Gateshead Lib Dems meet for a monthly social gathering at the Tynesider on Gateshead High Street. The last gathering was on Thursday last week. We are however returning tomorrow. We will be launching the Gateshead Lib Dem manifesto "Get Gateshead Going". There is a 6pm kick off. I will be there with cameras!
There have been grumblings of discontent within Labour's ranks in Gateshead about our recent leaflet which included a page about the Lib Dems being the main challengers to Reform in the borough. The Labour vote, reflecting what has happened across the country, is collapsing. Labour, in by-elections and polls, are lucky to hold on to half their vote share.Anyway, above is another graphic to
Summerisle Young Liberals, 1973 Anselm Anon and Wighard of Canterbury find that The Wicker Man is steeped in the debates of 1970s Liberalism. A great deal has been written about The Wicker Man (1973). Often heralded as Britain's greatest horror film, its shocking climax has obscured other salient features - most notably, the political alignment of Lord Summerisle (portrayed by Christopher Lee) and the impact of that on the socioeconomic construction of the island. For those unfamiliar with the setting, Summerisle lies off the west coast of Scotland - in the 'Celtic Fringe' that constituted the post-war Liberal electoral bastions. ...
As some of our readers will know, I'm a Parish councillor in deepest Mid Suffolk, chairing my council as I have for most of the past eight years. Creeting St Peter is a "micro council", as defined by the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), with a precept of just over £6,000 a year, and a professional staff of approximately 0.05 full-time equivalent. We don't do "big stuff", like providing services, but what we do is represent our residents and lobby principal authorities on their behalf. I like to think that we're quite good at it, in our own modest ...
Published on 16th March 2026, the Gaza Tribunal Report follows a two-day tribunal held in Westminster in September 2025 at which evidence was taken from 91 witnesses. The Tribunal Members who wrote the report were Jeremy Corbyn, the Independent MP and well-known critic of Israel, as well as Dr Shahd Hammouri, a Palestinian/Jordanian Lecturer in International Law from the University of Kent and Professor Neve Gordon, an Israeli who is Professor of International Law at Queen Mary University of London. The inquiry was launched in response to what organisers described as a lack of political or legal response to Israel's ...
No recording of George Orwell's voice has survived, but in this extract from a 1965 BBC programme you can hear his wife Sonia, sister Avril Dunn and friends Malcolm Muggeridge and Cyril Connolly talking about him. I review Rob Colls'George Orwell: Life and Legacy in the current issue of Liberator.
On Thursday, 7 May, Wales will go to the polls to vote for a new government under a new closed-list voting system. Every seat is up for grabs, and the Liberal Democrats will be contesting all of them. In my local area, Swansea and Gower, Councillor Sam Bennett will be advancing the Liberal Democrat cause, hoping to provide a measured, liberal voice in the Senedd. His dedication to fighting for Swansea and Gower communities, social justice and equality is a testament to his politics and to the liberal flame that continues to burn in Wales. I'll be joining his campaign ...
As we navigate the current political landscape of 2026, our party needs to develop a clear-eyed, long-term vision for rebuilding our relationship with our European neighbours. At the heart of this mission is the Liberal Democrat European Group (LDEG). We are a dedicated associated organisation of local activists, policy-makers, and internationalists working to ensure that the UK's European future is not just a distant dream, but becomes once again a practical reality. LDEG sees its role as a bridge between our party and other organizations in the UK and across the continent, particularly through our work with the party's Federal ...
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another Monday morning. No, really, it's not that bad... Polling day is getting ever closer and predictions on how the various parties will get on are beginning to emerge, as Mark Pack has noted. I'm of the view that it's harder and harder to make predictions based on national data, and that, as we saw in the 2024 General Election, voters will make decisions based on who they think the best alternative is where they are. Where Liberal Democrats are active, they're likely to be seen as the best bet to keep Reform out, ...
The Mirror reports that Kemi Badenoch has been accused of trying to "outsource" Britain's energy security to fossil fuel markets. The paper says that the Tory leader was ridiculed ahead of launching a "Get Britain Drilling" campaign calling for the UK to maximise the use of its oil and gas reserves: It follows a spike in energy prices caused by the war in the Middle East, something Ms Badenoch had supported joining only to U-turn a week later. Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has led to a drastic rise in oil prices across the globe. On Sunday Ms ...
Today I attended the funeral of Jim Turnbull. Jim had been a councillor in Gateshead since 1982, setting the record for membership of the authority at 44 years. The funeral was at Windy Nook Methodist Church. It was also an opportunity to catch up with retired officers and former councillors, some of whom I hadn't seen for 2 or 3 decades. Farewell Jim. Rest in peace.
