Salmond doesn’t like it up him!

Great line!

Good Week

David Cameron- The Prime Minister has had a good week. Ed Miliband is still floundering as Labour Leader, with seemingly little media attention being paid to Cameron’s problems with his own party. The Tories will face resistance to their NHS and Welfare reforms this week but ultimately Cameron is unlikely to be losing sleep over his opposite number’s rather hollow attacks.

Nick Clegg- The Deputy Prime Minister has had the usual quiet week with the Lib Dems only kicking up a minor fuss over over The Mayor of London’s “Boris Island” airport plans.

Sayeeda Warsi- The Co-Chairman of the Conservatives had a solid outing on Question Time this week, easily besting Stephen Twigg who looked uneasy defending his party leader.

Bad Week

Ed Miliband- The Leader of the Opposition has had a stinker of a week. Labour’s economic message still isn’t getting through, his party are behind in the daily YouGov tracker and a muted performance at Prime Minister’s Questions added to his increasing list of woes. Two glimmers of hope for Miliband remain however, the unions although vocally opposed to his “new” economic policies are unlikely to withdraw their support for Labour anytime soon and no clear replacement for   Labour Leader is apparent (yet). As I’ve stated before, Miliband needs to establish a narrative pronto to make Labour seem credible with voters and to stop the prominent question in his media appearances being “When are you resigning?”.

Chris Huhne- Huhne’s constant disruption of Cabinet matters seems to make Cameron’s decision to sack him easier if he is charged for passing off speeding points to his then wife.

Yvette Cooper- Cooper ranked twenty points below Ed Miliband in a hypothetical leadership poll for ComRes. That has to hurt.

The British Barack Obama? Not yet on this form.

Striking parallels with Ed Miliband’s current plight?

Little does Harman know that she is getting “the eyes” from Miliband as she defends his leadership on Sky News.

Good Week

David Cameron- The Prime Minister has had a good week with Ed Miliband’s leadership in jeopardy. Prime Minister’s Questions this week was a tame affair, which Cameron would settle for every week. The question of the Scottish Independence Referendum dominated the news agenda this week, with Cameron opting to (seemingly) allow Alex Salmond to hold it in late 2014. Whether or not the Prime Minister gets his desired simple “In/Out” Referendum question is still up in the air however.

Nick Clegg- The Deputy Prime Minister had a typically quiet week this week, with Clegg engaging Salmond in some light chest beating over the Scottish Independence Referendum. His party’s poll ratings are still a cause for concern as they dropped below double digits with YouGov.

Alex Salmond- Salmond has (again seemingly) got his desired time of late 2014 for the Scottish Independence Referendum. I cannot imagine the Westminster Government allowing a third “Devolution Max” question now as they have all but conceded to the SNP’s timetable. This far out from the Referendum predictions are tricky, but all signs point to the Scottish people rejecting independence outright and perhaps getting a separate ”Devolution Max” Referendum by the end of the decade.

Mitt Romney- Romney convincingly won the New Hampshire Primary and now looks to odds on to gain the Republican Presidential Nomination for 2012. I suspect the GOP race may be over sooner rather than later because none of Romney’s opponents have vast sums of money to spend on campaigning/attack ads.

Bad Week

Ed Miliband- The Leader of the Opposition is on very thin ice as the Labour Party questions if he is up to the job. Miliband’s key issue is that he doesn’t exude charisma or look like a Prime Minister in waiting. A secondary issue for Miliband is that his policies, however good, are presented in a way that makes them look complex. Simple narratives in politics generally work and Miliband desperately needs to find a compelling, simple to understand set of policies to “sell” to voters. The next few months are crucial for Miliband, if he lasts that long. A loss for Ken Livingstone in the London Mayoral Election may signal a decisive end for Miliband’s leadership.

Ed Balls- Balls’ admission that he would back a public sector pay freeze at the current time has predictably angered the unions who pay the majority of Labour’s bills. This was not the wisest move given there was no pressure on Balls to say anything on public sector pay currently.

Rachel Reeves- Reeves this week in a newspaper interview stated that Labour is still not in a position to govern. This is not something I’d expect to hear from a Shadow Cabinet member in public and is a puzzling statement to make in mid Parliament.

For a few seconds at least.

It’s getting spicy in the capital!

Can’t remember this gameshow being on our screens in the Eighties Ed. On a serious note, the country needs a strong opposition at this time and Miliband and Co. seem to be unable to provide any coherent opposition at all currently.

Clashing over Diane Abbott’s now infamous tweet.

To give her a “dressing down”. If that’s possible!

Here are my ten quick political predictions for 2012 in some sort of a chronological order: -

*Mitt Romney will win the Republican Nomination for President after a long protracted battle with Newt Gingrich.

*Greece will exit the Euro but the single currency will remain for 2012 at least.

