In 1908 the assassination of his father and elder brother brought Maneol II to the throne of Portugal at the age of 18. Two years later a revolution broke out and he fled to England. As this video from Jago Hazzard explains, he made his home at Fulwell Park in Twickenham. You can support Jago's videos via his Patreon page.
Neil Parish, the MP for Tiverton and Honiton, had the Conservative whip suspended while accusations that he watched pornography in the House of Commons are investigated. For some reason this has made me think of my favourite ever misprint. I told the story on this blog long ago - it involved the rather unlikely New Statesman columnist of my youth, Arthur Marshall: Earlier this year I bought a second-hand copy of the Penguin Book of Columnists in a bookshop in Ballater. I was pleased to see that Marshall was represented by two of his Myrtlebank columns. In one of them ...
America this week crossed its Ukrainian Rubicon. It took a while. And with good reason. US foreign policy was badly burned by operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East. It could not afford another expensive failure. That's not to say that the Biden Administration failed to support Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion. It froze the oligarchs' assets, imposed sanctions, dispatched 100,000 US troops to Europe and provided $14 billion in military and humanitarian aid. But at the same time, President Biden, was ultra-careful not to prod the Russian bear into a World War Three. There were to be no ...
Writing about what is so far my only West End appearance - aged eight, I was one of the children asked to join Danny La Rue on stage during his (sort of) pantomime Queen Passionella and the Sleeping Beauty - I suggested: given La Rue's slightly risqué reputation, there probably weren't many children there, which made it more likely I would be chosen. (But then I must have been one of the few children who was allowed to stay up to watch Frankie Howerd in Up Pompeii!) Judging by a contemporary review of the show by J.C. Trewin in the ...
Not its formal title of course (that's Nationality and Borders), but it better describes the anti-asylum seekers, refugees and victims of modern slavery bill that was passed last night. I wrote on Lib Dem Voice in January in what now seem relatively moderate terms criticising the Bill which has been opposed by, among others, the UNHCR. I won't write an essay now, but I want to say how grateful we are to colleagues in the party for all that so many do, working and volunteering in the sector - and to share some of what happened at the last stages ...
Modern-day Libertarians have emerged from right-wing* politics although they'll often disguise what is, in reality, their 'self-first' agenda by defining it as a seemingly less selfish 'my right to choose.' The further right you go the more the 'self-first' agenda exposes itself for what it really is – 'I can do whatever I want and no one has the right to stop me/challenge me.' A Liberal on the other hand will say 'I am an individual and my views should not be constrained by the state, however, I also accept that I take both responsibility for my actions and I ...
This was meant to be a post about what is flowering now in the garden but I was completely side-tracked by birdwatching... Bluetits hunting for insects... Jackdaws feeding. One bird drops the seed to the others waiting below. Sometimes it feels like it isn't me doing the watching! (sparrow, jackdaw, blackbird) Flowering in the garden now are lilac, Californian lilac, knapweed, early climbing roses, clematis, Mexican orange blossom, bluebells, forget-me-knot, strawberries, snow-in-summer, heather, daisies, dandelions and white clover.
Thu, 16:05: RT @jfmouthonlegs: I hadn't done any acting in front of a camera for 35 years. So 'yes'. https://t.co/P8DZvtIpia Thu, 17:11: RT @PennyRed: 'Shame tells us that if we hurt another person, we haven't just done a bad thing, we are a bad thing. Shame insists that a si... Thu, 19:24: Valley of Lights, by Steve Gallagher https://t.co/QdVSpwwvkh https://t.co/sguQtt0I8O Thu, 20:48: RT @tconnellyRTE: Here is the full article by Andrew McCormick, former senior NI Executive official, for The Constitution Society https://... Thu, 21:48: Daily Quordle 94 7️⃣6️⃣ 3️⃣4️⃣ https://t.co/Cm9zc2fDBW https://t.co/YVwQotQb5D Fri, 05:00: A tough one! Daily Quordle 95 8️⃣7️⃣ ...
As there are no principal authority council by-elections this week, here's a re-run of my piece from the party website on why standing in more council contests, including council by-elections, matters: The most effective way to lose support is not to be on the ballot paper When we debate party policy, strategy or election tactics, questions about what might attract or put off voters often – and rightly – come up. But there's one sure-fire, 100% guaranteed, rock-solid way of repelling voters from us, and it's one we use far too often. It's not having a Liberal Democrat on the ...
My ears pricked up when government's Social Mobility Commissioner, Katharine Birbalsingh, was asked why so few girls take A level Physics. Her response was: "I just think they don't like it. There's a lot of hard maths in there that I think they would rather not do." You see, I took A Levels in Double Maths and Physics back in the 60s and then went on to take Maths as part of my degree. The majority of the students taking Maths in my year at University were women. So Katharine Birbalsingh's comments seem, well, odd. She also added that she ...
For some reason the effectiveness of our democratic process is not considered to be sexy enough to make major headlines, even when the Tory Government seeks to stack it in their favour, and Labour abstentions enable them. As Left Foot Forward reports, the House of Lords have now effectively capitulated to Tory plans to give ministers new powers over the Electoral Commission, undermining its independence by allowing government ministers to determine its remit as well as packing the Commission's Parliamentary overseer with government appointments. In addition, opposition attempts to remove provisions to requiring voters to show photo ID at the ...
Residents recently highlighted to me that one of the bollards towards the top of Taylor's Lane was broken. I reported this to the City Council and the Roads Maintenance Partnership who advised : "An order has been raised for a repair to be done in the near future." ... and it has indeed now been replaced.
