As Britain edges towards a hung parliament. You can catch up with hours of last nights events condensed in a 17 minute election night podcast from the BBC Today programme. Download from their main website
Or alternatively Take a look at some TV footage on the BBC website and find out what happens in a hung parliament.
Read the log entries from the LSE Election Night event. A live webcast was broadcast which may be made available on the website .
Following on the theme of hung parliaments which has been covered earlier in this blog The blog from the University of Nottingham School of Politics has some interesting comment on events and the history of hung parliaments in Britain.
Also useful are some comments from historians on the History and Policy website
and a recent posting from Progressives on the history of Labour coalition governments.
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Made up your mind who to vote for?
If you havent decided which party you want to vote for yet why not try the vote match tool developed by Unlock Democracy, the Joseph Rowntree Trust and the Telegraph Answer some questions and see which party your opinions most closely match.
CEP LSE 2010 election analysis - 110 page book discussing some research on the key issues. These include health, immigration, the economy.
About My Vote from the Electoral Commission has information on the voting process
Channel 4 also has a more light hearted election quiz to help you decide.
and the Vote-u-Lator claims to use your social network (via Facebook) to take the 'err' out of voter. Find out more from this post
Finally for some relief try the Downing Street Fighter game from T-Enterprise - who will win through to no.10?
finally the BBC has just released an online collection of comedy election clips They include Yes Prime Minister.
CEP LSE 2010 election analysis - 110 page book discussing some research on the key issues. These include health, immigration, the economy.
About My Vote from the Electoral Commission has information on the voting process
Channel 4 also has a more light hearted election quiz to help you decide.
and the Vote-u-Lator claims to use your social network (via Facebook) to take the 'err' out of voter. Find out more from this post
Finally for some relief try the Downing Street Fighter game from T-Enterprise - who will win through to no.10?
finally the BBC has just released an online collection of comedy election clips They include Yes Prime Minister.
What about the regions?
Much of the emphasis of the main TV and news outlets has been on the leaders debates for England. But we shouldn't forget that dabates have also been taking place in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Here are some more quick suggestions for following these.
Scotland
The BBC scotland website has news stories, polls and blog. Look out for clips of the leaders debates on the BBC iPlayer
Scottish newspaper The Herald also has a scottish focus with news, polls and discussion as does the Scotsman
Another good site for polls and blogs is Scotland Votes which is maintained by Weber Shandwick public affairs with media partners including the Scotsman.
Wales
Again BBC Wales has TV programmes, polls and blogs
Also useful is Wales Online which is maintained by the Western Mail newspaper
Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland includes a blog by Mark Devenport
The Belfast Telegraph also has news stories and polls coverage and famous blogger Slugger O'Toole has postings and summaries from major news sources.
Strategm a NI lobbying company has some good analysis of the polls which features comment from renown expert Nicholas Whyte
For some historic election results some excellent starting points are: CAIN CAIN is the Northern Ireland Conflict Archive maintained by the University of Ulster . Its election section contains all results from 1968 onwards. Associated with this ARK has information on all elections since 1885 with a clickable map of results since 1996.
Finally if you want to consider the impact of political devolution on politics and government in the regions, we would recommend the UCL Constitution unit website which has a major section monitoring devolution.
The Intute catalogue also has links to major web resources relating to devolution in Scotland, Wales and Government in Northern Ireland
Scotland
The BBC scotland website has news stories, polls and blog. Look out for clips of the leaders debates on the BBC iPlayer
Scottish newspaper The Herald also has a scottish focus with news, polls and discussion as does the Scotsman
Another good site for polls and blogs is Scotland Votes which is maintained by Weber Shandwick public affairs with media partners including the Scotsman.
Wales
Again BBC Wales has TV programmes, polls and blogs
Also useful is Wales Online which is maintained by the Western Mail newspaper
Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland includes a blog by Mark Devenport
The Belfast Telegraph also has news stories and polls coverage and famous blogger Slugger O'Toole has postings and summaries from major news sources.
Strategm a NI lobbying company has some good analysis of the polls which features comment from renown expert Nicholas Whyte
For some historic election results some excellent starting points are: CAIN CAIN is the Northern Ireland Conflict Archive maintained by the University of Ulster . Its election section contains all results from 1968 onwards. Associated with this ARK has information on all elections since 1885 with a clickable map of results since 1996.
Finally if you want to consider the impact of political devolution on politics and government in the regions, we would recommend the UCL Constitution unit website which has a major section monitoring devolution.
The Intute catalogue also has links to major web resources relating to devolution in Scotland, Wales and Government in Northern Ireland
Should you vote tactically?
Tactical voting has been in the news over the weekend.
Yesterday leading Labour Party member Ed Balls advocated using tactical voting to keep the Conservatives out
Left wing think tank Compass also polled its members on whether tactical voting was a good idea last week. Its website includes a fact sheet on marginal seats.
