Dave Hill finds that Libdem’r Simon Hughes, “urged voters to cast their second preference for someone who had served London already”. He’s advocating Paddick as first choice of course, but does that mean Ken should be no. 2?

What do you call a libertarian blogger who is adamant that people should follow the rule of law but ends up in court for drink-driving? Tsk tsk. And we had such high hopes for you Paul Staines. via MoT

Gordon Brown today vowed to press ahead with plans to extend detention without trial beyond 28 days.

There are many very good reasons not to vote for Boris Johnson, but most likely we will wake up on Friday to that result.

The election now comes down to a question of turnout and of appealing to second preferences, particularly of Liberal Democrat voters. The key unknown may be what impact last minute doubts about Johnson have. (Two-thirds of the Politics Home ‘insider panel’ think this will make a difference, but will it be enough?)

As I wrote in a Comment is Free piece on how we have come this close to the prospect of Mayor Boris, the Conservative Party has successfully Boris-proofed Lynton Crosby’s campaign from the candidate, and is now worrying about how to Boris-proof David Cameron’s ambitions to be Prime Minister from the possible fallout of Johnson’s Mayoralty.
Continue reading…

I have been out of the country for much of this month visiting my sister in the States.  I purposefully didn’t blog during this time because I wanted to take some time for reflection on the current state of British politics. I have to confess to being somewhat depressed by this, and to be honest I have been for some time.

Like a lot of people of a naturally progressive bent, I did have very high hopes for the Gordon Brown administration, above all that he could impart some fresh moral purpose to Labour after more than a decade in power. Not only has he not done this, he has done the cause of the left terrible damage by appearing to surrender Labour’s hard-won reputation for competence.

I still believe Gordon to be a good and decent man. I will continue to vigorously oppose those in the blogosphere who seek to attack him on the grounds of his so-called “psychological flaws,” as if they themselves somehow have none.

But what I can no longer defend is the failure to set out some higher purpose for his administration other than simply remaining in power - a failure which risks handing the next election to David Cameron on a plate.

During my time away there has been mounting speculation about “civil war” breaking out inside the Labour Party if this Thursday’s local election results are as bad as currently expected.

In my view, the suggestion that Brown should make way for a new leader remains fanciful without a very much clearer idea of what alternative his critics intend to put in his place. Simply substituting him with Jack Straw or even David Miliband will have zero impact unless other things change too.

Nevertheless, it is already clear that a leadership challenge this summer would have a very much better chance of success than one last summer would have done.

Maybe, just maybe, that was the Blairites’ game plan all along….

* Crossposted from my own blog.

Fawcett Society - The equality campaigners interview tomorrow’s Mayoral hopefuls. The candidates are invited to brief voters on how they intend to tackle equality. Interestingly, only BoJo has failed to respond to the Society’s invitation…
John’s Labour Blog - On the last-minute work to overturn Boris’ growing lead in the polls.
Douglas Alexander MP - Discusses international development over at Labour Outlook.
Obsolete - Bemoans the vacuousness of the contemporary political memoir, and has a pop at Lord Levy.
EarthPal - The tabloids have been caught misleading their readers on climate change. Say it ain’t so!
Thomas L. Friedman - McCain and Clinton double-tag-team America with an energy bill. Anyone surprised it’s a crock of shit?
Remembering the Ability in Disability - The authorities have an obligation to disAbled children: the give them a chance to succeed.
Crooked Timber - Seriously, how can OPEC and the WTO coexist?
A Lanson Boy - Why are Labour in such a rush to call the Crewe and Nantwich by-election?

So David Cameron admits that he hasn’t exactly kept to his promise of “ending Punch and Judy politics”. Well there’s a surprise. The king of sarcasm, Justin McKeating, nails it:

David Cameron has admitted he has not managed to keep his pledge to “end Punch and Judy politics” - blaming the fact that calling the Prime Minister a cycloptic psychopath has proved a better strategy.

“I will absolutely hold up my hand…this is a promise I couldn’t be bothered to deliver,” the Tory leader said.

“Look, what would you do? You can spend all day formulating policy and listening to the petty concerns of voters. But when your spin doctors tell you that portraying the Prime Minister as a hapless, lonely weirdo is an easier way to win the general election, you jolly well need to sit up and listen.”

He said prime minister’s question time was “an adversarial system” adding: “Of course we don’t have a policy worth a candle. When standing up and making thinly veiled innuendoes about the Prime Minister’s sanity has proved a sure-fire way to get ahead in the the opinions polls, who needs them?

“I do accept that I take a rubbish approach. It is rubbish. I don’t make any apology for that.”

Writing in the Daily Mail, Peter Oborne, perhaps the only reason to read that paper, said this last week:

There is always a herd instinct in British politics and David Cameron has confidently placed himself at the head of an ugly, baying mob. Like all mobs, Cameron’s brutish band of brothers has little interest in decency or decorum.
…
Just like the Tory leader today, Tony Blair very rarely attacked his opponents on matters of policy. Instead, like Cameron, he concentrated on personal issues. Blair portrayed John Major as weak, dithering and the victim of events. Cameron does exactly the same to Gordon Brown today.

Admittedly, I’m not a fan of this silly politics either and anyone who’s surprised Cameron went back on his promise should really go back to the comments section of Guido Fawkes and stay there.

But are attack ads so bad? The Libdems unveiled two attack ads this week, with Boris and Ken in their sights, and both have been universally panned by commenters on Libdemvoice. Ok, they’re not funny but I don’t see a problem with attack ads.

Aren’t they the future, given that there are no broadcasting rules on YouTube and the Libdems can release as many as they want without worrying about Ofcom? Who wouldn’t be seduced?

Will the British public really be repelled by it all? Or is it more that we wish the public would not be seduced but as soon as its proven they work (like in the USA), then everyone will jump on the bandwagon?

Writers from English PEN are protesting agains Tesco’s action in Thailand as an attack on freedom of speech. Tesco doesn’t care.

During the weeks of the election campaign that’s eaten my life, I’ve striven to be fair to Boris Johnson. There was, though, never much chance I’d vote for him. That said, I’ve also been testing my loyalty to Ken Livingstone. I believe his various critics, including those with roots on the left, have over-spun or overstated their cases against him, but that isn’t to say they lack all force. There’s also the question of how much difference a change of mayor would really make.

On the day campaigning officially began, I argued that the job description and moderate content of Johnson’s stated polices meant that many of the differences were less of Big Ideas than emphasis. This wasn’t what Team Ken wanted to hear, as it made clear in a letter the Guardian published the following day: its job from the off has been to sharpen the contrast in substance - of both policy and pedigree - between the two men; Johnson’s, in keeping with David Cameron’s approach, has been to position himself just enough to the blue side of the incumbent to mobilise Tory support without confirming suspicions that he’s daft and extreme.

But though the choice between the two was not as stark as their media images suggested, there was no doubt they were there. The thing was to clarify and quantify them. I’ve done my best and now feel I can vote for Livingstone with conviction.

Here are 10 reasons why.

Continue reading…

In a bolshy defence of Gordon Brown, David Aaronovich coins an amusing alternative to the phrase “awkward squad”:

It isn’t just the 20 licensed super rebels, specific only to Labour (the Tories don’t have this hard core of perpetually oppositional MPs who get in on the party’s coat-tails and then spend all their time trying to defeat it)

The rise of these rebels is an interesting development in British politics. The phenomenon of these rebellious MPs seems to have occurred as a side-effect of New Labour’s sizeable majority from 1997-2005: The large majorities gave the Blair Government a feeling of invincibility, which emboldened it to make unpopular policies it might not otherwise have attempted… thereby prompting rebellion. Additionally, it also meant Labour MPs could rebel on principle without bringing down the Government. However, as Aaronovich points out, this has changed in the Brown-era, and these rebels threaten to destabilise a Labour Government. People should know exactly who they are - so we can help or hinder them as we see fit.

