Elections
Is it newspapers rather than politicians who should be learning from the 2010 election?
Posted by Mark Pack at Tue, 20/07/2010 - 8:58am in Internet
Most of the punditry about the internet and the general election has focused on the impact of the internet, and social media in particular, on politics. Although journalists often get a mention, the basic frame of reference is "how is politics changing?"
However, there was a hint of a different perspective at the launch at Google UK on Tuesday of Nic Newman's report for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism into the impact of the internet on the politics and the media during this year's general election.
Will it be the Sun wot wins it?
Posted by Jonathan Lomax at Tue, 04/05/2010 - 2:34pm in Political commentary
Newspaper endorsements are one of the interesting quirks of British election campaigns. The media itself gorges on them, fretting over which way papers will jump - as Alastair Campbell always says, the one thing the media never tires of reporting on is itself.
Leaders step up campaigning with a week to go
Posted by Hannah Cornick at Fri, 30/04/2010 - 2:36pm in Political commentary
Showing no signs of fatigue after the final Prime Ministerial debate last night, the party leaders have been back on the campaign trail in the East Midlands today.
The polls: some historic context
Posted by Mark Pack at Fri, 30/04/2010 - 11:38am in Political commentary
One week out from polling day, how do the opinion polls compare with previous general elections?
The battle on ... nurses
Posted by Martha Burgess at Wed, 28/04/2010 - 10:52am in Health Mandate commentary, Political commentary
With almost 420,000 qualified nurses working in the NHS - it's not hard to see why the political parties have been falling over themselves to make an appearance at the Royal College of Nursing's conference this week. The RCN congress is not an easy audience - and it will be interesting to see whose message will most resonate with the crowd who in 2006 slow-clapped Patricia Hewitt off the stage.
Cameron tackles broken society, while Labour suffers celeb no-show
Posted by Jo Cole at Tue, 27/04/2010 - 4:37pm in Political commentary
Family and society were the key themes on the election trail today and party leaders stayed close to home, with Cameron speaking in London and Gordon Brown in Scotland.
Great telly, but did it make any difference?
Posted by Nick Laitner at Fri, 23/04/2010 - 2:53pm in Political commentary
Clegg's rousing, cheesily Obamaesque peroration; Cameron's effective Lib Dem expenses jibe; and Brown's "Dave would be bad for the economy, and Nick would be bad for security" combo. There were some great TV moments in last night's debate. But what effect, if any, will they have on the wider campaign?
Where is the battle on ... health?
Posted by Bill Morgan at Thu, 22/04/2010 - 3:59pm in Health Mandate commentary, Political commentary
The Labour press conference on Monday witnessed Gordon Brown admit that the election so far has been, “a tale of two Nicks”: of NICs (national insurance, of course) and, perhaps most obviously, of Nick Clegg.
Mr Brown was almost right – it has been a tale of two Nicks, and a volcano. This was an event of extraordinary newsworthiness after all, which – even today – continues to crowd out coverage of the General Election. And the coverage which does manage to achieve that vital ‘cut-through’ is about the TV debates, and specifically about Nick Clegg.
SNP: does what it says on the tin
Posted by Craig Harrow at Tue, 20/04/2010 - 3:18pm in Political commentary
A saltire backdrop and the monotone voice of John Mason launched the SNP Manifesto this morning in Glasgow. Elected in July 2008 in the Glasgow East by-election, Mason attempted to position the SNP as Scotland's champion - whilst it was clear from the lacklustre atmosphere that the SNP are struggling to be anything but the invisible party of the 2010 election.
Gordon Brown And Nick Clegg Praised For TV Election Debate Performances
Posted by Mark Pack at Fri, 16/04/2010 - 8:48am in Political commentary
Many thanks to everyone who came to the Mandate debate event last night and took part in our instant polls (run with handheld interactive voting devices from IML). As PR Week reports this morning:
In a poll of 200 comms experts taken at an event held by Mandate in Westminster, 45 per cent of comms experts said they thought Brown had received the best media training, while 76 per cent believed Cameron made the biggest blunder...