Also discussing the issue were Liberal Democrats. see some recent posts on LibDem Voice.
On a more satirical note, famous political blogger Guido Fawkes has also been spolighting MPs who would lose their seats if voters employed tactical voting. Take a look at his blog for more.
Also interesting is the Voter Power website. This enables voters to find out if their vote will make a difference, using a calculation based upon statistical analysis by the New Economics Foundation (NEF). In this model those living in marginal constituencies have the most power.
For some academic analysis
see the CREST website. Centre for Research into Elections and Social Trends (CREST) is a Research Centre based jointly at the National Centre for Social Research (formerly SCPR) in London - Britain’s largest independent social research institute - and the Department of Sociology, University of Oxford. They have a number of papers on tactical voting. Paper 95
Definition and measurement of tactical voting : the role of rational choice
Tactical Voting and Tactical Non-Voting
Finally why not take a look at the IPSO Mori poll site which includes recent polls where the electorate have been asked if they intend to vote tactically. This archived paper considers trends in tactical voting from 1987-2010
Yesterday leading Labour Party member Ed Balls advocated using tactical voting to keep the Conservatives out
Left wing think tank Compass also polled its members on whether tactical voting was a good idea last week. Its website includes a fact sheet on marginal seats.
Also discussing the issue were Liberal Democrats. see some recent posts on LibDem Voice.
On a more satirical note, famous political blogger Guido Fawkes has also been spolighting MPs who would lose their seats if voters employed tactical voting. Take a look at his blog for more.
Also interesting is the Voter Power website. This enables voters to find out if their vote will make a difference, using a calculation based upon statistical analysis by the New Economics Foundation (NEF). In this model those living in marginal constituencies have the most power.
For some academic analysis
see the CREST website. Centre for Research into Elections and Social Trends (CREST) is a Research Centre based jointly at the National Centre for Social Research (formerly SCPR) in London - Britain’s largest independent social research institute - and the Department of Sociology, University of Oxford. They have a number of papers on tactical voting. Paper 95
Definition and measurement of tactical voting : the role of rational choice
Tactical Voting and Tactical Non-Voting
Finally why not take a look at the IPSO Mori poll site which includes recent polls where the electorate have been asked if they intend to vote tactically. This archived paper considers trends in tactical voting from 1987-2010
Saturday, 1 May 2010
What does history tell us about the elections?
An interesting site from History and policy. Historians are using their insight to explain current trends. Find out what they think about Gordon brown's microphone gaffe
if you are interested in the history of British elections here are some useful sites.
The LSE election blog has also been comparing today with the last time a hung parliament occurred in 1974
See Uk election statistics from 1945-2004 in this House of Commons research paper and find more useful facts and figures on by-election turnout and results since then from their main elections website
British election studies provide insight and data on attitudes and behaviour from the 1960s onwards. It is possible to download more recent data free of charge from the website. In general most data prior to 2005 requires a subscription to ESDS Uk data archive
Find copies of party manifestos from 1945 onwards via Richard kimber's political resources website
If you are interested in political communications you might also want to look at the Uk web archive materials relating to the 2005 elections. They include archived snapshots of blogs, campaign and party websites taken during the campaigns.
if you are interested in the history of British elections here are some useful sites.
The LSE election blog has also been comparing today with the last time a hung parliament occurred in 1974
See Uk election statistics from 1945-2004 in this House of Commons research paper and find more useful facts and figures on by-election turnout and results since then from their main elections website
British election studies provide insight and data on attitudes and behaviour from the 1960s onwards. It is possible to download more recent data free of charge from the website. In general most data prior to 2005 requires a subscription to ESDS Uk data archive
Find copies of party manifestos from 1945 onwards via Richard kimber's political resources website
If you are interested in political communications you might also want to look at the Uk web archive materials relating to the 2005 elections. They include archived snapshots of blogs, campaign and party websites taken during the campaigns.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Political cartoons
With the latest election gaffe dominating the news stories, now seemed like a good time to mention some sites of use for examining political cartoons and humour.
Of course most of the main Uk newspapers have their own resident cartoonists who have posted materials online.
Some well-known examples are
Matt Cartoons from the Telegraph
Steve Bell from the Guardian
The Tribune Magazine also has its own site devoted to political cartoons
Likewise weekly satirical magazine Private Eye regularly contains recent examples
However, a feature of this election has also been the use of mashup technology by satirists to mash together and create new comic examples of spoof election materials. Channel 4 has a useful discussion of this with links to some major examples.
These include the famous http://www.mydavidcameron.com/ which has been run by opponents of the Conservative Party and features lots of examples of mock tory posters "airbrushed for change".
However, if you are seeking serious academic sites for the study of political Cartoons ones you shouldnt miss include
The Political Cartoon Society which has a historical overview of the development of political cartoons as a medium of political communication and a gallery of some images.
