Christmas Day at the Hall is a highlight of any year; if nothing else, it's a chance to give some favourite characters a walk-on part. As the the joke about Meadowcroft and his dibber... Yes, I have been watching Up Pompeii! on YouTube. why do you ask? Christmas Day There are those in the House who regard having two peerages as swanking, but I was still happy to invite Earl Russell (but Not His Big Band) for Christmas - there he is enjoying a joke on the stairs with the cheese heiress Paris Stilton and Sister Sid, the penguin rescued ...
What with this and Jubilation T. Cornpone, I'm a big Stubby Kaye fan.
The Guardian reports that Keir Starmer has indicated that he will not U-turn on a controversial move to scrap some jury trials, arguing the move is crucial to delivering justice to victims of misogynist violence. The paper says that the prime minister, who is on a visit to China, said tackling a backlog that was forcing victims of violence against women and girls to lose faith and leave the justice system was a personal "fundamental argument of principle", and suggested he would resist intense pressure from legal experts, rival MPs and members of his own ranks to row back on ...
I delivered 330 of our Sunniside Focuses today. I have 400 still to put through doors. Fortunately, my shoe leather is surviving the pounding. Let's see how my shoes cope with the next 3 months.
Here's a short video from the Charles Dickens Museum with some interesting talking heads, some of them descended from the great man. There are particular mentions for Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and A Christmas Carol.
This was broadcast earlier this evening, but in case you missed it, here it is again: * Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
Claire Jones says Britain is sliding backwards into open racism: "Shame has evaporated. With skin colour as their yardstick, the UK's self-appointed 'defence warriors' are having a field day shouting at anyone brown-skinned, from ordinary folk to celebrities and political figures, to 'go home'." "While it's relatively easy for regulators to monitor the actions of Snapchat or TikTok, it's impossible to police the millions of websites that might contain forums and chats. Any policy shift will have failed if it ends up pushing kids into even less regulated places on the internet." A social media ban for under-16s would be ...
The new Federal Committees took office on 1st January and we always like to know what's going on in them. In the internal elections last year, Janey Little was elected, alongside Prue Bray and Hannah Kitching as one of the three directly elected members. The Board had its first meeting recently and Janey took to Instagram to give us a flavour of what it was like. I spent 10 years on the Federal Board and its predecessor, the Federal Executive, and not once can I remember any fruit being harmed in the pursuance of our Liberal Democrat values. The orange ...
Social media is a problem. It is addictive, it has damaged attention spans, and with the rise of AI bots it is increasingly polluted by content that is fake, manipulative, or actively harmful. These are real issues, and they deserve serious policy responses. That said, my view on this is simple: a blanket ban on social media for under-16s – especially in the world as it currently exist – is a bad idea. Worse, it risks causing serious harm to one particular group of young people: queer children. For many queer children, being different in who you are comes with ...
After too long a gestation today I finally put out my report for the Institute for Government about what is needed to raise growth rates. Finally. I am rather an old dog in this fight. My goodness, it is five years since I wrote that growth cannot just be "unleashed", a ridiculously obvious point that nevertheless upsets some people who think "more houses" does just that. The year after I set out how the challenge is mis-conceptualised, in this picture: and how I saw it instead: Getting growth "right" is about a splatter of many, many policies, and hoping that ...
Earlier today I was saddened to be out delivering in Aigburth a letter from Cllr Dave Antrobus announcing his resignation as a councillor with immediate effect. He has been suffering from Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) for some time and has reached the conclusion that this is causing him to be unable to give the 100% service to the people of Aigburth which he has done for many years. Being an honourable man, he is not going to continue to take the money and not do the job. If only all politicians were so honourable! Dave has been a superb councillor for ...
Dominic Rider is right about the moment we are in. The transatlantic guarantee is wobbling; Europe is being reminded, again, that dependence is not a strategy. When Washington treats alliances as transactional, Europeans either grow up fast or get pushed around slowly. The Liberal Democrats should say what comes next. Where I part company with Dominic is on the destination. He argues for "confederation, not a superstate". That contrast misses the real problem. Europe already exercises power: the single market sets rules, sanctions shape foreign policy, and standards shape economies. The question is not whether Europe will have power; it ...
Exciting news! Next month I'm launching a new podcast with Cory Hazlehurst, from the Not Enough Champagne podcast. It's all about TV, film and books featuring politics: Join Cory Hazlehurst and Mark Pack as they digest some of the best – and some of the worst – depictions of politics in fiction: film, TV and even the occasional book. What political advice is smuggled into these stories and how do they impact on what people think about politicians today? Here's our trailer: We've already got our first pair of episodes lined up and I'm looking forward to recording plenty more. ...
I've written another article for Central Bylines. This one celebrates the discovery of Richard III beneath Leicester's most famous car park, and also defends the city against Yorkists and archaeology against Steve Coogan: Having lived in both cities, I know that, in terms of pub and street names, Richard has always had a greater presence in Leicester than York. You will even find a King Richard III Infant and Nursery School in Leicester - Ofsted rates it as "Good", but would you send your nephews there?
In a world still reeling from rapid geopolitical shifts, the question of national security and strategic autonomy has never been more pressing for the United Kingdom. The post-Second World War era of a relatively stable, rules-based international order – underpinned by multilateral institutions, shared norms, and strong Western alliances – is being challenged on multiple fronts. Nowhere was this tension clearer than in Mark Carney's landmark address at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, where he delivered a stark analysis of the changing global order and what it means for middle powers like the UK. Carney's central thesis ...
Lord Bonkers made much the same observation about a choirboy singing Lloyd George Knew My Father in the first Christmas diary I helped him with. As the was published in Liberator 35 years ago, I reasoned that I could repeat it without boring his audience. And while I'm talking to people who weren't born when I began writing this nonsense, yes, in 1981 the SDP really did hold a rolling conference that took the train through Perth, Bradford and London. Christmas Eve I do not regard Christmas as having properly begun until I hear the piping voice of a choirboy ...
A decision to move, anywhere, is often difficult. Moving to another city, moving house, moving because of better jobs, or simply moving to seek advancement of life opportunities can be exciting and challenging at the same time. There are those, who can and those, due to war and procession, who must flee to safety. My story, and the story of many Eastern European migrants, who came to Britain after the enlargement of the European Union is no different. We also came for a lot of different reasons. By 2016, the famous "Brexit year", around 1 million Poles lived and worked ...
The Guardian reports that the Reform UK candidate in the Gorton and Denton byelection has refused to disown his claim that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British. The paper says that Matthew Goodwin, a hard-right activist​, has been criticised for claiming recently that people from black, Asian or other immigrant backgrounds were not always British, saying: "It takes more than a piece of paper to make somebody 'British'": Speaking at an event in Denton, the GB News presenter twice declined to answer when asked by the Guardian whether he stood by those views - described by ...