This morning I was in the Lib Dem office printing hundreds of letters for Whickham South and Sunniside. Fortunately the folding machine was working, something of a new experience for me! The big job now is to get the letters stuffed into envelopes and then delivered. Expect some shoe leather to be burnt this coming week.
I had booked up for Lib Dem spring conference a few weeks ago with the expectation that I would be attending for the full three days (starting today). And then I got a message from Whickham Voluntary Library asking me if I would bring some animals to their Easter fair tomorrow. I didn't want to let them down and the appearance of lambs and goat kids outside the fair is always popular. So I told
Fri 15th
22:09
Another great impersonation of Terry Wogan by Peter Serafinowicz and another misbegotten script
After I posted that brilliant Peter Serafinowicz impersonation of Terry Wogan, a reader sent me another example. Though it takes us into the realms of fantasy, this one is spot on too. Yet whoever wrote the script didn't know much about Wogan. His radio show depended on letters from women listeners. He and they kept running jokes going and visited all sorts of unexpected places. I know this because I used Radio 2 as a calming background when I was writing university essays. Misbegotten satire of this kind is about making your viewers feel superior rather than about its target, ...
Britain's wackiest seat is probably Leicester East. It's represented by Claudia Webbe, who was parachuted in by the Corbynite high command in time for the 2019 election and then thrown out of the party after being convicted of harassment. It's rumoured that both she and another dosgraced former Labour MP for the seat, Keith Vaz, will stand here at the next election. Labour will be counting on retaking Leicester East, yet its constituency party was suspended last year and it has started losing council by-elections to the Conservatives here. At least Leicester East now has a credible candidate. Zuffar Haq, ...
For a couple of days in early October 2023, the world's news media suddenly became interested in Nagorno-Karabakh, a semi-autonomous largely Christian enclave within largely-Muslim Azerbaijan. After months of unrest an Azerbaijani offensive in September 2023, which followed a nine-month long blockade - essentially, a starvation blockade - resulted in Nagorno-Karabakh becoming quickly overrun. Unsurprisingly, Nagorno-Karabakh capitulated within days with the end result a hastily negotiated ceasefire that required the republic to dissolve itself by 1st January 2024. Nagorno-Karabakh entered into ceasefire talks from a position of weakness, having been overwhelmed in the first day of the Azerbaijani offensive. Aside ...
This week has been a quiet one for principal council by-elections with just two being contested - including a resounding win. We were defending Cricklade and Latton ward on Wiltshire Council. Not only did newly elected Councillor Nick Dye hold the ward for the Lib Dems - he did it in some style. Increasing the Lib Dem vote share by 14% and taking a staggering 76% of the vote. Considering the Conservatives, Labour and the Green Party all stood that is a truly impressive result. Congratulations to Councillor Dye and the whole Lib Dem team in Wiltshire. Wiltshire UA, Cricklade ...
Liberal Democrats Party Autumn Conference at Bournemouth International Centre – Caroline Pidgeon Caroline Pidgeon has led the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly for 14 years, and has been a member for 16. Today was her last day in the chamber, because the London elections kick into action next week and she is not standing again. Caroline has been Co-Chair of the Transport Committee for 16 years, and has asked an amazing 8,235 Mayoral Questions (the most of any Assembly Member ever since its establishment in 2000). This morning Sadiq Khan paid a warm tribute to her, which you can ...
I now believe it's likely that Rishi Sunak will put off the general election until the last possible moment, which is 28 January 2025. It's only human for him to hold on to office in the hope that "something will turn up", though it's hard now to imagine anything that could turn the polls round enough for the Conservatives to win. Victory over an invading force of Martian spaceships might just do it, I suppose. But there may be another human reason for his delay. In the autumn of 1978 it was widely thought that Jim Callaghan was about to ...
According to Michael Gove's new definition, published yesterday, "extremism is the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to: 1. negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or 2. undermine, overturn or replace the UK's system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights; or 3. intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2)" It is difficult to decide whether the appropriate response should be disbelief, indignation or laughter. Clearly given this definition this Conservative Government itself is guilty on all three counts. On ...
