Denis Healey

BBC2 ran an excellent Michael Cockerill programme on Denis Healey last night. Most people were probably watching the Great British Bake Off but it can be viewed on BBC I-player. Healey was referred to 'as the best prime minister Labour never had', but a central message was that he was too volatile and temperamental for the top job.

One of Healey's great merits was his belief in the concept of 'hinterland', that one needed a life beyond politics. With a double first in Classics, he was an erudite individual and was well complemented by his wife, Edna.

I remember once being at a function, I think in the 1980s. The wooden Edward Heath was there, but as usual had no small talk. I turned to Healey, who recited a poem he had recently written.

Cameron's conference speech

My thoughts can be found here: Cameron at Manchester

How voters see the economy

An interesting essay which suggests that voters are more influenced by media reporting of the state of the economy than their own direct experience of it: Voter perceptions

England's first pop up university

With financial pressures on universities increasing, and a constant search for more market oriented solutions to provide higher education at a lower cost, England is to get its first ‘pop up’ university. Capital costs will be avoided by using the infrastructure of the Bakerloo Line. On paying their £9,000 fee, students will receive an Oyster card in the university’s colours already charged with £20 worth of travel.

Tutors, who will be on zero hour contracts, will travel in the last carriage of the train. They will wear a distinctive dark brown fleece with the name of the university in gold lettering, accompanied by a specially designed baseball cap. Off peak they will travel between Waterloo and Paddington, but during peak hours they will be available from Elephant & Castle to Stonebridge Park.

The setting of the university will provide unique learning opportunities. A MSc in urban travel management will require students to show from their Oyster card that they have travelled on every underground line, the Docklands Light Railway, the Overground and Boris Johnson’s ‘Dangleway’.

Psychology students will be able to study crowd behaviour under stress in the rush hours. Urban housing students will be able to interview rough sleepers at Charing Cross. Medical students will be able to run tests on volunteers who have run up the long stairway at Marylebone.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has welcomed the scheme as showing once again that London was a great world city that was coming up with innovative solutions to contemporary challenges. He hoped, however, that students would surface to study bicycle routes and the feasibility of an airport on an island in the Thames. He also hoped that once it had got established the university would consider establishing a branch campus on the Metropolitan line to Uxbridge.

Ask the Chancellors

I can't imagine this attracted a large audience live on a Monday afternoon, but, of course, what matters is how it is 'spun' in late news programmes. I thought each slot was going to last an hour, but in fact it was half an hour and George Osborne was cut off in mid flow by a commercial. The use of boom mikes did affect the sound quality sometimes. I thought that the young woman who asked George Osborne a question about zero hour contracts said she came from Greenwich, but George Osborne seemed to think she came from the Midlands. To me, she had a London accent.

The audience seemed to be predominantly made of small business entrepreneurs and this meant that Ed Balls seemed to get a rougher ride, but I thought that he acquitted himself quite well. He had two (tougher) questions from social media and George Osborne had one. At the beginning, Ed Balls seemed to fall into his old trap of seeming to bluster, but became more convincing as time went on, particularly on the question of Europe.

George Osborne gave a smooth and confident performance, reiterating his basic messages although there is a risk that he can seem complacent. He was most put under pressure by the young woman student on zero hours contracts. It is not the case the majority of jobs take that form, but they do particularly affect the young, women and some older people. Ed Balls acknowledged that they perform a useful function for some, but felt that some employers had pushed them too far.

What struck me was that throughout both interviews, no questioner nor either respondent referred to the most fundamental structural problem facing the British economy: low rates of productivity. Neither really had a good answer on getting more houses built. Ed Balls was under some pressure on the mansion tax, but managed to put up a defence, although it isn't going to raise enough revenue to provide more doctors and nurses (the issues there aren't just financial anyway).

Coalition and minority government options

The last calculation of each possible coalition/minority government scenarios after the general election by Populus/Hanover gives seven options as likely (the others such as 'Labour majority' are ranked at 1.4 per cent or less):

• Labour/SNP 26.9 per cent
• Labour/Lib Dem 16 per cent
• Labour/Lib Dem/SNP/left minority 15.1 per cent
• Labour/SNP/left minority 11.6 per cent
• Conservative/Lib Dem/DUP 10.8 per cent
• Labour/Lib Dem/left minority 8.9 per cent
• Conservative/Lib Dem 5.1 per cent

A further complicating factor is that Lib Dem 'elder statesman' David Steel has claimed that the mood within the party is to accept nothing more than a 'confidence and supply' agreement with anyone.

My own take on the situation can be found here: Minority government

How much do you know about purdah?

The Cabinet Office guidance isn't out yet, but here are its implications for academics and politicians: Purdah