There's a well-known - and true - story about the Carry On actor Peter Butterworth. As a prisoner of war during the second world war, he was one of the vaulters who helped in the famous Wooden Horse escape. When he heard in 1950 that a film was being made about the escape, he auditioned for a part. Only to be told that he "didn't look convincingly heroic or athletic enough". Which is why you won't see him in the trailer above. Stalag Luft 3 was also the camp from which The Great Escape took place later in the war. ...
Something completely different to the usual fare this time: a little while back I picked my five favourite spy novels for the Spybrary podcast. For a variation from the usual Never Mind The Podcasts fare, take a listen to what I picked, and why those in politics so often like spy stories: Anthony Price features, of course. As does (ssssh! former spy) Paddy Ashdown and US President Lyndon B Johnson, subject of perhaps the best non-fiction book and one with a brilliant narrator too. In coincidental related news, I discovered recently that the author of the standard book on the ...
I did promise in my manifesto for Federal Council that I would report back, and so I offer some personal thoughts on Wednesday night's meeting. Our agenda revolved around three key items - a briefing on General Election planning and organisation, a review of the Federal Board's decision making on the fate of Autumn Conference, and a briefing on the revisions to the Party's disciplinary processes. Bearing in mind that I'm really not a campaigner, and perhaps don't match the classic definition of activist these days, I thought that Neil Fawcett explained the strategy with a level of credibility that ...
As I contemplate the current state of the world, Russia relentlessly continues its barbaric bombardment of Ukraine, while, seemingly, the US Republicans play the fiddle as Ukraine burns. Reflecting on the past two years of this disastrous occupation of Ukraine, the initial unity and support pledged by the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the European Union seem to falter. Certain elements in the United States and Europe, Hungary notably, lean towards a path of apathy and appeasement, potentially jeopardising any efforts to curb Putin's hunger for rebuilding the Russian Empire. With each passing day, Russia grows more ...
The Guardian reports that nearly 50 organisations have joined forces to condemn what they call a "crackdown" on the right to protest by the UK government. The paper says that n response to Rishi Sunak's recent remarks on extremism and "mob rule" linked to protesters, Amnesty International UK and 45 others have sent a letter to the prime minister calling for "leadership, not censorship". Other signatories include Article 19, Greenpeace UK, Liberty, the Runnymede Trust and Oxfam: In the open letter, the groups say the recent introduction of a patchwork of new legislation and policing powers has placed "draconian" restrictions ...
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 ...
As the BBC reports: Surrey's last district and borough council with a Conservative majority has gone to no overall control. Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, one of 11 lower tier councils in Surrey, had a Conservative majority of one after 2023's local elections. But with Councillor Zelanie Cooper, who represents Lower Kingswood, Tadworth and Walton, stepping away from the Conservatives, the council is left without a majority party... Surrey County Council still has a Conservative majority and all 11 Members of Parliament for Surrey represent the Conservative Party. "Currently" should perhaps be added before "represent" given the fears in the ...
The European Union is preparing for what was unthinkable—American withdrawal from NATO. They have been spurred into action not just by Donald Trump's offer to Vladimir Putin to "do what you want" with any NATO member who fails to devote two percent of their GDP to defence. No, Europeans detect 1—a growing undercurrent of isolationism; 2- an American perception that the biggest threat to their national interests lie in Asia; 3- that Americans feel that Europeans have taken advantage of American military largesse for too long and 4- Even the greatest military power in the history of the world can't ...
Residents recently highlighted to us that a directional sign on Ninewells Drive - the main road into Ninewells Hospital from the east - near James Arnott Drive - had been knocked over. We reported this to NHS Tayside management which responded that it would attend to this.
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