First published in LibDemVoice on Long Covid Awareness Day, March 15th, 2024. Today is Long Covid Awareness day. It is strange that such a day should be necessary, given how many people's lives Covid and Long Covid have touched in this country and around the world. Yet it is very necessary as the prevailing public discourse is that Covid is over, and it was never much of a problem to start with. Yet it still kills every week throughout the year, and an estimated 2 million people have Long Covid, affecting their health, and the country's economy. The ongoing Covid ...
George Dobell is my favourite cricket journalist. He is fair, loves the game and is not afraid to be critical of its authorities. His daily videos during the test series in India were enjoyable, and this one recorded after the dust had settled is outstanding. Dobell's point about how much better England would be if the game here wasn't dominated by one social class reminds me of British films today. When I watched See How They Run last year, my overwhelming impression was not so much that it wasn't very good as that it wasn't half as good as those ...
Today is Long Covid Awareness day. It is strange that such a day should be necessary, given how many people's lives Covid and Long Covid have touched in this country and around the world. Yet it is very necessary as the prevailing public discourse is that Covid is over, and it was never much of a problem to start with. Yet it still kills every week throughout the year, and an estimated 2 million people have Long Covid, affecting their health, and the country's economy. The ongoing Covid pandemic is a catastrophic example of the failures of the UK's public ...
Was it inevitable that Welsh First Ministerial contender, Vaughan Gething would lose all his WhatsApp messages when he upgraded his phone? Apparently, not. Nation Cymru reports that the very suggestion has riled up the Senedd's Presiding Officer, who has pointed out that ahead of an upgrade in 2022, MSs were "advised" to back-up any data on phones and were offered support to do this. The Senedd Commission added in a statement that WhatsApp is "not managed or supported" by the Commission's ICT Service: Despite initially denying using the messaging app, evidence which emerged this week showed that Mark Drakeford was ...
From Sheena Wellington : Wednesday 20th March - 1.15pm -1.45pm - Janine Douglas and Mark Spalding Venue - Wighton Heritage Centre, Central Library Mark [pictured] and Janine will present a programme of settings by Beethoven of Burns, Scott and other folksong settings plus a few short harpsichord solos on our beautiful instrument. Admission free, donations welcome.
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention poll from each pollster currently operating in Britain. If you'd like to find out more about how polls work, how reliable they are and how to make sense of them, check out my book, Polling UnPacked: the History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls, or sign up for my weekly email, The Week in Polls: General election voting intention polls PollsterConLabLDGrnRUKCon leadFieldwork WeThink 25% (+1) 43% (nc) 10% (+1) 6% (nc) 12% (-1) -18% 14-15/3 Techne 22% (-1) 44% (nc) 11% (nc) 5% (-1) 12% (+1) -22% 13-14/3 YouGov ...
Two principal authority council by-elections this week, and both with Liberal Democrat candidates. Cricklade & Latton (Wiltshire) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 76.0% (+13.9) [IMG: 🌳] CON: 18.7% (-19.2) [IMG: 🌹] LAB: 3.3% (New) [IMG: 🌍] GEN: 2.0% (New) Liberal Democrat HOLD. Changes w/ 2021. — Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) March 14, 2024
I'm not sure this merits the title of "news" but the PM today announced that there will not be a general election on 2nd May, the same day as the local elections. Is this a case of stating the bleedin' obvious? No PM is likely to voluntarily go early when his/her party is experiencing the loss of over half of their vote share. So, summer, autumn or winter it will be. I believe the latest date for
Here's some canal goodness: last summer's Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally. I was at Braunston the day before the rally took place and chatted to the people on board Raymond, who must be the people who made this video. One of the last commercial cargoes to be carried on the Grand Union Canal was coal from Atherstone to the Kearley & Tonge jam factory at Southall in Middlesex. I was told at Braunston that this run ended in 1969, though the Friends of Raymond website dates the end to 1970. Whichever is correct, I have a clear memory of Raymond coming ...
We have become so used to online meetings over the past 4 years that in-person meetings now feel rather odd. So, on Tuesday, we had the odd situation of sitting with colleagues at the Gateshead Lib Dem exec at the Civic Centre. We even had sheets of paper rather than sharing something on a screen! The bulk of the meeting was about the local election campaign though Ron Beadle also gave
