This post first appeared on the Radix blog... Here's the main point: this weekend marks the eightieth anniversary of the Munich crisis, the moment when the UK prime minister Neville Chamberlain gave away a chunk of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany - with some slightly unwilling help from the French. As it turns out, by flying to meet Hitler and Mussolini in Munich on 29 September, Chamberlain also unwittingly caused the cancellation of an army plot to kill Hitler - when the team was armed and in position and waiting for their order to storm the Chancellery. I have three reasons ...
Here's the main point: this weekend marks the eightieth anniversary of the Munich crisis, the moment when the UK prime minister Neville Chamberlain gave away a chunk of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany – with some slightly unwilling help from the French. As it turns out, by flying to meet Hitler and Mussolini in Munich on [...] The post Theresa May versus Neville Chamberlain, Salzburg versus Munich appeared first on Radix.
I found St Mary's near Long Eaton station earlier this summer, but there is a second tin tabernacle nearer the town centre. Derbyshire Places of Worship tells its story: This is a classic "tin tabernacle" building, with a central porch, sides of four bays, each with a window, and painted pale blue. According to The Long Eaton and Sawley Archive the building started life as a Railway Mission, for which meetings were held in Midland Street. This cause became defunct, and the building and its furnishings were purchased by the United Gospel Mission, who had been meeting in the former ...
My new podcast, A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs is now all good to go. Episode zero — an introduction — will be up on Monday, and the first episode proper will be up on the 8th of ... Continue reading →
A sobering paragraph* in Isabel Hardman's Evening Standard article on the prospects for a new centre party: It is certainly the case that none of those wavering Labourites would defect straight to the Lib Dems if they ever do manage to find the courage to leave their own party. Many of them confess to feeling very politically close to certain Lib Dems such as Norman Lamb and Jo Swinson, but feel the Lib Dem brand is damaged beyond repair. Even those Lib Dems who think their party can lead the change agree that there are significant branding problems. They're quite ...
If you go down to the woods today, you won't find hot tubs. At least not near Ludlow. The application from Forest Holidays for cabins in Mortimer Forest is not to go ahead. The project's webpage has been deleted. That's great. But we need to think about how to manage tourism in the Mortimer Forest in the longer term. The background is the Defra review of the relationship between the Forestry Commission and Forest Holidays. Auditors have criticised the relationship (The Times).[1] The idea of creating limited tourist accommodation in the Mortimer Forest is not bad in principle. But it ...
Written by Gore Vidal, The Best Man unsurprisingly takes a caustic view of politics, but also takes a realistic one and one that is still very resonant today.
Three weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the Young Leaders' Meeting in Budapest hosted by European Liberal Youth (LYMEC). The aim of the weekend was to work on LYMEC's manifesto for the upcoming European elections, as well as to make contacts and receive valuable training on campaigning and leadership. Our first evening was comprised mostly of introductions, both to each other and to each other's national political situations. The president of youth wing of the Hungarian liberal movement Momentum welcomed us, highlighting how hard it was to be liberal openly in the current situation in Hungary, with a ...
Fri 28th
13:49
Summarising the latest Boris Johnson Telegraph article. You know, the really long one with "plan" in...
It seems sad that BoJo's Telegraph column is one of the few things I can bear to comment on today. Perhaps the fact that the Left now want people to boycott the Guardian because it isn't left-wing enough is just too much for me to talk about right now, I don't know. I suppose Boris is as close as we get to someone who is still trying to come up with things that are supposed to work on the Leaver end of the political spectrum, and given his ambitions, are even more relevant as a window into where the next ...
I fully understand why the party leadership is consulting on ideas to broaden our support. I am a lifelong Liberal and want our party to be founded on Liberal values. But I never want it to be a purist sect. I also understand the concerns that offering free association to registered supporters might devalue party membership. However membership confers the knowledge that we are offering core funding to the party and we can help shape policy and stand for and participate in internal elections and become an election candidate. I believe we have to be realistic. Our support has fallen ...
My generation was brought up to regard loyalty as a virtue. The Second Scout Law, which I promised to obey in about 1947, then read: A Scout is loyal to the King, his country, his country, his scoutmasters, his parents, his employers, and to those under him. Perhaps wisely the current law stops short at "A Scout is loyal" and doesn't go into detail. Unfortunately the message doesn't seem to have percolated into the minds of those who run our businesses. Maybe their current leaders never joined the Scouts. A report published today by the charity Citizens' Advice reveals a ...
The leader of the British Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, closed a successful party conference last Wednesday. The reshaping of the party in the last three years under his leadership is second only to Brexit in transforming the British political landscape, and may even come to overshadow it. This achievement stands in stark contrast to the ... Continue reading Will Labour's Leninists thwart its liberals? Electoral reform is the test
£40k spent hiding how rarely northern powerhouse minister visited north This is my extremely Northern face of not-surprise Doctor Who series 11 episode 1 spoiler-free review: The Woman Who Fell To Earth | Den of Geek "What really impresses about Jodie Whittaker, and there's a lot here, is her generosity. She's very much a part of an ensemble, a performer who doesn't need the limelight in every shot, and as such, whilst the leader of the gang, an actor who can be part of a group." - sounds very Davison-esque If you like what you see here (or even if ...
