A Timely Reform by Ian Ridley

Blog & web site of Ian Ridley

Archive for the ‘Media’ Category

Telegraph, Financial Times & VoteSmart say Vote Lib Dem in Harborough

Saturday, May 2nd, 2015

1430418162More good news this week for Lib Dem Zuffar Haq‘s election campaign in Harborough, Oadby and Wigston. The Liberal Democrats are already ahead in winning local elections since 2010, with 33 councillors to the Tories’ 17. They have been further boosted by the  news that on 7th May, the Lib Dems will have more local election candidates than any other party in the constituency.

Zuffar’s campaign now has the backing of both The Telegraph and The Financial Times no less.  The Telegraph’s tactical voter guide says voters who want David Cameron “to lose the election” should back the Liberal Democrats in Harborough, Oadby and Wigston.

Harborough 2010b

The result last time in our area (Harborough)

Yesterday’s Financial Times said that in areas like ours where the Lib Dems are the main challenger, “we would vote tactically for them.

The paper also states,”The country would benefit from … Lib Dem moderation at Westminster,” and “Only Nick Clegg … has occupied the centre ground. He has argued persuasively that the Lib Dems contributed to sensible fiscal consolidation and tempered the wilder Tory impulses, particularly on Europe.
Finally, VoteSmart, an independent campaign with the aim, “to increase the success of left-of-centre parties” at the election also encourages people here to vote for Lib Dem Zuffar Haq as the best way to beat the Tories.

telegraph tactical voter

The Daily Telegraph backs the Lib Dems for voters in Harborough who don’t want a Tory majority

votesmart recommendation

The Independent VoteSmart campaign backs the local Lib Dem candidate

Zombies in Leicester satirised

Friday, June 17th, 2011

Leicester City Council’s lack of preparedness for a zombie invasion was recently uncovered by a bizarre Freedom of Information request.

Now the incident has featured on this evening’s topical satire The Now Show on Radio 4.

You should be able to listen to it via the BBC iPlayer or the Friday Night Comedy Podcast

Did you get any Olympics tickets?

Saturday, June 4th, 2011

Screenshot of generic Twitter Account Suspension pageHow did you do in the Olympics tickets lottery? Did you get all that you applied for, some or none?

An online survey is being used to gather data on who has  tickets to see if the distribution was even-handed. Initial results seemed to indicate that you had to apply for around £1500 worth of tickets to have a chance of getting any. However, I have no information on the survey stats behind this figure.

The survey is being publicised via the Twitter Account @ticketingfiasco. On Thursday both this and one other twitter account criticising the London 2012 Olympic ticket lottery were suspended. The suspension was lifted on Friday.

I don’t know if the suspension was linked to the content of the tweets on the accounts. If is was then there is some irony that Twitter is relaxed about being a medium to break super injunctions but woe betide you if you try and do some research into the mysteries of Olympic ticketing.