Probably Suffolk's most famous son is Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, born in Ipswich in 1473, and thus it only seems appropriate that there is an exhibition at The Hold, the still shiny and relatively new home of the Suffolk Archives near the University of Suffolk on the waterfront a few steps from the town centre. Ros had been particularly keen for me to see it, partly because he had a significant role in developing Ipswich, and partly because of the link between The National Archives, where she's a Non-Executive Board Member and the exhibition - The National Archives have loaned some ...
"Liverpool has a long history of political turbulence. Despite Labour's current supremacy, the party's control of the city came late: for more than 100 years, until the second half of the 20th century, the Conservatives were dominant. Since then, Labour's grip has been intermittent and often marked by conflict and controversy." Brian Groom questions the claim that Liverpool is a Labour city. Katharine Pindar argues that the Liberal Democrats have nothing to lose by being bold. Joanna Moncrief is interviewed about her research review that threw doubt on the idea that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the ...
We know that Mike Brearley wider intellectual interests give rise to the best indexes going - see his On Cricket and On Form. I bought another Brearley book, Spirit of Cricket, today and am not disappointed by the pairs of names its index contains: Archer, Jofra Aristides the Just Bedi, Bishan Beethoven, Ludwig van Gaskell, Elizabeth Gatting, Mike Jardine, Douglas Jesus, Christ McCullum, Brendon Machiavelli, Niccolò Muralitharan, Muttiah Murdoch, Iris Titmus, Fred Torah Wittgenstein, Ludwig Woakes, Chris
With the end of another, rather interesting, quarter, another update to PollBase, my database of British voting intention opinion polls since 1943 is now up. This time, as well as another quarter of polls, the update includes additional voting intention and leader rating data from Deltapoll from the last Parliament and this. Thank you to the firm for providing two handy historical spreadsheets to fill in gaps. Enjoy! P.S. For the very latest polls, see my polling scorecard and for the history of polls, how to spot the good from the bad and what the future holds for opinion polling, ...
As a corporate mission statement goes, it's safe to say Shut Skates has gone down an unorthodox route. Click on the 'about' tab on its website and it reads: 'CRACK COCAINE AND DECADES OF NEGLECT HAVE TURNED THE STREETS OF NEW YORK INTO A WAR ZONE OF BURNT OUT BUILDINGS, HOMELESS LUNATICS, AND GRAFFITI RAVAGED ... Continue reading Black History Month – the strength of street knowledge
One pollster, one poll, one topic, two question wordings, two different answers: BMG and HS2.
Selden and Newell's "Johnson at 10" is a deeply dispiriting book. I read it because a friend of mine with normally reliable opinions told me I really had to, as it contained such a stark and detailed portrayal of the depths Johnson was prepared to plumb. I didn't much look forward to it, but agreed I would, and, because I'd agreed, I read it from start to finish. As I started, I reflected on the fact that I was pretty sure that nothing could make my opinion of Johnson any lower than it was already, but also prepared for the ...
The Lib Dems are having a remarkable year in council by-elections!This report rounds up our performance between July and September. Once again we were first in terms of net gains and share of the vote increases. Overall 51 council seats were contested. We made 8 gains and successfully defended 5 wards - while only losing 1 ward during this period (to an independent candidate - we didn't suffer a single loss to another political party).This gave us a net result of 7 more Lib Dem councillors. This is comfortably the best performance of any party (the Conservatives, Labour and Nationalist ...
Too often the choice facing international decision makers is not between good and bad but between bad and worst. In the Middle East, at the moment, it appears to be between worst and much, much worse. The possible consequences of the likely Israeli reaction to the attack by Hamas are terrifying and potentially global in their impact. Let's start with Israel itself. The overwhelming majority of Israelis are calling for massive retribution for a terrorist assault which left 1,300 dead, 3,300 injured and 150 held hostage in underground Hamas dungeons. It would be difficult for any Israeli government to ignore ...
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, The Week in Polls: Sign up to The Week in Polls "*" 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 ...
The Guardian reports that metropolitan police officers are openly defying orders not to wear badges appropriated by the far right and linked to white supremacy. The paper says that in July, the force's chief, Mark Rowley, banned officers from wearing the "thin blue line" badge saying that in the US an equivalent symbol had been used by "hard-right groups". However, images have emerged of Met officers wearing the symbol late last month as they policed a stand-off between LGBTQ+ rights supporters and a rightwing group over a drag act's performance at the Honor Oak pub in Lewisham, south London: Campaigners ...
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." I often think of these wise words when reading "hot takes" on social media on whatever issues are on the front page at a given time. As a lawyer, I tell my junior colleagues that the correct initial answer to any legal issue is often "it depends" and to distrust attempts to oversimplify the complicated. As we have all grappled with yet more tragic news from Israel and Palestine, we have seen commentators and politicians often explain their thoughts by saying that the issues are "complex". ...
Residents will recall that, following concerns raised by parents and carers with us last term about insufficient capacity on one of the school buses to and from Harris Academy (the 6s - the pupils concerned live in the Pentland area), we raised the issue with the City Council. We are pleased to have been updated by the transportation team at the council to say that at the north end of the route, from the start of the new term, pupils who who also have access to another of the school bus services will use service 10s instead of the 6s. ...
