[IMG: Jackie Pearcey surrounded by orange diamonds] However much I love Vince Cable, I can't let his comments urging people to vote tactically for Labour in the forthcoming Gorton and Denton by-election pass without comment. He told the I Paper: He pointed out that in previous by-elections and at the last general election, the Lib Dems had benefited from tactical voting by presenting themselves as the main anti-Conservative force in certain areas. Cable - who was business secretary in the coalition government before leading his party from 2017 to 2019 - said: "First of all, the Lib Dems are not ...
"The fallout from the latest revelations has again put survivors secondary to the actions of powerful men. Mandelson, who maintained a friendship with Epstein after his 2008 conviction, initially declined to apologise to Epstein's victims and distance himself from any knowledge of the financier's sex crimes." Victims have told us the worst of Epstein's crimes for decades - and but they are still being ignored, says Lindsey Blumell. Stephanie Burt on the organised opposition to ICE in Minnesota: "In January a horde of masked thugs arrived in the Twin Cities as part of Donald Trump's Operation Metro Surge to brutalise, ...
The Patti Pavilion is situated on Swansea's seafront having started life as winter garden conservatory at Craig-y-Nos in the lower Swansea valley. It was constructed along with a clock tower by Spanish opera singer, Adelina Patti who, after the failure of her first marriage, and in search of privacy and good trout-fishing for her lover, married French tenor Ernest Nicolini, bought a Welsh country house overlooking the River Tawe near Penwyllt, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons. The conservatory and clock tower cost £100,000, which she was able to pay for by doing just one tour of the USA ...
Any regular user of Sheffield station will be familiar with the Park Hill flats on the hillside above it. Until they were built between 1957 and 1961, this was an area of terraced houses, shops, pubs, a cinema and at least one church. In this video Tour Obscure climbs the hill to see what remains of this old landscape. The really good news is that there are two more videos in this series.
Statement given to @TimesRadio from Lib Dem leader https://t.co/89GWfHq2Z2 pic.twitter.com/9lnWHkGvWE — Cathy Newman (@cathynewman) February 6, 2026 Note that we are not allowing comments because of the pending investigation. * 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.
A planning application has been submitted to build the Wild Rutland attraction on Burley Estate farmland, parkland and woods between the Oakham bypass, Rutland Water and Burley Wood, reports BBC News: Long-term aspirations could see native animals including Eurasian brown bears, lynx and wolves reintroduced inside holding pens, according to developers. Planning documents said the project would showcase "the wonder of British wildlife" if given the go ahead. Lord Bonkers is all in favour (I suspect he may he an investor om the project). When I ask what would happen if the brown bears, lynx and wolves escaped, he merely ...
Three principal authority council by-elections this week, one a traditional non-party affair for the City of London Corporation. Starting with that one: Coleman St. (City of London) Aldermanic Election Result: [IMG: 🙋] S. Saluga: 45.2% [IMG: 🙋] L. Yueh: 31.4% [IMG: 🙋] D. Wright: 13.1% [IMG: 🙋] C. Hall: 6.7% [IMG: 🙋] J. Wasu: 1.3% [IMG: 🙋] J. May: 1.0% [IMG: 🙋] D. Stringer-Lamarre: 0.6% [IMG: 🙋] R. Thomas: 0.6%Independent GAIN from Independent.2019 Election Unopposed. — Election Maps UK (@electionmaps.uk) 2026-02-06T00:58:22.552Z For what all this means for the running total of council by-election results since the last May elections, see ...
This week, there were two principal council by-elections. Only one contest had a Liberal Democrat candidate. In the seaside town of Clevedon, where Labour was attempting to defend this seat, they managed to hold, albeit with an unconvincing margin against Reform. Thank you to Jude Chambers and the local Liberal Democrat team for flying the flag. North Somerset Council, Clevedon South Labour: 350 (29.0%, -25.4) Reform UK: 334 (27.7%, new) Conservative: 224 (18.6%, -27.0) Green Party: 197 (16.3%, new) Liberal Democrats (Jude Chambers): 100 (8.3%, new) Labour HOLD Turnout: 36.8% There was no Liberal Democrat candidate in the Welsh contest. ...
We had our monthly meeting of Sunniside History Society on Wednesday. The speaker was Liz Purcell who gave a talk about horses in warfare. It was a fascinating presentation. Numbers attending were up as well. The next meeting is on Wednesday 4th March when we will be looking at some of the slides and photos which the society received from Francis Newman, one of the founders of the organisation.
On Tuesday, Gateshead Lib Dem executive met in the Civic Centre. Final changes and additions to the manifesto for the local elections in May were considered and agreed. We also discussed the local election campaign (which is already well underway) and the timetable for action days during February. Lots to do!
Last week when I was delivering Focus in Sunniside I spotted a Heron in the pond next to Kingsway, opposite Riding Barns Way. Herons are not a common sight in the village and it's been a few years since I last saw one. Nevertheless, there are enough of them to cause people to net their garden ponds in Sunniside. I doubt however that the Heron I saw was going to have a successful day
Dixon of Dock Green does not deserve its reputation for cosiness. I wrote to that effect three years ago, but Tim Dowling was there long before me. Here he is choosing a box set of the police drama back in 2012:The stories are as gritty as anything you would find in The Bill, and happy outcomes are rare. In the little monologues that top and tail each programme, Dixon is likely to tell you the suspect was never convicted due to a lack of evidence, or that a wife-beater escaped punishment because the police were powerless to intervene. It's not ...
The Independent reports that Keir Starmer's leadership has been plunged into turmoil after furious Labour MPs forced him into a humiliating climbdown over the release of full vetting documents relating to Peter Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador in the US. The paper says that Starmer's dramatic U-turn followed intense pressure, led by former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, just hours after he admitted that he knew about Lord Mandelson's continued friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein - but appointed him as US ambassador anyway: Sir Keir Starmer's leadership has been plunged into turmoil after furious Labour MPs forced him ...