The death of Richard O'Sullivan gives me an excuse to mention one of this blog's more obscure heroes, the mid 20th century historical novelist Vaughan Wilkins. Because, as a boy, O'Sullivan appeared in the only film to be made from one of Wilkins's novels. Dangerous Exile, which was directed by Desmond Hurst and released in 1957, was based on the novel A King Reluctant. It tells the story of the escape of the young son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette from France to Wales and the attempts of the Revolutionary government to recapture him. The boy is played by ...
It is no secret that Liberal Democrats have become one of the first and foremost Parties in Local Government, having consistently made gains for the last seven years of Local Elections and this strategy was successful in giving us 72 MPs in 2024. But one place where we have suffered a great absence of success has been in Parliamentary by-elections, where we haven't made a gain since 2023. This is obviously bad for a few reasons, by-elections often indicate loudly and clearly to the public who has momentum, and seeing a major victory can translate into added strength, for example, ...
"How did a former lawyer-turned theologian become Reform UK's lead ideologue and political heavyweight on so many issues? To understand that, you have to follow a covert combination of faith and finance, of evangelical doom-mongering and disruptive tech and media, from the two real kingmakers in right-wing British and American politics - the deeply religious and deeply wealthy owners of GB News and Palantir: Sir Paul Marshall and Peter Thiel." Peter Jukes and Nafeez Ahmed map the strange rise of James Orr. Elaine Craig has researched family carers' attitude to the use of restraint in mental hospitals: "A mother discovered ...
This week's G20 finance ministers' meeting in Asheville ended amid unusually bitter divisions. Behind the arguments over China, tariffs, Iran and Russia lurked another problem which affects every country represented around the table: the world's bond markets are in turmoil. The practicality of funding the business of governments is an excellent demonstration of the interconnectability of the world. The fact is that no matter how high a tariff wall is built, the bond holders will find a way to scale it and their demands are based on global conditions. At the moment, the global bond market is in tumult. This ...
The latest edition of my email newsletter about work in Parliament, A Lord's Eye View, is out and you can also read it in full below. But if you'd like to get future editions emailed direct to you as soon as they are published, sign up now: Welcome to my latest update on work in the House of Lords. This time it's back to parcel delivery services, as well as a quick update on a political finance loophole. The regulation of parcel delivery firms is not up to scratch [IMG: An Amazon parcel in a letterbox] Photo by Olivier Rouge ...
I once tried to walk through the valley to the Parc le Breos burial chamber, known locally as Giant's Grave, but abandoned the attempt after being bitten by a horse fly. As this site tells us Giant's Grave is a Neolithic (4000-3000bc) tomb belonging to the so-called Severn-Cotswold group: The burial site was first located in 1869 when it was plundered for stone and re-excavated in 1960-61 by R J C Atkinson. Bone fragments belonging to 40 individuals have been recovered. All were adults except for three, also discovered were two rims of Neolithic pottery. It is thought that the ...