*Boris Johnson will beat Ken Livingstone to be re-elected Mayor of London in an ill tempered campaign.

*A challenge to Ed Miliband’s leadership will come after the London Mayoral campaign, but no formal contest will be held. Miliband will hang onto the Labour leadership throughout 2012 as the party struggles to find a successor.

*Chris Huhne will finally exit the Cabinet after a falling out with his Lib Dem collegues.

*Nick Clegg will start to formulate a few clear Lib Dem policies in a bid to distance his party from the Tories ahead of 2015.

*Barack Obama will be re-elected as American President by a decent sized margin.

*David Laws will return to the cabinet in a social brief.

*Nick Boles will be promoted to the Cabinet, possibly replacing Chris Huhne as Energy Secretary.

*Ed Miliband’s approval ratings will go lower than former Tory Leader Iain Duncan Smith’s approval ratings at their lowest ebb.

The complete Screensport presentation from November 18th 1990.

Proof that rap based Christmas songs are a recipe for disaster. Merry Christmas:).

According to this promo for BBC Parliament, it looks to be Yvette Cooper.

Good Week

David Cameron- The Prime Minister has had a good week domestically and a not so good week in Europe. On the domestic front Cameron has secured his position with his eurosceptic backbenchers for the time being, whilst on the European front he has annoyed nearly every country in the continent. The sideshow politics of the Coalition means the media will focus primarily on the “rift ” between Cameron and Clegg short term, not the greater question of how Britain will help resolve the crisis in the Eurozone. Cameron is only three and a half years way from a General Election and clearly feels the UK electorate would prefer him to be mildly eurosceptic, a position that may gain him a majority in 2015.

Angela Merkel- The German Chancellor has remained fairly diplomatic on Cameron’s actions this week, hinting that the UK still has a part to play within Europe. This attitude is the polar opposite to Nicolas Sarkozy’s, who seems to want to punish the UK for Cameron’s decision.

Bad Week

Ed Miliband- Until the Leader of the Opposition gets some vague policies together he will be seen as providing opposition for opposition’s sake, a standpoint that will not help him with floating voters in key seats. This week highlighted that Miliband or Labour haven’t really got a firm policy on Europe, just the usual “The Tories are wrong” soundbite.

Nick Clegg- Europe has caused the Deputy Prime Minister to do a complete one hundred and eighty degree U Turn this week. On Friday he backed Cameron on Europe, but today he does not. Clarity of message will be essential for the Lib Dem 2015 General Election Campaign, one which already looks to be very tricky.

I’m not sure if this was genius or just very, very wrong. Woeful dancing in this video.

A monumentally idiotic campaign ad where Perry wonders how it’s possible that Obama has allowed gay people to serve openly in the military, while at the same time, children cannot openly celebrate Christmas and/or pray in schools. Beyond cringeworthy fodder.

Good Week

Nick Clegg- A typically quiet week for the Deputy Prime Minister, looking like a bystander whilst the Autumn Statement was delivered. The Lib Dems are doing slightly better in the polls recently but still would lose a projected half of their MPs if a General Election was held tomorrow.

Newt Gingrich- Gingrich has had a very good week, topping numerous GOP polls by a significant margin. My gut feeling that he will not be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2012, as he is clearly less electable than the younger Mitt Romney in the eyes of the American people.

Jeremy Clarkson- Clarkson’s highly controversial comments on The One Show this week have meant his new DVD is selling better than predicted.

Bad Week

David Cameron- The Prime Minister has had a terrible week as it looks almost certain the UK will slip back into recession next year. As I have stated before, Cameron has only got to beat in 2015 what’s in front of him in the guise of Ed Miliband. A recession does complicate his election strategy in 2015- does Cameron call for faster cuts or keep the status quo? I’d say the latter at this point.

Ed Miliband- It should be so easy for The Leader of the Opposition at the moment. Whilst Miliband had a decent outing at Prime Minister’s Questions this week, his “Five Point Plan” for jobs and growth has not gained the traction he would have liked. Simply put, Labour need to understand cuts have to be made across the board without spending money the country does not have. Any further spending “plans” would hurt Labour with voters as the debate has moved on from whether or not cuts need to made. Miliband and Balls are polling woefully as a duo and I’d wager one of Labour’s top team will not be there in 2015.

George Osborne- The Chancellor had to backtrack on his commitment to eradicate the deficit within five years this week. This was disappointing for Osborne the politician as broken promises will not help his leadership ambitions with the Tory Party faithful. The need for further spending cuts going into an election may help the party to be victorious over Labour however.

Ed Balls- The Shadow Chancellor landed some decent blows this week in light of the dire economic outlook. However Balls at this point is seen by many in his party as a liability that it may be him who leaves the Shadow Cabinet before Ed Miliband.

Herman Cain- Cain dropped out of the GOP race this week, much to the disappointment of Pokemon lovers everywhere.