Recorded in 2006: "It's as much music hall as it is lecture hall, the stuff I do, I think. I might want to be Geoffrey Hill, but part of me also wants to be Benny Hill. And it's not a question of pushing the Geoffrey out or pushing the Benny out, but of finding a way of combining them." What I value in Meades is not any organised body of opinion, but his attitude.
This week there were five by-elections for seven seats, with a rare triple by-election in Maidstone. It was a strong week for Reform UK, winning six of the available seats, with Labour narrowly holding off their challenge in Ellesmere Port. On the Isle of Wight, Bob Blezzard's vote share increase wasn't enough to prevent a Reform UK hold. Thank you to the team for their efforts. Isle of Wight Council, Lake North Reform UK: 290 (36.8%, +0.7) Conservative: 249 (31.6%, +2.8) Liberal Democrats (Bob Blezzard): 118 (15.0%, +4.4) Green Party: 88 (11.2%, -0.9) Labour: 44 (5.6%, -0.2) Reform UK HOLD ...
The front-page headline in today's Guardian (3rd October) reads "Terrorist kills two people at Manchester synagogue." The rest of the front page is devoted to a picture of the attacker, partly obscured by a Venetian blind, and further details of the story. Four other people were badly injured, the attack took place on Yom Kippur, which is the holiest day of the year for Jews. The Prime Minister has returned early from meeting, described the killer as a "vile individual," spoken to the nation from Downing Street and called an emergency meeting of COBRA ( which actually stands for Cabinet ...
"Muscular patriotism of the flag waving variety marries rather well with aggressive nationalism - and we're seeing quite a bit of that all over the world. Neither impulse allows for complexity instead it demands loyalty of the 'for us or against us' variety."Ritula Shah explains why the aggressive flag flying of recent weeks has bothered her so much. Carole Cadwalladr investigates the opaque workings of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, its funding from friends of Israel - including billionaire Larry Ellison - and an emerging right-wing media takeover of the global information space. Timothy Garton Ash talks to ...
Faced with the threat of legal action, Reform-run Nottinghamshire County Council has backed down and scrapped its ban on journalists from the Nottingham Post. The Guardian reports:Nottinghamshire county council, which has been led by Reform since the local elections earlier this year, said it was "committed to the principles of openness" after lifting the sanctions it had placed on journalists from the Nottingham Post and its website, Nottinghamshire Live. The newspaper will now again be invited to public council events and will be added to the council's distribution list for press releases. The ban had been in place for more ...
I have a massive amount of respect for Sir Ed Davey and the entire Liberal Democrat campaign teams. Last year, they took the party from the political wilderness in Westminster to a decisive victory, reclaiming Britain's third party status. Unseating Conservative minister after Cabinet Member after party veteran, the party was seemingly unstoppable, with millions putting their faith in Davey and his pitch for grown-up politics to return once again. From 10pm on July 4th and over the following two days, it became clear: the Liberal Democrats were back. Since then, much debate has arisen, particularly in recent months, as ...
Five principal authority council by-elections this week, with two Labour defences, a Conservative defence, a Reform defence and a triple independent defence (yes, three vacancies all in the same ward). Let's start with a relatively rare Reform defence: Lake North (Isle of Wight) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: ➡] RFM: 36.8% (+0.7) [IMG: 🌳] CON: 31.6% (+2.8) [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 15.0% (+4.4) [IMG: 🌍] GRN: 11.2% (-0.9) [IMG: 🌹] LAB: 5.6% (-0.2)No Ind (-6.8) as previous.Reform HOLD.Changes w/ 2025. — Election Maps UK (@electionmaps.uk) 2025-10-02T22:27:15.652Z Thank you to Brenner Munden for being the Liberal Democrat candidate here. For what all this ...
Residents recently pointed out that a directional sign had been placed over the 10mph speed limit sign at the Balgay Park Glamis Road entrance - see photo. We raised this with the roads maintenance partnership which assured us that the speed limit sign would be made visible again.
Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham may have sought to patch things up with the Labour leadership by denying that he has any ambition to usurp Starmer, but that doesn't mean that all is forgotten and forgiven amongst the Prime Minister's entourage. The Independent reports that a senior minister has stated that Keir Starmer and his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney would block Andy Burnham from getting on the shortlist of potential candidates for a parliamentary seat, scuppering any potential leadership challenge: Keir Starmer and his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney would block Andy Burnham from getting on the shortlist of potential ...
