Archive for May 7th, 2010
Well Pretty Much as I Predicted, Except that the Silly Party Won
“If this were repeated across the country, it would be very messy”. Somehow Monty Python got it right.
Patrick Dunleavy on a more serious note: “Nobody has won in terms of votes, but the last-minute momentum was to Labour”
Other LSE experts weigh in. I particularly like this one:
Charlie Beckett – POLIS Director
In media terms, what have we learnt?
1. That opinion polls during an election campaign are an expression of sentiment, not intention
2. That the TV debates shook up the campaign but they were platforms to perform, not parliaments to decide power
3. That the right-wing newspapers were unable to shift votes significantly, as the Tory share declined over the last month
4. That journalists were right to report the campaign process, but wrong to confuse polls, online memes and TV performance with real politics
Beckett’s comments should be the dashboard of every political journalist’s computer. And I mean every. (Right-wing newspapers play a lesser role in Danish politics but the other three points apply).