While the world's attention has been fixed on Iran, Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz, Gaza has quietly slipped from the headlines. That is unfortunate, because the territory is settling into a dangerous and potentially permanent limbo. Except for the occasional exchange of fire, fighting between Hamas and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has stopped. What has replaced conflict is an armed truce with a deep mutual distrust preventing any progress on last autumn's peace plan. The IDF still occupies more than 60 percent of Gaza with orders from Benjamin Netanyahu to increase that slice to 70 percent. The two ...
In a recent posting on one of the social media channels I use, Twitter I think, this post was added to a comment that I had made, "Why should we take any notice of you, you're just a woke liberal." I am accustomed to being insulted by both far left and far right, so I do not take much notice of things. But in this case, I accepted the description as a badge of honour because it is 100% right. When I said this in brought in loads of similar comments from people who often could not spell and had ...
Roz Savage says our electoral system is not just unfair but dangerous: "Manifestos are written for floating voters in constituencies that might change hands - not for the country as a whole. And when governments make spending decisions, the incentive structure pulls them in exactly the same direction. The Towns Fund, which directed 40 of 45 allocations to Conservative-held seats, was not an aberration. It was the system working as designed." "Some schools have glass atriums, which were a common feature of those constructed during the government's Building Schools for the Future programme in the early 2000s, but which now ...
Today, Singleton Park is a large green space on the seafront in Swansea used for a huge number of activities ranging from dog walking and park runs to outdoor concerts and car shows. It was bought from the Vivian family by the County Borough Council in 1919 for use as a public park and was transformed by Daniel Bliss, who was trained at Kew Gardens, to include a botanical gardens and boating lake amongst other features. As you can see from the map below, large areas of the park have since been sacrificed to accommodate the university campus and a ...
Right, so Andy Burnham is elected to Parliament and, assuming there are no unforeseen circumstances, he will be Prime Minister by mid-July. There will be a coronation for King Andy as Labour are unable to find anyone within the 410 Labour MPs elected at the last general election capable of taking on the prime ministerial role. Remember however that a coronation may not be a good thing. Labour had
Last Saturday, St Mary's Church in Whickham held their summer fair. Always a good opportunity to buy homemade cakes. Photo above of Councillors Peter and Susan Craig and myself.Cllr Marilynn Ord chats to stallholdersWider shot of the fair.On the tombola where all the prizes were alcoholic, Cllr Marilynn Ord won the mouthwash!
The best-known scene from a British film involving children and bombsites is the climax of Hue and Cry (1947), where the office boys and errand boys of London stream across a ruined cityscape to confront the villains. It feels more Roberto Rosselini than Ealing. Here, you sense, is the exotic London captured by Rose Macaulay in her novel The World My Wilderness (1950). A city where the bombsites are bright with flowers and lush with vegetation. A city of sudden unaccustomed vistas of Italianate churches. A city where the displaced sleep at night among the ruins. That was me writing ...
From BBC News: Barbara Skedd was in "absolute horror" when she opened a letter addressed to her executors offering them condolences on her death. The 74-year-old received a letter to her Ibstock home, in Leicestershire, from North West Leicestershire District Council in May to update its council tax records following the family's "recent bereavement". And that's not all: Skedd said she was in tears after the initial shock of reading that she had died in the council letter, dated 21 May. She said anger then followed when she discovered all her benefit money, including her Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Industrial ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with the latest MRP projections and party leadership ratings. If you'd like to find out more about how polls work, how reliable they are and how to make sense of them, check out my book, Polling UnPacked: the History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls, or sign up for my weekly email, The Week in Polls: General election voting intention polls PollsterConLabLDGrnRefLab leadFieldwork Find Out Now 18% (nc) 21% (+6) 12% (nc) 15% (-2) 24% (-3) -3% (vs Ref) 24-25/6 GB BMG ...
The party's ongoing strategy review is welcome. But collecting feedback is only the beginning. Turning it into a successful long-term strategy requires us to answer four fundamental questions. 1. What's the point of the Liberal Democrats? I've been asked this question, sneeringly, more than once. But, we do need to be clear what we want to achieve. More seats and votes are important, but they are not our ultimate aim. This question might seem quite abstract today – but it will be critical in the years to come. We are going to have to make difficult decisions when we are ...
Sliding Scales is a history of modern democracy from a liberal perspective. The dramatic transformation of the 19th century British Empire into a 20th century Commonwealth was a triumph of diplomacy. It had many setbacks and failures, but it did not lead to the havoc caused by the collapse of similar 19th century empires, which led to the wars in Algeria, the Congo, Vietnam and now Ukraine. It was not a sad down-sizing of power, but one which saved lives and civilizations. Its strengths were to be found in 'Free Trade' (Imperial Preference). It encouraged mutual aid among its member ...
Twenty-three (!) principal authority contests this week, for twenty-four seats, and although it has been a good start to this 2026-7 cycle of by-elections and deferred contests for the Liberal Democrats, this week alas was a bit different. There was though some good news: Dawlish South West (Teignbridge) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 45.3% (+6.6) [IMG: ➡] RFM: 29.5% (New) [IMG: 🌍] GRN: 15.1% (+3.8) [IMG: 🌳] CON: 10.1% (-12.8)No Ind (-27.1) as previous.Liberal Democrat HOLD.Changes w/ 2023. — Election Maps UK (@electionmaps.uk) 2026-06-26T06:37:37.371Z These by-election results round-ups cover principal authority by-elections as it's only those for which comprehensive ...
Soon after I was elected in July 2024, I was approached by a man in Cirencester Market Place who congratulated me on my win. He'd voted in every general election since 1974, he said, and this was the first time he had ever voted for a winning candidate. For most of that time, he told me, he had barely bothered looking at the names on the ballot paper. He already knew who would win, but had voted out of habit – "or maybe just stubbornness" – but knew that it would, in effect, be a wasted vote. South Cotswolds is ...
Here's a video from Dr Edmund Hale that makes rewilding seem not a wild flight of fancy but common sense: Bison reintroduction in England began in 2022 when four European bison were released into West Blean Woods near Canterbury, Kent - the first wild bison in Britain for thousands of years. This rewilding experiment had one goal: save a dying ancient woodland that conventional conservation, chainsaws, and machinery had failed to fix. What these ecosystem engineers did next with bark, hooves, and pure instinct stunned the scientists monitoring them. Within weeks, the bison tore open the sealed forest canopy, stripped ...
Transport has become one of Andy Burnham's defining issues as Mayor of Greater Manchester. He has championed the Bee Network, argued for London-style powers and made public transport central to his vision for the city region. There have been real achievements. Greater Manchester has introduced bus franchising, giving local leaders more control over routes, fares and standards. The region is also moving towards a more integrated transport system. However, the key question is not who controls the network. It is whether people can get where they need to go quickly, reliably and affordably. For many residents, the answer is yes. ...