Author Archive

General Election 2010 – SNP: View from the north

With all the talk of hung parliaments and coalition governments it appears that the Scottish example has finally permeated the Westminster village. The latest campaign twist is that DC would shun constitutional convention (that the existing PM gets first shot at forming a coalition government) and plough ahead with a minority government. I have visions of Malcolm Tucker sidling up to Julius Nicholson for a quiet word.


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  • 5/05/10 at 5.28pm
  • By Niamh

Election 2010 – Lib Dems: The Clegg Factor

Anyone who watched the leaders’ debate last night will be pleasantly surprised. All the hype and anticipation surrounding the momentous event created all the hallmarks of potential disappointment however apart from the underwhelming stage set the event itself was engaging and interesting.


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  • 17/04/10 at 2.48pm
  • By Niamh

Election 2010 – SNP: Dancing to a Scottish Jig?

Morhamburn will be following the UK general election campaign closely, with each team member being allocated a particular party to follow for the duration of the campaign. Niamh, who is following the SNP as they struggle to be heard, kicks us off with a look at the SNP and their attempts to localise a UK election.


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  • 9/04/10 at 5.07pm
  • By Niamh

A tactical error that could cost an election

Yesterday the Tories unveiled what could be only be described as the biggest blunder of the election campaign. It was a brave decision for Cameron to go with a campaign that plastered the face of his opposing number across the UK but the backlash is sure to come, and not necessarily from the direction that …


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  • 29/03/10 at 12.25pm
  • By Niamh

Social Media and the 2010 Election

All the parties’ communication experts are identifying the social networking frontiers as a key battleground. We’ve already had the Gordon Brown You-tube experience and the Cameronians are partial to some twittering, in the Scottish Parliament the Lib Dems lead the way on facebook usage behind the one man show that Patrick Harvie MSP, and political parties’ members can blog to their hearts content.


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  • 15/02/10 at 5.06pm
  • By Niamh

Still doing it their way…Northern Ireland, Day 7

So the 48-hour deadline for a deal to be reached has passed, but the UK and Irish governments have not laid down their proposals as threatened. Once again Northern Irish politics has shown it is a unique, some may say peculiar entity. Most people will ask – why haven’t the UK and Irish governments told …


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  • 2/02/10 at 12.17pm
  • By Niamh

A place quite like no other

Once again Northern Ireland manages to catapult itself into the media glare. Brown and Irish Taoiseach Cowen enter day two of emergency talks and nothing seems certain, except of course that Northern Irish politics in its own unique way will defy all logic.

On the face of it neither the DUP nor Sinn Fein should want …


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  • 24/01/10 at 3.01pm
  • By Niamh

New election frontrunner

This election, which as I always seem to be stating feels like it has been going on for an eternity, took a probably rather (when you actually think about it) unsurprising turn last night in the shape of Mr Brown’s ex-PR wife.


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  • 21/01/10 at 5.40pm
  • By Niamh

On your marks…

For most of us this week is about edging back into the humdrum of normality after the Christmas excesses. But this week the New Year brings with it a new stage in the ever looming UK election campaign. Perhaps this is the pre-race warm-up that has now started in earnest. All the parties are starting their stretches and lunges in preparation for what can only be described as an electoral campaign of gargantuan proportions.


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  • 5/01/10 at 1.05pm
  • By Niamh

Saving the planet one summit at a time

If memory serves me correct climate change has been on the agenda for some time now, but again do correct me if I have misinterpreted this. Scientists are practically blue (though green does strike me as a more appropriate use of imagery) in the face telling us that the point of no return lies on …


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  • 7/12/09 at 2.00pm
  • By Niamh