Endorsements et al

We've been getting more endorsements in:

Conservatives 12 (+5) : The Financial Times, The Sun, The Times, Mail on Sunday, News of the World, Sunday Express, Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, Economist, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Express

Labour 2 (-7) : Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror

LibDems 2 (+2): The Guardian, The Observer

No Endorsements: People, Independent on Sunday

What the Papers say (Part II)

We've been getting more endorsements in:

Conservatives 9 (+5) : The Financial Times, The Sun, The Times, Mail on Sunday, News of the World, Sunday Express, Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, Economist

Labour 2 (-7) : Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror

LibDems 2 (+2): The Guardian, The Observer

No Endorsements: People, Independent on Sunday

The Papers Say...

I am surprised that some papers are declaring in the election already; I don't know if this qualifies as "old politics" (because some people believe that newspaper endorsements make no difference) but it does alter the media narrative. What would be interesting is the total readership for each group (now I talking like a teacher...) if anyone has the figures?

Running Tally:
Conservatives 3: The Sun, The Times, The Economist
Labour 0
LibDems 1: The Guardian
Others 0

60 seconds

Just to confound those who say I spend too much time on the pages of the Evening News and EDP, I have been profiled today by yahoo as one of their key players in the General Election, and includes a 60 second interview. As if you don't know everything there is to know about me, click here to find out more!

Come On Media, Make Up Your Mind!

A curious set of coincidencies today - I went from the car where a news report was attacking the Tory decision to launch a personal attack on the Prime Minister to the house where ITN were doing the same. Then I clicked on iPlayer to watch Cameron's very impressive performace on the BBC Politics show, only for the questions to be about class, background and being a toff.

Either the media want to talk about personalities or they want to talk about policy. They can't have it both ways!

Or it is a case of when the Tories do it about Labour, it's wrong - but when the media do it about the Tories, it's fine?

(By the way - call that a personal attack? I don't think so! Each posters had a policy message - negative, yes, personal, no.)

Labour plans £4bn worth of NHS cuts

The small print of the budget shows a £4bn reduction in the NHS budget.

Why is it that if this were a Conservative budget, the media, Unions and the Labour Party would call them "CUTS". There would be protests, direct action, campaigning & scare stories of vulnerable people dying.

But it's OK, because this is a Labour budget, so they are only "efficiency savings".

Phew.

Guardian / Independent Sales Down Again

The latest figures show that the sales of The Guardian have slipped again to their lowest in 16 years - see here for more. The Independent has crashed again too. I have two friends, one of whom was a very loyal Guardian reader and the other an occassional Independent reader, both of whom have stopped reading in the last few weeks. They haven't switched papers but have stopped reading and turned to online news and blogs. Both have done it when the rags switched to default election mode of Tory-bashing instead.

I think that backing Labour at this election might not be commerically viable.

Political Betting vs. The Independent

I urge you to read this demolishion of the Independent's headline story today by PB.com, which goes to prove why it is the leading political website. Excellent article and, of course, spot-on. It's just a good job so few people read the Indy. I used to be a daily reader of the paper but things like this remind me why I quit it last year. I did phone up the Indy to tell them why I was ceasing my subscription and they really didn't care one way or the other - amassing losses clearly mean nothing to them.

New Local News Website

I am pleased to link to a new website that covers the news in Norwich South - www.southnorwichnews.co.uk - so please take a look.

You'd expect me to say this, but I particularly liked this extract from their article about the battle for the parliamentary seat:

if the by-election is anything to go by, this could be the year for the 30 year old high school teacher

Is our media really this predictable?

This excellent blogpost (click here) by Glasgow Labour MP Tom Harris is well worth a few moments of your time ... I hope our media isn't this obvious, but I think it probably is!

Evening News Website Layout Leaves Something To Be Desired

I am not taking anything away from the seriousness of this story in the EEN about pornography on school computers but somebody should really have thought about the layout and choice of picture on the website.

Didn't anybody think the choice of splash headline "Norfolk Schools Computer Porn Shock" next to a large picture of LibDem Councillor Mervyn Scutter could lead some people to making the wrong conclusion?

Cllr Scutter is, of course, outraged at the discovery that some porn sites are missed by the Net Nanny - but you'd only find that out by clicking on the story and reading it.

It reminds me of a headline in the Uxbridge Gazette, way back, which was "Strip Club Outrage" alongside pictures of the local MP and Council Leader ...

How much more evidence do the LibDems need before they admit ... Huhne would have been better

LibDem Leader Nick Clegg was sold to the political world as a great communicator and a media star but has turned out to be gaffe prone and, at times, very very foolish.

The news today that he was overheard by a Mirror hack having a good old pop at his own frontbench team raises 2 basic questions; why would you have that sort of conversation on any commerical airline in front of people, let alone a journalist? Secondly why both thinking about reshuffling the deckchairs on the LibDem titanic when you only have a handful of MPs to take the jobs? You may hate X, Y and Z but they'll all end up serving on the frontbench beause there is no other talent to replace them.

I'm sure that many people might be asking another question; why on earth didn't we vote for Huhne?

Sofa Politics

When I'm fortunate enough to actually manage to watch some political TV, I always hope it's good stuff. I certainly wasn't disappointed by Cameron's venture onto GMTV - which proves why he is the single best communicator in modern politics. Like Tony Blair he was natural, good humoured and quick witted; but I don't get the same sense of nasuea with Cameron than I did with Blair. I think Cameron is personable and isn't saying what he wants people to hear, unlike Mr Blair. It probably told us little about a future Conservative government but it did say a lot about the man who is odds-on to be our next Prime Minister.

