What I've Been Reading Recently

I do love a good book, don't you? And to prove it here's the traditional tri-monthly list of all the books to have passed before my eyes since we last did one of these.

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Walking Dead Vol 27: The Whisperer War by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard
Walking Dead Vol 28: A Certain Doom by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard
The Postmodern Political Condition by Agnes Heller and Ferenc Feher
The Tin Drum by Günter Grass
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi De Lampedusa
The Return of the Political by Chantal Mouffe
Here's Nagan by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard
Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness by Anne Rogers and David Pilgrim
All Out War by Tim Shipman
Gilles Deleuze: Vitalism and Multiplicity by John Marks
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Cousin Pons by Honare de Balzac
Deleuze and the Political by Paul Patton
Cambodia Year Zero by Francois Ponchaud
The Adjacent by Christopher Priest
The Conservative Party: From Thatcher to Cameron by Tim Bale
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame Smith
China Fights for Freedom by Anna Louise Strong
Capitalism without Capital by Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake
Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke
Through Bolshevik Russia by Ethel Snowden
The Smell of Hay by Georgio Bassani
A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe
Cameron and the Conservatives edited by Timothy Heppell and David Seawright
The Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma by Lima Barreto
An Introduction to Nietzsche as Political Thinker by Keith Ansell-Pearson
Red Plenty by Francis Spufford

What books have tided you over since the beginning of this year?

Quarter One 2018 Local By-Election Results

Overall, 110,609 votes were cast over 70 local authority (tier one and tier two) contests. All percentages are rounded to the nearest single decimal place. For comparison you can view Quarter Four 2017's results here.

Party	Number of Candidates	Total Vote	%	+/-  Q4	+/- Q1 2017	Average	+/- Seats
Conservative	65	42,388	38.3%	+5.9%	+10.3%	652	-4
Labour	63	33,051	29.9%	-4.8%	+4.5%	525	0
LibDem	49	17,122	15.5%	-2.7%	-6.2%	349	+6
UKIP	16	1,491	1.3%	-1.3%	-8.4%	93	-2
Green	39	3,983	3.6%	+0.4%	-0.3%	102	0
SNP*	4	4,418	4.0%	+0.8%	+1.4%	1,106	+1
PC	0						0
Ind***	31	6,441	5.8%	+1.4%	+2.9%	208	-2
Other****	5	1,715	1.6%	+0.7%	-4.2%	343	+1

* There were four by-elections in Scotland
** There was one by-election in Wales
*** There were six Independent clashes
**** Others this quarter consisted of Blue Revolution (13), Elvis Bus Pass (41), Ewell Residents (398), Farnworth and Keasley First (1,204), and Something New (59).

Chillax Labour people. The score managed by the Conservatives and Labour doesn't mean we've clambered into the TARDIS and taken ourselves back to this time last year. You'll remember the double-point poll leads and the sense Theresa May could do no wrong. What an analysis does show (if you go and look at the individual monthly totals) that we have spent an awful lot of time in natural Tory territory this quarter. And as per the polarisation we've seen since last year's general election results, both the main parties are miles ahead of everyone else. They're up on Q1 2017 at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, UKIP, Others and, to a much lesser extent, the Greens.

Without knowing what's on the board (Miss Ford) for the next three months a prediction is hard to venture. Continued polarisation, yes. LibDems doing better than their national polling figures, yes. And the death spiral of UKIP carrying on like the good fellow it is? Undoubtedly.

Local Council By-Elections March 2018

This month saw 36,473 votes cast over 26 local authority (tier one and tier two) contests. All percentages are rounded to the nearest single decimal place. 12 council seats changed hands in total. For comparison with February's results, see here.

Party	Number of Candidates	Total Vote	%	+/-  Feb	+/- Mar 17	Average/ Contest	+/- Seats
Conservative	23	12,551	34.4%	-2.1%	-1.7%	546	-4
Labour	23	12,829	35.2%	+8.0%	+7.3%	558	+1
LibDem	18	3,701	10.1%	-10.0%	-4.3%	206	+2
UKIP	5	432	1.2%	+0.4%	-9.5%	86	-1
Green	13	1,027	2.8%	-1.4%	-2.5%	79	0
SNP	2	2,432	6.7%	+2.9%	+6.7%	1,216	+1
PC**	0						0
Ind***	16	2,256	6.2%	-0.4%	+1.1%	141	0
Other****	2	1,245	3.4%	+2.5%	+2.8%	623	+1

* There were two by-elections in Scotland
** There were no by-elections in Wales
*** There were two independent clashes this month
**** Others this March consisted of Elvis Bus Pass (41), Farnworth and Keasley First (1,204)

A bit of a messier month than the net gains/losses suggest. The story of March though is one of polarisation, albeit a polarisation that sees the LibDems doing better than their national polling has it, and UKIP and the Greens more or less reflecting those rankings. The SNP, however, have done very well to climb over six per cent in a somewhat fraught political juncture - if memory serves they haven't done as well as this since riding high after the independence referendum and the 2015 general election.

In all, little evidence national politics has filtered down to local level. Given the week of hell Labour has had, there was no discernible impact on the huge win it had in Knowsley on the 29th.

Unfortunately, council by-election fans, April is usually local election quiet time as the parties tend to roll over vacancies for the main campaigning in May. There are four booked in for next Thursday which, if last April was anything to go by, could be half the month's quota.

1st March
Basingstoke & Deane BC, Kempshott Con hold
Clackmannanshire UA, Clackmannanshire North SNP hold
East Devon DC, Exmouth Town Lib hold
Solihull MB, Blythe Con hold

8th March
Bolton MB, Farnworth Oth gain from Lab
Dacorum BC, Northchurch Lib gain from Con
East Hampshire DC Petersfield, Bell Hill Ind gain from Con
Harlow DC Little Parndon & Hare Street Lab hold
Medway UA, Rochester West Lab gain from Con
Nottingham City Council, Wollaton West Lab gain from Con
Rutland UA, Oakham SE Ind gain from Con
Tameside, Droylesden East Lab hold

15th March
Redcar & Cleveland UA, Longbeck Con gain from Ind
South Kesteven DC, Stamford St George's Con hold
South Kesteven DC, Stamford St John's Con hold

22nd March
Aylesbury Vale DC, Central and Walton Lib gain from Con
Bassetlaw DC, Worksop SE Lab hold
Cheshire East DC Bunbury Con hold
Chiltern DC Ridgeway Con gain from Ind
City of London Billingsgate Ind hold
City of London Bishopsgate Ind hold
Midlothian UA Penicuik SNP gain from Lab
Staffordshire Moorlands DC, Leek West Lab gain from Con
Thurrock BC, Ockenden Con gain from UKIP

29th March
Knowsley MB, Page Moss Lab hold