Writing in the new Fortean Times, Francis Young notes that the Devil of English folklore is a considerably less threatening figure than the Devil of theology and often becomes the dupe of saints in folk-hagiographies. While the Devil of folklore is a foil for saints and serves to explain landscape features and prehistoric monuments. There aren't many saints in Shropshire these days, but Owd Scratch (as the Devil is known in the county) remained a presence there until recently. Amy Boucher has collected some tales of his interventions, including one from her own grandfather, who was convinced he had met ...
Anna Gross writes in the Financial Times: The Liberal Democrat party is stepping up campaigning in more than a dozen seats predominantly in the south of England following recent by-election wins, as it starts to broaden its ambitions ahead of the general election expected next year. Dave McCobb, the director of field campaigns, presented a paper to members on Tuesday night that identified areas where support for the Lib Dems was growing, giving the party a good chance of pushing out the Conservatives at the next election. Most of these constituencies are in the party's former heartland in the south-west ...
Peace in the Middle East, and throughout the Arab World, has always been hard-won. We've had to measure its progress in small, deliberate steps, whether that's from letters to handshakes, missions to embassies or treaties to trade deals. Ever since the Abraham Accords were signed in 2020, Israel and Morocco have been solidifying their diplomatic ties in recognition of their shared interests and responsibilities to global and regional security. But this week the two countries made a historic leap forward - a leap that should give the international community renewed confidence in the stability of the Arab World and the ...
It's astonishing that leading Conservatives are still getting away with calls for tax cuts before the coming election without any challenge as to where they will cut spending to pay for them. Our economy is flat-lining, our public debt rising, our population ageing, our young children smaller than their counterparts across the Channel, our schools and health services losing workers to higher-paid jobs - and yet serious Conservatives think we should cut taxes and spend less? Paul Johnson's just-published Follow the Money: how much does Britain cost? is a clearly-written guide to Britain's dilemmas on public spending, and the failures ...
Last night I chaired the monthly meeting of Sunniside History Society in Sunniside Social Club. An interesting meeting that included a video produced about 20 years ago by the Society of Bronte country. The next meeting on 6th September is the AGM followed by a talk by me about what history taught me about self-sufficiency. The meeting starts at 7pm. £1 for members, £2 for non-members.
In her Scotsman column this week, Christine Jardine calls out the SNP/Green Scottish Government for wasting public money and effort on independence rather than tackle the problems people face day to day. I appreciate we all want familiarity for comfort in difficult times, and there can be no doubt that these are tricky times for the SNP. With internal party squabbles, broken ferries, and an ever-lengthening social care backlog, who can blame them for wanting a distraction? But why should taxpayers have to fork out for the SNP's therapy for frustrated nationalists? Particularly when public funds are tight and so ...
As if Liz Truss had not done enough damage in her brief tenure as Prime Minister, the Independent reports that Liz Truss's mini-Budget caused the UK's EU divorce bill to soar by tens of millions of pounds because of the resulting crash in the value of the pound. The paper says that Treasury documents show that the disastrous tax-cutting plan piled an extra £91m on the UK's payments to the bloc required as part of the deal to leave: The loss arose because the UK pays the settlement in euros, meaning the cost of meeting the payments rose sharply due ...
