It's remarkable how many people have the wrong idea about Ladybird Books, dismissing them as nostalgic, conservative and twee. Someone who very much does get Ladybird is John Grindrod:Since I first wrote about the Ladybird books obsession with modernism (article here) I've become increasingly fascinated by the role they played in fostering a spirit of excitement in Britain's postwar schemes to modernise. Picking up copies in second hand bookshops I've started to see a much more concerted effort to portray a positive image of the rebuilding of Britain in these books than even I'd given them credit for. With their ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with party leadership ratings. 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: General election voting intention polls – indicates that party didn't feature in the polling questions separate from 'Others' or that the data is not yet available. Numbers in brackets show change ...
On Bonfire Night last year, I blogged about plans to convert part of the Craven Arms, the hotel that gave the town its name, into flats. I illustrated that post with a photo I took in 2017. In it, the Craven Arms didn't look too bad. I think it was nominally still open then: I recall wandering the cavernous interior looking for someone to pull me a pint and failing to find them. Last week I photographed it again and, oh, the difference. This time I had a drink at the Stables Inn, which is indeed open again after, landlady ...
Liberal England takes an interest in the 'strategic advisory, firm Hakluyt, and its deepening relationship with Labour, for the recherché reason that it was co-founded by a son of the long-forgotten historical novelist Vaughan Wilkins. Peter Geoghegan keeps us up to date with the latest news of Hakluyt and Labour in the London Review of Books: Labour is said to have turned last September to another 'strategic advisory' firm, Hakluyt, to facilitate meetings with business leaders. Hakluyt began in a field in which the UK truly excels: private spying. Named after the Elizabethan geographer Richard Hakluyt, the company was founded ...
Ukraine has introduced a new strategic weapon in its war with Russia. How it uses this weapon could determine the course of the conflict. There is a heavily-defended 600 mile frontline between the Russian army in Eastern Ukraine and the Ukrainian military, grouped mainly on the western bank of the Dnieper River. Movement along this frontline has been incremental, much like the western front of World War I. Defended by poorly-trained Russian conscripts is the 650-mile border between northeast Ukraine and the Russian oblasts of Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod. Ukraine's military commander Oleksandr Syrsky has crossed a 10-mile stretch of ...
Fraser is the Vice-Chair of Dundee Age Concern that runs the long-standing Fiveways Centre in the city. Dundee Age Concern is committed to combatting loneliness and isolation for older residents in Dundee. If you or a family member is interested, please contact the team today. Just call Dundee 825624.
At last we know. Nigel Farage, the MP for Clacton has published his declaration of interests and they are a doozy. THe Guardian reports that the Reform leader appears to have become the highest-earning MP, having made almost £1.2m a year from GB News: In the first register of interests of the new parliament, the Reform UK MP declared that he was earning £97,900 a month as a presenter for GB News, the channel co-owned by the hedge fund billionaire Paul Marshall. Farage also revealed that his visit to the US on 17 July - in the aftermath of the ...
