Tag Archives: SNP
-
How do the SNP achieve a second independence referendum?
Leave a commentDecember 17, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
Whilst it is definitely Scotland’s decision on whether or not to leave the union, it is legally and constitutionally not …
Continue reading -
The Exit Poll drops: What does it mean?
Leave a commentDecember 12, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
IF the exit poll is correct, the Conservatives have a stonking majority. Labour have their worst result since 1935. The …
Continue reading -
The Goldblog guide to what to watch for on #election2019 night
Leave a commentDecember 12, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
If, like me, you are staying up for election night, it might be useful to know what you are looking …
Continue reading -
Why the SNP might make all the difference
Leave a commentNovember 7, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
If the Tories do not win a majority, the SNP will likely be involved in supporting or creating the next …
Continue reading -
Ready, Steady, Vote
3November 4, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
The General Election on December 12th 2019 is arguably the most consequential in many of our lifetimes. The Conservatives are …
Continue reading -
Is Ruth Davidson in the wrong Parliament now?
Leave a commentJune 15, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
Theresa May would probably not be Prime Minister now if it wasn’t for Ruth Davidson. Jeremy Corbyn might have had …
Continue reading -
#GE2017 chaos: What happens now?
Leave a commentJune 9, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
This is the third hung Parliament since 1945. It is also the third failed call of a surprise snap election …
Continue reading -
What your choice means at this election
1June 8, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
I am an unashamed centrist. I vote for what works. It gets me into ‘trouble’ with people who have far …
Continue reading -
Why the Progressive Pact may need to be fact.
3May 12, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
Two days ago I reported details of a tacit ‘reactionary pact’ in which UKIP voters were defecting to the Tories …
Continue reading -
Scottish #Toryfightback on the cards?
Leave a commentMay 1, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
Have a look at the charts above. They don’t indicate a political earthqauke, like is predicted in Wales, but there …
Continue reading -
Why is Scotland different?
1April 21, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
Scotland is a country part in this General Election. The issues that matter there are very different from those that …
Continue reading -
Will we actually have the election on June 8th?
2April 18, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
When Theresa May stepped out today (April 18th) to a lectern in Downing Street to announce she would be seeking …
Continue reading -
Five things that might happen this year in politicsÂ
2January 3, 2016 by Paul Goldsmith
Out of the EU, with Scotland out of the UK, Javid PM and Khan London Mayor, Corbyn out and Trump …
Continue reading -
Why new participants in politics need to listen more.
1September 21, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Speaking this week to the Press Gazette, Ian Hislop, the editor of satirical magazine Private Eye and star of BBC’s …
Continue reading -
First Past the Post – Disproportional Representation or Producer of stable government?
Leave a commentMay 11, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
 Let’s start with the two graphs above. On the left are the actual seats won. One the right are …
Continue reading -
Why Labour lost
5May 8, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
I’m sure many people with far more knowledge of these things than me will attempt this over the next few …
Continue reading -
5am questions- The Lib Dem meltdown and a possible Tory Majority.Â
Leave a commentMay 8, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
IÂ write this just after a massive moment. The Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, Vince Cable, one of the most powerful people …
Continue reading -
YouGov Poll has a different prediction. Sounds more right, but might not be.Â
Leave a commentMay 7, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Just when the Twittersphere was about to go into meltdown with rumours of a Labour coup to get rid of …
Continue reading -
It’s polling day! – Five things to know about today
2May 7, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
1. Rules for the poll booth – For those of you for whom today is your first opportunity to vote, congratulations, …
Continue reading -
Will the main parties ever come clean about their actual tax and spending plans?
Leave a commentApril 24, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Yesterday’s election news was dominated for a time by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (an independent think tank aiming to …
Continue reading -
SNP manifesto – the longest ransom note in history
Leave a commentApril 21, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
So there we have it. The manifesto season has closed with the SNP’s manifesto, launched by the all-conquering Nicola Sturgeon. …
Continue reading -
Why a Conservative / SNP pact after the General a Election is more likely than you think
Leave a commentApril 20, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Somewhere, deep in Conservative Party headquarters, under some kind of secret codename, and most probably dressed in black, will be …
Continue reading -
How Nicola Sturgeon somehow grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat…for David Cameron
3April 19, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
The moment the Conservatives were waiting for in the Challengers debate for Opposition leaders came right at the end. Until …
Continue reading -
Lessons from The Godfather for Ed Miliband: Offer the SNP nothing.
