A couple of weeks ago I went to see the film Wilding, which was inspired by Isabella Tree's book on the remarkable transformation of the Knepp Estate. This short film tells the same story, though it's still worth a trip to the cinema to see Wilding and its beautiful wildlife photography on a wide screen.
Embed from Getty ImagesI don't want to spread false optimism, but a remarkable story went up on the Guardian website this afternoon: The Liberal Democrats are increasingly confident they can beat the Conservatives in large parts of southern England, including the two Oxfordshire seats formerly held by David Cameron and Boris Johnson. Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, spent Sunday campaigning in Bicester, where the party believes it can defeat the Conservative candidate, Rupert Harrison, a highly regarded economist and one-time adviser to the former chancellor George Osborne. Davey's visit was part of a strategy that has seen the party ...
Seven parties are standing in Gateshead Central and Whickham constituency. As you can see Ron Beadle, Lib Dem group leader in Gateshead and best man to me and David at our wedding last year, is top of the list. He's got my vote which was posted yesterday.A bit on the other candidates: Rachel Cabral, of the Greens, was their candidate in Bridges in the local elections last month. She managed
The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is out. As it says: A final outing for my Duke of Wellington graph (caveats, definitions, justifications of that Winston Churchill vote share figure, etc. here). Here is how the current Conservative standing in the polls compares with the worst general election result for every previous Conservative leader, going back to the Duke of Wellington... 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:
Our newest goat, 2 month old Dandelion, joined the campaign trail on Friday when I took her to meet parents outside Clover Hill School in Whickham. Dandelion is already familiar to many residents. She was named by members of local Facebook sites and was seen by many at the recent Chase Park fair. She was quite a hit with both parents and children at Clover Hill. I'm wondering how we can fit
This is the junction of Kingsway and Sunniside Road, Sunniside. As you can see, the hard work of the Planting Up Sunniside volunteers is beginning to show. They have tidied up the site and installed planters. My job was to take all the weeds (a wheelbarrow full) to my compost heap on my allotment, a couple of minutes away.
Whether it is fun in the sun with a band from Senegal at Africa Oye to meeting carers within the care service or nurses within the Health Service it has been a pleasure to meet so many great people in ... Continue reading →
I have been involved in 11 general elections since I first became involved with politics 43 years ago. But I have not before witnessed what is happening now. 1983, 1987, 1997, 2001 and 2019 were elections that were predictable landslides. The current election has the same smell to it. But the big difference is the split in the right. This is something I've not experienced before and it is driving
I was only half concentrating this morning when Trevor Phillips was interviewing Nigel Farage on Sky News. I thought I had misheard Farage when he said that Henry Kissinger backed his position on Putin. I was a bit surprised as I was sure Kissinger had died. Sure enough, when I checked, Kissinger had died last year. Is this a case of conscripting the dead to support Farage's admiration for Putin?
United States Unedifying train crash. That is possibly the most charitable portray of President Joe Biden's performance in Thursday night's debate. The 81-year-old candidate had a simple task: Don't look old and expose Trump as the convicted felon and serial liar that he is. He failed. The result is that Joe Biden now faces a crushing tsunami of party and public opinion to perform his final act of public service: step aside and let a younger Democratic leader shoulder the job of preventing a dangerous demagogue from returning to the White House. The problem is that there is no mechanism ...
Rather to his surprise, Augustus Carp finds himself offering an update on the latest trends in councillors changing party. I am not particularly good at political forecasting. I had expected a quiet summer, with just a slight peak in the number of local council defections in the run-up to the local elections in May. Well, it's only been eight weeks since then, and a grand total of 115 councillors have changed their political allegiance one way or another. Some have had it changed for them, by way of expulsion or suspension. In any event, that's a net figure of 85 ...
This is a brilliant record, and one I thought I'd always known. But why I know it is a bit of a mystery, as it wasn't a hit in the UK or even the US. If It Feels Good, Do it was first recorded in 1971 by Hog Heaven, who were Tommy James and the Shondells minus Tommy James. It was written by Mike Vale, a member of the band, and recorded with a loose, jam-band feel. Della Reese's version came out the same year, and was released again in the UK in 1974 after it had become a northern ...
Blah blah impractical blah blah doesn't work with all doors blah blah.
Harris Hockey Club's men's squads are looking to expand their squads for National League and Midlands Division 1. Interested - then email harris.secretary@gmail.com
The Guardian reports on claims that Rishi Sunak abandoned his "legacy" policy to ban smoking for future generations amid a backlash from the tobacco industry in the form of legal threats, lobbying and a charm offensive aimed at Conservative MPs. They say that the UK had been on course to become the first country to ban smoking for future generations, via the tobacco and vaping bill, which Downing Street hoped would help define Sunak's place in British political history. However, an investigation by the Guardian and the Examination, a non-profit newsroom that investigates global health threats, has uncovered how the ...
