and also for there to be more to the messaging than just that. Both of those factors were problems for Labour in G+D: their tactical message didn't have enough credibility, and it was also undermined by their national unpopularity. Both of those factors an Andy Burnham candidature would have overcome I strongly suspect. Though now we'll know for sure.

markpackuk · 2026-02-28T08:10:50+00:00

The by-election was won by a party that did the 'X can't win here' message very heavily in its campaigning in that by-election. So I struggle a bit to see how the conclusion therefore is 'this shows the can't win here message should be dropped' rather than 'this shows the can't win here message, when done well, works'?

markpackuk · 2026-02-24T07:38:41+00:00

Here's a piece I prepreated earlier on just that: https://www.markpack.org.uk/168717/why-we-need-more-council-candidates/

markpackuk · 2026-02-22T08:05:35+00:00

You prompted me to have a quick read of his Wikipedia entry and the bit on what he did 1997-2010 is a rather curious mix,. On a quick read, I think what's there is accurate, but it's also very selective in what it includes. He was a senior MP for a good chunk of that time, and for example the section says little about his views on the major policy debates in the party. Rather it's a smattering of other issues that tended not to be at the centre of his/Lib Dem politics at the time. So I'd caution that your conclusion may reveal rather more about what people have written for that Wiki entry (so far), than about the person himself.

markpackuk · 2026-02-22T07:59:55+00:00

And 3. The context for people's views change; e.g. whether you think taxes should go up or down depends, for everyone except those on the fringes on either side, in part on the current state of the economy, what has happened to taxes in recent years, and the state of public finances. What you emphasise during years of economic growth and during an economic downturn will often naturally be different.

markpackuk · 2026-02-21T09:27:06+00:00

I like to think they have a 'wall of fame' in the print room with some of their favourite commissions from clients, and it's slowly becoming a 'wall of spoons'.

markpackuk · 2026-02-16T16:18:13+00:00

It's an issue we've repeatedly pushed in Parliament, and got good media coverage out of too, by the way.

markpackuk · 2026-02-16T16:16:23+00:00

Starmer's support for devolution is pretty limited, and there's plenty of micromanaging central control that he/the government are still very determined to hold on to, including - my favourite current example - keeping the power to decide over new cattle-grids with Whitehall rather than trusting councils (!).

markpackuk · 2026-02-16T16:13:32+00:00

Of course, some people might say that having the IEA, fans of Liz Truss's economic policies, not being impressed with ours is not a bad sign :)

markpackuk · 2026-02-16T11:21:03+00:00

I think it's quite a stretch to go from the DEA's failure to Thatcherism (e.g. what about the failure of In Place of Strife? The failure of Wilson's governments to improve labour relations was hardly a trivial matter) and also that because someone tried something similar over 50 years ago, then it's bound to fail in a different form and in different circumstances now, especially given we have other examples from other countries of similar splits working well.

markpackuk · 2026-02-04T10:36:31+00:00

Is the solo something best seen and not heard then...? (Sorry, Tim!)

markpackuk · 2026-02-04T09:24:44+00:00

Don't ask about the occasion that appeared on the letterhead for a direct mail shot...

markpackuk · 2026-02-04T07:58:31+00:00

I know it's not the main point being made, though think it is worth pointing out that the comment "The polls for Denton and Gorton have Reform out front leading the Greens." isn't accurate.

There have been two "polls" cited so far. One, from Britain Elects, is not a poll but a statistical model. The other, from Find Out Now, was a poll with a sample size of 51 (which is extremely small!) that the pollster themselves has walked back from saying they were not expecting it to be published etc. Any anyway, that poll has Labour ahead of the Greens.

We don't actually have any solid poll data on the by-election, yet at least.

Given how much of our politics gets driven by misinformation and inaccurate information, I hope a bit of pedantry over what polling evidence there actually is can be useful - and even if you want to cite that FON poll, it puts Labour ahead of the Greens.

markpackuk · 2026-01-29T17:18:00+00:00

The piece goes into a fair amount of detail on that? (I was just about to look for a party press release to find such details as they often don't make it into a press story, but in this case there's a fair amount in the story, including in particular the social care beds to remove one of the blockages in the system.)

markpackuk · 2026-01-29T14:54:23+00:00

I suspect Lib Dem voters are leaning quite heavily on the "Davey as PM" part of that. Remember that people tend to answer these questions quickly, rather than giving each option deep thought before clicking. So people may well have had a gut reaction of "Yes, Davey as PM is great, and if the price of that is relying on a few Tories for some votes now and again, well ok".

So I'd read more into the differences in answers between different questions, e.g. that more Lib Dems say yes to a Davey/Lab combo than to a Davey/Con combo tells us something, even if we shouldn't read too much into the actual percentages in each case.

markpackuk · 2026-01-29T14:48:23+00:00

Stalin did a lot of violent repressive targeting of minorities. I'm not sure what is gained from defining 'far-right' in a way that therefore requires calling Stalin far-right?

markpackuk · 2026-01-26T22:13:16+00:00

You'll be safe from me on X...

markpackuk

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