Politics

How important is the rural vote? There is in our view entirely too much attention paid to the so-called "rural vote". Questions are frequently raised as to whether Labour's failures to meet the needs and concerns of rural areas might cost it dear at the next election.

Has the Recent Cannabis Debate helped or hindered the Tories

Because of the "first-past-the-post" electoral system that we use in Britain, it is not sufficient for a party to win votes: it has to concentrate those votes in the right places so that it can win seats. This is one of the problems facing William Hague. At the last election, Conservative votes were distributed around the country far less efficiently than were Labour votes; if there is a uniform swing across the country to the Conservatives at the next election, the Tories will need to win far more votes than Labour to become even the largest party in a hung Parliament, let alone to win an overall majority.

Real life examples from the Charter Mark Award Scheme - consultation with users, implementing user views

Do Readers believe what the Editors want them to?

McCartney publishes latest research from People's Panel

Denmark's vote in a referendum not to join the European Single Currency should be a reminder to Tony Blair and his colleagues, if one were needed, of the scale of the task facing them in winning a future referendum to secure British participation in the Euro. When Prime Minister Rasmussen called the referendum he was well ahead in the opinion polls, and, anyway, all the major Danish political parties were in favour. Much of the Danish media was broadly sympathetic. Danish businesses almost unanimously thought it was a good idea. The polls indicated that on occasions over the past few months the "Yes" campaign was well ahead in public support, though the public also swung in the other direction on occasions as well. Yet Denmark said "Nej".