"Reform's problems today, reflected in its diminished polling, stem in large part from the difficulties and limits of professionalisation. The attempt to derive discipline from insurgency has exposed, rather than resolved, the tensions at the heart of the Reform project. And the fallout risks turning latent vulnerabilities into permanent liabilities for the party's brand."Josh Self asks if the Reform project is unravelling. "Just as David Tennant's character bemoans the lack of training or education for young men in custody, so do prison staff across the country. They know what is blindingly obvious: angry people don't come out of prison less ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have selected former Cardiff Council leader Cllr Rodney Berman (left) for the Westminster seat of Cardiff East, and Cllr Joe Carter (right) has been selected for Cardiff North. Cardiff as a key battleground in the Lib Dem fightback in Wales and selecting these big hitters is a signal that we offer voters a real alternative to Labour in the capital. Rodney led Cardiff Council between 2004 and 2012 and has a long record of standing up for the city. He said: I'm proud to be standing again for the people of Cardiff East. Labour keeps telling ...
Earlier this week an event occurred within the Liberal Democrats that most people might have missed altogether. Two relatively inexperienced Lib Dem MPs, one of who was Chalie Maynard, who I must confess I had never heard of, tried to create a revolt within the parliamentary party which would have led to the replacement of Ed Davey as Leader. The attempt was unsuccessful with the parliamentary party having the usual Lib Dem courteous disagreements in some cases what's Ed came through wholly unscathed. Ed, of course is the most successful Liberal Democrat leader for more than 100 years leading us ...
In October 2026, the United States imposed sweeping sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), the latest escalation in its campaign to undermine and "dismantle" the Court. The US objects to the ICC investigating or prosecuting American nationals and has also opposed its investigation into senior Israeli officials over war crimes in Gaza. The sanctions are troubling not only because they threaten the Court's ability to operate independently, but because they expose a deeper question: does international law apply to everyone, or only to those without power? International law has never been free from hypocrisy. Great powers have often defended ...
I have read the various posts about Andy Burnham's proposals for social care and the proposed implication for the pensions triple-lock. After some decades of involvement on both issues, I thought my perspective and experience might have some relevance. I was closely involved in the review of pensions including the Turner Review of 2006 and the resultant settlement, leading on to the triple lock in the coalition Government. I was also much engaged in the debate about social care from the campaign which led to the Sutherland Commission, then working with proponents of both majority and minority views on the ...
Issued in 1967, Safe as Milk was Captain Beefheart's first album. It features a 20-year-old Ry Cooder on guitar - he also wrote some of the arrangements - and this seasonal track closes the album. An anonymous contributor writes on Reddit:Probably my favourite from Safe as Milk. Very normal for a Beefheart song but weird in its own way. Evokes strong feelings of nostalgia. Theramin is used fantastically, vocals are amazing.And Hit the North says:Even the closing track Autumn's Child seemed unpredictable - it appeared to sputter to a halt, petering out like an exhausted toddler who's cried their last ...
Alex Cole-Hamilton made his keynote speech to Scottish Conference last weekend. It was a very people centred, practical speech which centred Lib Dems connecting people. Worth mentioning is that he was very positive about immigration: So let me tell you what I mean when I talk about liberty, equality and community. Because as liberals we believe in a Scotland that is open, tolerant and internationalist of outlook. We believe immigration makes this country stronger. Because in Scotland more people die each year than are born. Every person who comes here to nurse, to farm, to teach, to build, is helping ...
US Midterm elections Since 2002 the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has been observing elections in the U.S. On each occasion—including the hotly debated 2020 presidential elections—it has stamped the votes as "free and fair." The organisation's elections observers, however, will be conspicuous by their absence, from the mid-term elections in a few weeks' time. For the first time the Trump Administration has refused to invite them. The State Department's official reason for the lack of an invitation is that the OSCE "should focus its limited resources on elections where it can have the greatest impact." The ...
