UK local by-elections 2014

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Apparently Kippers on the twatter were claiming a great triumph didst loom.

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Some Tory on the telly has just claimed that the Motherwell result was a great triumph. He keeps saying 'moving forward'.

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Ah, it's David Mundell. Thought I slightly remembered the face.

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...and we have a stupid self-inflicted Labour loss at Kingstanding. By-election caused by resignation; actually an unnecessary by-election as we're close enough to the next set of elections for a double vacancy; Tories ran perennial (and oft electorally over-performing, so to speak) Local Candidate For Local People; Labour run candidate who is not only not from the ward but who is from the other end of the city. Inevitable comedy (sub 20%, apparently) turnout...

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It is amazing quite how many London councillors discover fundamental ideological differences between them and their groups every four years.

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It has had some media attention, actually.

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Yeah, the Tory results in Bury in 2012 were spectacularly bad. Even in British elections demography is not destiny, but don't forget that Ramsbottom is a pretty prosperous, pretty middle class town for the most part.

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Yes, Ludlow North (which actually covers the west of the town) includes all of that Ludlow (overpriced food, red trousers, etc). The rest of the town is quite different and some of it is in the Ludlow North division, though the deprived areas (the Sandpits and so on) are in Ludlow East. The odd thing is that there's no real competition for space as such: it's like two very different towns exist at the same time. Genuine Ludlow accents are absolutely hilarious, incidentally.

Ludlow North is the successor to the old Ludlow Town county council division, which was a safe LibDem seat for donkeys years. But the current boundaries are much better for the Tories: only half of the former St Peters ward (normal Ludlow) is in it, while all of the old St Laurence's ward (cliché Ludlow) is, plus a large chunk of the solidly Tory agricultural country around Ludlow.

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Labour reported to have gained Portsoken.

Raise that scarlet standard high, comrades.

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THE REDS, THE REDS ARE COMING

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As hilarious as this is, it's worth pointing out - again - that Portsoken is not exactly typical of the City. Let's play with census statistics.

In the City as a whole an absolutely insane 57.7% of the population are in managerial/professional occupations: the figure in Portsoken is a much more normal 27.3% (which is actually lower than the figure for London and slightly lower than the figure for England). The City of London is still rather white (78.5% in total, 57.5% 'White British'). Not so Portsoken (51.3%, 36.3%: lower figures than London as a whole). Last, and by no leans least, 66% of households in Portsoken live in socially rented properties.

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As hilarious as this is, it's worth pointing out - again - that Portsoken is not exactly typical of the City. Let's play with census statistics.

In the City as a whole an absolutely insane 57.7% of the population are in managerial/professional occupations: the figure in Portsoken is a much more normal 27.3% (which is actually lower than the figure for London and slightly lower than the figure for England). The City of London is still rather white (78.5% in total, 57.5% 'White British'). Not so Portsoken (51.3%, 36.3%: lower figures than London as a whole). Last, and by no leans least, 66% of households in Portsoken live in socially rented properties.

So Portsoken is basically a continuation of Tower Hamlets (but without the Bangladeshis)?

Oh, it has Bangladeshis (about a fifth of the population).

So yes.

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Sort of, I guess. Related to that would be strong local-candidate-for-local-people independents. It's only recently that Labour have started contesting elections in the City, and that shows.

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Less than impressive result in Sunderland is probably explained (at least in part) by the circumstances of the poll...

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Hilarious results.

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Penistone is a Labour hold.

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I was just reporting the news at the time

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Haha, Leominster. Bizarre town. And I see that Its Our County continue to crush all before them.

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Cornwall is part of England.

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Non natives of the British Isles now have to guess how 'Leominster' is pronounced.

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Non natives of the British Isles now have to guess how 'Leominster' is pronounced.

Lemster?

Yes; sometimes Lempster.

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Well, Leicester suburbs. Not too surprising, alas.

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A little something for everybody by the looks of that. What a considerate electorate we sometimes have.

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Is there any way to fastforward to these stupid posts being abolished as will surely eventually happen?

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Labour have held Ironbridge Gorge