What started as a peaceful protest in Tottenham (in the London Borough of Haringey) on August 6 over the police shooting of a local resident, has since erupted into spontaneous riots across the capital and elsewhere in England (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have so far been largely unaffected). Given the rapidity with which new… [Read more]

Canada is headed for its fourth federal election in seven years on May 2. With 143 seats going into the election, of 308 total in Parliament, the ruling Conservative Party under Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to pick up 12 seats at a minimum for a majority. Their path to a majority is made difficult… [Read more]

Having expressed a somewhat cynical view ahead of the landmark UK general elections last week, I thought I’d offer some more sober comments this week. The coalition government between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats brings together the largest and third largest blocs within the new House of Commons, and will have a majority of 74…. [Read more]

This is it! This is it! Only two and a half days till the UK election! Don’t worry, this is not a party political broadcast. In the interests of preserving Business Monitor International (BMI)’s impartial status, I will not endorse any party ahead of the election. What I will do is offer a brief and… [Read more]

YouGov has launched a major innovation in British political opinion polling, together with Sky News: a daily tracker poll during the UK party conference season. Normally, we can expect nine or ten polls to be issued every month by the various agencies, so this on first impression seems like a major development which more accurately… [Read more]

Reports that US President Barack Obama will overhaul a plan to build a missile defence shield in the Czech Republic and Poland would appear to represent a major foreign policy shift on Washington’s part, given that the shield was eagerly championed by the Bush administration. The official explanation for Obama’s shift is that Iran’s missiles… [Read more]

In any Country Risk analyst’s tool kit, opinion polls play a very important role. Finding a large enough data series for serious analysis though is often a problem. However, for the UK there is hardly a better treasure trove of information than Anthony Wells’ excellent website UK Polling Report, where he has collated polling data… [Read more]