tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10968338.post2927799214640569947..comments2023-08-11T09:56:34.039+01:00Comments on timrollpickering: Liberal Democrat Run Tower Hamlets Borough Council - never ever again?!Tim Roll-Pickeringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12589024696145675963noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10968338.post-36768435219991500972008-11-21T20:26:00.000+00:002008-11-21T20:26:00.000+00:00Well now I see where you are coming from - but you...Well now I see where you are coming from - but you really shouldn't associate anyone noble enough to represent the poor of Bethnal Green out of the goodness of their hearts, with tactics used to win the votes of the poor (and the rich, and anyone neither rich nor poor but somewhere in between...) for purely personal ends in the later half of the 20th century. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10968338.post-81348527767304739222008-11-21T20:11:00.000+00:002008-11-21T20:11:00.000+00:00The large decimal place figures are because when I...The large decimal place figures are because when I transcribed the results last night for a forum I used Excel to calculate the percentages. Copy & paste reproduced them easily. And the method I used to calculate the original percentages is quite widely used (though not universal - indeed John Loony's page gives all three main methods) and the Croydon page was the best place I could think of for linking to an explanation. And there's nothing wrong with looking to the Loonies when discussing the Lib Dems - remember when the OMRLP spokesperson said of Lib Dem policies:<BR/><BR/>"I am afraid that kind of nonsense would find no place in the Official Monster Raving Loony Party manifesto. We're loonies, not nutters."<BR/><BR/>As for Harris's campaigning methods, the Oxford DNB says:<BR/><BR/><I>He did so [win six times in a row] by assiduously building up voluntary organizations such as the Bethnal Green Men's Institute and by holding weekly surgeries, as a result of which Harris's agent, George Holmes, became known as the 'poor man's lawyer' (</I>The Star<I>). These activities were not innovations in Bethnal Green's political life but were later claimed as antecedents of Liberal community politics.</I>Tim Roll-Pickeringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12589024696145675963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10968338.post-38198529063794855002008-11-21T19:44:00.000+00:002008-11-21T19:44:00.000+00:00It is surely debatable that Percy Harris was the f...It is surely debatable that Percy Harris was the forerunner of the Focus and the franchise politics - where is the evidence? Spitting Image clips won't cut it...<BR/><BR/>Good call with the 8 decimal place figures (we wouldn't have seen past the bar charts to see the true Lib Dem decline without them), and with following the Croydon Loony in matters psephological!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com