Jonathan Jones 
Nate Silver on predicting the 2015 general election
I’ve interviewed one of the heroes of last year’s US elections — forecasting expect Nate Silver — for the books blog, but I thought CoffeeHousers might be interested in what… Continue reading
8 Comments Nate Silver interview: ‘Politics is uniquely full of bullshit’
Nate Silver doesn’t suffer fools gladly — especially fools who pass themselves off as experts. In the second chapter of his book, The Signal and the Noise: The Art and… Continue reading
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Unemployment rises… or does it?
Today’s job statistics are, as usual, mixed — and even a touch confusing. Last month, the headline was that the unemployment had risen to 2.56 million. This month, we’re told… Continue reading
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Dominic Raab reveals Britain’s true debt burden
With the Conservative Party continuing to bang on relentlessly about Europe, Boris Johnson issued a timely reminder yesterday that ‘most of our problems are not caused by “Bwussels”’. (Something that… Continue reading
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Is nice but dim such a bad thing for Labour?
Labour’s lead in the polls has been pretty steady at around 10 points for a little over a year now. So why does today’s Guardian carry an article with the… Continue reading
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No triple-dip: GDP up by 0.3%
The UK seems to have avoided a triple-dip recession. According to today’s estimate from the Office for National Statistics, the economy grew by 0.3 per cent in the first three… Continue reading
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Nigel Farage shouldn’t get Ukip’s hopes up for a win in Portsmouth South
Talk of a by-election in Portsmouth South has been growing, fuelled by allegations against MP Mike Hancock. And, in a speech to the parliamentary press gallery lunch yesterday, Nigel Farage… Continue reading
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Deficit falls by 0.3%… maybe
George Osborne will be breathing a sigh of relief this morning. The boast he made in his Autumn Statement in December — ‘the deficit is coming down this year, and… Continue reading
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Should the Public Affairs Act 1975 be repealed?
9 per cent of Brits say the Public Affairs Act 1975 should be repealed, and 9 per cent say it shouldn’t, according to a new poll by YouGov. If you’re… Continue reading
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Has the jobs recovery stalled?
The number of people in work in December to February was 29.698 million — lower than last month’s 29.732 million and representing a very slight 2,000 quarter-on-quarter fall — according… Continue reading
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Margaret Thatcher in six graphs
With the debate swirling about Margaret Thatcher’s legacy and her government’s record, it’s worth taking a look at what the cold, hard economic data has to say about her time… Continue reading
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Two versions of Osborne’s benefits speech
The Times’ Sam Coates picked up on a couple of discrepancies between the text of George Osborne’s Morrisons speech sent out by CCHQ, and the one published by the Treasury.… Continue reading
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Poll: Boris could save 50 Tory MPs
YouGov have once again tested how a Boris-led Tory party would compare to a Cameron-led one in the polls. When they last did so in October, they found that Boris… Continue reading
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Budget 2013: The public’s verdict
We’ve got the first post-Budget polling from YouGov, and it brings mixed news for George Osborne. Certainly, this Budget doesn’t seem (so far) to have dented the Chancellor’s reputation the… Continue reading
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Voters: It’s not Plan A, it’s Osborne
A fascinating poll result from Ipsos MORI today. They ask, essentially, whether people agree with the government’s ‘Plan A’ or Labour’s ‘Plan B’. Specifically, they ask: ‘People have different ideas… Continue reading
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Forget 50p — scrap the 60p tax rate
Imagine if a Chancellor stood up and announced that those earning up to £100,000 would pay a 40p tax rate, those earning £100,000 to £112,950 will pay a 60p rate,… Continue reading
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The truth about Ukip supporters
Who are all these folk jumping on Nigel Farage’s bandwagon? Ukip — which received just 3 per cent of the vote in 2010 — is now averaging about 11 per… Continue reading
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What Works: The government’s NICE new idea
This afternoon, Danny Alexander and Oliver Letwin launched something so sensible it’s astonishing governments haven’t been doing it before. They’re actually going to use evidence to determine which policies work.… Continue reading
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Eastleigh by-election: Four points from Ashcroft’s exit poll
The result might be in, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing useful polls can tell us about the Eastleigh by-election. What swayed the voters? Why did they vote as they… Continue reading
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