As a lunch-time example of citizen-journalism, could we conspirators and contributors and commenters compile a list of who these Super Rebels might be? It strikes me as the sort of recieved wisdom that it would be useful to record in one place. May we have suggestions in the comments, please? I will update this post when we have a long-list. Thanks.

Welcome to Casting the net, Liberal Conspiracy’s daily web review. As always, please feel free to share your own recommendations in the comments.

The Guardian - Predicting big losses for Labour on Thursday.
David Aaronovitch - On how Brown’s “supporters” have left him high and dry. Aaronovitch also attacks his former employers at The Guardian.
Chicken Yoghurt - Justin has some fun with a meme (BTW, our Justin’s in a foul mood today).
Anton Vowl - Thinking The Daily Hate makes blogging far too easy.
Bob Piper - On being a hotel lobby revolutionary.
e8voive - Asks “Why is Obama not doing worse?”
Rachel from north London - Reminds us to wary of The War on Terror, and those who “fight it”, on our behalf.

This week’s Britblog roundup can be read over at Amused Cynicism.

Two recent politic stories highlight just how rapidly remaining differences between the only two political parties in Britain capable of forming governments continue to erode. That can only be to the detriment of voter choice.

First off, we read that the Smith Institute - a thinktank linked with Gordon Brown - and the Centre for Social Justice - a thinktank linked with Iain Duncan Smith - are to publish a joint strategy on how to get children out of poverty.

As Guardian reporter Andrew Wintour notes, accurately enough: “The joint initiative suggests the differences between the two parties are much smaller than they pretend.”
Continue reading…

The latest monthly ComRes survey for The Independent, published today, will show that the Tories have doubled their lead since last month from seven to 14 points.

Richard Littlejohn, that paragon of enlightened thinking, wants his readers to vote Boris. Almost as bad as a BNP endorsement? Via SB.

The Liberal Democrats are better placed at this point in the electoral cycle than at any time in their history, the party leader, Nick Clegg, claimed today.

The candidates for Mayor of London have outlined their policies on gender violence to End Violence Against Women (EVAW). But they say Boris Johnson is out of line with national party policy. Press release follows. Continue reading…

I’ve never seen so many videos against a candidate for a British election. If there’s one thing the Mayor elections has shown, its that there are plenty of creative Boris-stoppers out there.

Of course I couldn’t limit this list only to ten. If there’s any important ones you think I’ve missed out, let us know in the comments. This list also includes the Kate Nash ‘dickhead remix’ that was taken off YouTube!
Continue reading…

Unity from LC and Brendan O’Neill from Spiked debate whether it was right that Dr Nicholas Kollerstrom be stripped of his honorary post at UCL after bloggers uncovered his views.

Ah, those Hitchens boys and their messianic resolve. This time, it’s the runt of the family:

I sometimes wonder why I bother being a prophet. All my predictions of horrible things come true, and nobody does anything about any of them.

The BBC have discovered that there are now quite a lot of grannies in this country in their 30s. They interviewed Tara Bailee, 36, who goes clubbing twice a month, has (of course) split up with the father of her daughter Rickeita, who got pregnant at 15 and has (of course) split up with the father of her daughter, Lexie.

Continue reading…

Welcome to Casting the net, Liberal Conspiracy’s daily web review. As always, please feel free to share your own recommendations in the comments.

Bruce Anderson - Brown may be taking a battering, but Cameron’s still got some convincing to do.
Blood & Treasure - Jamie K interviews “War Nerd”.
The Daily (Maybe) - Making the case for Sian Berry as London Mayor: the leftist choice.
Bishop Hill - Why on earth do so-called Liberals back the European Union? Do they even remember anymore?
Clairwil - Is not convinced that CCTV monitoring will do much to improve her locale.
Paul Krugman - Beware the media’s accepted wisdom: on tax, Bush and McCain are two peas from the same pod.
Sunny Hundal - Our Ed just can’t get his head around why the media is suggesting Obama’s in trouble?