The Patch
| Use attributes for filter ! | |
| Google books | books.google.com |
|---|---|
| Originally published | November 13, 2018 |
| Authors | John McPhee |
| Genres | Quotation |
| Biography | |
| Reference Work | |
| Date of Reg. | |
| Date of Upd. | |
| ID | 2984451 |
About The Patch
John McPhee's The Patch is just that: patches of work across a writer's lifetime that come together to form a quilt of essays, reflections and reminiscences. Ranging across a variety of genres and styles, subjects and moods, his patches are collected from writings that have not previously appeared in any book. . . .
UK inflation falls sharply to 4. 6% as energy prices ease
... " Dave Golding, manager of The Patch food bank charity in Milford Haven in Wales, said people were still under pressure from higher food and energy costs, with the charity set to have provided 150,000 meals this year...
Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth by-elections: What to expect from Thursday's polls
... The Patch has been Conservative for so long, none of the parties began with very much precise data about previous voting patterns, beyond the obvious - which is most voters voted Conservative last time out...
The Patch: BBC radio show's postcode lottery unearths stories in random places
... Each episode of Polly Weston s BBC Radio 4 series The Patch starts with a random postcode generator...
Losing Dominic Raab is a bad day for Rishi Sunak
... Party leader Sir Ed Davey was there in The Patch in the blink of an eye to make that case...
Taiwan bear badge punches back after China drills
... Taiwan s air force told the Reuters news agency that it did not " particularly encourage" its members to wear The Patch, which is not a part of their uniform...
Ocean plastic: How tech is being used to clean up waste problem
... 2% of the 100 million kilograms of plastic contained in the world s largest patch of plastic rubbish, he said it was still worth it: " Everything big starts small, right? " The team believes it will have collected 1% of The Patch by the end of this year using its current system - but they are scaling up their operations to try to clean up patches faster...
Scotland 'snow-free' for fourth time in six years
... Just six days ago he had made the climb to check on The Patch and described it as " hanging on for dear life...
By-election: Tory wobbles in true blue Bexley?
... One minister who has visited The Patch points out that governing parties historically used to get a hammering at mid-term by-elections - so the fact they ve even won some, like Hartlepool, is reason to be optimistic...
Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth by-elections: What to expect from Thursday's polls
By Chris MasonPolitical editor, BBC News
Yet more by-elections.
There are two seats being contested - Tamworth in Staffordshire and Mid Bedfordshire - on Thursday.
And there are two things that matter: The psychological and The psephological.
, by-elections are mood makers in politics.
They shape The Psychology of The parties - how they see themselves and how they perceive voters see them.
But don't forget The psephology as well. That is a posh word for The Numbers in elections.
At The Last general election in 2019, Six-in-ten voters backed The Conservatives.
And. Two-thirds of voters backed The Conservatives.
But with Labour a long way ahead in national opinion polls, when The Party fails to win in a spot where it has thrown plenty at winning, The awkward questions follow for them.
Both these contests are competitive.
In Mid Bedfordshire , it is a three-way scrap between The Conservatives, Labour and The Liberal Democrats .
In Tamworth it is a straightforward tussle between The Conservatives and Labour.
As ever, all sides indulge in expectation management beforehand.
A gentle or sometimes brutal talking down of their chances, in The Hope , from their perspective, of surprising on The Upside when The results come in.
Back In July , when there were three contests on The same day, folk in government were letting it be known.
It is true The Tories did do badly. But they won one of The three by-elections.
Once Again , The Conservatives are sounding gloomy.
" Grumpy Tories can't be bothered, " said one Tory figure.
" Our base is not hugely motivated. They are by-elections. You are electing someone for a year or less.
" It's not a great call to action to turn out is it? And both have come about because of The psychodrama of The Last Year or so at Westminster. "
The Conservatives are expecting a huge slump in their share of The vote.
But plenty in all The camps say that while plenty of Conservative voters last time have lost faith in The Party , they are not necessarily enamoured by Labour.
Let's see.
There is then The issue of what nerdy political types call " differential turnout".
In other words, which party is best at getting its usual core supporters to vote.
In by-election contests, where turnout often slumps, this could prove crucial.
In Mid Bedfordshire , Labour have had a spring in their step for quite a while.
" It was mid-summer when I started here, and now there are folk putting up their Christmas decorations, " says one Labour figure, adding it has been " The longest by-election campaign in history".
The Campaign began when The former Conservative MP Nadine Dorries said she would resign.
But it took her rather a while to actually Getting Around to doing so.
The Twist in Mid Bedfordshire is not only are The Conservatives, Labour and The Liberal Democrats all throwing quite a bit at it. It is, to quote one campaigner " like walking in fresh snow".
The Patch has been Conservative for so long, none of The parties began with very much precise data about previous voting patterns, beyond The obvious - which is most voters voted Conservative last Time Out .
Labour folk point at The psephology - The Numbers - and describe winning as " a moonshot".
But others within The Party say " moonshots do happen".
What may prove crucial is how split The anti-Conservative vote is between Labour and The Liberal Democrats , and how many Tory voters The Conservatives can persuade to turn out.
The Liberal Democrats knocked on 3,500 doors in The constituency over The weekend and appear to be turning their attention to The dozens of villages where former Conservative voters might be persuaded to back Sir Ed Davey 's party.
The Conservatives reckon The antics of their previous MP, Ms Dorries, will hurt them.
" It's bad enough when an MP packs it in to take a seat in The House of Lords. She has packed it in because she didn't get a seat in The House of Lords! " says one party hand.
" Of course No 10 are planning to blame me, " responded Ms Dorries.
In Staffordshire, The Tamworth tussle is fascinating.
There is rich political history there. In 1996, a year before Labour's landslide, they won a by-election in South East Staffordshire, which included Tamworth .
You can watch The Bbc 's election programme from The Night .
The MP, Brian Jenkins, held The seat until 2010.
The two seats are not identical, but Labour did hold it while it was in government, and The Conservatives have held The Tamworth seat for as long as they've been in government.
And held it with a colossal majority in 2019.
Labour sources have been sounding consistently less positive about their campaign in Tamworth than The One in Mid Bedfordshire and also label winning it as " a moonshot".
One last thought.
Both Conservative and Labour people express a frustration at The bandwidth, energy and money these by-elections all suck up.
The Party machines are thinking of The General election.
But by-elections keep coming - with MPs already anticipating The possibility of a few more, and.
As for Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire , keep an eye out for The Psychology - how The parties react to who wins and who loses.
And The psephology, The Numbers - The Change in support for The parties whoever ends up winning.
Both do matter. As do who actually wins.
The Conservatives could do very badly in both and still win. But them losing one, or indeed both, could happen too.
Related TopicsSource of news: bbc.com