By Steve Parkhurst, Senior Editor, USDR.
Looking at the news and opinion out of London each day.
4-27-15
If he stays in Number Ten, Cameron must change – by sharing power with his top team. Brady should be Chief Whip.
The governing duopoly of the Prime Minister and Chancellor should be replaced by a collegiate top team – including the present ’22 Chairman as a new Chief Whip.
Mr Cameron’s EU welfare and migration proposals
4-26-15
Quantitative easing – what does it do?
When Labour first embarked on Quantitative Easing I was uneasy. My preference was for them to mend the commercial banks quickly. Indeed, my prior preference had been not to damage them so much in the first place. If they had mended or not damaged the commercial banks through their wild monetary and regulatory policies, swinging from too hot to too cold too abruptly, we would not have had to consider QE.
Is social media trivialising politics?
Teenagers fell in love with Ed Miliband on Twitter last week with #Milifandom, but is this sort of engagement any more than superficial?
General Election 2015: It’s time we forgot what school we all went to
Do we really wish that our leaders had gone to ‘lesser’ universities than Oxbridge, or were less well-educated?
A Labour-SNP pact would be an outrage to democracy
We face the terrifying proposition of a Left-and-further-Left alliance governing without any political legitimacy
4-25-15
How the wealthy, and not so wealthy, are taxing themselves
The wealthy and not-so-wealthy are using donations deliberately to cut tax bills. A good thing, or bad, asks Richard Dyson
Some voters who prefer Cameron to Miliband but Labour to the Tories are starting to make their minds up – in favour of Labour
Letters: A grand Conservative-Labour coalition could save the economy and the Union
Secrets of a successful coalition government; a migrant safe-haven; ending electoral fraud; attitudes to obesity, and why Gallipoli was not always a hopeless campaign
4-24-15
In two weeks’ time, David Cameron is in danger of being a successful loser
Voters are less worried about the economy – which is why explaining its miracle recovery is so hard for the Tories
Do you remember that whole fracas in Syria? It doesn’t seem like Miliband does
English and Scottish nationalism
Are Conservatives more wary of putting posters in their windows?
Even when putting my poster up earlier this week, I paused a moment to consider which window I would least mind getting a brick through.
4-23-15
A Candidate’s Diary: We are campaigning hard on a strong record. So why aren’t we pulling away?
This week I took part in a hustings. Does anyone, except my online stalkers, enjoy them?
I know all the objections to such ideas, but the health of our democracy is too important for changes not to be made
What’s better than John Prescott punching someone? Making Ed Miliband a Sex God
Who’s winning this boring, stage-managed election campaign? I am…
4-22-15
Lord Forsyth has a point
The nub of his case is that the long-term future of the Union is more important than this election campaign – which is, by its nature, short-term.
Labour needs to be prepared to work with the SNP
Tory scaremongering about the SNP’s future role is playing into the secessionists’ hands
It’s as if the mere act of talking about a majority government will make it happen
Nigel Farage’s battle to win South Thanet will go down in election history
Ukip’s ground game is not getting the credit it deserves
4-21-15
Rebecca Coulson: My experience of hustings as a candidate in this election. And why they are important.
First, a left-wing health event. Second, immensely clever students at my old school. Third, a hustings about motorbikes, chaired by Lembit Opik.
Construction, growth and our environment
One of the oddest things about some Green Party interviewees is their apparent disinterest in the impact of more and more development of homes and commercial space on our environment. They seem unwilling to discuss the issue of growth in population, though growth in population is one of the main drivers of more carbon dioxide output,more use of the planet’s resources, more factory output of kinds they often do not like.
Has no one bothered to explain the basic rules of politics to Nicola Sturgeon?
Fraser Nelson is baffled by the SNP leader’s bizarre decision to mix with members of the public
The SNP has replaced the Church of Scotland
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Across The Pond is edited daily by Steve Parkhurst. Steve is a political consultant, a writer at his blog as well as a Senior Editor here at US Daily Review. Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveParkhurst