Monday, 31 March 2008
Official Launch Day
Am gutted to have missed the official launch of Boris's campaign this morning in Edmonton. To be fair I was recovering from my stag weekend and the event was in N9, in almost the furthest part of London from me. Got to dash now to go and see the Evening Standard Debate at Cadogan Hall with all 3 candidates. Want to try and get front seats and have just realised that I have left my tickets in the office. Grr. Further updates later.
Friday, 28 March 2008
14% Lead in YouGov Poll
I believe this is indicative of the national mood and this is great news coming a month before the local elections. A 14% lead in the national Yougov survey sounds very promising, particularly since this is up 3% from the last local election results.
I have spent a fruitless 5 minutes trying to find a page on Google that would give me a 'historical comparison of local elections'. I know that Labour took a good kicking at the last local election and lost 900 seats and we (Conservatives) won 500. There is overall plenty of information on the last few years, but what I really want to see is the historical picture. I remember seeing some tables (at school and probably by John Snow) that indicate the overall party share in local elections and how that fluctuates, usually against governments in the mid term. I'd really like to get ahold of that now and see where this overall 14% lead might put us, if it translates into a massive swing against Labour. i.e Would we be on course to beat Labour's worst ever local election result in the 60s.
I'm off to post a request for help and recommendations for a good site for this on Coffee Shop. It will be interesting to see what I get back. Part of my reason for writing this blog is to chart my progress in pulling together these essential and vital political statistics. It's one thing to find the correct sources, and another to then be able to pull them together and make sense of them to form a cohesive argument. Modern journalists must love the web, but what did previous generations do? I suspect a lot more time was spent in dusty libraries, both private (ie. newspaper and journal's own libraries) and public.
I have spent a fruitless 5 minutes trying to find a page on Google that would give me a 'historical comparison of local elections'. I know that Labour took a good kicking at the last local election and lost 900 seats and we (Conservatives) won 500. There is overall plenty of information on the last few years, but what I really want to see is the historical picture. I remember seeing some tables (at school and probably by John Snow) that indicate the overall party share in local elections and how that fluctuates, usually against governments in the mid term. I'd really like to get ahold of that now and see where this overall 14% lead might put us, if it translates into a massive swing against Labour. i.e Would we be on course to beat Labour's worst ever local election result in the 60s.
I'm off to post a request for help and recommendations for a good site for this on Coffee Shop. It will be interesting to see what I get back. Part of my reason for writing this blog is to chart my progress in pulling together these essential and vital political statistics. It's one thing to find the correct sources, and another to then be able to pull them together and make sense of them to form a cohesive argument. Modern journalists must love the web, but what did previous generations do? I suspect a lot more time was spent in dusty libraries, both private (ie. newspaper and journal's own libraries) and public.
Thursday, 27 March 2008
On the campaign trail
First day of the blog. I'm not expecting anyone to read this, but at least I can chart the mini adventures over the next few weeks until the London mayoral elections and then on into the Boris-sphere!
In case you're wondering what I'm alluding to, London votes for a new mayor on the 1st of May. Incumbent Ken Livingstone is fighting for a third term, but I'm a firm Boris supporter. The reasons will hopefully become clear over the next few weeks.
As soon as I heard that Boris would be fighting Ken I was incredibly relieved to know that at last there was a challenger, someone not only with the intelligence and political astuteness to do the job, but also the personality to get the vote. It's all very well to moan about the state London is in, but I believe that it's up to each of us to make London better. That's why I'm out on the streets 2 days a week handing out Boris leaflets and urging fellow Londoners to kick Ken out! If you want a better London then Boris is our man.
I've leafleted in quite a few places over the last few weeks and yesterday I posted myself at Oxford Circus station exit during the morning rush hour. I wasn't sure quite what to expect there, but there was certainly a good deal of interest from people emerging bleary eyed and sweaty from the tube. The leaflets I'm handing out are entitled "London transport's a mess", I can't think of any sentiment that better chimes with the sentiment of a commuter at that time in the morning.
