Last Friday night I was down in Torquay drinking with trade union colleagues going to the next day’s Regional Council of SW TUC, and I was surprised that many people were opposed to seeing the Iron Lady on principle. I had already agreed to see it to take part in a chat about the film

Yesterday I didn’t go on a march. Instead, in semi-journalist mode, I went round pickets in my area, having a bit of chat with those who were left, offering a tenner for the strike fund. Those left behind reported that most had gone off to the marches and rallies, some to Wigan, some to Liverpool. The overall impression I took from yesterday is that we may be getting our tactics very wrong f...

I had a chat yesterday with an experienced militant in the construction industry about the current electricians dispute. The substantive issue is that a group of seven building contracting companies are seeking to quit the existing Joint Industry Board (JIB) national industry agreement, which will lead to a significant drop in wages. There is no doubting that feelings

Revisiting that chat between Andrew Tyrie and Steve Hilton

The BBC's James Landale describes the moment an off-message Tory MP was taken away for a quiet chat with the spin doctors.

Thoughts from me and Linda about fighting the Greens (this is the kind of thing we chat about at home), from the new edition of Progress magazine:

George Bush and Tony Blair’s informal chat at the G8, overheard by live microphones, reveals Blair’s pessimism over breaking the deadlock of the Doha round. Blair raised the issue of “this trade thingy”, and Bush replied “I just want some movement”, expressing his dissatisfaction at progress seen the previous day.

LibDemVoice have for the last few years nominated a time and a place for an informal drink and meet-up for internetty Lib Dems to let their hair down and have a chat. This time around, we weren’t quite fleet enough of foot to get any such event in the conference directory, so we will have

PM and wife chat to new parents in hospital where Florence was born.

Growing danger seen from jurors misusing the internet to research cases rather than trying defendants based on the evidence they hear in court