Chris Gilson takes a look at the week in political blogging
AV Referendum and Council Elections
Chris Huhne launches an attack on the ‘No’ campaign, with the possible threat of legal actions over some of their claims. Tim Montgomerie at thetorydiary is concerned about Vince Cable’s comments this week calling for a ‘progressive majority’ to keep the Tories out of power. Shamira Shackle at The Staggers says that this should worry the coalition.
Tim Montgomerie at thetorydiary says that David Cameron should ‘be ready’ for a possible early election given the recent behaviour of the Liberal Democrats – Sunder Katwala at Labour Uncut says this is not unthinkable, but is convinced it will not happen.
Duncan Robinson at The Staggers reckons that all the apparent ‘cracks’ in the coalition are staged to differentiate the parties in the lead up to the upcoming election, though Political Scrapbook does have an anonymous source in the Conservatives calling the Liberal Democrats ‘yapping dogs’.
Conrad Ladin at Labour Uncut blogs that the No to AV campaign is too unpleasant to be supported, even if one supports their aim, while Guido Fawkes is largely dismissive of the Yes campaign’s recent ‘deployment’ of Peter Mandelson.
Mike Smithson at politicalbetting.com questions why David Cameron is campaigning for the local elections in an area where there is no Conservative candidate, and then later has a close look at the referendum ballot paper, which may or may not slightly favour the ‘Yes’ vote.
Mike Smithson at politicalbetting.com has another poll with the No campaign leading 58-42, while Duncan Robinson at The Staggers reckons that if the No campaign wins, the Yes campaign has only themselves to blame.
Michael Meacher at Left Futures says ‘no thanks’ to Maurice Glasman’s ‘Blue Labour’.
Economy
Thetorydiary has comment on the latest GDP figures which show a 0.5 per cent increase in the last quarter. Sunder Katwala at Next Left says we are exactly where we were 6 months ago, and George Eaton at The Staggers reckons that the figures show that George Osborne’s plans are not working, and Sunny Hundal at Liberal Consipiracy charts the recent falls in consumer confidence.Richard Excell at the TUC’s Touchstone Blog says that the figures mean there is no cause for the Bank of England to raise interest rates.
Michael Meacher at Left Futures says we may be sleepwalking into the next financial crisis. Tim Worstall guest blogging at The Adam Smith Insitute’s Blog wonders what public sector unions are for, and Robert Peston charts the rising costs for the MOD of its new aircraft carriers (possible set top rise by £2billion).
Immigration
Owen Tudor at the TUC’s Touchstone Blog discusses how the government has changed it’s ‘target’ of reducing immigration to 100,000 a year to an ambition saying that the government has ‘admitted defeat’.
Royal Wedding
Political Scrapbook reports that Westminster Council has relented and allowed anti-monarchy organisation, Republic‘s ‘Not the royal wedding day’ street party. Dominic Browne at Left Foot Forward says that the guest list to the royal wedding is an embarrassment to the UK given the number of dictators and representatives of repressive regimes present.
As the big day approaches thetorydiary has 12 conservative quotes in support of the monarchy, and Chris Dillow at Liberal Conspiracy thinks the monarchy is great. Political Scrapbook has pictures of David Cameron in tails, commenting that may not have been his Director of Strategy, Steve Hilton’s first choice.
And finally…
Mark Pack looks at how Liberal Democrat MPs measure up on Twitter.
Liberal Conspiracy looks at the American healthcare experience and asks; can private companies can really offer us cheaper healthcare?
Sophia Elmhurst at The Staggers comments that Cameron’s PMQ’s comment to Andrea Eagle to “Calm down, dear!” illustrates the Tories’ “blind spot” on women.
