My accommodation fits five people. While inductions are next week - many beginning on Monday - so far my house only has four of its intended five occupants. There is a fifth person scheduled to arrive but they have yet to make an appearance. My hope is that they have a reason to have not moved in on the standard move-in days and that they are merely delayed for whatever reason.
If they don't show, I'll only have three housemates this year unless a replacement is found. I expect the person will show, however. As for my current housemates, I'm again sharing with the year's Resident Assistant and he's been doing a good job so far with his role, meeting whoever has moved in and offering to help them. There is a man from Malawi in the house this year and a woman from Doncaster.
So far, everyone seem friendly. May it be kept that way.
Showing posts with label Doncaster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doncaster. Show all posts
Sunday, 24 September 2017
Friday, 3 May 2013
Results of the 2013 local elections
The results are in: as expected the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have been the two parties to lose the most council seats while Labour and the United Kingdom Independence Party were the two to gain the most. According to BBC projections, no party has reached 30% of the overall vote, with Labour gaining 29%, the Conservatives 25%, UKIP 23% and the Liberal Democrats 14%; the average turnout has been reported as 31%.
The Conservatives lost 335 seats, but their 1116 councillors gives them the largest share of seats in this cycle; of their 28 councils up, they lost control of ten. Labour gained 291 councillors and control of two councils; the Liberal Democrats lost 124 seats, reducing their numbers to 352. Eight councils were rendered "No overall control".
UKIP's 23% of the overall vote and 139 additional seats gives them their biggest victory on the local level to date; it is unclear if UKIP's recent trend of success will endure and what effects it will bring if it does. The Green Party of England and Wales added five more councillors, which brought its number in this cycle up to 22 (they have over 140 in all cycles combined). Independent candidates added 24 councillors, bringing them up to 165 in this cycle.
In the mayoralties, the incumbent Conservative Mayor of North Tyneside, Linda Arkley, was defeated by Norma Redfearn, a member of Labour; the vote was not close, with Arkley losing by 19 percentage points. In Doncaster, the incumbent independent, Peter Davies, was narrowly defeated by Ros Jones, the Labour candidate. As for the South Shields parliamentary by-election, Labour won the seat with UKIP coming in second.
The results are mostly in line with what I was expecting; however, I thought the Conservatives' and Liberal Democrats' losses would be more severe and the Labour gains greater. I also mentioned in the previous post that both mayors were vulnerable due to their positions in Labour strongholds: Both were defeated, although I wasn't expecting the North Tyneside mayor to lose by such a wide margin. While Labour did not have a massive victory all across England, in their strongholds Labour overwhelmed the other parties; the two mayors were swept away by the coattails.
Should any updated information about the results arise, I will cover it in another post.
The Conservatives lost 335 seats, but their 1116 councillors gives them the largest share of seats in this cycle; of their 28 councils up, they lost control of ten. Labour gained 291 councillors and control of two councils; the Liberal Democrats lost 124 seats, reducing their numbers to 352. Eight councils were rendered "No overall control".
UKIP's 23% of the overall vote and 139 additional seats gives them their biggest victory on the local level to date; it is unclear if UKIP's recent trend of success will endure and what effects it will bring if it does. The Green Party of England and Wales added five more councillors, which brought its number in this cycle up to 22 (they have over 140 in all cycles combined). Independent candidates added 24 councillors, bringing them up to 165 in this cycle.
In the mayoralties, the incumbent Conservative Mayor of North Tyneside, Linda Arkley, was defeated by Norma Redfearn, a member of Labour; the vote was not close, with Arkley losing by 19 percentage points. In Doncaster, the incumbent independent, Peter Davies, was narrowly defeated by Ros Jones, the Labour candidate. As for the South Shields parliamentary by-election, Labour won the seat with UKIP coming in second.
The results are mostly in line with what I was expecting; however, I thought the Conservatives' and Liberal Democrats' losses would be more severe and the Labour gains greater. I also mentioned in the previous post that both mayors were vulnerable due to their positions in Labour strongholds: Both were defeated, although I wasn't expecting the North Tyneside mayor to lose by such a wide margin. While Labour did not have a massive victory all across England, in their strongholds Labour overwhelmed the other parties; the two mayors were swept away by the coattails.
Should any updated information about the results arise, I will cover it in another post.
Thursday, 2 May 2013
Local elections, 2013
The 2013 United Kingdom local elections are in progress. Over 2,300 council seats are being contested this year, with all of them except for one council being in England. The mayoralties of Doncaster and North Tyneside are up, and the parliamentary constituency of South Shields is voting for a new Member of Parliament due to the resignation of David Miliband last month. The locals being contested this year were last up for election in 2009.