It's a great way to come face to face with the electorate and I'm pleased to say that Boris has supporters from all segments of London. My policy is to politely urge people to 'vote Boris' as I thrust a leaflet in their general direction. Apart from the people who actually take the leaflets themselves, I like to think I am planting a few seeds for later discussion or perhaps a train of thought that will connect with the constant stream of press and TV articles on the mayoral candidates.
In the first few weeks I had a few 'grinners' - what a terrific reaction. I know that a few people think Boris 'can't be serious' (even though this week the papers are full of articles and interview with him when he is being very serious), but at least having a name that makes you smile is better than a name that makes people grimace, (like Ken) or a name that causes no reaction. We've 36 days to turn those grins into votes! I'll be back there next week and try a different entrance.
This morning I went to Clapham Junction which is not designed for one man to leaflet alone. The friendly free newspaper 'givers' have a four man team to cover the entrance. Two competing bus stops either side of the entrance divulge stop-start waves of commuters and I rushed between them thrusting away! Quite good exercise really.
A very mixed reaction, some people told me they were already a supporter, some took whole piles of leaflets off me for their office, sometimes i was inundated by hands agrasping! I tried to spot a tendency according to where the bus came from, but there was barely time to analyse as the commuters kept coming.
An hour in and I was hoarse enough to head on into work.
Great, that's my first blog. Haven't a clue how this works, but I think I will try and get in touch with other Boris supporters.
BTW: www.backboris.com and www.boriswatch.com
Cheers,
Tim for change
In case you're wondering what I'm alluding to, London votes for a new mayor on the 1st of May. Incumbent Ken Livingstone is fighting for a third term, but I'm a firm Boris supporter. The reasons will hopefully become clear over the next few weeks.
As soon as I heard that Boris would be fighting Ken I was incredibly relieved to know that at last there was a challenger, someone not only with the intelligence and political astuteness to do the job, but also the personality to get the vote. It's all very well to moan about the state London is in, but I believe that it's up to each of us to make London better. That's why I'm out on the streets 2 days a week handing out Boris leaflets and urging fellow Londoners to kick Ken out! If you want a better London then Boris is our man.
I've leafleted in quite a few places over the last few weeks and yesterday I posted myself at Oxford Circus station exit during the morning rush hour. I wasn't sure quite what to expect there, but there was certainly a good deal of interest from people emerging bleary eyed and sweaty from the tube. The leaflets I'm handing out are entitled "London transport's a mess", I can't think of any sentiment that better chimes with the sentiment of a commuter at that time in the morning.
It's a great way to come face to face with the electorate and I'm pleased to say that Boris has supporters from all segments of London. My policy is to politely urge people to 'vote Boris' as I thrust a leaflet in their general direction. Apart from the people who actually take the leaflets themselves, I like to think I am planting a few seeds for later discussion or perhaps a train of thought that will connect with the constant stream of press and TV articles on the mayoral candidates.
In the first few weeks I had a few 'grinners' - what a terrific reaction. I know that a few people think Boris 'can't be serious' (even though this week the papers are full of articles and interview with him when he is being very serious), but at least having a name that makes you smile is better than a name that makes people grimace, (like Ken) or a name that causes no reaction. We've 36 days to turn those grins into votes! I'll be back there next week and try a different entrance.
This morning I went to Clapham Junction which is not designed for one man to leaflet alone. The friendly free newspaper 'givers' have a four man team to cover the entrance. Two competing bus stops either side of the entrance divulge stop-start waves of commuters and I rushed between them thrusting away! Quite good exercise really.
A very mixed reaction, some people told me they were already a supporter, some took whole piles of leaflets off me for their office, sometimes i was inundated by hands agrasping! I tried to spot a tendency according to where the bus came from, but there was barely time to analyse as the commuters kept coming.
An hour in and I was hoarse enough to head on into work.
Great, that's my first blog. Haven't a clue how this works, but I think I will try and get in touch with other Boris supporters.
BTW: www.backboris.com and www.boriswatch.com
Cheers,
Tim for change
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