Archive for August 5th, 2008

Your Top Political Blogs - 10 Days To Go

Published on August 5, 2008 in National Comment and Site News. 0 Comments

Just ten days left now to vote for your top ten political blogs for Iain Dale’s 2008-9 guide. Just email your Top Ten (ranked from 1 to 10) to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com by Friday August 15th. I would of course be absolutely delighted if you chose to include my website in your list. Happy voting!

Not Worth The Paper It Is Written On

Published on August 5, 2008 in Manchester. 27 Comments

I’ve just added an update to the previous post, but in case anyone hasn’t spotted it I think I’ll do a quick recap.

Today the Manchester Evening News printed an article entitled “C-Charge Good For Us”. The article concerns a report commissioned by pressure group United City and written by Manchester academic Leif Jerram. Let’s look at the facts:

  • The leading light in United City (and the member quoted in the article) is Ken Knott of property company Ask Developments. Ask Developments have donated a huge sum of money to the Manchester Labour Party.
  • Leif Jerram is a Labour Party member, activist, and was a local government candidate for Withington ward in May.

So we have a report on the congestion charge, commissioned and paid for by a big Labour donor and compiled and written by a Labour activist and aspiring Councillor. It’s really not worth the paper it is written on and should be filed neatly in the recycling bin.

Read The Small Print

Published on August 5, 2008 in Manchester. 0 Comments

Anyone who ever watched “Yes Minister” will know that pressure groups only commission surveys and studies when they are happy that the results will be to their satisfaction, so it’s easy to dismiss today’s report on congestion-charging, which was commissioned by the pro-charging lobby United City.

United City is led by Ken Knott of Ask Developments, who is of course a huge Labour donor.

It may well be that the Jerram report is something of an own goal for United City in any case, given that the main conclusion appears to be “more spin required”:

He said the key to winning over public opinion was finding a `charismatic spokesman’ to explain the benefits.

That phrase could have come straight out of the Labour Party manual - remember kids, the people are always wrong and they just need a little more persuasion!

Update: It gets better… Leif Jerram was also the Labour Party candidate for Withington ward in Manchester in this year’s local elections - so this is a report commissioned and paid for by a Labour donor and completed by a Labour candidate and activist. It really isn’t worth the paper it is written on.