Back in July, I wrote that the death in 1945 of Dennis O'Neill, a child in public care who'd been fostered with his younger brother at a farm in Shropshire, had caused a national scandal and shared newspaper front pages with the last stages of the war in Europe. I've not seen a more striking illustration of this than the Daily Mirror's front page for 14 February 1945. The text of the story runs: Reginald Gough, farmer, and Esther Gough, his wife, were at Pontesbury, near Shrewsbury, yesterday committed for trial at Salop Assizes on a charge of the manslaughter ...
On Saturday I was live on the 'Debate Desk' segment on Peter Cardwell's programme on Talk. One of the issues we discussed was free speech and what its limits should be, indeed if it should have limits. I'm not a free speech absolutist. Whilst being able to express ourselves freely and enjoy robust debate (as I do on the national broadcast airwaves most weeks) we all, and quite rightly, have limits on our speech. There are laws, for one thing, and beyond that there are cultural norms which, you hope, most people abide by not because they have to but ...
The Conservative and Labour Parties are continuing to lose councillors in significant numbers, finds Augustus Carp in his latest survey of political defections. Danny Kruger, MP for East Wiltshire, may be getting the headlines in the defection newsfeeds, but he's just the tip of the iceberg. The rate at which councillors are changing their political allegiance doesn't seem to be slackening. Since June, 39 councillors have defected from the Conservatives and 56 from Labour. The Lib Dems are unchanged, Nationalists have lost 1 and the Greens are up 4. Reform UK has gained 29 and the Independents (widely defined) make ...
Trump's state visit will throw a harsh light on the links between the American and British right. Proponents of Brexit sought to protect our sovereignty against continental Europeans, but have always been ready to follow the United States. Daniel Hannan's book, 'How We Invented Freedom and Why it Matters' (2013) proclaimed the supremacy of the English-speaking peoples and the inferiority of others. Nigel Farage is almost as often in Washington as in Westminster. Those around Trump see Britain as a country that ought to be like their America, and that they plan to recapture for their version of freedom. Much ...
Before Zack Polanski was keen to fight a plum seat for the Liberal Democrats - before even he was a hypnotherapist who claimed exceptional abilities - he was an actor. He has an IMDb entry to prove it. PopBitch recently included a link to this video, which is the trailer for the last film he made.
It's puzzling that the Conservatives were so insistent that Kemi Badenoch's fantasy that she was offered a place to read medicine at Harvard when she was 16, based purely on aptitude tests, was true. They may have reasoned that she will be gone before the next general election so it's not going to matter, or perhaps they just really admire Donald Trump's and his approach to facts. And, while it's good to see that Lord Bonkers has respect for learning, what is the old brute suggesting about Nick Clegg? Thursday A lunch invitation from the Professor of Hard Sums at ...
Three years ago, when I ran for a place on the inaugural Federal Council, my aims were to:Establish the Federal Council as an effective scrutiny body, engaging all of its members in its work and using their strengths to establish its credibilityBuild a relationship with the Federal Board based on mutual understanding and respectRepresent and engage with groups across the Party and Federal Conference to ensure that we focus on what matters to members rather than simply promoting any narrow agendaCreate reporting channels that allow members to hold us accountableAnd now that I'm not planning to run for re-election, and ...
The last few weeks have been a worrying time. Friends of mine have told me that, because they aren't white, they are worried about visiting parts of our country. Robert Jenrick and other politicians have implied you are only properly British if you are white. Last weekend we saw shocking violence on London's streets from far right racist thugs. It's like an horrific throwback to the 80s – a 'This is England' nightmare. Most worryingly, our Prime Minister failed to condemn these threats. In this climate we Liberal Democrats must call out racism, and say, at every opportunity, that we ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2025 Riverside Avenue (near Wright Avenue) - temporary traffic lights from Monday 15 September for 2 weeks for Network Rail work. Forthcoming Roadworks Tait's Lane (Hawkhill to No 6) - closed from Wednesday 15 October for 10 days for Scottish Water work.
The Independent reports on warnings by campaigners that Gen-Z are being "locked out" of home ownership as first-time buyers now face paying up to six times more for a home than their parents. The paper says that an analysis of rental, property and salary data reveals that the average homebuyer in 1995 had to save just a third of their salary - £5,000 - to put down a deposit, while today's first-time buyers are forking out average deposits nearly twice as high as the average salary: Gen-Z are being "locked out" of home ownership, campaigners have warned, as first-time buyers ...
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