The largely confected outrage at the EU rejecting the Chequers deal has made me reconsider my view of Theresa May. It seems she is more canny than I had thought, and not in a good way. I often stick up for the PM, at least on a personal level. I go back a long way with her. In the 1992 general election, we toured the working men's clubs of North West Durham together as we each cruised to a heavy defeat at the hands of Labour's Hilary Armstrong. Theresa and I didn't become best mates or anything but I learnt ...
... but my spammer is still spamming, so I'm turning anon comments off again. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Thu, 12:55: Commemorating Jo Cox. https://t.co/f7nmO3pQIH Thu, 12:56: Linguistics for Language Learners: What is the IPA? https://t.co/rc8k4eEuRH The International Phonetic Alphabet for beginners. Thu, 13:54: RT @JoCoxFoundation: Gordon, Jean and Kim before the ceremony with the Mayor of Brussels, Philippe Close, who said: "Naming a square in Bru... Thu, 18:27: RT @APCOBXLInsider: It's 14 years ago today that @apcoworldwide became an independent consultancy. A big celebratory cheer from the team in... Thu, 18:27: Commemorating Jo Cox #MoreInCommon https://t.co/NgSg4gPaAH Thu, 20:48: 'This guy doesn't know anything': the inside story of Trump's shambolic transition team https://t.co/hG8aVQxfPO Mind-boggling. Thu, 23:43: RT @verygooster: every ...
On the fringes of the UN General Assembly in New York, Donald Trump met Binyamin Netanyahu for a friendly chat. The relationship between the United States and Israel remains as close as it has ever been. President Trump did say in his trademark casual way that he thought he liked the idea of a two-state [...]
Since 1995, the Liberal Democrat Christmas Draw has been an annual fundraiser for hundreds of Lib Dem local parties, SAOs and other groups. The Lib Dem Christmas Draw has been run by a team of volunteers since 1995 and in that time, we have raised well over half a million pounds for local parties and central Lib Dem funds. Along the way over 800 fantastic prizes have been won by our members and supporters, their families and friends. The tradition of picking up books of tickets at conference and then sending and selling them to members and supporters across the ...
Pleas from Welsh Councils for more cash has been a standard since I first got involved in politics here over 35 years ago. Even in the so-called good years of the early 2000s, when there seemed to be plenty of money about, we were being assailed with reports from the WLGA about the need for more money to invest in our infrastructure, and every budget round was an exercise in hand-wringing as councillors sought to balance increasing costs against limited resources. It is fair to say though that the budget situation since the 2008 crash has been harder. All councils ...
I am shamelessly plugging a publication produced by Wera Hobhouse MP and Councillor Adele Morris the Lib Dem Lead for Planning at the LGA that compiles articles by a variety of Lib Dem colleagues on the subject of town planning. It includes an article written by me about how we developed our Local Plan to [...]
There is a new, clearly defined road to political power—become an anti-politician. Forget about compromise, consensus and appealing to the middle ground. Dismiss ideas of party loyalty. Discard thoughts of reasoned political debate. No, today's successful politician is a crude, crass, socially unacceptable bully pandering to the basest human instincts to gain power. Finally, today's successful candidate must be outside the traditional political establishment. You may think that the previous is the start of yet another diatribe against President Donald Trump. In a way you are right. Trump is the international benchmark. He has lit the torch down this dark ...
Well we've waited for 3 months but finally level access to Maghull's new North Station has been provided off School Lane and it was open yesterday:- Still no dropped kerb for cyclists though, so they can access the path, so time to put some pressure on Sefton Council to get that work done. And surely the bill should be paid by Merseytravel, should it not? This is the offending kerb:- More news when I get it.
From the City Council : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 : SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of Scottish Water sewer repair works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Greenfield Place (from its junction with Perth Road to approx. 20 metres south), Dundee This notice comes into effect on Monday 1 October 2018 for 5 working days. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes are available via Perth Road / Roseangle For further information contact 433082. Executive Director of ...
Three by-elections, three Liberal Democrat candidates – which is one up on the last time these wards were fought. And a renewed tussle with the Bus Pass Elvis Party in Nottingham. Stowe, Lichfield A Conservative-held seat with Richard Rathbone as the Liberal Democrat candidate: Stowe (Lichfield) result: CON: 44.1% (-0.8) LAB: 38.9% (+12.7) LDEM: 17.0% (-1.9) Conservative HOLD. No 'Something New' (-5.2) and Grn (-4.9) as prev. Turnout: 23.4% — Britain Elects (@britainelects) September 28, 2018
