Embed from Getty ImagesMandrake in The New European (AKA Tim Walker) has a huge-if-true story this evening: Long regarded as a dormant volcano, the Daily Mail proprietor Lord Rothermere has erupted. Mandrake is reliably informed he has told his editors - and his editor-in-chief Paul Dacre - that he believes his national titles have "lost all touch" with what their readers are thinking about Boris Johnson. I am told tomorrow's Mail on Sunday will make it abundantly clear it no longer has confidence in Johnson. The language will be strong and the change of tone and direction dramatic. It will ...
Living in the Magical Mode: Notes from the Book of Minutes of a Guild of Shy Sorcerers Phil Smith Triarchy Press, 2022, £16 The Blair Witch Project spawned a fashion for found-footage films: this is a found-manuscript book. "Edited" by Phil Smith, Living in the Magical Mode attempts to tell the story of a book club that turns from Waterstone's special offers to the "English eerie" and such books as Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan. The manuscript extracts that break up the book's argument encourages readers to take up psychogeography themselves and plot their own routes through it. And ...
So now we have it. Liverpool's consultation on the Mayoralty was a farce. Poorly run, inadequately supervised, badly designed, and largely ignored. I always hate people who say, "I told you so but, in this case, "I TOLD YOU SO!" ... Continue reading →
The unholy alliance of the Christian Right and the Republican Party has conquered its Everest with the end of abortion in most of America. It still has other political mountains to climb: Same-sex marriage, gay rights, equal rights, Christian nationalism, creationism, contraception, sex education, political correctness, gambling, pornography, Sunday trading... But Roe v Wade was top target. It was the emotively totemic issue that united hardline conservative Republicans and Evangelicals and differentiated them from the rest of the country. The alliance, however, may now be facing the downward slope. A poll taken just after the Supreme Court decision showed that ...
In a negotiation, never commit yourself to a position publicly, it only weakens your hand. Now, I don't know whether Keir Starmer thinks he has what it takes to secure an overall majority at the next election, but a combination of inadequate polling leads, uninspiring leadership and unfavourable boundary changes makes the odds against him doing so pretty steep. The Labour leader may well have to work with other parties, either formally or on a confidence and supply basis. That means he will need the third largest block of MPs in the Commons - the SNP. That Starmer now feels ...
Liberal Democrat campaigns are well known for their strong community focus, their mountains of leaflets and their incessant door knocking. This strategy has shown some success from Chesham and Amersham to Tiverton and Honiton, to our great local election results. However, to say that this is the only way to win elections would be short sighted. We've seen right wing forces like Trump and the Brexit campaign effectively harness digital technologies and micro targeting to win against the odds. But is this something that we should be doing? Some academics have looked to answer these questions, showing how digital techniques ...
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - SATURDAY 2 AND SUNDAY 3 JULY 2022 Lochee Road (approach to Dudhope roundabout) - off-peak inside lane closure for concrete pouring works on Saturday 2 July and Tuesday 5 July. REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 4 JULY 2022 South Tay Street - temporary traffic lights from Monday 27 June for 4 weeks for footway works. Miller's Wynd - closed at its junction with Hawkhill for major construction works. Start date Monday 27 June for 6 months. City Road at Baxter Street ...
