The wild rollercoaster of the 1920s The 1920s are rather the forgotten decade of British politics. The 'long 1920s', from the general election of 1918 until that of 1931, was a wild rollercoaster of gyrating election results. It saw the British political party system changed fundamentally as first past the post butted up against politics not being a two-party affair. Outside of the two World Wars, this was probably the most consequential decade for British politics since the battle of Waterloo. (Which thankfully showed that Wellington was a rather better general than politician.) The election of 1918 saw a coalition ...
"Humiliation is not 'merely' symbolic. It is an immoral act that has serious, long-lasting consequences. The effect of it is the destruction of our status claims. Even the most desperate among us try to present themselves with a certain amount of dignity. Humiliation removes that. It also isolates us from other people, makes us feel more alone, and leaves a deep and lasting anger."Toby Buckle argues that humiliation has moved to the center of the reactionary project under Donald Trump. Nick Cohen on the right's abandonment of law and order: "Conservatives used to support the forces of law and order. ...
The new issue of Liberator (no. 430) has dropped and you can download it free of charge from the magazine's website. Look out for the inside story on the sacking of Christine Jardine and two thoughtful articles on how to combat Reform UK in local elections. This means, of course, that it's time to begin another week with Rutland's most popular fictional peer. We find him looking back to the Summer of Love. Monday These long hot summer days remind me of the Rutstock Festival, regarded by many historians (though not Dominic Sandboy in his What My Housemaster Told Me ...
The highlight of any Saturday night at Federal Conference is the ALDC's Campaigner Awards which highlight the wonderful things our councillors and campaigners have been doing over the past year and the brilliant ways we have won elections. In preparation for this year's event in Bournemouth on 20th August, they are now looking for nominations in each category. You don't have to be an ALDC member to enter. The Categories Best literature - We're looking for local parties' examples of well-designed literature with strong messaging, photos and layout. We want to see your best. Best local election campaign - We're ...
Tue 22nd
08:39
International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations - Scientific Advisory Council Webinar H1 2025
I tend to ask chatGPT for a summary of the transcript of videos so that I don't have to spend the time watching them. I have done this for the ALS Scientific Advisory Council from about a month ago which follows (the critique is of chatGPT - my critique is that they don't talk about mitochondria, the closest they come to epigenetics is DNA methylation): International Alliance of ALS/MND
Dick Newby has served us very well as Lib Dem Leader in the Lords since September 2016. He has now stood down and there was an election to replace him between Yorkshire's Kath Pinnock and Scotland's Jeremy Purvis. Yesterday it was announced that Jeremy Purvis would take the role. He has been in the Lords for twelveyears and has been our foreign affairs spokesperson for the past four years. He steered through the Lib Dem legislation enshrining the 0.7% of GDP aid target in law back in 2015. He also carries the dubious distinction as being one of the first ...
Naomi Klein, an unimpeachably radical writer whose first book No Logo I enjoyed back in the year 2000 or thereabouts, has a problem. A writer called Naomi Wolf, who used to tackle similar political subjects from a similar standpoint, has become a darling of the MAGA crowd. You name an absurd Trumpian theory, she believes in it wholeheartedly. In the the introduction to her latest book, Doppelganger, Klein explains how she has been mistaken for the "other Naomi" and chronically confused with her for over a decade. "I have been confused with Other Naomi for so long and so frequently ...
Just a reminder that our Tuesday surgeries today do not take place as it is during the school summer holidays. However, we can be contacted at any time on Dundee 459378 or by email at westend@dundeelibdems.org.uk - many thanks! Please note that our street surgeries on a Thursday will take place as normal.
Nation Cymru carries an opinion piece by Martin Shipton, their Associate Editor, in which he argues that the right to protest against injustice is no longer respected by the government in Britain. He says that the decision of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to classify and proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation has crossed a threshold that he considers uncrossable: A country like Iceland recognises the right of citizens to engage in civil disobedience as fundamental to freedom. Of course there will be instances where the law is broken in pursuit of a cause. But defendants have been able to ...