The Independent reports that Reform UK is facing a fresh crisis after a new undercover sting showed Nigel Farage appearing to let off a mayoral candidate accused of racism. The paper says that secretly filmed footage showed Farage telling his director of communications, Ed Sumner, that the party's mayor candidate for Hampshire and the Solent, Chris Parry, must apologise to David Lammy for a social media post in which he said the then-deputy prime minister should "go home to the Caribbean". However, the apology was a compromise that fell short of what should have happened: The footage cuts to Mr ...
The Rutland Panther and the Blair government's abandoned plan to build an eco-town in the Harborough District both feature in a new novel, Stalling an Ambush. In a guest post, its author, Emma Lee, introduces the book. My novel Stalling an Ambush is set in and around the village of Stoughton in Leicestershire, where, in 2009, an eco-town of at least 15,000 houses, called Pennbury, was proposed. Pennbury met with strong local opposition. It was on the wrong side of Leicester city for motorway access, would have put extra cars on already congested roads and wasn't even on a bus ...
Sat 17th
15:40
Mozart died in 1791. Neil Young believes one 1960s songwriter has the same immortality
Far Out Magazine wins our Headline of the Day Award. The judges are currently soothing their brains by listening to this...
Crowds gather to view destruction in an Odesa residential area that included a university student residence (photo: Anna Beria, with thanks). We are possibly reaching the culmination point of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine. After almost five years of warfare, Ukrainian resilience is being put ever more to the test. Ukraine's forces are edging forward, regaining lost land in the Donbas from Russia's armed forces. Not winning on the ground, Putin has declared unlimited warfare on Ukraine's civilian population to terrorise them into submission, destroying critical infrastructure and causing mayhem as winter approaches. Ukraine's position is being further undermined ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with the latest MRP projections and party leadership ratings. 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 PollsterConLabLDGrnRefLab leadFieldwork Find Out Now 22% (+2) 25% (nc) 10% (+1) 11% (nc) 22% (-1) 3% (vs C/R) 14/10 GB YouGov ...
Ukraine is in deep trouble. Its soldiers are holding the frontline but behind the lines there are serious problems. Russian missiles are hitting the country's energy infrastructure. Millions of Ukrainians are facing a bitter East European winter without heating or electricity. And American support—already shaky—is wavering even more. Donald Trump, facing a Democratic landslide in the November mid-term elections, is ignoring the economic impact of his Iran War to blame Ukraine—and its president Volodymyr Zelensky—for the unsustainable rise in American fuel prices. This has in turn led to lifting of sanctions on Russian oil, more attacks on Zelensky and the ...
I'm back on Lion & Unicorn today with an article on the children's writer Malcolm Saville. I look at adventure stories in general and at his first two books, Mystery at Witchend and Seven White Gates, in particular: Having clearly read adventure stories themselves, the five set up a secret society, signing its rules in their own blood. Rule 5 says the club is for "exploring and watching birds and animals and tracking strangers," and it gradually becomes clear that the strangers they duly track are German spies and fifth columnists intent on blowing up the reservoir's dam. There are ...
The latest edition of the email newsletter for my podcast, Political Fictions, 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: Get the books As well as covering some books in the podcast, we also mention others in the newsletter's bonus content. You can browse all the books mentioned and get them for yourself via my Bookshop.org page (affiliate link). That includes the excellent book, Failed State, from this time's guest, Sam Freedman. Nutters, spinners and losers: ...
Not far from the Cross Keys pub is the No Sign Wine Bar. The historic cellars of this establishment are located at 56 Wind Street and feature underground brick-arched vaults. These subterranean levels—known today as The Vault—were built in the 1600s as wine and spirits cellars. They feature parallel brick-arched rooms separated by old cast-iron columns, alongside an antique gantry crane on rails once used to hoist heavy casks of liquor. The cellars were famously immortalized as the "Wine Vaults" in poet Dylan Thomas's short story "The Followers", during an era when the bar was a bohemian gathering spot. Today, ...