The Liberal Democrats have a growing urban problem and pretending otherwise will only make it worse. Last week's local election results exposed something many campaigners in cities have felt for some time: our local organisation is often far stronger than our national political message. In too many urban areas, particularly diverse cities, voters simply do not hear a compelling Liberal Democrat case for why we matter to modern Britain. Politics today is increasingly shaped nationally, even in local elections. Voters consume politics through social media, online debate, podcasts and national narratives. Parties that succeed understand this and communicate with clarity ...
Thu 14th
11:04
There is a fundamental break down of trust between elected representatives and the electorate in man...
Last night, at Liverpool City Council's AGM on behalf of Liverpool's Liberal Democrat Group I moved a motion to create 13 new District Committees within the City. This was as the first part of an attempt to involve people more in the running of the city by dealing with local issues at a level where the council and other partners can involve local residents and local businesses in not only jointly understanding better the problems but also helping co-create solutions. This was the motion: Creation of District Committees Council requests that the Corporate Director of Neighbourhoods and Housing provide a ...
There is a speech I keep coming back to. In the run-up to the 2014 European Parliament elections, Charles Kennedy told the party conference something that cut right to the heart of our political identity. Europe, he said, was in the Liberal Democrats' DNA. But for too long, he added with characteristic wit, that had stood for "do not acknowledge." It was time, he argued, to be front-footed, unapologetic and proud in our pro-Europeanism. Charles was right then. He would be even more right now. Our current framing on Europe, centred on a customs union, is not just insufficient, it ...
The Guardian reports that Nigel Farage is facing a formal investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog over a £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. The paper says that Farage, who received the money weeks before announcing he would stand as a candidate in the 2024 general election, has said the gift was intended to cover his personal security costs and therefore did not need to be declared. However, other parties argue that the money from the Thailand-based businessman falls within rules requiring MPs to declare any potentially relevant gifts or donations received in the 12 months before entering ...
Bob Trubshaw is our guide. He says in his YouTube blurb: As with all areas of Britain there are certain wells in Leicestershire and Rutland known as "holy wells" and several dedicated to saints. Almost invariably such holy wells have reputations for clean water and for never running dry. Leicestershire and Rutland once had over thirty documented wells called "holy well" or dedicated to saints. But few survive. In addition there are some wells that were probably once thought of as holy but aren't reliably documented as such. Here is my own photo of the well at Beeby.
This video has received a lot of attention today, but don't mock Councillor Kieran Lay too hard. Because he's not the only Reform politician to believe in aliens and their UFOs. Regular readers will be familiar with Rupert Matthews, the police and crime commissioner for Leicestershire. He was elected as a Conservative but later joined Reform UK. And Matthews once told an American interviewer: "The evidence for UFOs and for the humanoid creatures linked to them is pretty compelling." Less amusing are Matthews' current plans for Market Harborough town centre. Rather than spend the money on more properly trained police ...
Twenty years ago, every branch of Waterstones had a section called "Painful Lives" that carried memoirs of abuse in childhood. The success of Dave Pelzer's A Child Called It in 1995 had awakened a public appetite for such literature, and publishers were happy to satisfy it. It was in this climate that Terry O'Neill, the younger brother of Dennis O'Neill, whose death I have often written about, posted his life story on the website Authonomy under the title Never Againin 2009. This was a site where authors could post their manuscripts in the hope that its owner Harper Collins or ...
Political leadership is about changing the public agenda. Keir Starmer has failed to sway public opinion on major issues. Nigel Farage has been a much more effective political leader, albeit for a fraudulent project. He successfully made the argument for leaving the EU against the conventional wisdom of the majority of the British political elite and political commentators. Margaret Thatcher was in this sense also a highly effective leader. She defied the civil service, many within her own party and Cabinet, and wide sections of the public, and drove through a deliberate shrinking of the size and functions of the ...
The last few years have been extraordinary for Liberal Democrats in local government. We have taken control of councils we hadn't held in a generation, broken Conservative dominance in places that looked permanent, and built a base of councillors larger than at any point in recent memory. The May 2024 general election was the visible peak, but the local story has been running longer and deeper. Now comes the harder part. Winning is one thing. Running things well, year after year, in a way that makes residents glad they voted for us and councillors proud of what they've built, takes ...