We have heard on the grapevine that the Conservatives in Gateshead have imploded on the eve of the local elections. Perhaps we should not get too carried away as there was little to implode anyway. The last time a Conservative councillor was elected in Gateshead was in 1992 and much of that was the result of the Conservatives doing well nationally - they had just pulled off a surprise general
Our Trivial Facts of the Day both come from a post by Richard James, who was my captain when I played chess for Richmond & Twickenham long ago. He is writing about the annual Varsity chess match: Aleister Crowley, "the wickedest man in the world", ... played for Cambridge in 1896 and 1897, while Harold Davidson, "the rector who was eaten by a lion" (he was actually mauled rather than eaten, but that's jumping ahead), represented Oxford between 1901 and 1903. As I've said before, it's great fun on my Trivia Desk, but you have to work weekends. Both Aleister ...
Julia Lurie collates accounts of conditions inside ICE's only family detention centre: "My younger son does not eat the food here; he is hungry all the time. He will only accept breast milk and it is not enough for him. He is growing. He is 2 and a half, and he needs to eat. I often worry that I will stop being able to produce breast milk for him. I hardly sleep and I am anxious all the time; I don't know what we would do. My toddler is losing weight very quickly." Hannah Aldridge explains why having a decent ...
On Wednesday I will be chairing the next meeting of Sunniside History Society. The speaker is Dr Richard Pears and he will be talking about Dunston Hill, the home of the Carr-Ellison family.
This photo was doing the rounds of Gateshead Lib Dems yesterday. Marilynn Ord and I in 1987 at a party to celebrate the election of myself and Ione Rippeth to Gateshead Council. We were immediately dubbed the Kylie and Jason of Gateshead Lib Dems! Marilynn was elected councillor in 1998.I am pleased to report that I have since found a decent hairdresser! Alas, I am no longer the brunette
Sad news. On Friday we learnt of the passing of Noel Rippeth, former Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Leader of the Opposition on Gateshead Council. He was a founder member of the SDP in 1981 and had been a Lib Dem campaigner ever since. He was elected to Gateshead Council in 1992 and became Leader in 1994, holding the position until 2010. Unfortunately, poor health forced Noel's
Yesterday, Together Alliance, a coalition of civil society groups aimed at standing up to the far right held a march in London at which our Leader in the London Assembly, Hina Bokhari, spoke. Watch her speech here. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hina Bokhari OBE AM (@hinabokharild) Hina has written before for us about her own experience of racism and Islamophobia. Nobody should have to put up with that.
And so another week with Rutland's most celebrated fictional peer draws to a close. I also found the The Blue Bell that weekend and can heartily recommend it. York remains a wonderful city. Sunday What with the badgers and the nuclear warheads, I give the leader's speech a miss and spend my time in The Blue Bell, Fossgate, instead. I am told Ed Davey had those alpacas he met the other day sitting in the front row. Poor empty-headed creatures, they will vote for anyone who admires their hairstyles. Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West, 1906-10. Earlier ...
Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime was a hit for the Korgis in 1980. The two founder members of that band, Andy Davis and James Warren, had previously been members of the Seventies prog and folk rock band Stackridge. Stackridge had the distinction of being the opening and closing act at the first Glastonbury Festival in 1970. Beck recorded his version of the song for the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I heard it again on the radio recently because it's the title track of a new compilation of Beck covers.
As the Scottish elections get underway, we know that one of our five MSPs will definitely not be returning to Holyrood. Elected in a 2019 by-election, Beatrice Wishart announced some time ago that she would be standing down at this election. Since then, she has been Shetland's voice in Holyrood, standing up for the islands and for women's rights and safety. This week, she made her final speech at Holyrood summing up the problems that islanders face with transport, affordable housing and connectivity. She finished by urging future MSPs to work together constructively across party. Enjoy. The full text is ...
Our current economic models are not fit for purpose. They fail to tackle the social-ecological crisis. And people know this. Since 2008, a pattern has emerged. From Brexit in 2016, to Boris' victory in 2019, to Labour's victory in 2024, the Greens and Reform's ongoing political boom, all these political phenomena share one common thread. Frustration. Anger. Resentment towards the status quo. And rightly so. Our political leaders, regardless of political party (excluding the Greens), all talk about "going for growth". We blindly chase economic growth, but we never seem to ask the question: at what cost? Who does economic ...
Anybody who thinks that the USA's Immigration Compliance and Enforcement officers is unique to that country should take note of the UK's equivalent force, though there are no shootings here and they are much better behaved. Earlier this week, the Guardian carried a detailed feature on how the Home Office enforces its policies. They said that officers have searched thousand of businesses in search of illegal workers, reporting on one raid at Mandira's Kitchen in Guildford last year: The raid is one of more than 17,400 on businesses carried out since Labour came to power in July 2024 - a ...