At Last the 1948 Show is part of the prehistory of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Written and performed by Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Marty Feldman, this sketch show was broadcast nationally by ITV in 1967. Here talkingto Dick Fiddy about it in front of a British Film Institute audience, John Cleese is agreeably surprised at how good it was. Though it's worth pointing out that, well before Python, Round the Horne and The Goon Show were into subverting broadcasting conventions. Both dragged the BBC announcer into the show, for instance. And a point that's got me into ...
In my capacity as a veterinary surgeon, I am compelled to express my thoughts not as the Liberal Democrat candidate for MP, but as a professional dedicated to animal welfare. Most people will be aware that I have long championed the need for more vets and scientists to be involved in front-line politics. The government's decision to axe the Kept Animals Bill at the 11th hour is hugely disappointing. I share in the dismay expressed by the British Veterinary Association, the Dogs Trust, and several other organisations that have worked so hard for so long to get this bill over ...
Handily, two different pollsters have new data out following the court ruling that the government's Rwanda deportations policy is illegal.
Here's a remarkable story from Richard James on British Chess News: For a few years in the mid 1930s a remarkable story was playing out in Leicestershire chess. The boys from Desford Approved School, who had been sent there from all over the country having fallen foul of the law, were taking part in the Under 16 section of the county chess championship, dominating the event, winning game after game against their law-abiding contemporaries, and even beating adult teams in the county league. Desford opened as an industrial school in 1881. These institutions were intended for boys who were found ...
The former Hope House charity shop in King Street is to be brought into use by Vine and Jupiter, an up market wine shop based in Leominster. It is currently applying for the necessary licence to sell alcohol to take away and to consume on the premises (23/01705/LPREM). This is the sort of business that will thrive in Ludlow town centre. It is a welcome change of use for a vacant shop on a street that has too many empty premises. Vine and Jupiter will bring trade and employment into the town. The downside is that it will continue the ...
Since the War the Conservative Party has been in charge of the government for two years out of every three: in other words, twice as long as Labour. Hence they are largely responsible for the condition of the country, whether you feel it is thriving or crumbling at the edges. At the beginning of this period, 1945, we regarded ourselves (and some others regarded us) as a Great Power and were appointed one of the Five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council. The unfortunate invasion of Suez in 1954 confirmed that we weren't really a Great Power (along with ...
Fri 30th
13:07
News from Labour: Neal Lawson has been expelled and Thangam Debbonaire won't commit to stopping Rwan...
Neal Lawson, the head of the cross-party campaign group Compass, writes in the Guardian: Last Friday an email from the Labour party - of which I've been a member for 44 years - broke my political heart. They wrote coldly to tell me that back in May 2021, I'd committed a crime: retweeting a Lib Dem MP's call for some voters to back Green candidates in local elections, accompanied by my suggestion that such cross-party cooperation represented "grownup progressive politics". My punishment? Expulsion. I'm told that if you're a Labour member who wants a political career you have to be ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention poll from each pollster currently operating in Britain. 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, or sign up for my weekly email: "*" indicates required fields Email* Enter Email Confirm Email If you submit this form, your data will be used in line with the privacy policy here to update you on the topic(s) selected. This may including using this ...
Fri 30th
12:28
Taboo or Not Taboo... time for the Lib Dems to find their voice on coalitions and the EU?
According to former Lib Dem Press Secretary and current FT journalist, Miranda Green, "The great 'Brexit' and 'coalition' taboos are holding the Lib Dems back". Whilst other commentators, including Matthew Parris and Daniel Finkelstein in the Times, have bemoaned our failure to set out a distinctive message on these issues. In their defence, the party leadership is rightly sceptical of the siren voices to which we succumbed in 2019. It would be all too easy to say something that improves our national poll rating, but harms our prospects in the Blue Wall, where nearly all our realistic targets lie. Hubris ...
Here's the latest tally of seats changing hands in principal authority council by-elections held since the last May round of local elections.
The future of leisure centres in Gateshead has been a hot topic for over a year. A consultation was launched in October 2022 which included proposed closures and plans to privatise the management of any remaining facilities. The two most threatened centres also happened to be in the most marginal Labour held wards in Gateshead (Birtley and Saltwell). I think it is fair to say that Labour went
I am picking up on some comments made on a previous post. Readers had noticed that recently we have been pre-moderating comments more than usual and wondered why. Sadly, we have been at the receiving end of a lot of trolling lately. Not only that, but comments have been posted that are defamatory and possibly libellous. Whatever the legal position may be about what appears on our pages (it is not clear whether we could be sued for something written by a commenter) we simply do not want to be associated with that kind of illiberal and hurtful content. As ...
Being a corporate parent is a responsibility for all councillors on an upper tier or unitary authority but too many of us do not work as hard in this field as we might. Daaad, "I just want some money for......" ... Continue reading →
The Independent reports on more turmoil within the Conservative Party, which they describe as a civil war, claiming Rishi Sunak is struggling to manage the unruly elements in his own party. The paper says that Boris Johnson's most loyal allies, including Nadine Dorries and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, are causing yet more trouble for the Prime Minister - and could even face suspension from parliament for their roles in a "disturbing" campaign to undermine the privileges committee. Meanwhile, Sunak also faces Tory divisions on small boats, after the Rwanda policy was ripped apart by High Court judges who decided it was ...
As residents are aware, we have repeatedly raised with the City Council that, although real time bus information is working at bus shelters, paper timetables became been out of date following the bus companies altered services at the start of the COVID health emergency in 2020. We pressed this issue on numerous occasions and were advised in February that 350 stops had now had up to date information on them. However that means the majority still did not and this recent example from Hawkhill at the Sinderins underlines the problem - the timetable information here is from 2018! We think ...
Five principal authority council by-elections this week and, hooray, a full set of Lib Dem candidates. A pair of contests in Labour-held seats in London saw chunky swings to the Lib Dems in both: Newington (Southwark) Council By-Election Result: LAB: 57.6% (-5.3) LDM: 27.9% (+15.4) GRN: 9.0% (-6.2) CON: 5.6% (-3.9) Labour HOLD. Changes w/ 2022. — Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) June 29, 2023
