A wonderful find on the Classic British Telly YouTube channel - everybody like and subscribe, please. Patricia Routledge was born to play Maggie Hobson, but Michael Caine's Northern accent is very much a work in progress. Click on the video above for a short scene that features them both. You can see more early Michael Caine on this blog in The Ship That Couldn't Stop.
Face-guarded changeling fighting youth, hiding consent; keeper of the flame
Nick Cohen's guest on the latest edition of his podcast The Lowdown is the novelist and historian James Hawes, who reminds us that history has shown that there are no lengths the Conservative Party will not go to in pursuit of power. Hawes forecasts a pact or even a merger between the Conservatives and Reform UK, and Cohen points out that no Conservative leader since David Cameron has mounted a serious attack on Nigel Farage and his parties. If these is hope of keeping the far right out of power in Britain, Hawes concludes, is lies in the Liberal Democrats ...
The Frogs of Portland challenging Trump's goons and their occupation of the city remind me of the tactics adopted by the opposition of the Communist regime in Poland. The quotation below comes from the East European supplement included in issue 7/8 of Here and Now, a Situationist magazine published in Glasgow between 1985 and 1984. The article is written by Danny Branchflower and issue 7/8 appears to date from January 1989: During the referendum on social policy held on November 27th, Orange Alternative demonstrated and called for Wroclaw to be the city with a 200% turnout; "Vote 'yes' twice". 150 ...
Folks, before I get into the thrust of my main item this week, a few readers got very hot under the collar in the comments section beneath last week's column. So, if you'll allow me, a few points. Firstly, I now gather that the Lib Dem reshuffle was not triggered by Josh Babarinde stepping back from the front bench and had, in fact, been planned for a while. Happy to correct that. Secondly, when I said I'd prefer just thirty Lib Dem MPs who were unashamedly liberal than scores more who sometimes appear very tentative, I was making a rhetorical ...
The Starmer Government appears desperate for economic growth, positioning it, almost Chinese style, as a source of political legitimacy. Where does economic growth come from ? What policy tools are used around the world to achieve it ? In the UK political parties tend to focus on fiscal policy or macroeconomics; both more of a facilitator (or a hindrance?) than generator of growth. Beyond that, the left of centre, when not criticising growth per se, tend to focus on 'industrial policy/strategy' by which they usually mean interventionist state subsidy (ie 'picking winners') , full/partial state ownership (ie 'partnerships') , 'more ...
So this is what it has come to: a barrage of anti-immigration rhetoric from Farage and his party, a nationwide campaign of flag waving, not helped by parties like Labour and the Liberal Democrats imitating the trend in the hope of reclaiming the 'patriotic vote', outrage about halal meat being available in schools, opposition to religious education lessons telling kids about Islam as well as other religions and misleading trends on social media that generate hate and resentment, and now, inevitably, we have charities warning of growing racial abuse, intimidation and threats of violence towards their staff and beneficiaries. The ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 2025 Brown Street (at Miln Street) - temporary traffic lights from Wednesday 8 October for one week for Scottish Water work. Blackness Road (Balgay Road to Seymour Street) - road closed from Monday 13 October for 3 days for carriageway lining works. Tait's Lane (Hawkhill to No 6) - closed from Wednesday 15 October for 10 days for Scottish Water work. Forthcoming Roadworks Nethergate (at South Tay Street) - overnight (9.00pm to 6.00am) temporary traffic lights from Monday 20 October for ...