Embed from Getty ImagesDeep in the British Newspaper Archive, I came across a sad story in the Derby Evening Telegraph (Friday 16 March 1945): World Dancer Executed Vaslav Nijinsky, once one of the world's greatest dancers, was executed by the Nazis in Budapest before the Russians captured the city, a Stockholm newspaper reported today. For years Nijinsky had been confined in a mental home in the Hungarian capital. The newspaper said the Germans put to death all insane persons in Budapest to conserve food supplies during the Russian siege. So sad was it that I wondered the story is not ...
Welcome to the latest in my occasional series highlighting interesting findings from academic research. Today it is a couple of snippets from Tim Bale and Paul Webb's latest bit of research into political party membership: "Shopping for a better deal? Party switching amongst grassroots members in Britain" (Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, Volume 22 Number 2, 2023). Their research is based on detailed surveying of party members, and when they've previously shared results that are (roughly) comparable with the party's own internal data, they've stood up as being highly plausible. So on to two of their findings. First, ...
When Mary-Clare, one of Steve Winwood's daughters, got engaged to top Tory fixer Ben Elliot, I suggested this meant that my musical hero had joined the Royal Family. That was because Elliot is the nephew of Camilla Parker Bowles Now comes news that Queen Camilla, as she is to be known after all, will have four pages at the Coronation: three of her grandsons and a great nephew, Arthur Elliot. He is Steve Winwood's grandson. It's a long way from the Clarence Hotel Ballroom, South Wigston, to Westminster Abbey. But don't worry: he's still got the blues.
I welcome guest posts on Liberal England. So if you'd like to write for this blog, please send me an email so we can discuss your idea. As you will see from the list below, I'm happy to publish posts on subjects far beyond the Liberal Democrats and British politics. I'm also happy to entertain a wide variety of views, but I'd hate you to spend your time writing something I really wouldn't want to publish. So please get in touch first. These are the last then guest posts I have published:Can trade unions make a big comeback? - Stuart ...
The Guardian reports that the damage caused to our economy is extending to the tourist sector. They say that French and German tourists are beginning to avoid the UK because of post-Brexit restrictions on travelling with identity cards: Since anti-Covid measures ended across Europe last year, tourism has started to recover, but there are growing signs that significant numbers of French and Germans - two of the largest markets for UK tourism - are staying away. Since October 2021, EU citizens have needed a passport to enter the UK. Previously they could use ID cards, but less than half the ...
From the Guardian: Official data shows that the Lib Dems have increased their proportion of candidates to the equivalent of 60% of seats being fought in England and Wales on 4 May, up seven percentage points on 2019, when the same set of elections were last held. By contrast the Tories, who have always prided themselves on running full slates of candidates wherever possible, are down 3% to 93%, their lowest level since 2007. Labour's proportion of candidates per seat has remained the same, at 77%. The improvement in the figure for the Lib Dems is impressive when you remember ...
Good Friday Agreement A major theme of the Leave campaign in the Brexit referendum was that the UK should "reclaim" its independence and become a Sovereign Power once more. Freed from the alleged shackles to the EU and behoven to no foreigners we should be able to rove around the world asserting our influence and increasing our prosperity. The 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in Ireland, which we celebrate today, is a stark reminder that, not only were we then or are we now, a super-duper independent-acting world power, and, for that matter, neither is anyone else. In ...
Everyone knows that the Easter Bank Holiday for political activists is not about lying around and scoffing chocolate. With the local elections three and a half weeks away, activists up and down the country have been delivering leaflets and knocking on doors. And there's a lot to play for. Yesterday's Observer had a great article on our campaign, showing how our number of candidates has gone up, while the Tories are not putting up a full slate in areas where they have done before: While the number of Tory candidates registered to stand - 7,512 - is still comfortably the ...
Sun, 12:56: RT @OddThisDay: Alas! It is the 397th anniversary of Francis Bacon dying because he tried to stuff a chicken with snow by the side of a roa... Sun, 14:48: RT @AmIRightSir: Of the 651 MPs returned at the general election on this day in 1992, 30 are still in the House of Commons - 19 Conservativ... Sun, 15:42: Sunday reading https://t.co/pY9xlK5Ml6
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL - WEEKLY ROAD REPORT REPORT FOR THE WEST END WARD - WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 10 APRIL 2023 McGonagall Square - traffic control from Monday 10 April for 2 weeks for street lighting replacement works. Abbotsford Place - temporary traffic lights on Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 April for hyperoptics work. Abbotsford Street - temporary traffic lights from Monday 10 April to Friday 14 April for hyperoptics work. Tay Square (southmost leg off South Tay Street) - closed from Tuesday 11 April for 2 weeks for Scottish Water work. Glamis Road (at Blackness Road) - temporary traffic lights ...