The predicted outcome? As with last year, the Conservative Party is expected to receive severe losses in their number of councillors; they have the most seats to defend and have experienced poor polling numbers for several months. The Labour Party is likely to be the biggest beneficiary of the Conservatives' losses, but the sudden and recent rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party makes this election hard to predict: A significant amount of Conservative voters, dissatisfied with the lack of a referendum on the United Kingdom's membership in the European Union, are intending to switch to UKIP; if significant vote splitting occurs, this will exacerbate the Conservatives' defeats.
The Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives' coalition partner in Parliament, also have low polling numbers; however, their losses might be cushioned if Conservative/UKIP vote splitting is widespread. The Green Party of England and Wales is defending its strongholds and is seeking to move beyond them, although the Greens are concerned about the continuously-rebounding Labour Party and the effect of UKIP. The British National Party, which was notable for making gains in 2009, is unlikely to move away from the heavy defeats it has received in every election since, owing to its abysmal amount of candidates and virtually non-existent poll numbers.
As for the two mayors, both are incumbents; the Mayor of Doncaster is an independent and the Mayor of North Tyneside is a Conservative. Both are potentially vulnerable, as Doncaster is in Yorkshire and North Tyneside is in North East England; both regions usually back Labour overwhelmingly and if Labour has a strong performance nationwide, the two mayors could be defeated by the party's coattails.
It will be interesting to see how these elections turn out; we'll find out the majority of the results tomorrow.
The predicted outcome? As with last year, the Conservative Party is expected to receive severe losses in their number of councillors; they have the most seats to defend and have experienced poor polling numbers for several months. The Labour Party is likely to be the biggest beneficiary of the Conservatives' losses, but the sudden and recent rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party makes this election hard to predict: A significant amount of Conservative voters, dissatisfied with the lack of a referendum on the United Kingdom's membership in the European Union, are intending to switch to UKIP; if significant vote splitting occurs, this will exacerbate the Conservatives' defeats.
The Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives' coalition partner in Parliament, also have low polling numbers; however, their losses might be cushioned if Conservative/UKIP vote splitting is widespread. The Green Party of England and Wales is defending its strongholds and is seeking to move beyond them, although the Greens are concerned about the continuously-rebounding Labour Party and the effect of UKIP. The British National Party, which was notable for making gains in 2009, is unlikely to move away from the heavy defeats it has received in every election since, owing to its abysmal amount of candidates and virtually non-existent poll numbers.
As for the two mayors, both are incumbents; the Mayor of Doncaster is an independent and the Mayor of North Tyneside is a Conservative. Both are potentially vulnerable, as Doncaster is in Yorkshire and North Tyneside is in North East England; both regions usually back Labour overwhelmingly and if Labour has a strong performance nationwide, the two mayors could be defeated by the party's coattails.
It will be interesting to see how these elections turn out; we'll find out the majority of the results tomorrow.
Friday, 4 May 2012
On the results of the 2012 local elections
Most of the results from yesterday's elections are through, and I would say they are close to what I was expecting. On current estimates, the Labour Party has won over 770 council seats and taken control of at least 30 councils, the Conservatives are down almost 400 seats, the Liberal Democrats losses have surpassed 300, Doncaster has decided to keep its directly-elected mayor system, and Boris Johnson is on course to win re-election as the Mayor of London.
The most surprising results to me have been the cities holding referendums on having their own directly-elected mayors: results in nine of the ten have come through, and so far only Bristol has voted in favour of a mayor, with the votes still being counted in Leeds. I had presumed that people in the larger cities would be interested in having their own versions of the London mayoral system, but it seems I was wrong. Sheffield appears to have cast the strongest "no" voice, with over 60% of the people taking part in the referendum rejecting a mayor. By contrast, Doncaster kept its mayor with 62% of people saying "yes".
Some other results include the United Kingdom Independence Party's best showing to date in a local election without a concurrent European Parliament vote, with them averaging 12%-14% wherever they fielded candidates, although they only gained six new councillors at the expense of losing five. The Green Party has currently had a net increase of 11 councillors and in the London mayoral election their candidate, Jenny Jones, is hoping for a third-place finish . The Respect Party won five councillors in Bradford and even defeated the Labour council leader there. Finally, the British National Party failed to both gain new councillors and to keep its existing ones.
I do not expect the data in this post to be significantly out of date once all the results are through, but I will be sure to write an updated post with any new information.
