Another of my early heroes has died. By my calculation, John Hollins is the fifth member of the Chelsea team that won the FA Cup in 1970 to be taken off by the great manager in the sky. (Peter Houseman, Ian Hutchinson, Peter Osgood and Peter Bonetti have gone before him.) To use an old-fashioned term, Hollins was a right half. He played there for Chelsea in their kings of the King's Road years, and later for Queens Park Rangers in the wonderful team that so nearly won the title under Dave Sexton in 1975-6. Later he played for Arsenal ...
On Twitter today Wayne Cowling provided one of the greatest trivial facts ever. Let's award it Trivial Fact of the Month for starters. As a reader of this blog, you will, of course, be familiar with the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band track Jollity Farm. You will also have fond memories of the BBC sitcom I Didn't Know You Cared, which was written by the incomparable Peter Tinniswood. But did you know that Leslie Sarony, who wrote Jollity Farm in 1929, played Uncle Staveley ("I heard that, pardon?") in the fourth and final series of I Didn't Know You Cared ...
Few Liberal Democrats in England's south-east will be aware of the depths of resentment in the north at the long-term imbalance between infrastructure around London and in and around the cities of northern England. I've lived both in Yorkshire and London for the past 40 years, moving to work in London while staying engaged in politics in the north. My own resentment has grown, as the last Labour government cancelled the metro tram schemes planned for Leeds and Liverpool and the trans-Pennine link remained as slow and unreliable as when I had first travelled on it in 1967, while the ...
Research from both Paul Whiteley and also Will Jennings shows how Parliamentary by-election and general election results match up.
If you've spent much time on Facebook or Twitter lately, it's pretty likely you'll have seen adverts featuring mournful caged puppies posted by Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The opposition parties appear to have decided to try to make puppies the next big wedge issue, as they accuse the Conservatives of "giving the green light to puppy smuggling" after the Tories dropped a suite of animal welfare legislation, which included a crackdown on intensive dog breeding practices. Labour and the Lib Dems have launched petitions urging people to give their details in order to "help stop puppy smuggling". As with ...
News from Central Devon Liberal Democrats: After stunning local election wins in Mid and West Devon, and Teignbridge (which saw Liberal Democrats win 20 Council seats) the Liberal Democrats have chosen local resident, Mark Wooding, as their prospective candidate in the next Westminster election for the Central Devon constituency. Making the announcement Dr George Dexter, Chair of the local Party, said "Mark played a key role in helping us win so many Council seats in Devon. He really wants to see change and will make a great candidate and, I believe, MP." "I'm delighted to have been chosen," said Mark ...
So many people depend on the help and love of unpaid carers, relying on them to get through essential day-to-day challenges such as washing, dressing and eating. Yet our unpaid carers are often without adequate support, having to juggle caring with their own work. Which is why Wendy Chamberlain's Carer's Leave Act, steered through the Lords by Lib Dem peer Chris Fox, is such an impressive and important achievement. A special shout-out too for Wendy's Senior Researcher, Kathryn Sturgeon, who did a power of work on the bill. It's an impressive achievement because the chance for any MP outside the ...
This government has form on wasting public money, in some cases abusing its use. Whether it is unusable PPE, fast-track covid contracts or the billions wasted on their Brexit fantasy, the public finances are significantly poorer for having the Tories in government. It should come as no surprise then, that the latest controversy centres on a plan to use our cash to promote Tory policies, a proposal that is causing some anxiety amongst traditionally neutral civil servants. The Guardian reports that No 10 is planning a multimillion-pound taxpayer-funded campaign to promote Rishi Sunak's "five priorities", despite some within the civil ...
A Group Art Show called Outside In is taking place at the Dundee Art Society's Roseangle Gallery. The opening night is this Friday - 16th June - from 7pm to 9pm, with the show continuing from 17th June to 25th June daily from 10am to 5pm - all welcome!
