The storm before the storm
24/04/2024
Check out Jim’s comprehensive preview of next week’s local elections. While the Conservatives face hundreds of losses, the Gaza crisis poses problems for Labour in Lancashire and Rochdale.
Are Crime Commissioners cutting crime?
18/04/2024
Do Police and Crime Commissioners make any difference? That’s the question Jim poses in this week’s blog ahead of elections for the posts in two weeks time.
Up in Smoke
18/04/2024
Non-smoker Frank McKenna tells us why he is opposed to the government’s plan to ban smoking.
The Downtown Den Politics Podcast | EP. 26 | 8th April 2024
08/04/2024
Kevin Johnson from Urban Comms joins Frank McKenna for the latest podcast, discussing Birmingham, Andy Street, William Wragg and Angela Rayner.
Could the Tories really be wiped out?
04/04/2024
The results of a ‘mega-poll’ were released this week. It diid not make happy reading for the Conservative Party. Could the Tories really be facing wipeout at the next General Election?
The Downtown Den Politics Podcast | EP. 25 | 3rd April 2024
03/04/2024
Could the most successful election winning machine in Western Europe really be heading towards oblivion?
The Downtown Den Politics Podcast | EP. 23 | 25th March 2024
25/03/2024
Labours shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered the Mis Lecture this week. Did she lay out a progressive programme of economic reform, or has her pragmatism taken her to a place where she is simply promising to be Continuity Jeremy Hunt?
The Downtown Den Politics Podcast | EP. 22 | 19th March 2024
20/03/2024
Can Sunak really survive in downing street until the autumn – or is a summer election now inevitable.
The Downtown Den Politics Podcast | EP. 21 | 11th March 2024
11/03/2024
Last week Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, tried to restart, reset, reshape the government with his budget. Did it work?
The Downtown Den Politics Podcast | EP. 19 | 26th February 2024
28/02/2024
Has British politics sunk to an all-time low? Shameful scenes in the commons this week, followed by Islamophobic comments from a senior Conservative MP, and a shambolic by election campaign now in its final ten days in Rochdale- how has it come to this?
Gutter politics brings parliament into further disrepute
22/02/2024
Frank McKenna condemns the gutter politics of the SNP which brought parliament into disrepute this week.
The Downtown Den Politics Podcast | 13th February 2024
14/02/2024
The past seven days have not been great for the prime minister nor the leader of the opposition. Rishi Sunak followed up his ill advised bet with Piers Morgan with a truly cringeworthy performance at PMQs