Changes at the Top?

While the row over benefit cuts and caps rolls ever more fervently onward, and the medical profession rallies troops as midwives ally themselves to the BMA sizing up for a battle against the government’s radical NHS shake-up in England and Wales, you might think an embattled David Cameron facing conflict on so many fronts would feel a little nervous.

The electorate, however, seems to be sitting with its hands folded, nodding approvingly at the Coalition’s snip-happy antics, with two opinion polls this morning showing the Conservatives with an increased lead. In the Guardian/ICM poll, the Tories are up three per cent at 40 per cent, which would give them a majority if an election were held today, while Labour are down one to 35 per cent.

Meanwhile The Times has the Tories up two at 37 per cent, and Labour down one and only marginally ahead at 38 per cent. Before we start to sound like Pick of the Pops, it should be noted that there is unlikely consensus between both newspapers over one thing: Ed Miliband is to blame. Labour’s policies have become so foggy that voters aren’t really sure what they’re about.

Or perhaps the pollsters just caught sample groups in the throes of a mean black hangover from Blue Monday last week, The Most Depressing Day of the Year. One thing is certain, with the chorus of disapproval from Left and Right growing Mr Miliband may today be experiencing a Vexatious Tuesday.

In the spirit of New Year/new broom it is a time of change at the top, after all. Following last week’s shock departure of Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, the latest tech titans to topple are BlackBerry honchos Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, who have been forced to retreat from their position as co-chair and co-chief executive of Research in Motion after a disastrous year. This is partly because of 2011’s “catastrophic” (aka “a bit inconvenient for a couple of days”) blackout of their BlackBerry email service, which made them rather unpopular. If they will insist on making people wholly reliant on a little bleeping gadget, they can hardly complain when it goes on the blink and consumers rise up and demand their heads.

Perhaps they should be thankful it’s only their jobs on the chopping block and nothing bloodier. English Heritage is fighting plans to move the superstition-steeped London Stone, or Brutus Stone, from its abode nestling in the wall of a banking corporation at 111 Cannon Street. Believed to be a Roman milestone (to see lots of these, visit Chesters Fort on Hadrian’s Wall or the new Antonine Wall exhibit at Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum, they’re much more impressive), it is thought by the credulous to protect the City of London – well, City bankers need all the luck they can get, eh? William Blake said it was an altar on which victims “groan’d aloud” as they were sacrificed by Druids, who also knew a thing or two about sharp, shiny blades and deep cuts.

Still, one cut worth celebrating this morning is news that Glasgow’s celebrated Citizens Theatre – which helped shape careers of Ciaran Hinds, Rupert Everett, Tim Roth, Celia Imrie, Alan Rickman, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Glenda Jackson, Gary Oldman, we could go on but we’verunoutofbreath – is selling tickets for 50 pence for its new season, to recall the 1976 heyday when it proudly proclaimed “all seats 50p”. Funnily enough, in 1976 British officials were fretting over Argentinian plans to invade the Falklands. Plus ça change…