Scraping the barrel

mp-sex-appeal.R

library(magrittr)
library(stringr)
library(ggplot2)
library(rvest)

make_data <- function(sex=c("M", "F")){
  sex <- match.arg(sex)
  
  addr <- paste0('http://www.sexymp.co.uk/index.php?gender=', sex, '#vote')
  gg <- read_html(addr, encoding="ISO-8859-1")
  
  tds <- gg %>% html_nodes('table[width="700px"] tr td[valign="top"]')
  
  howmany <- tds %>% length
  mps <- tds %>% extract(seq(2, howmany, by=2))

  parties <- mps %>% 
             html_nodes("b") %>% 
             extract(seq(2, howmany, by=2)) %>% 
             html_text %>% 
             str_trim
  names <- mps %>% 
           html_nodes("a") %>% 
           html_text %>% 
           str_trim

  sco <- mps %>% 
         html_text %>% 
         str_match(pattern="Won: (\\d+) Lost: (\\d+)")

  dd <- data.frame(party=parties, mp=names, 
                   pro=as.numeric(sco[,2]), 
                   con=as.numeric(sco[,3]))
  ## logit scale from Lowe et al. 2011 LSQ
  dd$logit <- log(dd$pro) - log(dd$con) 
  dd$se <- sqrt(1/dd$pro + 1/dd$con)
  dd$lower <- dd$logit - dd$se * 2
  dd$upper <- dd$logit+  dd$se * 2
  
  dd
}

# From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Index_of_United_Kingdom_political_parties_meta_attributesdup
pcols <- c("Bi-Curious"="#DDDDDD", # err wot?
           "Conservative"="#0087DC", 
           "Democratic Unionist"="#D46A4C",
           "Labour"="#DC241f", 
           "Labour Co-operative"="#CC0000", 
           "Liberal Democrat"="#FDBB30",
           "Plaid Cymru"="#008142", 
           "Scottish National Party"="#FFFF00", 
           "Sinn Fein"="#008800",
           "Social Democratic and Labour"="#99FF66",
           "Alliance"="#F6CB2F",
           "Green Party"="#6AB023",
           "Independent"="#DDDDDD")

scale_em <- function(df, pcols){
  sdf <- df[order(df$logit),] ## sorted
  sdf$rank <- 1:nrow(sdf)
  ggplot(sdf, aes(x=logit, y=rank, colour=party)) + 
    geom_point(alpha=0.5, size=6) + 
    scale_colour_manual(values=pcols) + 
    xlab("sex appeal (or something)") + 
    ylab("rank")
}

ff <- make_data("F")
mm <- make_data("M")

scale_em(ff, pcols)
scale_em(mm, pcols)