Embed from Getty ImagesFrom BBC News: Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller was told a bank account for her political party would close without explanation. Monzo initially refused to tell Ms Miller why her "True and Fair" party account would be closed in September. After the BBC contacted the bank about the case, it said it did not allow political party accounts and had made a mistake in allowing it to be opened. To which I can only reply: I told you so. How the people who've spent the last fortnight telling us that banks must be allowed to act precisely as ...
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: Understanding different polling firms You may find these posts useful: 'Waiting for Survation': a reminder of the value of checking the evidence. YouGov: is it biased to the Conservatives? Frequently Asked Questions Why isn't polling company X in ...
Mark Ashwell, local businessman and community champion, has joined the Liberal Democrats and is backing Clive Jones to be Wokingham's next MP.
It has been a busy week for by-elections with a number of principal and town council elections and some great Lib Dem victories and performances. We start with a couple of excellent town council Lib Dem wins. On Sevenoaks Town Council, Lionel O'Hara gained Northern ward for the Lib Dems from the Conservatives. Impressively this gain now means that the Lib Dems hold every single town councillor and district councillor in Sevenoaks! Congratulations to Cllr O'Hara and the team in Sevenoaks for truly turning the town GOLD! Sevenoaks TC, Northern Liberal Democrat (Lionel O'Hara): 351 (73%) Labour: 131 (27%) We ...
I recently returned from Scandinavia, where I busked my way around for a few weeks. I spend a lot of my time travelling in this way – often around half the year. This time, I'd planned my trip around various Bruce Springsteen gigs that were occurring in the area – a tactic that had worked wonderfully well in other countries. Scandinavia, though, is now one of the toughest busking destinations in the world. I've made easily more money in Peru and Bolivia than I did in Norway. The reason is nothing to do with a lack of generosity (I was ...
Labour leader Keir Starmer confirmed in an interview with Nicky Campbell that he believes a woman is an "adult female", a commonly used transphobic dogwhistle which undermines the legitimate identity of trans women. This statement follows a long-standing public back-and-forth between the Westminster Labour Party and the Scottish Labour Party on whether to support self-ID, allowing trans people to identify as their rightful gender rather than the gender forced upon them at birth. How far the Labour Party have fallen; once a party that championed individual liberty, now echoing right-wing populist nonsense, fearful they'll lose their ever-growing lead over a ...
Five principal authority council by-elections this week, with four Lib Dem candidates in them. Paulton North (Warrington) Council By-Election Result: LAB: 56.3% (+22.4) CON: 34.2% (+10.9) LDM: 9.5% (+3.6) No GRN (-21.1) or IND (-15.8) as previous. Labour HOLD. Changes w/ 2021. — Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) July 27, 2023
One of the most famous letters written by a minister is also one that was intended to be inconsequential: a farewell note from the departing minister of one party to the incoming minister of another. But it contained a joke that hit a sore spot of political contention on the dominant debate of the time. David Laws, incoming Lib Dem minister, therefore decided to make public what outgoing minister Liam Byrne, no stranger to controversy, had written. David Laws, who previously had a tussle with the National Archives over who the letter belonged to, has now apologies for publicising it. ...
The news that British Gas has reported its highest-ever first-half profits, of almost £1bn, while Shell has reported profits of just over $5bn (£3.9bn) for the second quarter of the year, must raise serious questions as to why consumers are being penalised with soaring energy bills, while fat cats line their own pockets, and why government ministers are letting them get away with it. Ed Miliband, quoted in the Guardian, is absolutely right when he described the current windfall tax as being full of as many holes as swiss cheese. He rightly points out that bllions of pounds will go ...
This Sunday - 30th July - the Dundee Instrumental Band will be performing at Magdalen Green. Sunday band concerts are from 2pm to 3pm and are free of charge. View the full programme at
