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Slim pickings
Look, we know we should have expected this, but we’re experiencing a bit of a post-election comedown. There’s plenty of action in Parliament, of course, and it’s kind of mind-blowing to hear the man in the big hat reading out a list of broadly social-democratic laws, even if some of them are a bit arbitrary…
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The general election in Hertsmere
Voters are often called upon to solve problems for the political class Especially in Britain, where governments can call elections whenever they fancy it within a five-year term (Fixed Term Parliament Act RIP), we’ll usually be asked to go to the polls when a government is in crisis or has an urgent problem to deal…
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Farage’s contract
It’s chaos at Reform HQ but that’s how they like it… For an insurgency polling in double digits and threatening to disassemble the most successful political party in history, Reform UK is a pretty shabby outfit. Neither a high-gloss, updated 20th Century dinosaur like Le Pen’s National Rally, nor a dark, ideological machine like Alternative…
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Be prepared
Fear is back Why does Rishi Sunak want us to prepare for war? Why does Oliver Dowden want us to fill the cupboard under the stairs with tins of beans and bottled water? And what’s any of this got to do with a concrete shed in the middle of Radlett? If you walk up Gills…
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Voting in Hertsmere on 4 July
Everything you need to know Who are the Hertsmere candidates? Candidate Party Ray Bolster Veteran peace campaigner Ind Oliver Dowden Incumbent and Deputy PM Con John Humphries Shenley management consultant Green Emma Matanle Briefing writer and councillor Lib Dem Darren Selkus Army veteran and business owner Reform Josh Tapper Civil servant and Goggleboxer Labour General…
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Hertsmere General Election preview, part four
The Conservative Party This is it. The big one. The last of our four guides to the parties standing in Hertsmere at the next general election, whenever that is. We’ve done the fringe parties, the Liberals and Labour so now it’s time to tackle the incumbents, the 800-pound gorillas of Hertsmere politics, the Conservative Party,…
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What did the council elections tell us about how the general election will go in Hertsmere?
Nothing. Sorry. Here’s our guide to the whole history of elections in Hertsmere and part three of our preview of the 2024 (or 2025) general election. The nearest actual elections on Thursday were down the road in London (Khan re-elected with an increased vote share) and up the A1 in North Herts (Labour win). It…
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Hertsmere General Election preview, part three
Labour Part one of this general election preview is about the fringe parties (including Reform) and part two about the Lib Dems. Part four, about the Conservatives, is next. Look, we promise we’re not going to go on and on about this but the recently-selected Labour party candidate for Hertsmere, Josh Tapper, USED TO BE…
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Voting in Radlett on 2 May
Calm down, it’s the boring one. On Thursday 2 May there are local elections in many parts of England. It honestly seems a bit unfair that just down the road in London they’ve got all the excitement of a Mayoral election. In fact, there are elections in about a third of English councils (107 out…
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Hertsmere General Election preview, part two
The Liberal Democrats Part one of this guide to the general election in Hertsmere, about the fringe parties, is here. Okay, now it’s getting interesting. The next general election is still an unknown number of months away. It can’t be later than 28 January 2025, though, and the Prime Minister says he assumes it’ll be…