The most surprising results to me have been the cities holding referendums on having their own directly-elected mayors: results in nine of the ten have come through, and so far only Bristol has voted in favour of a mayor, with the votes still being counted in Leeds. I had presumed that people in the larger cities would be interested in having their own versions of the London mayoral system, but it seems I was wrong. Sheffield appears to have cast the strongest "no" voice, with over 60% of the people taking part in the referendum rejecting a mayor. By contrast, Doncaster kept its mayor with 62% of people saying "yes".
Some other results include the United Kingdom Independence Party's best showing to date in a local election without a concurrent European Parliament vote, with them averaging 12%-14% wherever they fielded candidates, although they only gained six new councillors at the expense of losing five. The Green Party has currently had a net increase of 11 councillors and in the London mayoral election their candidate, Jenny Jones, is hoping for a third-place finish . The Respect Party won five councillors in Bradford and even defeated the Labour council leader there. Finally, the British National Party failed to both gain new councillors and to keep its existing ones.
I do not expect the data in this post to be significantly out of date once all the results are through, but I will be sure to write an updated post with any new information.
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Local elections, 2012
Voting is well underway here in the United Kingdom for the 2012 local elections. Over 6,000 council seats are up nationwide, several cities are holding referendums to decide if their inhabitants want to start directly electing mayors, the city of Doncaster is voting whether or not to abolish their own directly-elected mayor system, and three mayors are up for election.
The race that has been in the news most frequently has been the London mayoral election, where the incumbent, Boris Johnson (Conservative Party), is up for re-election. His main opponent is Ken Livingstone (Labour), with lesser challengers from the Liberal Democrats, Greens, United Kingdom Independence Party, British National Party, and an independent. Polls seem to be showing Johnson winning, with Livingstone coming in second, and the other candidates having some significant percentages but nowhere near anything close to actually winning the mayoralty of London.
While Johnson looks as though he will win in London, the Conservatives themselves are expecting heavy losses in the council elections. They are the largest party in Parliament, and with them receiving rising public dissatisfaction from issues such as a potential fuel strike, hostile reaction to the recent budget, and the current issue of MP Jeremy Hunt's involvement with News Corporation's former bid to take over BSkyB, they are polling several percentage points behind Labour. Labour are expected to win significantly in the councils; the Liberal Democrats lost several hundred seats in the 2011 local elections, and since they are currently polling at 8% (behind 16% for "others") that could happen this time around. The smaller parties hope to increase their amount of seats, or at the very least maintain what they already have. (Polling source.)
This is the second major election that has taken place since I have been back in the United Kingdom (the previous being the 2011 locals/AV referendum). I do not yet have the experience to predict the way an election will go in this country (for example, I was surprised in 2010 when Labour lost in Parliament but were the only party in that election to gain councillors), but I think the final results will be similar to what the polls have been saying.
As for Northamptonshire, none of the seats in this county are up for this election; the next elections here are in 2013. While I am not able to vote in this year's elections, I will still be keenly observing their results, which will be released tomorrow.
The race that has been in the news most frequently has been the London mayoral election, where the incumbent, Boris Johnson (Conservative Party), is up for re-election. His main opponent is Ken Livingstone (Labour), with lesser challengers from the Liberal Democrats, Greens, United Kingdom Independence Party, British National Party, and an independent. Polls seem to be showing Johnson winning, with Livingstone coming in second, and the other candidates having some significant percentages but nowhere near anything close to actually winning the mayoralty of London.
While Johnson looks as though he will win in London, the Conservatives themselves are expecting heavy losses in the council elections. They are the largest party in Parliament, and with them receiving rising public dissatisfaction from issues such as a potential fuel strike, hostile reaction to the recent budget, and the current issue of MP Jeremy Hunt's involvement with News Corporation's former bid to take over BSkyB, they are polling several percentage points behind Labour. Labour are expected to win significantly in the councils; the Liberal Democrats lost several hundred seats in the 2011 local elections, and since they are currently polling at 8% (behind 16% for "others") that could happen this time around. The smaller parties hope to increase their amount of seats, or at the very least maintain what they already have. (Polling source.)
This is the second major election that has taken place since I have been back in the United Kingdom (the previous being the 2011 locals/AV referendum). I do not yet have the experience to predict the way an election will go in this country (for example, I was surprised in 2010 when Labour lost in Parliament but were the only party in that election to gain councillors), but I think the final results will be similar to what the polls have been saying.
As for Northamptonshire, none of the seats in this county are up for this election; the next elections here are in 2013. While I am not able to vote in this year's elections, I will still be keenly observing their results, which will be released tomorrow.
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