Daily catch-up: composers’ squiggles, the latest polls and ‘quasi-Trot’ Miliband

Making sense of parts of the websphere over the weekend

1. Did Beethoven even care? Lovely chart of treble clefs, which are stylised Gs (everyone ought to write capital G like that), via Dandelion Cream and Ian Leslie.

2. Rupert Murdoch, commentator, has been on Twitter again:

"Brit Labour conference a real downer, Tories now shaping up for same. Meanwhile UKIP surge likely guarantees Labour victory next May."

The triple spaces after the full stop are as interesting as the political opinions expressed. A few moments later, the antiestablishmentarian, on whom no doubt Owen Jones models himself, offered this 140-character assessment of America's woes:

"Elites' policies crushing poor, printing money etc, uneconomic climate investments, all causing higher costs, more inequality. Backlash near."

3. Three national opinion polls over the weekend: ComRes, YouGov and Opinium. The average party shares (with change since the 2010 election) were:

Conservative 31% -6

Labour____ 35% +5

Lib Dem____ 7% -17

UKIP_____ 17% +14

Green_____ 5% +4

There was an Ashcroft poll of Lib Dem marginals, which suggested a 6½-point swing from Conservative to Labour since 2010 (compared with the 5½-point swing above). And this morning a ComRes Battleground poll for ITV News of 40 marginals (mostly Con-Lab contests) recorded a 5½-point swing.

They are all consistent therefore, but they are all a snapshot, not a prediction. As I said in the Independent on Sunday, opinion may shift as the election gets closer. This is hard to predict in such a contest of negatives: ComRes for The Independent on Sunday recorded how many people said they had a favourable view of these politicians.

Nigel Farage 26%; David Cameron 25%; George Osborne 21%; Gordon Brown 20%; Ed Miliband 19%; Ed Balls 16%; Tony Blair 15%; Nick Clegg (August) 12%

And these parties.

Labour 30%; UKIP 27%; Green Party 27%; Conservatives 25%; Lib Dems (August): 13%

4. If you haven't seen the vox pop interviewee at 35" in Michael Crick's report from Rochester on Mark Reckless, Tory defector to UKIP, you should.

5. Last word on those bits that Ed Miliband forgot in his Labour Party conference speech. John McTernan was glad the Labour leader left out this bit:

"One Nation Labour has changed from New Labour – businesses have a responsibility to pay their taxes, respect their customers and treat their workers fairly."

As McTernan said:

"What toxic, divisive nonsense ... It is a malicious, ultra-left, quasi-Trot smearing of the best British government of my lifetime."

(Thanks to Pete Robbins.)

6. Finally, thanks to Jason for this:

"During the early '80s, The Jam used to be besieged by Adam & The Ants on hot summer days."