It also featured an interesting explanation about the now-infamous centre parting. Reams upon reams were written about Cameron's new sporting hair; did it contain a subtle political message? A new direction for the Conservatives? Could the hair tell us about the future of the Lisbon Treaty? Er, no, actually ... according to Cameron it was the impact of a cycling helmet on his head. Oh dear, there mut be dozens of hacks feeling very stupid round about now!

Conservatives ARE the Agenda

I had said some time ago that I felt it was complacency on the part of "Team Cameron" that led to the shaky start to the Brown Premiership for the opposition. Whereas the LibDems took the novel approach of saying and doing nothing - which, to be fair, has paid off - the Conservatives got themselves tangled up in all sorts and ended up 10 points behind the polls.

That complacency seems to have been shaken off and nobody can deny that over the last week or so it is Cameron who is once again setting the agenda. Last week's trailed report regarding tax and in particular the hated Inheritance Tax really rung bells with the sort of voters we need to win back. Today's Telegraph lead story about Cameron's pledge to abolish the Human Rights Act is excellent and will no doubt have legs over the next few days at least. Add to that Shadow Schools Minister Michael Gove attacking the dumbing down of GCSEs - on the front page of the Time - and Shadow Home Secretary David Davis laying out a positive approach to immigrtion in the Telegraph, it seems that the Tories are really controlling the agenda and leading the media.

Now I notice that the BBC is also leading on Cameron's plans to cut youth crime, which was also trailed in the press. And whatever you may think of the fallout, the coverage of the NHS Cuts Campaign was very, very good.

Whilst his shadow team focus in on specifics and, in some cases, play to the base, Cameron continues to define the big themes and add flesh to the Tory policy bones.

The Conservatives have come out fighting now and a good job too. They are controlling the agenda and long may this continue. We so desperately need our media management to be better. I hope this starts to reflect in new polls soon.

UPDATE: The LibDem Leader has finally said something - about the floods. A bit late, but never mind.

The Media get it wrong over Unitary

Amusingly Norwich City Council aren't the only people left red-faced by today's announcements. At around 1.30pm today the BBC led quite clearly with "City Council awarded unitary status" and a quote from Charles Clarke. That headline found its way onto the EDP website. Within an hour, the EDP changed it to "Unitary Bid Fails - For Now". Interestingly their sister paper the Evening News took a very pro-unitary line with "City claims victory in Unitary Bid". The BBC have now changed their line to a much more neutral story. Oh dear. The radio stations have, apparently, been reporting that City Hall have been spinning the story about getting unitary but have been caught out.

I understand from an impeccable source within the local media that everybody is seething over City Hall's spinning. They feel, I am told, that they have been taken in. I await tomorrow's analysis with interest.

From Doughty Street to South Park Avenue

Back refreshed from a very relaxing few days away. Well, it was a bit of a busman's holiday in some respects as blogger Iain Dale invited me onto his Vox Politixs programme on 18 Doughty Street. It was a real experience - firstly that the address exists and to see the whole operation in action. But secondly I have never taken part in such a long debate before - over 2 hours worth, including reviewing the papers and the blogs too. I appeared with the President of Kings Conservatives (who had a new blog to plug!) and also libertarian blogger Brian Micklethwait, who was very good value if nothing else! We discussed a lot of the topical news, including North Korea and the de-selection of Sir Patrick Cormack ... but the best bits were saved for the debate on crime and Brian's view that all law-abiding citizens should be armed! I'll leave you to download it yourself and judge!

Yesterday I then went out with our team in the South Park Avenue area of Norwich. South Park is a very nice estate on the edge of Eaton Park but finds itself electorally in Eaton Ward rather than being more suitably placed in with more similar North Park and University Ward. Hey-ho, gotta love the boundary commission. Anyway, we are very lucky to have an organiser just for this part of the ward and he is going a great job at getting people canvassing and delivering. In fact yesterday a team of us followed the "Focus" deliverer around ... poor chap! Response was pretty good. There are more and more student houses in South Park but generally the population is pretty static and, im my opinion, thus the voting intentions are static too. Labour's vote, small as it is, it staying pretty solid unlike the other areas we have been to in the last fortnight. LibDems have a clear lead here but people are starting to question them. A couple of comments made by people are worth sharing: "LibDems have been in for years and years and what's happened? Nothing." Also, "Lubbock promises this and that - so what? Never happens." Finally, "Voted LibDem last year for the last time. I would go into why but I'm sure it would bore you." If South Park doesn't turn out solidly for the LibDems then they could run into trouble.

Once again nobody mentioned council tax or the incinerator. Neither was Unitary raised. Issues concerning people are traffic flows, state of the pavements and anti-social behaviour. One resident told me about the stress that her family is under thanks to local yobs and the inactivity of the police, courts and politicans.

I am pleased with the strength of the Conservative vote here - again, another area where we have found it tough in recent years. We are picking up direct switchers but, again, people are willing to consider us again in a way they haven't in the past.

One last thought: leaders. Nobody mentioned Blair. Nobody mentioned Cameron. Two people mentioned Campbell - both against him. I don't know why, or even why I'm mentioning it.