Christine Jardine wrote about the 60th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination earlier this week. The day after, 23rd November, marked 60 years since the first episode of Doctor Who was broadcast. For me, ever since the very first episode I watched in 1974, it's been a constant source of joy, inspiration, curiosity and adrenaline rushes. There seems to be quite an affinity between Lib Dems and Doctor Who. We identify with a socially awkward eccentric travelling through time and space saving peoples and worlds and universes, a lot of the time from themselves. Last night marked a new era for the ...
I went to put some flowers on my mother's grave this afternoon. When I got back I saw a tweet by Andrew Male about rewatching Tom Hollander's situation comedy Rev. He said it has lasted well and even looks prescient: I now realise how much it was a show about a changing Britain, one where humanity and generosity were gradually being replaced by something more cruel and corporate. That made me think about how the series and I how I would watch it on DVD with my mother in the days when she was still well enough to come over ...
All political eyes are turning to Wellingborough, so here are the latest reports. Peter Bone, you may recall, is currently facing a recall petition following his suspension from the Commons for six weeks when the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards upheld five allegations of bullying and one of sexual misconduct against him. Today's Sunday Times alleges that Bone offered to resign his seat immediately, provided the Conservative Party would guarantee his girlfriend, already an approved candidate, a place on the shortlist for the ensuing by-election. If they failed to do so, the story also says, then Bone would stand as an ...
The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is out. As it says: The top story on the front page of The Times after the autumn statement was clear and unequivocal ... but was it right? Find out more by reading this edition of The Week in Polls here, and you can sign up below to receive future editions direct to your email inbox:
We're living in a tempestuous, uncertain world, there's a record number of conflicts raging across the world, in the wake of Covid19 and a cost of living crisis that brought us the highest inflation in 40 years populism, which seemed to be dying down across Europe is resurgent. Populist politics would seem to have reached ... Continue reading Netherlands 2023 – what you need to know
Liberal Democrat Newswire #178 came out last week, including news on Lib Dem councils building houses, a new move to ban conversion therapy and how party support varies by supermarket.
This is The Move at the end of their career, when their chief movers were Roy Wood, who wrote California Man, and Jeff Lynne. Those two were, at the same time. also the founders of the Electric Light Orchestra, who became better known as ELO. Roy Wood became disenchanted with the Electric Light Orchestra project, whose idea was to combine rock with classical instruments, because it proved difficult to balance the different instruments in live performances. He went on to found Wizzard, so perhaps it's not surprising that California Man, with its rock and roll pastiche and comic staging, sounds ...
The Guardian reports that the much-heralded flagship Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is worth less to the UK economy than previously claimed. They say that Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch was mocked for a prediction that the deal with Asia-Pacific countries would grow the economy by paltry 0.08%, however she staunchly defended the agreement, hailed in a blaze of publicity as part of a new "global Britain" strategy. But, the paper says, new figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility suggest joining the CPTPP could add just 0.04% to GDP in the "long run", after 15 years: The ...
Diplomatic Miracles do happen. And if you need proof just look at the exchange of hostages currently taking place between Hamas and the Israeli government. Enmity, internal divisions and complex diplomatic channels have all been overcome to allow not only a hostages-for-Palestinian-prisoners exchange but also a ceasefire and aid convoy into Gaza. There were problems. One was the opposition by far-right Israeli cabinet ministers to any agreement on anything with Hamas. The other was the fact that 50 of the roughly 240 hostages were held not by Hamas but the even more extreme Islamic Jihad. Then there were the complex ...
As part of West End Christmas Fortnight, there's a children's window spotting competition with great prizes. Entry forms like the one below have been distributed through our local primary and nursery schools and you can also pick up an entry form at Blackness Library.