Leave a commentApril 13, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Like the the ‘many’ fellow political obsessives in England, I spent Tuesday evening glued to my IPad as I watched …
Continue reading -
Renewal of Trident is NOT a condition of SNP putting Labour back in No 10
Leave a commentApril 11, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
“Remember: Ed Miliband stabbed his own brother in the back to become Labour leader. Now he is willing to stab …
Continue reading -
‘Nikileaks’ case might be the ‘Zinoviev letter’ of our times
Leave a commentApril 6, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Let’s get something out of the way first. It is possible but highly unlikely that Nicola Sturgeon did say to …
Continue reading -
The leaders’ debate. How they rated.Â
4April 3, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
So that was the mass debate (stop saying it quickly at the back). Seven adults shouting at each other repeating …
Continue reading -
Why abolishing zero hour contracts really would throw the baby out with the bathwater
Leave a commentApril 2, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Once again the issue of zero hour contracts came to the fore this week as Labour announced restrictions on their …
Continue reading -
Conservatives most seats, coalition impossible. Current poll predictions analysed.
Leave a commentMarch 29, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
You may be confused, given the forecast at the moment is for the Labour and Conaervative share of the vote …
Continue reading -
Nothing can be ruled out when it comes to post-election deals
Leave a commentMarch 28, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
A few weeks ago, the Conservatives released a poster by their advertising agency containing a large Alex Salmond with Ed …
Continue reading -
Salmond’s honesty gives us a tantalising view into post-election chaos
1March 26, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
In these days of people complaining that politicians don’t give a straight answer to questions, it has been refreshing to …
Continue reading -
Why the SNP must hope that Labour can form a government without them.
Leave a commentMarch 13, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Sometimes, when the Conservatives want to float a particularly controversial idea, but don’t want to have their fingerprints all over …
Continue reading -
Advice to Labour – leave the SNP alone after the election
Leave a commentMarch 10, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
What does 30 years of having little more to say to an electorate than “We’re not Thatcher, vote for us” …
Continue reading -
Successfully bashing the Conservatives is not necessarily a successful week for Labour
Leave a commentFebruary 17, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
At first glance, it looks like Labour had a very good week last week. Starting off by pointing out the …
Continue reading -
Why it makes sense not to include the DUP in the TV Debates
Leave a commentFebruary 4, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
It is not hard to see validity in the DUP’s claims for a place in the Party leader debates in …
Continue reading -
The development of a ‘Left-Wing bloc’ could spell curtains for Cameron
Leave a commentJanuary 28, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
It must be lonely being David Cameron these days. As the furore over the TV debates show, we are developing …
Continue reading -
Four possible election outcomes and what they would mean
Leave a commentJanuary 10, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Towards the end of last year the pollster Peter Kellner from YouGov set out in The Times four possible results …
Continue reading -
2015 New Year Politics Prediction….impossible!
Leave a commentJanuary 1, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Happy New Year everyone. Welcome to what promises to be one of the most memorable years of politics of our …
Continue reading -
The prospect of Labour winning has Conservatives starting to build up funds for a quick second election
Leave a commentDecember 28, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Some interesting gossip emanating from Conservative HQ is that they have started to solicit donations to fund a second election …
Continue reading -
EVEL is not evil. But it will take time.
Leave a commentDecember 19, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
In the last few days before the Scottish Independence referendum, Alistair Darling, the leader of the “No” campaign, pleaded …
Continue reading -
Will Jim Murphy save the Labour Party’s hopes of being in government next year?
Leave a commentDecember 15, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Stop most people on the street and ask them to name a single leader of the Scottish Labour Party and …
Continue reading -
The fall in the oil price shows that sometimes “it’s the politics, stupid”
Leave a commentDecember 11, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
The oil price has halved over the past year. It is now at $72 a barrel having been up around …
Continue reading -
We need to pass every policy announcement from now on through the ‘Coalition lens’
Leave a commentDecember 7, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Bearing in mind their financial need to get things right, it is interesting to see that there isn’t a single …
Continue reading -
The crack up of the Lib Dem vote is why UKIP and SNP will NOT want to go into government
Leave a commentNovember 27, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
It was, almost, apocalypse for the Liberal Democrats in Rochester and Strood. Geoff Juby, their candidate in the by-election, got …
Continue reading -
“The Nationalist” – a first pro-independence Scottish newspaper…ready for the next referendum?
1November 23, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
One of the most important complaints that Alex Salmond and the SNP had about the run up to the referendum …
Continue reading -
Now we know how much the SNP want a Tory government in the 2015 General election
Leave a commentNovember 19, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
So, now we know how desperately the SNP want the Conservatives to hold the balance of power at the next …
Continue reading -
Scottish Labour leadership contest – why it really matters to the rest of the UK
1November 7, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Nominations have closed in Scotland for the leadership of the Scottish Labour Party. You may think that this has nothing …
Continue reading -
If Scotland’s polls are right, chaos ensues at Westminster in May
6November 1, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
The political world is agog at Thursday’s poll numbers from Scotland. Commentators are trying to assess whether they are a …
Continue reading -
Lamont’s resignation is another domino to fall as two-party politics comes to an end
Leave a commentOctober 27, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
I would imagine you might be confused as to why the UK press are spending time reporting on what might …
Continue reading
Goldblog 
Recent Comments