" Boys on the corner looking for their supper Boys round the green looking for some slaughter – We used to chase dreams now we chase the dragon Mine is the semi with the Union Jack on" Come to Milton Keynes - The Style Council I start this blog with the lyrics to a hit from 1985 that could very easily apply today. How many flags have been raised in your local area? My corner of Kent was plastered with them in the Autumn, some remain on higher lamp posts as the local admin body is too cowardly to take ...
Like many Lib Dems who stood in the 2026 locals, I've spent most of the last year walking around my ward knocking on doors, delivering leaflets and following the strategy that we were told gave us a really good shot. Our data looked great, we were making lots of contacts and many voters told us they were voting for us tactically against Labour. The race seemed like a clear two horse race, the Greens previously had less than half our vote and didn't campaign in the ward. It sounded like we had the perfect chance, right? Well, I thought so ...
"Long-Term Planning" is a term I hear thrown around a lot about Governance, usually because people feel it isn't happening. This isn't for lack of trying either, in 2024 Keir Starmer was making clear that his Premiership was going to last at least ten years; while that looks unlikely today, it does raise some serious questions about what long-term planning looks like in an era when leadership is highly fragile. To really put this in context, the last Prime Minister to serve a full-term was David Cameron during the Coalition from 2010-2015, and the last Prime Minister to serve a ...
[IMG: Copies of Bad News by Mark Pack on a shelf] Buy Bad News from Waterstones, Amazon (paperback and Kindle), Biteback (including ebook) or Bookshop.org (supports independent bookshops).* Bad News: What the Headlines Don't Tell Us is my book about the media. (Though yes, politics and polls do feature too.) It's a popular guide that helps you make sense of the news wherever it appears – print, broadcast or online. Peppered with examples from around the world, the book turns a serious subject into an enjoyable read. Thoughtful and perceptive, Bad News is required reading for anyone who wants to ...
Gateshead's opposition Liberal Democrat Group have confirmed that veteran councillors Ron Beadle (Low Fell) and Christopher Ord (Whickham North and Swalwell) will lead them over the next year. Ron, who was re-elected with the highest individual vote of any Gateshead councillor last week, will be Leader of the Opposition because the Lib Dems are the largest of the three opposition
There is a Brexit dilemma: a growing consensus that Brexit was a bad mistake together with the fatalistic acceptance that nothing much can be done about it. For committed Remainers, there is the smug satisfaction of having been right all along. The predicted economic costs have duly materialised. The less predicted global upheaval has left Britain dangerously stranded in a geo-economic no-mans-land. Public opinion polls are increasingly negative about Brexit. If the mistake is so obvious, surely then Britain can and will re-join, with some urgency? But there is a big difference between the virtual reality of opinion polls and ...
Our biggest success of the May 2026 elections was undoubtedly in Scotland, where the Scottish Liberal Democrats played a blinder to reverse years of challenging Scottish Parliament elections. The Scottish Party won 10 MSPs, up from four in 2021, an outcome that is, surprisingly, our first net gain at any Holyrood election. However, there's a broader electoral issue that needs to be addressed. And that's the disproportionality of the Scottish Parliament's supposedly proportional system. The Additional Member System (AMS) used to elect MSPs at Holyrood gives voters two ballots. One elects their local First Past the Post (FPTP) MSP, with ...
This Sixties classic is a cover of a record by Bessie Banks. The singer here is the late Denny Laine, who went on to form Wings with Paul McCartney.
These local elections were successful for many, and yes, we should be celebrating. But as someone who fought in Central London — a Zone 1 ward, as central as it gets — I can't honestly say I feel happy. Everyone keeps talking about the Lib Dem tortoise, the slow and steady march forward, but all I can think of is the Blackadder episode where they measured gains on the Western Front with a tape measure. Being a Lib Dem in Central London feels exactly like trench warfare. It feels like we have out-of-touch generals sitting miles behind the lines, poring ...
As I write, Keir Starmer's demise as Prime Minister is looking more and more inevitable. Over 90 Labour MPs have called for him to go, junior ministers are jumping ship and Wes Streeting is no doubt putting the fundamentals of his leadership campaign into place. But would a new leader make such a difference to Labour's fortunes? The Independent reports on the views of one Labour MP, who believes that replacing Starmer as prime minister will solve none of the country's problems: Southport Labour MP Patrick Hurley issued a powerful appeal to his party to "stick with Starmer". Far from ...