The new issue of Liberator (issue 415, December 2022) has just been posted on the magazine's website. You can download it from there free of charge. I'll start posting Lord Bonkers' latest diary tomorrow, but first let's have a look at Radical Bulletin, the section that tells you what is really going on in the Liberal Democrats. Here are the headlines and first paragraphs from the opening three items: A day in court It is without known precedent for a Lib Dem member as prominent as Jo Hayes to be expelled, and with the party establishment refusing to give a ...
Liberator 415 can be downloaded here. This is the free December 2022 online-only edition of Liberator and we hope you enjoy reading it. You can sign up here to be emailed each time a new bi-monthly Liberator comes out. What's inside this issue? Alongside Radical Bulletin, Commentary, Letters and Lord Bonkers' Diary, Liberator 415 includes: ACHILLES TAKES THE THRONE King Charles III's attitude towards public money and its use by the royal family could be his undoing as the deference shown to Elizabeth II fades, says Norman Baker WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE TORIES? Like horror porn, the Conservative Party has ...
The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is out. As it says: ChatGPT is having a moment. It's the chat bot powered by artificial intelligence that has shown itself able to produce some remarkably good answers, prompting renewed speculation about just how good (or powerful or domineering) AI may yet get. But does it understand political opinion polling? Find out more by reading The Week in Polls in full here, and you can sign up below to receive future editions direct to your email inbox:
The mornings get light later. The nights come in earlier. It's a sign that Christmas is approaching. It is also the time when dogs leave presents that their owners don't clean up because they think they can get away with it in the dark. It is the time of year we end up walking on unwelcome presents because its dark. Of course, dog poo is not just for Christmas. In this town dog poo seems to be for life. There are appalling habits. Poo in the middle of pavements. Poo in people's drives. On verges. Children's play areas where dogs ...
This year saw an interesting coincidence of events - the Earthshot prize on the 2nd December and the UN Day for disabled people on the 3rd. As a disabled person who cares deeply about climate change these two events happening the day after each other caught my attention. It has been my experience that often disabled people are left out of discussions around climate change. When discussion around banning plastic straws was happening I saw a lot of disabled people trying to explain that they needed plastic straws to reliably access liquids and explaining why for many of them non-plastic ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention poll from each pollster currently operating in Britain. Below the table, you'll find the option to sign up to email updates about new polls and also a set of answers to frequently asked questions about political polling. Or, 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, and Sign up for my weekly analysis of the latest political polling: The Week in ...
It would have been cheaper for the Council to knock these houses down and build new ones than to refurbish these properties which are still unoccupied. At last week's Audit Committee meeting the Committee discussed three items which had originally ... Continue reading →
They haven't even written their manifesto yet and already the Labour Party is backing down on its key promises. The Sunday Times reports that Labour's proposals to abolish the House of Lords are set to be watered down after an eleventh-hour row between Gordon Brown and Sir Keir Starmer's advisers. The paper says that following controversy over Boris Johnson's resignation honours list, Starmer told Labour peers of plans for a consultation on abolishing the Lords in favour of a directly elected body. However that pledge has now been weakened, with party sources stressing that Labour will commit itself to merely ...
China China's President Xi Jinping is in the traditional dead end political alley. Mass demonstrations and protests have prompted suggestions from government sources that Beijing is on the cusp of seriously relaxing its zero-covid strategy. But health officials reckon that if he does it could result in 680,000 deaths before the end of winter, according modellers at The Economist. On the other hand, if Xi fails to relax his Orwellian approach to dealing with the pandemic then the economy and quality of life will seriously suffer and more protests, riots and demonstrations will follow. This will undermine Xi's claims that ...
This is a carol I always enjoyed singing, but we need to get a couple of grammatical points straight. Because look at that comma: there are no "merry gentlemen" here. Wikipedia says: The historic meaning of the phrase "God rest you merry" is "may God grant you peace and happiness". And if you see the title printed as "God rest ye..." then it's phoney archaism. Wikipedia again: "Ye" would never have been correct, because "ye" is a subjective (nominative) pronoun only, never an objective (accusative) pronoun. Glad we've sorted that. It's what Christmas is all about.
More West End Christmas Fortnight events today! 1pm to 2pm - Magdalen Green community planting event. All welcome! Join us to plant colourful and pollinator-friendly summer allium bulbs at Magdalen Green. No experience necessary, please bring a spade/trowel if possible as tools are limited. 3pm to 5pm - Christmas at The Gate Church. A community Christmas celebration with carols, sweet treats and Santa Claus.
