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Thursday 29 April 2010
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Spread of charities across the country. Click image for graphic
All the political parties are talking about the role of charities, but what are they? Here is the most complete set of data ever published about the state of the third sector
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Big Ben at night. Polls close at 10pm - find out what time your seat declares. Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA
Find out when your constituency is likely to delclare on election night
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Wednesday 28 April 2010
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Will Gordon Brown ever recover from his gaffe? Photograph: David Fisher/Rex Features
Michael White: The prime minister with his head in his hands is likely to be the defining image of the 2010 campaign
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guardian.co.uk
Simon Jeffery: Twitter today discovered Greg Knight's website. And it has sound
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David Cameron made little effort to connect with listeners but will still do well on 6 May. Photograph: David Levene
Even in a three-way election some things don't change. The Tories raised £2.2m for their campaign in the middle week of April against £1.5m for Labour and just £120,000 for the Lib Dems, according to figures from the Electoral Commission.
Will it make a difference and help the Tories and Labour claw back lost ground in the final week? Possibly. Money usually talks. It does in a different way in the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)'s overnight report that none of the parties is yet being frank on the coming need for cuts or taxes.
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Gordon Brown was recorded describing Gillian Duffy (left) as a 'bigoted woman'. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA
Andrew Sparrow covers the latest general election news and events, including Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg on the campaign trail.
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Tuesday 27 April 2010
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Donations by party by the end of week 2 of the campaign
Each week, the Electoral Commission publishes the big party donations of the campaign. Find out who gave what to whom
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We're going to do our best to answer your questions – and a few of our own – about what promises to be an intriguing election
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Actor Brooke Kinsella speaks at a Conservative party event in south London on 27 April. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images
It took a dignified 26-year-old woman to do something today that has eluded the Conservatives' polished band of spin doctors: explain what is meant by David Cameron's "Big Society".
Tories have been scratching their heads in the past two weeks trying to work out how to sell the "big idea" on the doorstep. Yes it involves the biggest devolution of power in a generation. But what does that mean in practical terms? One Conservative told me that it is like overcooked vegetables – it tastes of nothing.
Well, the Tories should bin their sixth-form "hung parliament party" election broadcast tonight and just put Brooke Kinsella on our screens. The former EastEnders actor, whose 16-year-old brother Ben was stabbed to death in London in 2008, endorsed the Tories today. Continue reading...
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Alan Travis: Was Alan Johnson, the home secretary, right to assert that crime has not risen under Labour despite Conservative claims to the contrary?
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Gordon Brown attacked the media for not focusing on policy. Never a good idea. Photograph: Martin Argles
I woke up this morning to learn from the BBC that the major parties leaders are keen to move on from this hung parliament stuff and get stuck into policy for the rest of the election campaign. Kids are today's theme for Gordon, crime for Dave, the NHS for Nick.
That's very good of them and good of the Beeb to tell us, though the news was relegated from item No 1 to No 4 – behind Lloyds bank's profits, Obama's problems and oil – between 7am and 8 on Radio 4.
Only a few days ago Gordon Brown was trying to drum up support for a complaint against the media in general for ignoring policy in favour of the beauty contest arising from debate-driven Cleggmania. Continue reading...
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A member of the public confronts David Cameron about special schools policy. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA
Andrew Sparrow covers the latest general election news and events, including speeches from David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown
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Monday 26 April 2010
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The Guardian and ICM have been conducting monthly polls since 1984. Here is the full data going back to then. Plus, for the first time, we can bring you the trends in the big questions and how they've changed over time. Continue reading...
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George Galloway talks to a shopkeeper as he campaigns in Polar and Limehouse. Photograph: Jas Lehal/Reuters
Michael White: Bangladeshis form 35% of votes in this newly redrawn seat. The former Labour MP argues he is the person who can represent their interests best
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One of interesting aspects of this more-interesting-than-anyone-expected election has been the apparent shifts in opinion among gay voters.
Now, it's compulsory at this point for someone to leap straight into the comments to state that there's no such thing as a "gay vote" – just voters who are gay. However, in what are clearly self-selecting online polls of self-identifying gay people, there are certain trends and shifts that may turn out to be significant. So let's stick with it.
Over the last year or so there has been a noticeable rise in support for the Conservatives and fall for Labour among gay voters that was almost in line with national polls. And there has been a steady growth for the Liberal Democrats that didn't mirror the (then) national trends.
When I wrote on this last month, it appeared that this was a very different scenario from the 2005 election when Labour – which had equalised the age of consent and introduced workplace equality legislation – had been particularly effective at courting gay voters.
But now, the latest of these polls from Pink News (which has its own demographically-weighted voter panel) is showing a 30-point collapse in Tory support over the last 10 months (39% in June 2009 to 9% today) and a 38-point surge for the Liberal Democrats (20% in June 2009, 58% today).
Labour's nine point fall over the same period to 20% is striking for being in single figures, though still dramatic. So while the earlier polls showed similarities between self-identifying gay voters and the national trends, the most recent are showing either a breaking away from them or exaggeration (you choose). Continue reading...
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