The Cartoon Archive at the University of Kent has an enormous collection of historical respurces covering all issues. Its catalogue enables you to view many examples online. They make fascinating comparisons with the materials being produced in 2010. Take a look at this example from the evening news in 1964 - in which a discussion group suggestions the leaders have a 15 minute round with cthe winner taking on Cassius Clay. Good advice today perhaps in advance of the last televised leaders debate!
Of course most of the main Uk newspapers have their own resident cartoonists who have posted materials online.
Some well-known examples are
Matt Cartoons from the Telegraph
Steve Bell from the Guardian
The Tribune Magazine also has its own site devoted to political cartoons
Likewise weekly satirical magazine Private Eye regularly contains recent examples
However, a feature of this election has also been the use of mashup technology by satirists to mash together and create new comic examples of spoof election materials. Channel 4 has a useful discussion of this with links to some major examples.
These include the famous http://www.mydavidcameron.com/ which has been run by opponents of the Conservative Party and features lots of examples of mock tory posters "airbrushed for change".
However, if you are seeking serious academic sites for the study of political Cartoons ones you shouldnt miss include
The Political Cartoon Society which has a historical overview of the development of political cartoons as a medium of political communication and a gallery of some images.
The Cartoon Archive at the University of Kent has an enormous collection of historical respurces covering all issues. Its catalogue enables you to view many examples online. They make fascinating comparisons with the materials being produced in 2010. Take a look at this example from the evening news in 1964 - in which a discussion group suggestions the leaders have a 15 minute round with cthe winner taking on Cassius Clay. Good advice today perhaps in advance of the last televised leaders debate!
Political communication in the election- new Media or TV?
A lot has been said about 2010 being the social media election. But is this true? Others have argued that more interest is being provoked by the televised debates.
Yesterday Radio 4 Today had an interesting piece on new media and the elections - which discussed how the parties have been using online campaigning
It featured comment about the new Labservative website - an example of a site created by the Liberal democrats to spoof labour and conservative policies. More discussion about its purpose can also be read on Campaign online
The Hansard society has also discussed the theme of online political communication on its website and digital democracy blog. See this posting 'calm down its only a tweet' which tests the theory that (twitter in particular) is ephemeral by looking at reactions directly after the first leaders debate. The site also has some interesting feedback and comment from readers.Plus a whole collection of reports which discuss the use of new media by British political parties.
Some other good starting points for following this continuing debate on social media and the campaigns include.
LSE Election experts blog - which has a weekly round up of the political blogs which highlights, discusses and analyses key trends.
A number of PR sites also have their verdict on the types of marketing and promotion being used in the campaigns which make for interesting reading.
PR week has an online sentiment tracker which is measuring and anlysing the online campaigns. The site also includes other free articles discussing tactics
Marketing week has some articles and comment on the importance of the different type of campaigns.
Chameleon PR has an interesting blog discussing related issues. See this posting on why expressing political beliefs on Twitter is not a good idea! There is also some discussion of the Conservative party poster campaign and viral marketing
Campaign is also another good place for discussion of marketing techniques.
Finally
Tweetminster - is for the duration of the campaigns running what it calls a realtime sentiment tracker. This is measuring the number and type of tweets being sent about individual party leaders. Will the social media prediction reflect the real results next week?
Yesterday Radio 4 Today had an interesting piece on new media and the elections - which discussed how the parties have been using online campaigning
It featured comment about the new Labservative website - an example of a site created by the Liberal democrats to spoof labour and conservative policies. More discussion about its purpose can also be read on Campaign online
The Hansard society has also discussed the theme of online political communication on its website and digital democracy blog. See this posting 'calm down its only a tweet' which tests the theory that (twitter in particular) is ephemeral by looking at reactions directly after the first leaders debate. The site also has some interesting feedback and comment from readers.Plus a whole collection of reports which discuss the use of new media by British political parties.
Some other good starting points for following this continuing debate on social media and the campaigns include.
LSE Election experts blog - which has a weekly round up of the political blogs which highlights, discusses and analyses key trends.
A number of PR sites also have their verdict on the types of marketing and promotion being used in the campaigns which make for interesting reading.
PR week has an online sentiment tracker which is measuring and anlysing the online campaigns. The site also includes other free articles discussing tactics
Marketing week has some articles and comment on the importance of the different type of campaigns.
Chameleon PR has an interesting blog discussing related issues. See this posting on why expressing political beliefs on Twitter is not a good idea! There is also some discussion of the Conservative party poster campaign and viral marketing
Campaign is also another good place for discussion of marketing techniques.
Finally
Tweetminster - is for the duration of the campaigns running what it calls a realtime sentiment tracker. This is measuring the number and type of tweets being sent about individual party leaders. Will the social media prediction reflect the real results next week?
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